Madrid
So I have long since returned from our long and amazing vacation in Spain, but alas, I have failed to keep all my 4 (or maybe 5) remaining blog readers up to date in my adventures. So I will now fill in some of the details of the rest of our trip! The fact that I am writing this indeed means I am not in a foreign prison, and did not get detained (well at least not that long) by immigration and homeland security (but more on that later....)
So Madrid. As I left off, we were in Madrid sans bags. We eventually did get our bags (not till about 2am that night by the way), but survived most of our first day with the clothes on our back.... Madrid is kind of like the New York of Spain. Very city-like, and a lot of close quartered city action. The city is indeed beautiful though. A lot of charming little winding streets with commercial and city buildings, amidst gothic cathedrals and older buildings with many plazas and squares. Endless tapas bars and cafes lining the streets, and a lot of action on the streets. We stayed at Hotel Europa, right next to Puerta del Sol, which is the main square in Madrid, right in the center of the action. Actually a cool place to stay, very central, and very Madrid.
The main attractions of Madrid is certainly the museums. The two we hit were the Prado and the Reina Sofia. The Prado is probably the most famous, the building itself a work of art in itself. It houses all the finest works of Diego Velazquez, El Greco, and Goya (to name the most famous ones). A lot of fantastic artwork from the days of the royal families of spain, as well as a lot of religious imagery from both Christianity, as well as the myths and Gods of old.. Some of my favorite pieces were Goyas "black paintings", and of course Velazquez's Las Meninas, a masterpiece indeed!
The Reina Sofia was more to my taste. Contemporary Spanish artists like Picasso and Joan Miro dominated the stage at this museum. The piece de resistance being of course Picasso's Guernica. Truly spectactular to see in person, and with it came all the sketches and drawings that Picasso did to lead up to the masterpiece. Many of PIcasso's works were also on display, and during our visit, the Paris museum's exhibition of Picasso was flown over and we were lucky enough to catch that as well. I am indeed more of a Picasso fan now I must say. My second favorite was Joan Miro. A lot of influence from Picasso's later works of cubism and modernity, and certainly caught my eye. The museum itself was truly a modern work of art itself.
We chowed down on some awesome Paella in Madrid as well. I couldn't tell you the name of the restaurant we hit, but it was recommended by our hotel, and it was truly excellent. Though there are plenty of amazing Paella joints in Madrid, and definitely no shortage of Tapas joints lining the streets from here to there! Madrid also holds the "oldest restaurant in the world". Whether it is true or not I dont know, but it supposedly is still serving up banging Spanish cuisine. We checked it out, but didn't get a chance to eat there. Right by Plaza Mayor, it is Sobrino de Botin, in case anyone is ever in Madrid, perhaps you should check it out! We also partied in Madrid of course. Our night took us to some random club that had us raging till 6am. We met a bunch of fun peeps at the club, who actually turned out to be American students in Madrid! It figures, since we could barely speak any Spanish, and our game with the locals was quite weak (only in Seville did we get to chat it up with locals). But we certainly had our fun with the Cali girls we met!
Other highlights of Madrid were the Palacio de Real, Plaza de Oriente, and my favorite, the wall Arabe, which was the last remaining moorish structure in Madrid. It is actually nothing but a 20 metre wall, but hey, it is the principle that counts!!
After Madrid, we woke up late, made a run for the train station, and literally RAN to the platform after buying our tickets 5 min before the train, boarding just bout 30 seconds before departure... That is just how we roll!
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