MADRID...SI SI !. Review on Madrid

We left Barcelona early in the morning and headed straight to MADRID. The only stop we made was for a snack at the 'dreaded' Tourist Stops. The land was quite red, (like on Price Edward Island in Canada). We could see Cities and Towns from afar as we passed them. The closer we got to Madrid we encountered more traffic. I'm sure it took us an hour to reach the outskirts of the city to our hotel.

Madridis the Capital City of Spain and is a large City on the plains of Castile, (the population is about 5 million people), the majority are Catholics. It is the highest Capital City in Europe, (2,200 ft above sea level).

Our hotel was a few blocks walk up from the Prado Museum. We were scheduled to spend 3 days here and this seemed like heaven to us. We had nothing scheduled for our first half day so MM and I decided to dump out all of our cloths to see what was at the bottom of our suitcase. What a surprise we had to find cloths we forgot we had packed. The hotel pool was on the roof and we all met there to tan for a few hours.

Our group was fed up with the planned dinners. They told me to find a nice place to dine, (price did not matter). I went to the front desk and asked if they would make reservations for us at the Jockey Club. I was told it was closed but if I wanted to dine they could suggest a nice Restaurant. We had to take 3 taxi's to get to there. It was a house that had many rooms and we were seated in our own room. The first thing that happened was a maid came and took off our shoes and put our feet on a pillow. I was sure that this was going to be a very expensive dinner. Each of us had 3 courses and we shared a few bottles of wine. The food was delicious and we would have paid anything to eat such wonderful food. We decided to divide the bill and each of us paid about $12.00 CAD for our share.

DAY 1

We woke up earlier than expected by the bomb that blew up a Government Building two doors away. I had never heard about Basque Terrorists before. We were happy to see the local Tour Guide arrive to take us away from the sirens, police and smoke.

We drove through the University of Madrid and then went to the circle in the center of the city called the Plaza Mayor where we learned about the history the city as our Guide pointed out the style of the architecture of the Atocha Station, the Palacio de Comunicaciones, the Palacio Real and the Plaza de Toros de las Ventas. We then were driven through the circles that expanded out from the small city center. We saw the outside of the Royal Palace but none of the Museums it has.

We were happy to get out of the Coach to see some of the paintings at the Prado Museum.

The building is special with it's high white marble pillars 'standing on guard' to greet you. There are two buildings that make up the Museum complex. We were taken past most of the rooms to see the paintings of the famous Spanish artist Xavier Bueno and saw his painting of the Spanish Civil War. We then went to a room that had some of Picasso's paintings and then the tour was over.

That night we slipped away from everyone to go to the old town. It is in the area around Plaza Mayor and the Plaza de la Paja. I had heard that they had many Tapa Bars there.

The taxi driver told us we were going a bit early in a 'Brooklyn' accent. I asked him why he had that accent and he told me he lived in Brooklyn for 5 years trying to get a 'break' and be accepted with the Metropolitan Opera. He then began to sing wonderful songs from many Opera's until we reached the old town. As we got out of the taxi he suggested we leave the area before eleven, (PM), as it got 'rowdy' after that.

We started at the first tapa, (small meals), bar and had an omelet and a beer. At the second bar we shared some calamari and a jug of sangria. By the third bar we had shrimps and MM started drinking scotch and I began drinking ginger ale. As we left the 3rd Bar the streets were so crowded we could hardly make it out of the bar's door. I heard a 'pssh...pssh'. Looking around I saw a taxi at the curb, (cars aren't allowed on this street), with the driver who brought us here. MM didn't want to leave but she was walking on her ankles. He helped me get her into the cab and took us back to the hotel singing 'aria's ' in his beautiful tenor voice.

DAY 2

After breakfast we went to the 'de los Caidos' that was build by General Franco as a monument to himself. The graves of all the people, (from both sides), of the Spanish Civil War are near by. At the Church there was a stage where the priest created 'living pictures'. The lights would go down and when they came up there was a different scene, (all of the scenes told the story of the Catholic Church in Spain). I have never seen anything like it.

SOME THOUGHTS

I loved Madrid even though it was very warm while we were there. I don't think I would want to go at any other time of the year because, 'Nueve meses de invierno, tres meses de infierno', (the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain), in the spring and fall and it snows in the winter.

Thank you for reading my review

©LL