Madrid, Spain – Day 3

This morning was a little slower than I had hoped.  I did get up on time but packing the suitcase took longer than I had anticipated.  Somehow, the same amount of stuff didn’t want to be confined in the same amount of space as previously.  I don’t really understand it, but it all worked out.  So once I checked out of my non-tour hotel, I went to my tour hotel (the hotel where the tour participants assemble and where the tour begins).  When I got to the hotel, my room wasn’t ready which I expected, since I arrived around 9:30, so I left my luggage in the luggage room and left on my city exploration.  I decided to go to the Prado museum, as was per my original plan.  Inquiring about a bus or another form of public transport yielded no results, though the hotel receptionist said it’s about a 20-minute walk.  Still suffering from yesterday’s walking, I decided to take a cab.  Best 5 euro spent on transport so far!  And saved me a boatload of time.

Originally, my plan called for about one hour at the museum, but as many plans fall short, so did this one.  It was never my intention to see everything at the museum, but then I got here.  And saw it.  And decided that since I’m already here, I should see everything it has to offer, even if I’m not the biggest fan of Goya and El Greco.  The pleasant surprise came when I realized that not all of Goya’s works are so dark and heavy; some are really quite vibrant.  The Prado offers an immense wealth of Spanish painters’ works.  The museum also has two temporary exhibits going on and I’m really glad I paid extra to see them (The Young Ribera and Goya and More).  Wonderful work.  But don’t let me mislead you; the museum has some great works by other European artists like Rembrandt and others whose names I can’t recall off the top of my head.  But if you’re in Madrid, you should definitely see the Prado, you never know what you’ll discover.

Cibeles Fountain

After the museum, I hopped on a city bus (wanted to save the walking for later) and arrived at the Plaza de Colon (Columbus Plaza) and after a relaxing lunch, I hopped on another bus to the Plaza de Cibeles.  This is essentially a ginormous fountain in the middle of an enormous street which makes a round-about.  There’s also a palace that looks rather stately, but I don’t know that it’s open for the public (for all I know, it’s an office building now).

Madrid Scene

A few dozen pictures later, I walked to the Puerta de Alcala.  The leisurely walk allowed me to soak in the scenes of city life in Madrid.  Cafes everywhere, people sitting and enjoying a meal or a drink, kids playing, families out for a stroll…  Just how I always picture Europe.  The pleasant scents of blooming trees, flowers, pastry shops, and restaurants wafting through the air to make it unmistakably European.  And of course, coffee.  There’s nothing quite like the scent of freshly brewed coffee mingled with stale smoke of cigarettes, and of course, the fumes of public transportation.

Puerta de Alcala

This particular monument, Puerta de Alcala, is right in front of one of the entrances to Retiro Park.  It’s an amazing place.  The flowering oaks, acacia, and laurel give it a distinctly Mediterranean air; the street vendors give it a very relaxed and informal feel, almost like a fair, and the groups of people strolling through throw the wide boulevards evoke the romanticized scenes of late 1800s.  It’s an interesting place for sure and I highly recommend going there and I really do wish I had more time to spend here.  During my missed Madrid day, I was hoping to have a little picnic here after visiting the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, which I didn’t get to do.  Oh well. Have to save something for the next visit, right?

Retiro Park

Oh, and I had a palm reading.  Not on purpose, of course.  I think it was a gypsy woman who stopped me and did a reading, none of which I understood and then demanded 20 Euros!  LOL! Yeah, right.  Once my stroll through the park came to an end, I headed back to the hotel; I also didn’t really want to miss the orientation for the tour and I was too tired to do anything else.

Tomorrow, we go to Toledo, for a very short visit.