Madrid and Toledo

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From Cordoba we caught another fast train to Madrid where we stayed for 5 days. The fast train really is the way to go; although relatively expensive it took just under 2 hours to cover the 420 kilometres. From the main train station it was then only 2 short metro rides to our hotel, which was reasonably well located near the centre of the main shopping streets, and not far from a number of the major sights of the city.

Madrid had less appeal to us compared to other parts of Spain and other cities in Europe. It was big and dirty and very, very crowded. We didn’t feel very safe walking around. The pedestrianised shopping streets that ran from the Grand Via (one of the major roads through the city) to the Plaza del Sol, one of the main squares, were just packed with people each night - so crowded that it wasn't an enjoyable experience walking after dinner. There also wasn't a lot to see or do whilst we were there in the city itself. Apart from visiting the major museums (well we tried to anyway - more of that later) we wandered around, through the plazas and shops, along by the Royal Palace and main Cathedral, but that was about it. The weather turned very cool just before we arrived as well so we experienced our first cold weather for over 4 weeks.

One thing Madrid does has though is a couple of world famous museums and we were keen to see them. On the Monday we headed to the "Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia", an excellent museum with a collection of modern Spanish art form the 20th and 21st century. We saw paintings by all the leading Spanish artists from that period, including, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Joan Gris, and of course the most famous of all, Pablo Picasso. The Reina Sofia (named after the current Spanish Queen) is also the home of one of Picasso's most famous pieces, "Guernica" the huge anti-war mural he painted in 1937 after the German bombing of the Basque town of the same name during the Spanish Civil War. Some people claim this is the most important piece of art from the 20th century. Whilst not the prettiest painting you will ever see (it wasn't meant to be) it certainly is impressive.

On the following day we attempted to see the Prado museum, one of the most famous art galleries in Europe and apparently one that goes close to rivalling the Louvre in Paris, but they had just opened a new wing on the day we arrived there and it was closed to the public for a special preview to selected guests only, all in black tie. We could hardly sneak in as by this time our jeans hadn’t seen the inside of a washing machine for about 2 weeks. Maybe next time.

We also did a daytrip to Toledo which is a very pretty city perched on a hill around 30 minutes by fast train south of Madrid. After arriving at the station we elected to walk the 15 or 20 minutes it took to reach the centre of the town, and were rewarded with some spectacular views of the city, even if it did mean a steep climb up the hill the reach the top. There wasn't a lot to do in Toledo other than wander around and look at the impressive old architecture and the views, and like all Spanish towns the Cathedral was well worth seeing, although we didn't go inside, but it was a very pleasant and relaxing day. Despite it being off-season the city was still beseiged by tourists, so we would hate to think how busy it gets in the middle of the European summer.

After 5 nights we were ready to leave Madrid and after the luxury of a taxi ride to the airport (we decided for once that we couldn't face the two trains it would have taken to get there) we boarded our Iberian flight to Lisbon, capital of Portugal.

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Photos

The Prado Museum
Unfortunately it was closed the day we tried to visit as it was the grand opening of the new refurbished museum - invitation only, and we didn't have an invitation.