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Published: August 6th 2007
Torro de Oro
Lots of Bull Here!Arrived at Madrid Barajas Airport, one of the bigger airports we have flown into on Tuesday afternoon. Terminals T4 & T4S , which are celebrating their first anniversary, are very impressive! Older terminals, T1, T2 and T3 are drab. Took the metro to our hotel, Hotel Room Mate Mario, a trendy Spanish hotel chain with reasonable room rates for Madrid, centrally located near Plaza de Oriente , Teatro Real and Palacio Real. The Madrid metro is cheap and efficient; however, carrying luggage up and down stairs is a definite negative! We ended the day by hitting our favorite tapas bar at Plaza Santa Ana for great tapas and wine, called the Vinotecha! Our favorite? Brie triangles, they are delicious!
Our first full day of sightseeing in Madrid started early, when after having breakfast at our hotel, we toured the 18th century Royal Palace with an English speaking guide to explain the history and pageantry. Although the palace has over 2800 rooms, less than 30 rooms are open for viewing. Very opulent French decor! Travelling Canucks enjoyed our visit to the Royal Pharmacy with its vials and flasks used to mix royal medicines over the centuries and the Royal Armory displaying
Madrid Mascot Meets Mukluk
Madrid's official symbol and most popular photo op, a bronze bear with a madrono, strawberry tree! historic suits of armour for royalty, dogs and horses! Just across from the palace, the Catedral de la Almudena. Surprisingly, it had an extraordinarily modern interior. Quite different from most cathedrals and churches we have visited!
We headed to the Plaza Major where we discovered Torre de Oro, an Andelusian style bar with gory pictures of bullfights, pictures of famous clientele, and bull heads with their ears clipped as trophies for the victorious matadors. We sipped our coffees as we looked at the amazing photographs, mostly of matadors on the losing end of the bullfights. Not a pretty sight! After a couple of coffees, we enjoyed our walk to the Puerta del Sol and down the Gran Via lined with spectacular buildings to arrive at the Fuente de Neptuno, Neptune's Fountain, to visit the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, an art museum that traces the history of Western art over the centuries. We then walked to the Plaza de la Cibeles and the impressive Fountain of Cybele, onto the triumphal arch and down the Paseo del Prado towards the Atocha railroad station.
In the evening we walked around illuminated Madrid with its beautiful architecture highlighted and enjoyed tapas at Plaza de
Royal Palace
Spain's Palacio Real rivals Chateau de Versailles. Oriente. Cafe de Oriente is great for tapas and wine!
The next day was spent in Segovia, but we returned to Madrid to dine at Casa Botin, the Guinness World Book´s oldest restaurant in the world! The restaurant is located on the street just off the Plaza Mayor. As we departed, the Santa Semana Procession was in full swing, with thousands of Madrilenos greeting us who were out celebrating the Santa Semana Procession in the Plaza Mayor and surrounding streets.
Good Friday, Bad Weather
Thunderstorms, hail and torrential rains poured down on us as we walked around Madrid on Good Friday.
Few museums or historical monuments were opened, however, we somehow managed to walk around Parque del Retiro, a 17th Century garden in the center of Madrid, with glimpses of the sun before the weather took a turn for the worse and the grand parade was cancelled. The formal gardens, sculptures, crystal palace and lake at the Retiro Park were lovely! We enjoyed a nice lunch at La Trucha (The Trout), in a quaint dining room that was packed to the gills with locals. So one can be assured that the food and service is going be
Royal Palace Interior
Decor is impressive, mostly French! good and it was!
The next day was spent in Toledo, but returned to Madrid to shop and eat dinner.
Easter Sunday
Day at the Prado Museum - one of the world's top art museums! Masterpieces from Spain, including paintings by Goya, Velazques and El Greco are joined by a European Art Collection of the European Masters! Although we would have enjoyed sleeping in, Sunday at the Prado is free, so an early start was a necessity to avoid long lineups and ensure English audio guides were available.
After spending the morning at the Prado, we walked around Madrid shopping for souvenirs for the day before packing our suitcases for our early departure. To our surprise, we were able to lock our bulging suitcases! Taxi ordered for 3:00am, flight departing Madrid for Frankfurt at 6:00am! After dragging ourselves to get our taxi, our taxi driver quickly gained our full attention as we are certain he broke all records for fastest transfer from central Madrid to Madrid Barajas Airport (under 15 minutes) It usually takes around 30 minutes in the early morning hours!
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