Holy Toledo, It's Gay Pride!

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Arriving in Madrid on a Saturday night of Gay Pride Weekend . . . I know of a couple of my friend who would have wished they were with me, but since they weren’t and it was a late journey from Barcelona, I didn’t mind staying in my first night. Madrid is cool. I don’t know how to compare Madrid and Barcelona, but I like them both for different reasons. First off, my Spanish comprehension increased tenfold once I got to Madrid. It’s so much easier to figure out what people are saying, unlike Barcelona where people speak Catalan, a dialect of Spanish (I wonder if this is how foreigners feel when they travel to the east coast and the west coast in the US? It also seemed much less crowded in Madrid and less humid, so my hair was happier.

The first day I walked around town to Puerta del Sol, the center of Madrid, Plaza Mayor, a historic cobblestone square where they've done everything from bullfights, to gruesome Inquisition events and today, throwing parties when they win a football championship (I missed that by a few days). There’s also this restaurant/bar called Torre del Oro Bar Andalu, that is basically the Hard Rock Café of Bullfighting, and, the closest I will ever get to a bullfight. After hearing the description, I know I couldn’t sit through it. I walked through the Prado Museum which had a lot of works from Goya, Velazquez, Titian and El Greco. I also did a quick tour of the Reina Sofia to see the great modern art collection including Picasso’s Guernica. Amazing.

Placio Real (Royal Palace) - So I guess I’m more into modern design, because I much prefer my crisp clean hotel than the idea of staying in the old dingy palace. I know most of the things in there are really old, expensive antiques, from the rugs, to the chairs to the silver, but it’s all so dark and drab and there’s SO many different patterns and designs stuffed into one room that it can make you a little dizzy. I much prefer light and simple yet elegant. My favorite room was the smoking room with the beautifully carved walls and decorations imitating Chinese opium dens.

More Friends - My friend Patty and her husband Chris were in Madrid on their last day of their Spain vacation so I went to meet up with them at the their hotel, and when I walked into the lobby, instead of seeing Patty I saw Robin and Carlos, a couple I met at a dinner party two days earlier in Barcelona! They are friends of Wyatt from Costa Mesa, California and visit Spain each year to see Carlos’ family. We all left Barcelona the same day and they just happened to be staying in the same hotel as Patty. SMALL world.

Toledo - I took a day trip to Toledo to check out the former capital of Spain that is a mesh of Roman, Jewish, Visigothic, Moorish and Christian history (big religious melting pot). Toledo and Madrid are where my Spain history lessons really started. “Holy Toledo” . . . here’s where it came from . . . The American expression likely originated from the Sephardic Jews who eventually immigrated to America. To them, Toledo was the most holy Jewish city in Europe.

Oh, Retiro Park in Madrid is a very nice place to sit in the shade on a hot day and people watch. Where else would you see Spiderman making balloon animals (makes sense, right?) I spent my last day here hanging out before my train to Granada.

And PS - from the last blog, Pepe is the CAR. I talked to my Dad the other night and after about 15 minutes he said, "So, who's Pepe?" I have a feeling he probably had a few sleepless nights over that one. :-)

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Comments

[renee]

hi honey
Just want to send you a big hug and tell you thank you for letting me follow you on your adventures! They bring back a lot of memories for me too... THe park in Madrid brings such relief from the heat doesn't it!? Toledo has amazing roasted baby lamb! Wish I was there with you, Sending Much Love, Renee