Goya's Not My Guy

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Geo: 40.4167, -3.70327

Goya's Not My Guy

Sunday, October 9, 2016

DAY FOURTEEN

This morning we went to Mass at Basílica de Jesús de Medinaceli, a block from the hotel. Pope Paul VI elevated the church to minor basilica in 1973. There were several beautiful side altars, but on the whole, this was a simpler church than most we have experienced this trip.

At 9:45, we met our guide for a tour of Madrid's Prado Museum. Originally built to house the Natural History Museum, the building was repurposed as the new Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures at the direction of King Ferdinand VII, encouraged by his wife Queen Maria Isabel. The Prado features the world's finest collection of Spanish art. The numerous works by Francisco de Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Diego Velázquez, El Greco and Titian are among the highlights of the collection.

The best known work on display is Las Meninas by Velázquez. We visited it and perhaps 20 others. My favorite was Fra Angelico's The Annunciation, which I managed to snap when the security guards weren't looking.

I know this will display my ignorance, but Goya is not my guy. Our tour guide focused on Goya, El Greco and the other Spanish Masters. They are simply NOT my preference, although several paintings by Velazquez and Murillo were more Golden than most. We didn't even see any of the museum's collection by Raphael, Van Dyck and others, although we did see one by Rembrandt, a few by Rubens and the Prado's copy of the Mona Lisa. The "Black Paintings" by Goya toward the end of his life were gruesome and grotesque. They did me in.

At a nearby Starbucks, we enjoyed our favorite beverages at the outdoor café and watched the beautiful people boarding a bus for another Spanish wedding. Wow, these Spaniards are show stoppers. We checked out some nearby shops but decided to wait for any purchases after we see how successful we are in Toledo (not Ohio) tomorrow.

We decided to put our feet up for a while, then headed out to visit Retiro Park, which belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th century, when it became a public park. We visited the Alphonso XII monument and the Glass Palace, and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon in this lovely space. Two young people had signs that I guess read "Hug me" in Spanish and they were running around collecting hugs wherever they could. Friends were keeping count. I hugged them both!

We had intended to shop the Salamanca district but lost our mo. We decided on another beverage and more relaxation. Nonetheless, our step count for the day – according to my app – was 14,300. Barcy didn't walk all of those but I think she got to a pretty impressive number for a gal who has had her body battered in recent months. Her count might be more than she did in a week prior to this trip. Go, BCF!!

We met Quock and Merlita Fong in the hotel lobby.. We had made dinner reservations at La Barraca which Joe had told us was famous for paella. The concierge assured us it was close and penned the route on a downtown map. I'm sure it was close, based on the return trip by taxi, but the outbound trip by foot, when we weren't sure where we were headed, proved challenging. I finally turned on my cell phone and switched on roaming data and my GPS app to get us there.

It was a lovely Spanish restaurant with lots of seafood. Patrick found it a bit challenging to find something to order but three of us quickly settled on the mixed seafood paella. Yum. No appetizer – it was more than enough to eat.

Three walked back a more efficient way; three of us cabbed it. In both cases, it was much shorter than the original!

Footnote: There is still an unusual amount of illness on this trip. It's not like we are traveling in a third world country – this shouldn't be happening. Folks are either catching a 24-hour virus moving around the bus. Or they have an upper respiratory problem, with massive amounts of hacking. Almost everyone has been hit by one or the other or both. I have been lucky.

Perhaps Tauck needs to look into disinfecting the motorcoach and making hand sanitizer SOP like the cruise ships.

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Photos

Dinner group at La Barraca
Tommye Fleming
Patrick Arnall
Barcy Fox
Anne Leverone
Quock Fong
Merlita Fong

Comments

[Kirchoff, Nancy]

Great day, great venue, great good and what an ending! I was there with you!!! Safe travels, Nancy

[Gutterson, Debbie]

Thanks for the scenic tour Tommye travel safely.Deb

[Kirchoff, Nancy]

Love this photo of the two of you!!!!