<<It's very understandable to get a flamenco overload after four nights in three weeks, but just as easily it turns into something that makes the fifth night the most natural thing in the world>>

kimhe, that's the marital divide right there!

Nelson, thank you for your comments and posting regularly, too. I appreciate hearing from you and other posters -- otherwise, the effort wouldn't be worth it.

<<Lots of interesting thoughts and insights, kind of sad your TR is coming to an end>>
Aideleaidean, That's the sweetest thing anyone can say! Thank you!

I'm not quite finished, though - but getting there.

Paule

Paule, we are still here! I am sitting in seat C26, I'm the one with the dog-eared Spanish dictionary and Rick Steves' "Guide to Really Cool Tapas and Thingies in Andalucia".

Hope you have the energy to finish the last Madrid bit. And also maybe some final philosophical wrap-up of your trip? I think it was your first one to the area so your impressions are really helpful for newbies like us as we plan our trip for October.

Gracias!

Thanks so much EYWandBTV! I'm still here and the next installment is about to come!

Thursday, May 21 – A walk through the Park and lots of Art

After the hot spell we had in the south, we had a surprisingly chilly cold snap in Madrid. The days were very comfortable but we definitely needed the jackets in the evening.

Our mornings begin slowly, as we putter around our apartment for a while. Finally, off to the Prado, a short walk from our little home.

The Prado – well, what is there to say? This is a grand museum that is up there as one of the world’s best for a good reason. It is massive, and overwhelming, but it was thrilling to walk into the Prado, a place we’ve read about all our lives. Finally, we are here.

I had looked into getting one of the reduced tickets for entry, but with the over-65 discount for M, it wasn’t worth it. And, as it turned out, there were reduced admissions in all the museums for teachers (I’m an adjunct at a university). We did have to wait on line (Goya entrance) to buy our tickets, but it wasn’t too bad, perhaps 20 minutes.

It is impossible to do justice in one visit. We chose the few artists that we were both interested in seeing – no surprises here, they were Hieronymus Bosch, Velazquez and Goya – and focused on finding them, and then we wandered a bit more to see what caught our eyes.

My parents were both artists and, as a child, I remember seeing Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights and was both fascinated and scared by the many images in the painting. And finally, seeing it “live” was amazing.

The Velazquez and the Goya paintings were equally exciting to see. As a major artist for the court of King Philip IV, the Velazquez paintings were impressive in capturing the royal family. We spent a long time in front of his masterpiece, Las Meninas.

And Goya – wow! The passion and intensity of his paintings is second to none. The Prado has a significant collection of Goya, so we spent time searching his paintings out.

All in all, we were there for a good several hours, more than we often spend in a museum, before we started to feel Art Overload. We stopped in the café for a light lunch, before leaving.

After the museum, we walked through Real Jardin Botanico, a small botanical garden founded by the king in 1755. It was a pleasant stroll, although at the end of May, there was very little blooming at the time. Still, a nice respite after the museum – and another instance when we were not charged an entry admission because M is 65+ and I had my instructor ID!

We then took a very enjoyable walk through the Parque del Buen Retiro, a beautifully laid out park, with several lovely attractions within it. Loved the Palacio de Cristal, which contained a fun, a site-specific installation with a large Bedouin tent containing lots of rugs and seating areas, so that people sprawled all over the place! I loved the juxtaposition of the tent inside the Victorian glass palace.

Continuing on, we then saw a Carl Andre exhibit, another site-specific instatllation, at the Palacio de Velasquez, an attractive exhibition hall built in the 19th century for a national exhibition.

We continued on to the lake – well, a very small artificial “lake”, also known as the Retiro Pond, filled with people rowing boats. The lake is crowned by a monument to King Alfonso XII (and if you frame your photo of the lake just so, you won’t see the city buildings in the background!).

We walked out the northern end of the park, and continued north. We had the intention of exploring the areas of Salamanca and Chueca, and we were able to walk a little ways, but were really feeling tired by this time and unprepared for a long walk. We then stopped in the Mercado San Anton, an elegant market, a combined a traditional produce market with lots of eateries within. It’s on several levels, and there is an outside eating area, too.

We continued back, and wandered through the Puerta del Sol – the carnival doesn’t cease to amaze us! We were most concerned over safety in this area, having known several people who’ve been mugged in Madrid in the past, but never once did we feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

After that, a good break at the apartment, until the early evening when we took a lovely stroll around the Barrio de Las Lettres -- beautiful light! The atmosphere was glorious, one of those moments of being somewhere out of time, in a magical place. A highlight!

We met our friend for dinner at Lamucca on Calle de Prado. The place was hopping and had a great energy, although service was a bit slow. I liked it, M. didn't care for it because it was not especially Spanish, but it was great to spend the evening with our friend.

After several hours, we parted. It was a cold, cold night walking home!

Thank you, great info. Looking forward to seeing the Velasquez, especially Las Meninas. Picasso did a series of paintings "dissecting" this wonderful, complex masterpiece. They are in Barcelona.

Progol - thank you for this instalment - more great info!

Again, I've really enjoyed the instalments on the places we visited last year and reliving many of our happy memories and the instalments on the places we will visit this year have given me lots of great info!

And thanks to everyone who added the extra tidbits of info, they were also very helpful.

EYWandBTV - glad you're enjoying this still. I'm sure you'll enjoy seeing the Velasquez!

debinthepeg -- and again, thank you for thoughts! It is definitely motivating to know that this is helpful!

More to come...

Friday May 22 - Grand art and Ancient to Modern Art

Another slow morning -- we are definitely taking it easier than we ever have before. Eventually, we got out and wandered over to the Real Palacio, the official residence of the royal family but now used only for state ceremonies. This is a voluptuous, baroque palace in the 18th Century Grand Monarchy mode. There is a sweeping staircase as you enter and photos are allowed here, but once inside, no photography is allowed. And the rooms – one more lavish than the next: marble enameled chinoiserie, rococo frescoed ceilings -- you name it! There was a Stradivarius room with several instruments by the artist. And a great armory room. Although there were several tour groups going through at the same time, it was still quite manageable. Personally, this type of tourist sight isn’t as important to me as seeing the art museums, but overall, this is a very worthwhile tour of a grand palace, and I’m glad we visited.

We then walked further north. My mission – to find the Temple of Debod, the ancient Egyptian temple donated by Egypt in the early 1970s in gratitude to Spain for assistance in salvaging some of their ancient sites. The temple is located near the Real Palacio in the Parque del Oeste. It was a longer walk than we anticipated and, unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the small temple had just closed. Photos of the temple at sunset are beautiful and I’m sure the place can be quite special, but as we walked around the park, we found it a bit scraggly around the edges. The views of Madrid during the day were okay, but not especially notable and hardly worth taking a long hike to see.

After that long walk, we walked over to Plaza de Espana, with its grand Art Deco monument to Cervantes. This is a large square and tourist destination, located at the western end of Gran Via. While this might be a popular location, I agree with Rick Steves on this point, who says that the plaza is “a bit tired”.

And so were we. We took the bus down Gran Via, a quick and easy ride, and searched a while before finding the Circulo de Bellas Artes. Our friend had recommended the rooftop for great views of Madrid. It’s 4 euros to the top, and there’s a bar/restaurant, a variety of seating areas, and terrific views over Madrid. Now that was worth it!

We walked back to our neck of the woods, looking for Gala, a small paella restaurant that had been recommended to us. Well, we arrived just before it closed, and were seated in an almost empty dining room, and they proceeded to clean up as we sat there. And if the paella had been good, perhaps we would’ve overlooked this, but no, it wasn’t. Not awful, but not good.

After our afternoon siesta, we went to the Reina Sofia -- fabulous! And admission for us was free, thanks to our status as 65+ and teacher. Thank you! We spent a long time at the museum, seeing Dali, Bunuel's Chien Andalou, and of course, Guernica. I felt tears well up seeing it here, finally returned to Spain, after seeing it so many times in NYC at the MOMA. We also discovered an artist, Luis Quintanilla, whose illustrations of the Civil War were incredibly powerful. In fact, the entire section on the Spanish Civil War was very moving to us both. It was really the most we felt the presence of this era during our trip, and it was very sobering. We loved the museum – a definite highlight.

There was a lot of energy in the plaza around the museum, with kids hanging out and playing. We saw some political election activities, as the local mayoral elections were coming up -- one candidate was greeting voters and another small group arrived at the plaza marching with posters spelling out Manuela, a leftwing former judge and eventual winner of the election. Interesting to be touched slightly and reminded of real life in the city.

On our way back to the apartment we picked up fixings for a meal and made a lovely salad with pear, avocado, cheese, and ham. This was delicious! It was great to enjoy the apartment benefits.

Another meander around the neighborhood and it was time to call it a night.

Yes, still following, the TR is great, thanks again!

Still enjoying your TR. You really do make your destinatins come alive.

Second everything you say about the Reina Sofia museum, very powerful and moving. Almost blew my head off the first time I was here.

Here is Rocio Molina dancing in Reina Sofia in relation to the "¿La guerra ha terminado? Arte en un mundo dividido (1945-1968)" collection (Is the war over? Art in a divided world 1945-1968). She's doing a tribute to Antonia Mercé La Argentina, 1890-1936: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1rdAnrXbKQ

About the collection: http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/col...n/collection-2
http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/act...orld-1945-1968

Reagrding your first flamenco night in Sevilla, here's an interview with Rafael Riqueni in the most important flamenco magazine (translated to English): http://www.deflamenco.com/revista/en...riqueni-1.html

kimhe,
The article above about Rafael Riqueni is so poignant and he is right, his history comes through on the stage. We were both struck by his incredibly modest demeanor, too -- it is clear why he is so very loved by the Sevillano audience.

<<Second everything you say about the Reina Sofia museum, very powerful and moving. Almost blew my head off the first time I was here.
>>

We kept saying how blown away we were from the show -- it has stayed with us. We really fell in love with the work by Luis Quintanilla -- his illustrations of the war haunted us:

http://www.lqart.org/francosbspn/blackspn.html

yestravel-- Thank you for your kind words! It's reading your reports that have influenced mine!

crosscheck - I'm glad that you are enjoying the TR, too!

EYWandBTV - thanks again!

Lovely. Thank you.

Thanks, Adelaidean! We are now coming to the end -- I feel almost sad as I finish writing the last day!

Sat, May 23 – Last day and more Art, inside and outside!

Up early and today, we manage to get our coffee just right! After several days of playing with the proportions and dealing with an odd, electric stove, I was very pleased to finally figure out our coffee! These are the challenges of apartment living away from home.

Tomorrow we leave on a 9:30am flight. With the help of Cesar, our charming and delightful host, we were able to check in and get our boarding passes. He is helpful & welcoming but not interfering – a perfect balance. I had been concerned that staying in an apartment before we return – that is, not having the help of a hotel – would be a problem, but this has worked out just fine. Our apartment has also been a pleasant one to come back to, and the noise from the street has been minimal. For a second trip to Madrid, I would stay less centrally, but this was a great place to stay for a first visit.

Today we went to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza -- another amazing museum with an astounding collection! This is one of the world’s best private collections, ranging from the middle ages to late 20th century. You would think that we wouldn’t have the stamina to go through the museum, but each era had such stellar work on display, that it was impossible not to get absorbed. It’s hard to say what stood out, because there were so many –Caravaggio? Canaletto? Rembrandt? I was struck by Jan Brueughel’s “Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden”, which reminded me of his father’s painting, “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” – the subject of the paintings recede into the background in both. Interesting. Or, having just watched the series, “Wolf Hall”, I had to smile when I saw Holbein’s portrait of Henry VIII – of course!

The later paintings are also impressive. They have a wonderful collection of impressionists and post-Impressionists and some of the best of the 20th C artists - so many masterpieces! I can still see Edward Hopper’s “Hotel Room” in my mind. We were there for several hours taking it all in.

After our art immersion, we returned to the apartment and had lunch with the rest of the fixings we had. The afternoon plan was pretty loose. My intention was to do some shopping for gifts, but this ended up being a very frustrating mission.

I had wanted to see El Corte Ingles anyway, and figured that it would be a good way to shop and see the department store so many people raved about. We ended up going to El Corte Ingles in the Puerta Del Sol area by C/Preciadis. It was not much fun at all – hey, it’s a department store! Nothing especially entertaining about this and why I thought it would be, I have no idea. Add the fact that M. is not a shopper, especially in large department stores, and it had all the elements of a not ideal tourist experience!

M & I decided to split up while I shopped to limit the shopping angst. I went to the section for accessories, looking for small items to purchase. I found store personnel not especially helpful, with one person downright rude. I bought a handful of fans (abanicos) for small gifts and we got some tee shirts for the grandkids. Not a great plan for shopping, and it depleted us both. By the way, I saw the same fans on the street for a lot less as we walked around the crowded tourist center.

I had been hoping to convince M to attend a flamenco show on our last night in Madrid, and Cardamomo was a pretty close walk to our apartment. I had called to make reservations for the 8pm show, but we were told that there were no more seats. We decided to stop by and they were able to make room for us, but the seats were far from the stage. It was one of those moments when M would’ve done it for me, but he really didn't want to go. And I was ambivalent, too -- 25 euros for a 50-minute show is a hefty price for not great seats, so I decided to let it go. We saw some great shows on this trip that we both enjoyed, so no complaints.

That evening, we took a great walk through a very colorful area -- Lavapies -- and really enjoyed it. A funkier, mixed ethnic area, with lots of younger people sitting outside in smalI cafes; it reminded me of a less crowded Williamsburg (NYC) slash San Francisco of an earlier time. There was that great, magical light, walking along narrow streets, and it felt very different from the other parts of the city that we’d seen.

And the street art! Not simply graffiti, but wonderful works of art – are everywhere. On storefronts, building walls, any place that can be reached, it seems –paintings, murals and all sorts of images are painted in this free “open air gallery”! Loved it!

We ended up eating in the Maceiras annex, a few doors down from us, mostly for convenience, as we needed to get back and pack for our 9:30am flight tomorrow. We ordered far too much but again enjoyed the tender octopus, the bacalao croquettas (delicious) and, as recommended by my friend, C, we ordered the pimientos de padron (excellent!). The razor clams and the stuffed scallop shell, well, they were not memorable.

Finally, we have come to the end of this remarkable tirp – time to pack and get up early tomorrow. Our friend, E, is meeting us at 6:30 to take us to the airport. Home tomorrow!

And that, my friends, is the end of our fabulous 3-week trip to España!

(....but I will certainly have a few more thoughts to add after this.......)

Hope that Paloma Fantova (Cádiz, 1988) didn't perform on your night at Cardamomo... Here she tears down the house in prestigious Sadler's Wells in London together with much more famous - so far at least - guitarist Tomatito. Fantova's career is taking off right now, she is one of the major on the current scene, but she still dances a week or two every month in Cardamomo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck7hMzNH3b8

Another good reason to come back ;-) http://www.tablaocordobes.es/en/palo...lamenco-dancer
http://cardamomo.es/artistas/?lang=en

"end of our fabulous 3-week trip..." And a fabulous TR -- your trip sounded wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to provide so much detail and insights.

So pleased you liked the peppers.

Thanks for an entertaining and informative report, well done !

C

kimhe, I don't want to know who I missed at Cardamomo, then I might feel really bad! But now, at least, I can plan for the next time!

yestravel - the trip was truly wonderful! It's hard to put a finger on all the qualities, but it added up to a great trip. I'm really pleased you enjoyed the TR!

sartoric, aka, "C", the peppers were delicioso! I'm glad I got a chance to eat them!