Madrid - Again

We arrived in beautiful Madrid on a high-speed train and, since I am so done with walking everywhere and didn't want to wander all over looking for the address of our next AirBnb, I insisted on taking a taxi from the train station.  Our driver apologized and took a huge turn around a large chunk of the city to get to the address because he said, in part Spanish, part English and gestures, that it was easier to walk to it than drive to it.  Actually, it turns out that the apartment is directly across the street from the Atocha train station = $10 to go across the street.  But, on the bright side, we did find the address very easily and didn't have to walk all over looking for it. 😉

Our AirBnd apartment is lovely and very convenient for what we came to do before we head for France.  We are going to spend several hours tomorrow at the Reina Sofia Museum, which is across the street from Atocha Railway Station, which is across the street from us.  Then, I had high hopes of seeing some of that Harry Potter advertising that is supposed to be in 4 different places around the city.  Unfortunately, the "sculptures" may not be in place yet and, even if they are, it's all pretty far away from us.  The actual Harry Potter Exhibition doesn't begin until November 18 in Madrid, darn it.  But, perhaps we can do a taxi exploration while we take care of some personal errands.

We are carefully monitoring what is happening in Catalonia, but we decided to head to Figueres, north of Barcelona, anyway to see the Dali museum.  Friday we will know if that was a really stupid idea or not.  But, at least, we are not seeing danger alerts for American or British tourists.  So, it will probably be fine.

Photos from Madrid soon!

Ah, Madrid!

Madrid has squeezed every waking hour out of me.

Hence, the one day delay in posting to the blog.  The first night after we arrived, I left Steve sleeping and walked up to the Plaza Mayor, just to see it at night, watch the Paseo, and reconnoiter for the shoe shop I wanted to visit the next day.

All the way to the Plaza, there were people in the street: eating at outdoor cafe tables, chatting on street corners, and walking.  It was 8 o'clock and this was a LOT of people.  But, it was nothing compared to what I saw when I climbed the ancient cobbled incline into the Plaza Mayor itself.  I swear there were at least 1000 people there.  I sat down at a front row table, ordered a Coke (my new caffeine drink of choice because that is what there is) and watched the people go by: young, old, families, teenagers, some sitting on the grass (which turned out to be turf over cobbled Plaza).  It was amazing and absolutely everything I had been told.  For the price of a very expensive Coke, I could has stayed for hours.  But, after an hour, I had to go back to prepare for the next day.

Yes, that's my coke and it was delicious!

Afterwards, I wandered out to find Cash Hernanz, the shop where amazing espadrilles are sold.  It was not open on Sunday, but I could window shop and be ready for the next morning when I came back to beat the crowds.  I eventually bought a pair of bright red espadrilles, made in Spain, and fitted them with Dr. Scholl's inserts of course.  The Doctor is international apparently.  Still not sure if I like them, but for 13E how could I resist.

The next day, Monday, after I got up early and hiked to the Plaza for my beautiful espadrilles, Steve and I headed for the Plaza, food, and the first of three art museums.  It turns out that you can buy, online, a Paseo del Arte pass (30E each) that gets you into all three of the major art museums (Prado, Thyssen, and Sofia) for 20% off the total entrance fees.  You can get in quicker, get in once to each of the museums, and it's good for a year.  We discovered how great this was when we came out of the Prado.  Yes, all the museums are open at 7pm for free, but the line is several people wide and covers at least 2 city blocks.  At our age, I don't think we could have stood in a line like that and then walked all over the museum.

Plaza Mayor by day, when they apparently roll up and remove the sod.  Who knew?

This is for you, Mom.  I know you love these. They were in a shop on the Plaza, which wasn't open when we were there, unfortunately.

The Addams Family seems to be in town.

Velasquez in front of the Prado.

Goya in front, too.

This is the "free" line after 7pm.  Photo taken at 6pm.

The Prado was fantastic!  https://www.museodelprado.es/en No pictures allowed (even with flash turned off), but that let us really focus on the art.  Yes, Gary, I saw some amazing Velasquez paintings.  He did paint light beautifully.  I discovered another artist who was good that way, too - Anton Raphael Megs.  I never heard of him, but I really liked the way he painted. Of course, there were all the masters, but I didn't find the impressionists that I was looking for: Manet, Monet, Renoir, etc.  Those were at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. https://www.museothyssen.org/en   

Today, after fixing a travel snafu at Atocha station, we went to the Thyssen and it had a lot of the works that I had hoped I would see in the Prado.  The Thyssen was less, shall we say, aloof than the Prado and I was able to take a few photos of my favourites (without flash, of course).  Tomorrow, I will post a few of my favourites and a couple from the Botanical Garden that we found nearby.  But, we have to prepare for an early train (and bus) ride because we are going to Granada in the morning!

More later.

Planning for Madrid

Yesterday, we scouted the next day's trip to the Alicante railroad station answer questions and wandered down to the beach to say goodbye.

Who doesn't need to have their photo taken with a cow at the rail station?

There are a few wide dirt paths near the water in Alicante, but the majority seem to be made of shiny marble  mosaics.  You've already seen the the Escher-like Esplanada and the waterfront walk.  This is the walk in front of the commercial storefronts.

Postiguet Beach below downtown Alicante.  I walked in the lapping surf for quite a way and  I can attest that the sand is golden.  I swear the Mediterranean water is about 80 degrees.  It felt like a heated swmming pool once I acclimated.  That cannot be said of the Oregon and California beaches I walked on this summer.

Many Spaniards were showing their patriotism by hanging the Spanish flag from their balconies in the city.  I assume that has to do with the Catalan independence referendum voting that has been going on all day today.

We took an exciting trip on the high speed railroad, Renfe Ave, to Madrid today.  There was some confusion about which bus we needed to get to the station, but it all worked out.  We weren't even frisked, only the X-ray for our baggage - and... we even got to keep our belts and shoes on!  It was more comfortable, but I'm not sure that makes me feel more secure.

This is after we passed through Security.  The line for the platform we want started here.

On the right is our train.  We walked several city blocks, kept looking  for Coche (Car)  5, and discovered that Coche 5 was on the train parked in front of that train.

Coche 5 and Can Can dancer.

That train WAS very fast.  I'm pretty sure the train to Portland didn't get even close to 150 mph, and yet we could see the landscape very well as we whizzed by.  Most of it was rolling hills that looked very like Southern California and Arizona.  Apparently we passed La Mancha while I was napping, darn it.

Some of you may have heard that there was a stabbing incident at the Marseilles railroad station today.  It was a close thing.  We were considering going to Marseilles rather than Madrid, but it would have been by air because the flights were so very cheap now and that saves time.  Our Madrid trip was uneventful that way, on the train, at the stations, and in the city.  What a lovely city!

The Madrid Renfe Station, Atocha, was unique and interesting.

This place is HUGE; definitely a national hub.

It even has a meandering walkway through a man-made jungle.

Our taxi driver dropped us off in the middle of this block.

Here's the view from our AirBnb apartment door.  Those lines you see are our dedicated clothes lines.  [Yes, very few use a laundry dryer and the washer, if you have one, is either in the kitchen or the bathroom.]  I'm told by our host that these corrales (private courtyards) were very common in the 16th century, but very few survive today.  This neighborhood, Lavapies, was "the walled-in "Juderie" - the medieval Jewish quarter until Jews were forced into exile or conversion in 1492."  It seems to be a very interesting, lively barrio and our location is within easy walking distance of most of the sites we want to see.  [Oh, and I must say that Madrid smells better to me so far than many parts of Alicante.  Perhaps it was the proximity of the sea or difficulties with sewage, but what a difference.]

The view from our door.  There is a black and white marble tiled walkway the width of the building with other apartments opening onto it.  Ours is a very tiny one bedroom, but it will work.

Of course, the first thing we did after settling in a little was to go for a meal and do a little shopping at the local mercado.  We made a rookie error at our first stop.  Using our pidgin Spanish, we ordered what we thought was two entrees and a shared vegetable dish.  However, we should have realized when the waiter playfully rolled his eyes taking our order, that each of those 3 items were family sized communal bowls to share.  So, needless to say, we unintentionally reinforced the stereotype of the overeating American; ordering too much, paying too much, and leaving too much food on the table.  Lesson learned.

However, the Jamon Iberico was delicious, salty, chewy, and divine. We didn't leave too much of this.

Well, I'm off to buy some new sandals or espadrilles.  I'm down to my comfortable hiking books because I literally wore out my sandals walking everywhere.  It's in the high eighties (degrees) here and these hiking boots just won't cut it.

Photos of Madrid tomorrow night.  Buenos noches!