The Spanish Capital

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Today is our last day in Spain, and our only full day to explore Madrid, Spain's capital city. We set out mid-morning with the Royal Palace of Madrid the first item on our agenda. The Royal Palace of Madrid, or the Palacio Real, is the official residence of the King of Spain in Madrid, but is only used for State Ceremonies. We spent a couple of hours touring the Palace as well as its pharmacy and armory before making our way across the plaza to the Cathedral of Madrid. When the the capital of Spain was moved from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, the seat of the Church remained in Toledo, so Madrid had no cathedral, which was quite unusual for a capital of a Catholic country. Plans for a cathedral were discussed as early as the 16th century, but construction of a Cathedral did not begin until 1879. Construction was then halted during the Spanish Civil War and did not resume until 1950 and wasn't completed until 1993. The Cathedral is very different from most of those we have seen throughout our trip, in that it is uniquely modern in its design and decor. After a brief stop at the Cathedral we made our way to the Basilica de San Francisco, which is located in one of the oldest districts of Madrid. The 18th century church is Madrid's largest and is still used today. Unfortunately the Church was closed when we stopped by, so we were unable to see its interior. Unable to tour the Church, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat from a nearby supermarket before continuing on.

After lunch we walked through the old center of Madrid known as Los Austrias, which is named such because this historical center was built during the reign of the Habsburg Dynasty. We eventually made our way to the Plaza Mayor. The Plaza Mayor is the most notable construction by the Habsburgs and is a large, rectangular plaza surrounded by arcades and accessible by nine entrances. During the time of the Habsburgs' reign the Plaza Mayor was used for bullfights, executions, and coronations. After strolling around the Plaza Mayor and the surrounding streets of Los Austrias, we headed back to the hotel for a rest before coming back into town for dinner.

After a rest we headed back for the area of Los Austrias to find a good Tapas restaurant to enjoy our last night in Spain. After some amazing Patatas Bravas, Pincho Moreno, and Croquettes we made our way to the Chocolateria San Ginés for some chocolate y churros, before heading back to the hotel to get some rest before our 7:00 a.m. flight tomorrow to Paris.

Taking in some art on a Sunday afternoon

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

We woke early this morning to take a taxi from our hotel in Seville to the train station to catch an 8:45 a.m. train to Madrid. The trip was about two and a half hours, much better than the eight our train ride it took us to get to Seville. Upon our arrival in the Madrid Atocha train station we got directions from a lady at the tourist information booth on how to get to our hotel by metro. I have to admit the first couple of times we arrived in a city without knowing EXACTLY where our hotel was and how to get to it, I was a bit stressed, but by now I’ve learned, that there is a tourist office in every train station/airport and if you can’t quite get to where you are going with their directions alone, that people are generally happy to help you find your way. We followed the lady’s directions, switching metro lines once and arrived at the metro station she said was closest to our hotel. The hotel was not in direct sight, so I asked a bystander if they knew where it was, and sure enough, they kindly pointed us in the right direction. Once at the hotel we checked in and dropped our bags before heading back in to the center of town on the Metro.

I had read in our travel guide that a couple of Madrid’s more famous museums were free on Sundays, so we decided to give a couple of them a go. First stop was the Museo de Arte de Reina Sofia, Madrid’s modern art museum and home to works by such famous Spanish artists as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, among others. After touring the areas of the museum where many of these artists’ works are featured, we left the museum to grab some lunch, as it was nearly after 2 o’clock at this point.

After lunch we walked down to the El Prado Museum, Spain’s most famous museum. When we reached the ticket booth however we realized that the free hours did not start until 5:00 p.m. So we decided to come back a little later so we could take advantage of the free admittance. Instead we went to the Caixa Forum and toured a moving photography exhibit that was featured there. After exploring the Caixa Forum we stopped for a snack and to relax for a bit before heading back to the Prado Museum.

Shortly after five o’clock we walked back in the direction of the Prado Museum, however, to our dismay we discovered that we weren’t the only ones looking to take advantage of the free admission, the line was a couple hundred yards long, and not being the biggest art museum people to begin with, we decided to give it a pass. So we made our way back towards the metro station, stopping first at the train station to book our tickets to Toledo for tomorrow before heading back to our hotel.

The remainder of the evening we spent in the area around our hotel. We went for a couple of drinks and a snack at a café nearby before returning to our hotel. A couple of hours later we inquired about restaurants in the area or markets, only to discover that not much was open in the area on a Sunday evening, so we ended up going back to the same café for dinner, I don’t think they recognized us, but we felt a bit silly.

Tomorrow we rise early to take a train to Toledo where we will spend the day.