Madrid

Monday, after our overnight flight from JFK, we arrived in Madrid. We checked into the Hotel Europa with a room on the 5th floor overlooking the Puerta del Sol plaza, the heart of Madrid's old town. We ate a meal at the hotel's restaurant, sitting outside people watching. We walked following the guide book's recommended path through the old town to the Plaza Mayor, the plaza every Spanish and Latin American city has outside the main governmental buildings. From their we headed to the Royal Palace. The palace is like a museum of what it meant to "live like a king". Each royal family tried to outdo the others in opulence to show that they were a real dynasty and claim their place among the royal families of Europe. We continued our walk through Madrid's old town returning to our hotel for a restful afternoon. In the evening we wanted to try real Spanish tapas (small dishes) so we asked around and ended up at Lizarran. We had pinchos which are small pieces of bread topped with a variety of ingredients. We tried a number of different flavors but our favorite was cream cheese with strawberries and mushrooms.

The view of Puerta del Sol from our balcony

Kathy at the very center of Spain

Cute couple at the royal palace

The view from the royal palace over the valley below

The main staircase in the palace

A sample of the decor in the royal palace

Kathy consulting Rick Steves for guidance

Pinchos (a kind of tapa) at Lizarran

Yum!

Kurt in the Puerta del Sol with our hotel in the background

Tuesday we were up early and headed to Toledo, the former medieval capital of Spain. Toledo was originally chosen as the capital because it is centrally located and defensible as it is surrounded on three sides by the Rio Tojo. We took a Cercanias train to Madrid's main train station, Atocha, where we had reservations on a high-speed Ave train for the 30 minute ride to Toledo. We got tickets on the hop-on, hop-off bus and first circumvented the city for the views from all around before ascending up the hill to the Plaza Zocodover. The map of Toledo was hard to read so we had fun wandering around the maze of medieval streets, some wide enough to accommodate a car with others so narrow we had to walk single file. We found the Tuesday market where today's Toledoanos shop for everyday purchases like clothes, purses and food. We wandered around until we found the cathedral with its impressive altars and chapels. In the Sacristy, where the priests prepare for Mass, were a number of impressive paintings including a dozen by El Greco, the Greek immigrant who started the practice of adding emotions to the portraits he painted. We ate tapas (venison stuffed peppers) for lunch in a little square lost somewhere in the middle of Toledo and used our GPS to find our way back to the bus stop. A quick trip down the hill and we were back at the train station and headed back to Madrid. For dinner we tried more traditional tapas at Cerveceria Cervantes and discovered we preferred the pinchos at Lizarran!

The train station at Toledo (Tow-lay-doe)

The high speed train

A view of the medieval city

At the Zocodover square

Charming Spanish town

Market day in Toledo

Always on the lookout for a bargain!

The cathedral featured a number of portraits by El Greco

Inside the cathedral

Inside the train station

Wednesday the jet lag and busy day in Toledo caught up with us and we slept in. After a quick bite of egg on toast at the hotel we took the subway to the Reina Sofia museum, home to modern art and specifically Picasso's Guernica. It was interesting to see the large mural in person as reproductions miss many of the details and the display included photos of the work in process so we could see the transition from initial idea to final product. This image galvanized public opinion against Franco (it depicts the pre-WWII Nazi bombing of a town which was the stronghold of the democratically elected republican government of Spain) but the fascists won the Spanish Civil War anyways. The museum featured many works by Picasso, Miro and other Spanish artists and even some photographs by Man Ray. We had lunch in the plaza by the museum then walked by the botanical gardens to the Prado museum. Feeling "museumed out" we instead took the subway to the suburbs and walked arround the Madrid Temple. We headed back to the hotel and after a restful late afternoon at 9 PM we headed to Casa Patas. We had dinner then watched a Flamenco dancing show. The music was good and the dancers enthusiastic. At midnight, after the show, we walked back to our hotel and saw many Madrilenos just starting their evening.

Lunch outside the Reina Sofia Museum

 We took the subway to the Madrid Temple

At Casa Patas for our (late) night flamenco show

This guy really swung his head around as he danced

The view from our room at night

Thursday we got up, had our preferred eggs on toast for breakfast and to a taxi to Atocha for our train ride to Barcalona. The weather in Madrid for our entire stay was sunny, dry, cloudless and warm up to the mid-90s every day. We traveled around Madrid walking or on the subway (except with our luggage from the airport and to the train station we used taxis). We will miss room 428 at the Hotel Europa and opening the door to our little balcony to see and hear life on the Puerta del Sol below our room