Marvellous Magnificent Madrid

Madrid for us was art and subways.  We could not find a hotel in our price range in the centre of Madrid but found a very nice business hotel in the suburb of San Blas.  This gave us the opportunity to explore the subterranean life of Madrid.  Madrid’s subway system is extensive and very good.  It is a whole other city underground.  I am sure that the entire population of Madrid could fit in the metro’s tunnels and walkways and I think we wandered through most of them.

Madrid metro system

When we surfaced from the underground world so magnificent buildings were before us.

Post Office building at night

Ministry of Agriculture building near the train station

Arch King Carlos III

The must see for me in Madrid was the Prado and see it we did.  We spent 7 hours walking through the galleries seeing the most amazing artwork.  It was heaven but exhausting.  There were works of Rubens, Francisco Goya, El Greco, Caravaggio, Titian, Diego Velázquez and so many more.  I especially liked the works of Jaoquin Sorolla and Carlos de Has, two artists which I was not previously familiar.  The signage was excellent throughout the museum so I learned so much.

Another day we went to the Royal Palace, another magnificent building filled with artwork.  The Royal Palace is the official residence of the King in Madrid but the family live in a more ‘modest’ palace on the outskirts of the city.  The Palace was built in the mid 18^th Century and contains over 3,400 rooms.  The public is allowed in perhaps 30 rooms and just that sample is overwhelming in its splendour.  The walls are covered in paintings of the masters and rare tapestries.  The ceilings are decorated in ornate and intricate frescos and plasterwork.  There is also an extensive 13 - 15^th Century Armoury that makes the one at the Wallace Collection look small.

the Royal Palace

Ceiling Frescoes and decorations

More ceilings

Close up of Armour

We also went to the Museum de Arte Reina Sofia.  I had missed out on the Picasso museum in Barcelona so wanted to see some of his work as well as Dali and Miro.  The Reina Sofia museum is certainly the place to see the work of these artists.  Modern art is not my favourite but these pieces were quite thought provoking.  There was Guernica, Picasso’s masterpiece on the Spanish Civil war and several very strange Dali’s.

The Enigma of Hitler

Imperial Monument to the Child Woman

Finally on our last day the weather cleared into a sunny, if crisp, day.  We took the opportunity to explore the Retiro Park and the Crystal Palace.  Retiro Park is a lovely public space on the eastern of central Madrid.  The Crystal Palace in the park had yet another art exhibit.  Inside this beautiful light and airy glass building were fossil bones of every shape and size hanging on bits of wire and tucked amongst these bones was a Jesus figure.  Interesting symbolism.

The Crystal Palace

Art installation - fossils and Jesus

So ended our visit to Madrid and our European Tour of 11 countries in 11 weeks.  Next stop back to Turkey and Songster.