Dale had a one-week break in his teaching schedule so we decided to visit Madrid. We rode the Renfe high-speed train, traveling between Barcelona and Madrid in less than 3 hours, enjoying free wifi and a silent car. (As a side note, we really wish US cities would offer more rail transport. Fewer cars, less traffic, less stress--life without the expense and pain of owning a car has been maravillosa!) We took a taxi from the train station to our Aloft hotel on Gran Via, in the heart of the city.
Even knowing that Madrid is the largest (capital) city in Spain, we were still surprised to see the streets absolutely packed with people and traffic. Unbeknownst to us, we had arrived on a weekend that encompassed Halloween, the All Saints Holiday, and a festival of lights, so the crowds were intense. The Covid-wary introvert in Darcie was no feliz.
That evening, we ate an early (7:30pm) dinner at a nearby steak house named “Mu,” because we couldn’t resist a good pun and because, meat. The next day, we joined a walking tour of the west part of the city. Madrid has a fascinating history—it wasn’t the capital of Spain until 1561 when King Felipe II declared it so. On our tour, we mostly learned about Spain between the 1500’s and 1700’s ("Habsburg Spain"), when all of Spain’s kings were either named Charles or Philip. We noticed that the city's architecture is beautiful! And unlike Barcelona, which seems to pride itself on hiding street names from lost navigators, Madrid’s streets signs are colorful, tiled signs depicting the history of the street’s name.
The tour also went by the Botin Restaurante, claiming to be the world's oldest restaurant in continuous service, since 1725.
And, because Dale's nickname is "Ducky," we had to visit this Duck store at the Plaza Mayor.
On Monday, we went to the Reina Sofia museum. Unfortunately, we bought our tickets for a day that was a national holiday, and we’re assuming that’s why the museum was so crowded. We waited for 30 minutes with advance tickets just to get inside, and there were lines to get into the major exhibit rooms too. While the artwork was amazing—lots of Dali, Picasso, Miro and other famous Spanish artists—the museum did a terrible job of managing crowds and educating visitors. Only the name of the artwork and the artist were displayed. There was no description of the art, no context for why it was important, why it was displayed in a particular area of the collection—nothing. Visitors could buy an audio tour or download apps, but it was extremely disappointing that the museum didn’t provide this info visually. Nonetheless, we included some photos of artwork that caught our eye.
On Tuesday we walked to Retiro Park, which was huge (about half the size of Central Park in NYC). There are walking and biking paths everywhere, a lake for boating, and several galleries showing free exhibits. We entered the Palacio de Velazquez and viewed a display of hanging canvasses by the artist Vivian Suter. The colors and shapes were entrancing.
After our disappointing visit to the Reina Sofia Museum, we decided to visit the Museum of Illusions. We may have been the only adults unaccompanied by children…yet the child inside us delighted in this museum. Most of the illusions were visual but there were some demonstrating other cognitive tricks like the Stroop Effect and Figure/Ground images that reminded Darcie of her Cognitive Psychology classes. The museum did a great job of explaining the way our minds process the illusions, and also gave tips for how to photograph some of them.
After the museum, we walked to Mercado de San Miguel, an indoor marketplace full of stalls of gourmet food and drinks. We filmed one vendor as he sliced Iberian ham, which is delicious.
We didn't visit all of the museums in Madrid, because we were getting tired. So, we skipped the famous Prado museum, as well as these "museums" for gourmands.
Since we had read about the Manzanares River Walk, we tried it, starting at the King’s Bridge (Puente del Rey). To be honest, and compared to other river walks, this one was not super scenic. The river was tiny and very shallow in the places we saw, and the parks, buildings and streets along the river were not really impressive.
During one afternoon, we walked to the Chueca barrio (neighborhood), famous for its LGBTQ+ residents, restaurants and shops. We ate dessert at La Polleria, which had long lines to taste their famous phallic waffles...
Another afternoon, we headed to the Royal Palace where entrance was free after 4pm. We stood in a long line but once we got inside, the traffic flowed well. Compared to the spartan life we were living, we were amazed at the palace opulence. Paintings on almost every ceiling; stunning crystal chandeliers with nary a cobweb; wallpaper that matched the upholstery; paintings, statues and artwork everywhere…it was grandiose to the extreme!
Based on a recommendation of a fellow guest at our hotel, we also visited the Puerta del Sol, perhaps the most well-known public square in Madrid. It was definitely sunny, but cold! We quickly snapped a picture of the famous statue, El Oso y el Madrono (the bear and the strawberry tree), which is the symbol of Madrid, then we ate tapas at a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the square.
All in all, Madrid was a fun trip and we're glad we went, but we preferred Barcelona. Madrid seemed more serious, larger, official...more...grown-up. We missed the outdoor bars, restaurants and activities of Barcelona, and while Madrid probably can't offer as much because of their weather and perhaps the city infrastructure, it's a definite cultural difference between the cities too. And so, we returned to Barcelona.
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