A Day Full of Art

AT THE PRADO


CAFE DE ORIENTE

Our hotel fee does not include breakfast -- that is actually rare for hotels in Madrid. So after showering and getting dressed we hit the streets in search of a cafe for breakfast. Well we walked and walked and walked and could not find a cafe!!! We finally ended up at the Prado Museum, where we planned to go anyhow, and had coffee and a croissant at their cafe. It was actually quite good. Then we strolled through the Prado. What a wonderful museum. The rooms are chock full of old masters. Paintings that I've gazed at in books but never dreamed of seeing in person. The museum was very well lit (no glare on the paintings) and we were actually allowed to take pictures in the museum. We passed several people who were painting replicas of some of the old masters. We guess they were art students or studying to be art restorers. Brad got to see his favorite El Greco painting, The Allegory, and a new favorite by Goya of a dog. I got to see one of my favorites by Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights. One could spend hours in front of that painting, there are so many bizarred details in it. Bosch, whom the Spaniards call El Bosco, certainly had a strange imagination. After a few hours in the Prado we were ready for lunch. We walked and walked again until we found a little joint just outside the Reina Sofia museum called El Brillante. It was a typical Madrid bocadilleria (sandwich shop), we stood at a counter to eat our sandwiches. There were no tables at all in the joint. The sandwiches were very good. I had a Tortilla Espanol and Brad had a Chorizo bocadillo. After lunch we went into the Reina Sofia -- it is a modern art museum. They have a large collection of Picasso paintings, most notably Guernica. We also saw some Miro paintings and several Dali paintings including many before he got into his surreal phase.

After the museum we walked and walked again. I took a ton of pictures. Madrid is a fascinating and photogenic city. We popped into Madrid's largest dept. store chain, El Corte Ingles, for some browsing, then headed back to the room for a rest.

We fancied some late afternoon coffee so after our rest we headed over to Plaza de Oriente. There is a lovely formal garden there and a famous statue of a horse rearing up on its hind legs. It took none other than Galileo Galelei to figure out how to prevent the statue from toppling over (the rear of the statue is solid, the front is hollow). Also nearby are the Royal Palace and Madrid's Cathedral. We stopped of at Cafe Oriente for some more delicious coffee. We have learned we must order cafe con leche. We get some very strong coffee with heated milk with just a little bit of foam. Delicious!!!

After coffee we explored the cathedral. It is relatively new in construction. It was begun in the late 1800s and finished in 1993. Done in neo-gothic style and quite handsome. Nearby the cathedral is the Arab wall, the only remaining example of moorish architecture in Madrid. What a pathetic sample it was. Just a scrap of a stone and brick wall with the grounds overgrown with long grass and weeds, strewn with litter. It looks as if it is a hangout for homeless people.

We went back to the hotel again for a rest, then went to dinner at a place very close to Plaza Mayor again. It was called Las Cuevas de Luis Somebody. It is a bit touristy but said to have good tapas. We were greeted at the door by a man dressed up as a 19th century bandito, complete with fake rifle. (at least I think it was fake.) All the waiters wore funky little uniforms with goofy hats. The walls of the cave like rooms were adorned with bullfighting posters and bull's heads. The food was pretty good, but not great.

For dessert we went to the Chocolateria de San Gines for an authentic Madrid treat -- hot chocolate and churros. The hot chocolate is as thick as pudding and the churros are deep fried pastry sticks taht you dip in the chocolate. It is often eaten for breakfast here. It was good and rich, though I preferred the chocolate we had in Barcelona. We watched them making the churros. The batter is squirted out as a huge spiral from a big can into a deep vat of hot oil. When done the waiters cut the spiral with scissors into manageable portions about 6 inches long.