Madrid
The time has come to say goodbye to Europe and return home to our family and friends.
But before that happens, a few days in Madrid were enjoyed.
I am writing this awaiting our flight, so no fluffing around. After we arrived in Madrid from Segovia, our first task was to find the Tourist Information office and get the lay down on popular tourist activities.
Plaza Mayor had a TI (Tourist Information) office - this square is central to much activity.
Here's a closer view of the interesting artwork on one of the main buildings.
We enjoyed another tasting tour here in Madrid - this time it was an evening tour run by Devour Tours.
Andre, our guide had a full house - ten people in this tour - it started at 7:30pm and finished about 11pm.
These tasting tours were a huge highlight on our holiday; I strongly recommend them because they really do combine the tastes of the place with learning about the history and sites to visit.
Here are a few more photographs I took over the two days we had in Madrid.
First San Miguel market... teeming with humanity with interesting food displays. Here's a fruit display that was for show only!
Olives are as popular here as in Portugal:
Nuts:
Sweets:
Something huge was going on with the lottery while we were there... queues were extraordinary. I suppose winning the lottery is everyone's dream, but am unsure how regular this sort of activity is generated.
Madrid has their Royal Palace which, according to our Devour Taste tour guide, has 3,850 rooms. Twice the size of Buckingham Palace and Versailles.
The palace is next to the cathedral... we made the decision to appreciate the architecture from the outside. Do you think there'd be an altar and a statue of Mary much different to the 16 we've already seen?
By the way, 16 versions of the same person was an educated guess - Dr Google just sent me an email telling me that in the month of October, Ruth and I visited 33 cities. I figure that we saw a Mary statue in about one of each two cities.
Dr Google has just released its "Timeline" feature. I think it has recorded every movement I've made while carrying my phone.
That includes car travel, walking, restaurants (we apparently visited 52 places in October, including hotels, eating venues, tourist sites, etc).
NOTE TO SELF: Turn off phone when visiting places I don't want anyone to know about.
One other statistic that might interest you (from the car rental's odometer, was 2,352 Km driven on the wrong side of the road throughout Portugal and Spain.
Anyway... back to the blog... in the park near the palace and cathedral was a statue that required Archimedes or was it Galileo - anyway, some famous early scientist to work out how to build a statue with a horse on his hind legs.
Well actually on his hind legs and his tail.
Madrid is a big city with fine buildings indeed.
We stayed at the Dear Hotel - thanks Lisa Chin for the recommendation.
They had a special promotion that if you published something on social media, they would give you an upgrade.
So... being the social media fiend I've become, we were upgraded to have a balcony.
Here's a couple of snaps from five floors up:
Dusk makes for a nicer pic don't you think?
The central hub of Madrid is at Puerta del Sol - another huge square.
This place has very large numbers of people even at midnight. Not surprising when dinner only starts about 9pm.
This square has the starting point from where all Spain is measured (distance-wise). Here's some Spanish bloke at "Point Zero".
The musicians on the street were plentiful, hoping for donations.
This group were playing classical airs beautifully - worth the $2 donation.
We went to a couple of art galleries: The Prado Museum, and Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.
Sorry to everyone who would have liked me to bring you more, but I couldn't stand the bustle of the large crowds, so I only lasted 5 minutes at the Prado (sorry no pics from there), and I did a quick tour of the Arte Reina and took two photos while Ruth enjoyed both these places more fully.
Salvador Dali:
Pablo Picasso:
The artistic highlight for me was the Flamenco dancing - we attended Casa Patas.
I was blown away with how good this was.
I can't recall being so excited by a live performance since the 2008 Grand Final.
When everyone else was giving a standing ovation, I couldn't help myself and screamed out Cyrilllll.
No photos allowed here either - so here's the cast off their website.
OK... that's it for this holiday and this blog... I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Thanks to Steve in particular for your comments - I found it rewarding that others have viewed my photos and enjoyed the words I put together.
So... till the next one...
Julian
But before that happens, a few days in Madrid were enjoyed.
I am writing this awaiting our flight, so no fluffing around. After we arrived in Madrid from Segovia, our first task was to find the Tourist Information office and get the lay down on popular tourist activities.
Plaza Mayor had a TI (Tourist Information) office - this square is central to much activity.
Here's a closer view of the interesting artwork on one of the main buildings.
We enjoyed another tasting tour here in Madrid - this time it was an evening tour run by Devour Tours.
Andre, our guide had a full house - ten people in this tour - it started at 7:30pm and finished about 11pm.
These tasting tours were a huge highlight on our holiday; I strongly recommend them because they really do combine the tastes of the place with learning about the history and sites to visit.
Here are a few more photographs I took over the two days we had in Madrid.
First San Miguel market... teeming with humanity with interesting food displays. Here's a fruit display that was for show only!
Olives are as popular here as in Portugal:
Nuts:
Sweets:
Something huge was going on with the lottery while we were there... queues were extraordinary. I suppose winning the lottery is everyone's dream, but am unsure how regular this sort of activity is generated.
Madrid has their Royal Palace which, according to our Devour Taste tour guide, has 3,850 rooms. Twice the size of Buckingham Palace and Versailles.
The palace is next to the cathedral... we made the decision to appreciate the architecture from the outside. Do you think there'd be an altar and a statue of Mary much different to the 16 we've already seen?
By the way, 16 versions of the same person was an educated guess - Dr Google just sent me an email telling me that in the month of October, Ruth and I visited 33 cities. I figure that we saw a Mary statue in about one of each two cities.
Dr Google has just released its "Timeline" feature. I think it has recorded every movement I've made while carrying my phone.
That includes car travel, walking, restaurants (we apparently visited 52 places in October, including hotels, eating venues, tourist sites, etc).
NOTE TO SELF: Turn off phone when visiting places I don't want anyone to know about.
One other statistic that might interest you (from the car rental's odometer, was 2,352 Km driven on the wrong side of the road throughout Portugal and Spain.
Anyway... back to the blog... in the park near the palace and cathedral was a statue that required Archimedes or was it Galileo - anyway, some famous early scientist to work out how to build a statue with a horse on his hind legs.
Well actually on his hind legs and his tail.
Madrid is a big city with fine buildings indeed.
We stayed at the Dear Hotel - thanks Lisa Chin for the recommendation.
They had a special promotion that if you published something on social media, they would give you an upgrade.
So... being the social media fiend I've become, we were upgraded to have a balcony.
Here's a couple of snaps from five floors up:
Dusk makes for a nicer pic don't you think?
The central hub of Madrid is at Puerta del Sol - another huge square.
This place has very large numbers of people even at midnight. Not surprising when dinner only starts about 9pm.
This square has the starting point from where all Spain is measured (distance-wise). Here's some Spanish bloke at "Point Zero".
The musicians on the street were plentiful, hoping for donations.
This group were playing classical airs beautifully - worth the $2 donation.
We went to a couple of art galleries: The Prado Museum, and Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.
Sorry to everyone who would have liked me to bring you more, but I couldn't stand the bustle of the large crowds, so I only lasted 5 minutes at the Prado (sorry no pics from there), and I did a quick tour of the Arte Reina and took two photos while Ruth enjoyed both these places more fully.
Salvador Dali:
Pablo Picasso:
The artistic highlight for me was the Flamenco dancing - we attended Casa Patas.
I was blown away with how good this was.
I can't recall being so excited by a live performance since the 2008 Grand Final.
When everyone else was giving a standing ovation, I couldn't help myself and screamed out Cyrilllll.
No photos allowed here either - so here's the cast off their website.
OK... that's it for this holiday and this blog... I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Thanks to Steve in particular for your comments - I found it rewarding that others have viewed my photos and enjoyed the words I put together.
So... till the next one...
Julian
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