Buenas tardes familia y amigos,
Yesterday, Friday, was a visit to Spain’s version of Versailles – the Palacio Real de Madrid. Today, Saturday, was a visit to Spain’s version of the Louvre – the Museo Nacional del Prado. While Versailles and the Louvre are quite frankly incomparable, the Palace and the Prado are nevertheless impressive.
Palacio Real de Madrid
Unfortunately, the Palace doesn’t allow photography within its many chambers, only the stairs that serve as the interior entrance. No sightings of royalty either, as the Palace is only used for certain official functions – the Spanish royal family resides in a smaller palace outside of Madrid. The interior appears well preserved and the couple of chambers that are used for current royal functions seem to be a bit more spruced up. The exterior of the palace however, shows signs of needing some restoration.
Next to the Palace is the Cathedral de la Almudena. Photography is allowed inside and it is a beautiful blend of old and new elements – check out the gallery of photos below. It is also seems a bit asymmetrical for a church. The right transept (when looking towards the apse from the nave) is elaborately decorative while the left transept is basic and now serves as the main entrance.
Catedral de la Almudena
Museo Nacional del Prado
Today’s foray to the Prado also operated under the same restrictions as the Palace – no photography beyond the visitor center which included only one sculpture. As the Louvre has the Mona Lisa, the Prado has Las Meninas by Velazquez. Honestly, I was not in anyway captivated by the painting – saw many other paintings that appealed more to my peasant sensibilities. 😉
Otherwise, spent the rest of my time today doing a bit of wandering and taking photos. My time in Madrid was disappointing. Not with the city itself but rather this cold that I acquired. It very much limited my time exploring and experiencing Madrid. Tomorrow, it’s an early train to the coast in Spanish Basque Country and hopefully a return to 100%!
Hasta pronto,
Papi
Hey brother,
I coincidentally ran across this article yesterday: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170504-the-strange-reason-spaniards-eat-late — thought you might be amused.
John
Thanks John. That actually explains a lot and makes quite a bit of sense. The Spanish do take long lunches but they also work into the early evening so everything is skewed – very little of that early bird business here. 😉
Hi Mike,
Sorry you haven’t been feeling well. Even so, you have managed to see quite a bit of Madrid. All the photos are beautiful. Such a pretty time of year, everything is so green and post card perfect. I hope all is better tomorrow so you could enjoy the taste of Basque.
Thanks Monica. Arrived in San Sebastian and feel pretty close to 100% so tomorrow should be a good day to explore.
C’est magnifique Michel. Désolée pour ton rhume. J’espère que tu te sentiras mieux demain. Merci pour toutes les belles photos.
Bonne continuation !
Lisa
Merci Lisa. Je vais mieux maintenant à San Sebastian. La plage est toujours un avantage!