Spain trip: Days 4-5 (26-27 June)

Hello again. As there isn’t that much to say about day 4, I will put days 4 and 5 in a single post.

On the 26th I got up a bit late, showered etc, and then went by metro to Barcelona Sants station in order to catch my 11 AM train to Madrid. The cost of the train ticket was 88 USD one way, with a trip duration of 2 hours and 45 minutes. I actually could have caught a flight for slightly less, but by the time one has to arrive early to the airport etc, for such a short distance, it’s actually better by train. Usually one travels in a much more comfortable fashion, with nice scenery and definitely with much less stress. Or at any rate, that’s the case when traveling in Europe.

I had an electronic copy of the ticket, but just in case, I printed a cardstock copy here.

We arrived right on time at 1:45 PM and after buying a two day metro pass for around 15 USD (As I ended up walking most places, this wasn’t near as good of a buy as the metro pass I had purchased in Barcelona), I immediately headed out walking to the nearby D’ La Brasa restaurant to meet with my future Spanish teaching workmate Sonia and her family. This was to be our first time to meet in person, and I was very thankful to her and her family for arranging things so we could meet, especially as they were also dealing with a tight travel schedule. We had a wonderful extended traditional Spanish lunch and then all ran off quickly after two hours. Unfortunately we all forgot to take pictures, but we will once more have the pleasure of each other’s company soon. Unexpectedly, but much appreciated, Sonia picked up the tab, so I have no idea how much it costs to eat there, but all the food was outstanding.

Both the restaurant and my AirBnB were very close to Atocha station, so within 15 minutes I was in my room for the next couple of days. Lodging options are far less expensive in Madrid than in Barcelona, but I had still chosen an Airbnb due to the convenience of the location and yes, also the very good cost.

It drew my attention that despite the relatively few people of African origin I otherwise saw in Spain, everyone selling items on the sidewalk near Atocha station was a young man of African ancestry between 25 and 35 years of age.

The window had steel security blinds which are common to Spain. I couldn’t figure out how to lower them the first night and actually ended up raising them all the way instead. To sleep, I had to hang a blanket on the window.

The tiny housecat was incredibly friendly, meowing insistently to get attention from anyone foolish enough to listen.

After I had settled in, on Eventbrite I noticed a free dance exhibition called Dances of the Orient in a different part of the city. It would take 40 minutes to reach, but I only had an hour until the starting time of 6:00 PM.

Unfortunately, I got turned around two different times (on two different trains) in the subway and still wasn’t sure of how to get there, so at 6:05 PM I finally just gave up. It was much harder to navigate the subway in Madrid than it had been in Barcelona!

As luck would have it, I found myself near Puerta del Sol, which was undergoing renovations. The outing had been a bit of a bust, but it was still nice to see some of the architecture typical of the area.

I finished up the evening with an overpriced 5 euro beer and headed home for the evening.

Despite my improvised solution to the window problem, I slept well and was up by 8:00 AM on the 27th, determined to make the most of my only full day in Madrid. Lacking any other guide, I checked out the Lonely Planet top attractions for Madrid and decided to make that my general plan. I would start with the Basílica de San Francisco el grande and finish up the day at Parque el Retiro.

This time I figured out the subway lines okay, probably because I wasn’t in a rush. I still had to walk a bit from the subway station, but there were nice things to see.

I tend to not really appreciate street art of it’s where I live, but I like it when I’m traveling.

From what I could tell, this was some sort of a headquarters for some charitable work in Madrid. The historical plaque said the building was in honour of Juan López de Hoyos.

I arrived to the Basílica by 9:15 AM but it was technically closed. Fortunately I was still able to get in as there seemed to be some sort of small mass going on in one section. There were signs prohibiting photos, but I assumed as long as I wasn’t interrupting the mass and nobody stopped me, it would be fine. I’m sure this would have been a far more enriching visit with a guide, but honestly, I just wasn’t interested enough in all the specific details.

The big draw of this church is supposed to it’s painted interior dome, the third largest in Europe or something like that.

The picture in the middle is of a 70 kg (154 pounds) six year old girl, Eugenia Martínez Vallejo . In perhaps the earliest case of fat shaming, the then king had both a clothed and unclothed painting done of the girl.

As was expected, everything was beautiful.

All the masses I’ve seen in Spain have had less than ten people in attendance. That was also the case here. I think there were six people in attendance. I guess props to the church for still doing the masses, but it seems kind of silly and also sort of sad with so few active believers. No doubt there are big crowds for weddings, funerals and main holidays?

I then continued my walk towards the palace. It was only about 22 degrees Celsius (72 F), which was the general temperature for my whole time in Madrid. Although Barcelona had not been uncomfortable, it was definitely warmer than Madrid.

These rather simple looking apartments with nice trees in front were right across the street from the palace. I wondered what sort of people might live there. Given the central location, I imagine they are very wealthy, but I’m not really sure.

Having not researched very well, I didn’t know that there was another important church coming up before the palace, the Aludena church. I didn’t really think I needed more church visits, but I was in full on tourist mode and had plenty of time, so in I went. From what I could tell, this was a fairly modern church, but still quite nice. I quickly realised that it seemed to have a more important role in daily life than the earlier visited basilica.

I think this wasn’t the main entrance, but it’s where I went in. A 1 euro entrance “donation” was requested but nobody was actively enforcing this.

I didn’t understand why this was supposed to be more interesting than many of the other very beautiful paintings and objects in the church, but everyone was going up to see it, so I did as well.

There was very good natural lighting in the main hall.

I appreciated the mix of the ” modern looking” stained glass windows and the more traditional sculptures and paintings within the cathedral.

There is also a crypt below the main church where there were many “buried” people from the last 30 years. Besides all the tombs, there also seemed to be a general area for mass as well. Once more a 1 euro donation was requested, and while she wasn’t actually checking the coins, a rather severe looking older woman was making sure that something got put in the collection box and was also exhorting everyone to be quiet as a mass was in session. Understandably, the crypt area was more somber than upstairs, but still very beautiful.

I wasn’t sure of the rules/expectations but I was careful to not walk right on top of any of the tombs. Incidentally, this was quite difficult at times as there was very little space between the ones in the floor.

A close up picture of some of the column details

One of many side chapels, most of which had locked iron gates in front

The palace was right next door. It seemed to be closed to visitors, but that was alright by me. It’s not like visitors are shaking hands with members of the royal family or anything like that. As was expected, the palace was stately and also had nice gardens right next to it that were open to the public.

After all of my careful work to capture a picture of a Magpie a few days ago in Ladakh, this one was practically begging for pictures and allowed me to get very close.

All of these things were very close together, I wasn’t spending much time in each place, so it was only 11:30 AM as I continued my walk down la Gran Vía towards plaza España and El Prado museum.

The day was nice and I had plenty of time, so I just wandered around a bit and appreciated the scenery. I know many will see this as borderline sacrilege, but I simply wanted some cheap calories (so I would have more to spend on museums etc), so I stopped into McDonald’s for a simple cheeseburger and small fries before strolling around a bit more before arriving to El Prado at 1:15 PM.

I was happy to see that El Prado museum has a wide range of ticket options which would allow anyone to easily enter and appreciate its treasures. As well as free entrance for students, and unemployed people, anyone can enter for free everyday from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Due to my tight schedule, I just paid the full 15 euro entrance fee. However, if you are on a tight budget, you can still definitely visit.

El Prado had a strict no pictures policy, which I and everyone else ignored whenever possible, but unlike other places, guards were numerous and very unhappy if you got caught. Still, I snuck in a few pictures just to prove I could. Honestly, as long as I was not using a flash, I thought there was no reason for the no pictures policy. Probably it’s to keep people from doing selfies next to all the famous pictures. I admit that I would have been guilty of doing so had I had the chance.

I can’t say why, but I really loved this painting. I got a really good picture of it since I wasn’t being sneaky as I didn’t know better until a guard rushed over to tell me to stop

In perhaps the earliest well known case of fat shaming/fascination, the middle picture shows a nude Eugenia Martínez Vallejo, who at age 6 weighed 70 kg (154 lbs). There is both a clothed and unclothed life size painting of her in the museum.

The version of the Mona Lisa shown here is claimed to be a draft painted by DaVinci BEFORE the more famous version pictured in the Louvre

The photo doesn’t do it justice, but the reality of the Dutch still life paintings was amazing.

Paintings which I was able to see which truly impacted me were the following: Las Meninas by Diego Velasquez, Saturn and The third of May by Goya and of course the Mona Lisa. These were all paintings I had constantly read about and seen pictures of both in books and on television. It’s hard to explain the awe I felt at actually seeing them in person. Like with most art galleries, one could easily spend days exploring, but like most of us, I was a bit overwhelmed after a few hours, so by 3:30 PM I left.

Things had gone faster than I’d anticipated and I didn’t want to go to El Retiro until later in the afternoon. So, I just walked around a bit.

This is not particular to Spain, but I’ve always been flabbergasted at the verisimilitude of the food sculptures displayed at some east Asian restaurants

By 4:00 PM I was enjoying myself but also felt I should make more of an effort to still see something special about Madrid during my only full day. More high brow culture was out, but this IKONO place described as an immersive art experience for the five senses was highly recommended.

This was perhaps a bit expensive at 15 euros for an adult entry fee, but I have to admit it was great fun, and certainly it helped reset my brain after so much cultural overload. Definitely this would be a great place to visit with a friend or family member, but it was also a decent amount of fun by myself. I think it is unlikely anyone would spend more than 90 minutes there, but it is still a very good time and a unique opportunity to get lots of cool pictures.

Like I said, it’s basically an Instagram photo factory!

Finally at 5:30 PM I headed over to Parque el Retiro, easily arriving by 6:00 PM

There were lots of used book sellers along the way across the street from the park. They seemed to be “regular books” rather than rare or expensive special editions

Entrance to the park is free and I suspect it’s one of the regular highlights of life in Madrid. The park is huge and clearly widely used by locals. There are plenty of spots to relax, enjoy nice live music, or just walk around in peace.

Plaza de Costa Rica had absolutely nothing to do with Costa Rica, but it was still interesting to find.

I had a great time, but after two and a half hours in the park, it was 8:30 PM and it was time for me to leave. As the park is very large, with winding paths everywhere, it was actually a bit difficult for me to find my way out. I thought it might be nice to have some discreet exit signs posted, but I guess they don’t want people to feel rushed.

Since it was my last night in Madrid, I decided to get what I imagined to be a traditional dinner, not spending like crazy, but also not worrying too much about the cost. About 15 minutes away (walking) was a well rated place described as having down home cooking at a reasonable price: Restaurante San Román.

I can’t judge the authenticity, but the food was tasty and filling. With two bottles of 1906 beer, the cost was only 17.50 euro (18.50 USD).

With that, my time in Spain was basically over. I could have gone out on the town, but I had a 3:00 PM flight to Costa Rica the next day and had been strongly advised to be at the airport at least three hours ahead of time. With really only one full day in Madrid, I felt like I had made good use of my time. Certainly, I had many experiences which couldn’t be replicated elsewhere.

Since my upcoming trip to Costa Rica is mostly about visiting old friends and taking care of some personal business, I probably won’t post much while there, but who knows, maybe I will still have some interesting bits to share. So anyways, until I write again, I hope you also are having your own amazing adventures, even if they are only in your own back yards or just down the street from where you live. Thanks for keeping in touch, and goodbye for now.