Friday, May 17 Last day in Madrid

What a better way to start the day than to have hot chocolate and hot fresh churros. (Spanish donuts) San Gines has been operating for 24hrs a day since 1894. Locals stop by there in the morning for a quick breakie before heading to work. Gary & I arrived at 10:30 and it was hopping with customers.

yummy in my tummy.

 

Good thing my hero doesn't worry about calories.

 

Another clouding and cold day in Madrid. The locals tells us the weather is unseasonally cold and wet for this time in May.

 

 

So we snuck in to the Jamon museum for a quick snack to wait out the rain.

 

That's a lot of nice looking legs!

 

Iberia is the type of ham from piggies that rom in the wild and feeds predomily on acorns (vegetarian). The price pretty much says its trendy to be a vegetarian.

 

Here's me haming it up!

 

Gary made a really nice farewell dinner in our apartment to close the Spain trip.

Good night Madrid

 

 

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Thursday, May 16 Las Ventas Plaza de Toros (Bullfight)

This happened to be the week of San Isidro Festival (bullfights every night) when the best of the best come to compete. The bullfights start between 5 and 7pm each day for a week and the tickets are sold out long before the shows. Gary & I opt not to purchase tickets via scalpers as I have a weak stomach for seeing blood from the bull or the Matador. We did our own tour of the Moorish design building and that was close enough to seeing a bullfight as I want to be.

Omg, it's not a bull charging at me but Gary taking more pictures.

 

The Matador and the bull.

Ok guys I will show you how it is done , ho lay!

Okay enough of bull talk, it's shopping time. Our adventure takes us to the fashionable area of Salamanca on Goya street and a stop at Yanes Jewelers, opened in 1881.

 

After a hard day of touring museum, jewelry and shoe shopping we decided to have tapes take out , yum yum.

 

Well time for the Tablao flamenco show. There were four dancers in this 2 hr show and we had amazing front row seats to see their workout.

 

 

 

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Wednesday, May 15 - Prado Museum

We woke up this morning and it seemed like we were back home, raining:(. So it is a perfect day for the Prado Museum.

Lucky our apartment is within walking distance and on the way we passed the Ritz :) Too bad we were not dressed for morning tea at the Ritz. Oh well, a pix on the exterior will have to do.

With more than 3000 canvases of master painters dating back to 1100, Gary and I had real difficulty finding our way around the museum. Even with a floor plan and audio guide pressed in our ears, we spent more than three hours in there and only managed to see half the museum.

Gary like the still life of Sanchez Cotan. Probably because of the food and game depicted. Noticed the birds on a stick?

 

My favorite is the great Spanish painter, Francisco de Goya. Here he captures the Family of Charles IV of spain. Check out the clothing, I'm sure they don't buying anything off the shelf or on line.

O

Just making our way home on a rainy day. Here Gary captures the main street, Gran Via.

We stumbled upon this local restaurant - La Cathedral on our dinner outing.

We placed our orders but got something completely different and better as well as the cheapest bottle of wine and it was really good too.

 

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Tuesday, May 14 Palacio Real (Royal Palace)

Our first order of the day was to visit the Mercado San Miguel for early tea latte. This upscale market in the middle of the city center boosts yummy treats of kinds from 8 am to midnight. Gary & I had paella for brunch (I know it's not the weekend) before heading to to the Palacios Real. ( the Royal Palace)

 

 

 

King Phillip V commissioned this huge palace with more than 2000 rooms in the 18th century with tons of luxury tapestries, chandeliers, porcelain and gold decor mostly in the rococo style. The Royal family actually lives a few miles away, this palace still function used for formal state reception and royal weddings.

 

 

 

Here is the throne room with red velvet adorning the walls.

 

Formal,dinning hall. (I wonder who does the dishes?)

 

The armory with the King's collection of armor and swords of those whom he defected.

 

In the courtyard, there is even a Royal Chapel and Farmacia strictly used by the Royal family.

We decided to join a walking tour of the area surrounding Palacios Real/Plaza Mayor. Our tour traces the legacy of the Hapsburg and Bourbon dynasties in Madrid.

Oh no, it's raining!

This 2 hr tour takes us to traditional shops, churches, convents, inns, palaces and theatres. Luckily the rain had stop just in time for this picture.

Gary & I were craving for some good old ole north American food so we went to this western style restaurant that served steak, baked potatoes with rock n roll music.

On our after dinner stroll, I found what appears to be a Madrid "Nordstrom Rack" store. I had to let the girls know about this one ;)

Gina did an amazing cow sound imitation at our local grocery store in order to ask for milk. Gary was in hysterics when the owner taught us the spanish word for milk - " leche" .

 

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Monday, May 13 To Madrid

Our trip from Barcelona to Madrid took just under three hours (621 km) on the high speed train which reached speeds up to 300km/hr. The weather got warmer as we head south towards Spain's capital city.

the scenery is just beautiful with rural farms dotting the landscape.

As usual, Gary is clicking away with I had a little siesta.

 

We arrived at Madrid's Atocha station close to downtown. Madrid feels upbeat and vibrant. Grandeur buildings line the streets from the early sixteen century. In 1561, King Philip II decided to move the capital of his empire from Toledo to Madrid.

After settling in to our apartment, we toured the city's main square Plaza Mayor. It is a cobbled and traffic free (sort of) square built in 1619 under the direction of Phillip III. Many events happened here during that time; bullfights, fires, royal pageantry and even executions.

 

Today cafes and restaurants line around the plaza along with tacky gift shops.

All this talk/walk about history made me hungry with the size of a kings appetite. El Born is well known to be the oldest restaurant (1725) in the world still in operation. It's a family run restaurant who's specialty is suckling pig and young roast lamb.

 

Needless to say that's what we ordered.

 

After a hardy meal, we slowly stroll through the tree lined streets back to our apartment.

 

But not without checking out the sales along the way.

 

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