We arrived in Madrid after a very long, cold and cramped bus trip from Malaga. Fortunately had accommodation booked so were soon thawing under a warm shower and before long eating a nice hearty chinese meal near the hotel.
The next day we were keen to get our visas for India so that meant finding our way to the Indian Embassy on the other side of Madrid. On arrival we were reminded of the very beuracratic way of doing things the Indian have. After 1-1/2 hour wait we were told we could pick up our visas in a weeks time. Of course by then, we had hoped to be in India. After much tooing and froing they agreed to provide the visas in four days time for an additional fee of 44 euro. Next we nedded to secure accommodation for an additional night so set out to find a more reasonably priced hotel or hostel. We were in luck with a hostel with much better room facilities than our hotel and 30 Euros less and just across the plaza.
Again the art scene was at our fingertips in Madrid. With a special ticket to the three major galleries - The Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza, Museo Del Prado, Centro de Artereina Sofia. What is interesting and enjoyable about the galleries is that you can in fact view the entire gallery in 3-4 hours. There is always exceptional paintings that we had seen in picture books or read about but never dream would see the real thing. For example in Sofia we were treated to the well known works of Picasso - Guernica. To see it in real life, and the sketches and paintings that led to this masterpiece one can understand the trauma the society must have been enduring at the time of the Spainish Civil War. It was accompanied by a display of photos of Madrid - plazas and metro stations we had visited - during this time in history.
The Prado had just opened a new wing days before we arrived. On one level there was an amazing collection of Goya's etchings and drawings from bullfights to street scenes. The gallery itself was amass with El Greco, Velazquez, Van Dykes, Goya, Ribera and Rubens as well as many others.
On our final day, and battling colds, we headed to the Thyssen. This museum which is primarily a collection of the works of Baron Thyseen-Bornemisza and his wife Carmen Tita Cervera, a former Miss Spain. It provided a chronological display of works form the baroque and early renaissance through to the impressionists and modernists such including works by Pissaro, Van Gough, Degas, Monet, Cezanne, Freud, Kooning, Chargal, Kandinsky Klee and Rothko. It was a potpourri of surprises, colour and energy and left us on a high.
A visit to the train terminal with a central tropical garden with ponds of turtles, water sprayers brought us back to a humid surrounds and reminded us of the jungles. Unfortunately, everything was booked out to Barcelano so we delayed our return for yet another day and of course this had a domino effect requiring further accommodation. We were in luck though as another move meant we were in yet another hostel within the same plaza. It also meant we witnessed the trimming of the Xmas tree in the main square where the bear eats the strawberries from the stawberry tree. This is also where Madridians celebrate New Years Eve.
Madrid also gave us flamenco singing, music and dancing. There is something about these together that really arouses the emotions. The intensity of the singing, the deliberate and imposing steps and engaging expressions of the dancers places you tentively in their hearts and minds. We firstly visited a flamenco show in the back of a café bar. With sangria in hand the display of singing, guitar playing and dancing whetted our thirst for more. The three men singing dramatic songs of 'we don't really know what' but they were almost contorted with the emotion as they sung. The two guitarists were completely taken by what appears to be disjointed tones of flamenco but who, together provided a sound that again enthralled us. The dramatic entry of the female flamenco dancer decked out in her frilled spotted dress and tapping her toes and heels to the rhythm, the frowned expression of emotion and the hands and arms equally displaying the emotion all had us enchanted. The male dancer didn't disappoint either. With his slender body covered in black pants, a cumberbun, a short waistcoat, white shirt and the boots of a flamenco dancer he had the beat and movements that were so intense that within minutes the sweat was pouring from his brow and to our amazement and enjoyment he continued tapping and twirling suggestively for at least 15 minutes.
'Fully inflated lungs wailed and bellowed in unison with the sacks of emotions extending the dancers tendrils to the fragmented rhythms of the flamenco guitars. The audience was won with the screams of ola, bravo heurpa.'
The show lasted 2 hours.
The second flamenco show the next night was much more contemporary. In fact it was really a ballet so whilst it still had some intensity of the previous nights flamenco show it also incorporated various variations with colourful costume, various contemporary routines and had recorded music. So again it was capativating but not quite as enjoyable as the authentic routine in the café bar.
And so, with the weather turning quite cold - requiring leather jackets and warmer undies, we ventured into the endless plazas, viewed the amazing monuments including one to the street sweepers and walked the streets. We also learnt that drinking and eating at the bar can save you many euros and that churros (a fritter) are served with hot chocolate so you can dunk them. So why tell you this? We had had churros in Ronda and when the waiter came with a cup of hot chocolate we politely told him we hadn't ordered a hot chocolate. He took the hot chocolate away and no doubt had a giggle at our ignorance. We were better informed the next time. Ah well, you learn a lot from travel!
Finally on our way to Barcelona where we deposited most of our luggage until we returned and from here we head to India. The trip through the open plains where the rain mostly falls was dry. The hills and mountains were adorned with the colours of autumn tones in the patchworked paddocks of grapes, citrus, olives and many other varieties of fruit shedding their leaves. The soil changes colour from a the stark white of newly farrowed stripes to rich red and black of the lush soils.
We left Madrid with some sad news that our friend Marie in Adelaide is back in hospital so she is at the foremost of our thoughts.
With only a day left in Europe we still have a couple of galleries to view. Spain is a beautiful country.
PS Just finished our final day in Barcelona. It was a full day of Gaudi. From the historic Sagrada Familia (church still under construction after 125 yrs) to the La Pedera (an apartment block designed by Gaudi) and then on to Park Guell with an amazing display of mosaic art and more lollypop type architecture of Gaudi. All in all it was an exceptional look at one of the worlds famous architects on a beautiful autumn day in Barcelona.
So tomorrow it is on to India and with only 8 days before we reach home!!!!!
The next day we were keen to get our visas for India so that meant finding our way to the Indian Embassy on the other side of Madrid. On arrival we were reminded of the very beuracratic way of doing things the Indian have. After 1-1/2 hour wait we were told we could pick up our visas in a weeks time. Of course by then, we had hoped to be in India. After much tooing and froing they agreed to provide the visas in four days time for an additional fee of 44 euro. Next we nedded to secure accommodation for an additional night so set out to find a more reasonably priced hotel or hostel. We were in luck with a hostel with much better room facilities than our hotel and 30 Euros less and just across the plaza.
Again the art scene was at our fingertips in Madrid. With a special ticket to the three major galleries - The Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza, Museo Del Prado, Centro de Artereina Sofia. What is interesting and enjoyable about the galleries is that you can in fact view the entire gallery in 3-4 hours. There is always exceptional paintings that we had seen in picture books or read about but never dream would see the real thing. For example in Sofia we were treated to the well known works of Picasso - Guernica. To see it in real life, and the sketches and paintings that led to this masterpiece one can understand the trauma the society must have been enduring at the time of the Spainish Civil War. It was accompanied by a display of photos of Madrid - plazas and metro stations we had visited - during this time in history.
The Prado had just opened a new wing days before we arrived. On one level there was an amazing collection of Goya's etchings and drawings from bullfights to street scenes. The gallery itself was amass with El Greco, Velazquez, Van Dykes, Goya, Ribera and Rubens as well as many others.
On our final day, and battling colds, we headed to the Thyssen. This museum which is primarily a collection of the works of Baron Thyseen-Bornemisza and his wife Carmen Tita Cervera, a former Miss Spain. It provided a chronological display of works form the baroque and early renaissance through to the impressionists and modernists such including works by Pissaro, Van Gough, Degas, Monet, Cezanne, Freud, Kooning, Chargal, Kandinsky Klee and Rothko. It was a potpourri of surprises, colour and energy and left us on a high.
A visit to the train terminal with a central tropical garden with ponds of turtles, water sprayers brought us back to a humid surrounds and reminded us of the jungles. Unfortunately, everything was booked out to Barcelano so we delayed our return for yet another day and of course this had a domino effect requiring further accommodation. We were in luck though as another move meant we were in yet another hostel within the same plaza. It also meant we witnessed the trimming of the Xmas tree in the main square where the bear eats the strawberries from the stawberry tree. This is also where Madridians celebrate New Years Eve.
Madrid also gave us flamenco singing, music and dancing. There is something about these together that really arouses the emotions. The intensity of the singing, the deliberate and imposing steps and engaging expressions of the dancers places you tentively in their hearts and minds. We firstly visited a flamenco show in the back of a café bar. With sangria in hand the display of singing, guitar playing and dancing whetted our thirst for more. The three men singing dramatic songs of 'we don't really know what' but they were almost contorted with the emotion as they sung. The two guitarists were completely taken by what appears to be disjointed tones of flamenco but who, together provided a sound that again enthralled us. The dramatic entry of the female flamenco dancer decked out in her frilled spotted dress and tapping her toes and heels to the rhythm, the frowned expression of emotion and the hands and arms equally displaying the emotion all had us enchanted. The male dancer didn't disappoint either. With his slender body covered in black pants, a cumberbun, a short waistcoat, white shirt and the boots of a flamenco dancer he had the beat and movements that were so intense that within minutes the sweat was pouring from his brow and to our amazement and enjoyment he continued tapping and twirling suggestively for at least 15 minutes.
'Fully inflated lungs wailed and bellowed in unison with the sacks of emotions extending the dancers tendrils to the fragmented rhythms of the flamenco guitars. The audience was won with the screams of ola, bravo heurpa.'
The show lasted 2 hours.
The second flamenco show the next night was much more contemporary. In fact it was really a ballet so whilst it still had some intensity of the previous nights flamenco show it also incorporated various variations with colourful costume, various contemporary routines and had recorded music. So again it was capativating but not quite as enjoyable as the authentic routine in the café bar.
And so, with the weather turning quite cold - requiring leather jackets and warmer undies, we ventured into the endless plazas, viewed the amazing monuments including one to the street sweepers and walked the streets. We also learnt that drinking and eating at the bar can save you many euros and that churros (a fritter) are served with hot chocolate so you can dunk them. So why tell you this? We had had churros in Ronda and when the waiter came with a cup of hot chocolate we politely told him we hadn't ordered a hot chocolate. He took the hot chocolate away and no doubt had a giggle at our ignorance. We were better informed the next time. Ah well, you learn a lot from travel!
Finally on our way to Barcelona where we deposited most of our luggage until we returned and from here we head to India. The trip through the open plains where the rain mostly falls was dry. The hills and mountains were adorned with the colours of autumn tones in the patchworked paddocks of grapes, citrus, olives and many other varieties of fruit shedding their leaves. The soil changes colour from a the stark white of newly farrowed stripes to rich red and black of the lush soils.
We left Madrid with some sad news that our friend Marie in Adelaide is back in hospital so she is at the foremost of our thoughts.
With only a day left in Europe we still have a couple of galleries to view. Spain is a beautiful country.
PS Just finished our final day in Barcelona. It was a full day of Gaudi. From the historic Sagrada Familia (church still under construction after 125 yrs) to the La Pedera (an apartment block designed by Gaudi) and then on to Park Guell with an amazing display of mosaic art and more lollypop type architecture of Gaudi. All in all it was an exceptional look at one of the worlds famous architects on a beautiful autumn day in Barcelona.
So tomorrow it is on to India and with only 8 days before we reach home!!!!!
2 comments:
Well didn't you just swallow the whole dictionary then. Not a stone, hot chocolate, strawberry, dance or museum left unturned. Farewell to sangrias and hello to curries....bring it on xxxx
Hello again you guys - what a pair of troubadors you are. I don't know how you will ever get the chance to tell the story any better than you have on this blog...it has been great reading it and now there are only a few weeks to go before home but still some wonders to experience in India! Keep it up right till the last minute - it is my read on a Saturday night! i don't know what I'll do for entertainment after the end of November. Love to you both C&R
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