Madrid - Party, Art & Food
We already knew two and a half days were not enough for Madrid so we had to make the very most of them specially considering our flight was delayed by 2 hours. We landed right when the nights start 10:30pm and what an adventurous night it was to be.
Since ours was a pedestrian street our taxi driver didn't quite get where we needed to go, then we finally reach (luckily it's a flat rate of €30 to the city) and we manage to gather all our thing only for my sister to realise seconds after the cab pulls out that she left her phone in there and of course it was on silent.
So we have to keep trying her phone hoping someone would feel the vibrations but knowing full well if they answered we wouldn't understand a word. Stressing around for 10mins making our way to our apartment and my sister loosing all hope of finding her phone in such a large city, someone finally answers and as a typical tourist who doesn't know the local language we run up to two girls hoping the knew English and Spanish. We were in luck. They were most helpful and so was our taxi driver and meanwhile I had a lovely gentleman help me with getting our 3 massive suitcases off the street and herein lies the beauty of travelling, meeting the most helpful genuine people across the world and communicating beyond language as a barrier.
Safely home with my sister's phone we are suddenly pumped with adrenalin and decide to make a night of it since we were staying in La Latina and Sunday nights are the nights to go out there. So we make our way through Plaza de la Paja over to Plaza Puerta de Moros and find food. Belly full, like three single girls we make our way to the bar with the cutest guys and with my sister's brilliant flirting skills we find a group of expats in Spain - Italian, Argentinian and Chiilian people and then the night just takes a turn of it's own with them showing us what Hemingway's phrase for Madrid truly means - "nobody goes to bed in Madrid until they have killed the night" - and so we did!
The next day we started of course at mid-day at the tourist centre to get our bearings - map, Madrid card and itinerary for the next 48 hours. And this was what day one covered - Plaza Mayor, through the Plaza del Angel and Plaza de Stanta Ana for lunch down straight to start our museum binge with Del Prado. This sure is a huge museum and hosts some amazing art of El Greco, Valesques and Goya. We were extra lucky to see a temporary exhibit of Greco's influence on other artists mainly Picasso's work and it was extremely interesting since I knew practically nothing about Greco.
With a good 2.5 hours of walking and a brain freeze we made our way into Parque de el Retiro by the cafe near the lake for a late afternoon break. With a bit of recharge we headed to Reina Sofia and managed to skip a huge queue. Now I know a lot of my friends love contemporary but I have to admit I do get a bit lost with abstract and surrealism. Picasso's Guernuca sure is a mammoth of a masterpiece but Dali's, Zuloaga's, Barcelo's and other surrealists gave us an overdose on museums and we were ready to have some vino and tapas. We ended our long and exhausting day at the Mercado de San Miguel - a gorgeous market with a bustling ambiance.
Reina Sofia Museum
Mercado de San Miguel
If day 1 was an art overdose then Day 2 sure was a food overdose. It was a relaxing start with Palacio Real which has some gorgeous rooms within and the Cathedral de la Almudena.
Then a coffee and snack break at Plaza de Oriente and walk back to Puerta Del Sol towards Plaza de Angel where we spotted a beautiful boutique store I would highly recommend www.eduardorivera.es. By 3:30 we were famished and ready to experience the gastronomic delights along Calle Huertas. Our chosen spot was Casa Alberto one if the most atmospheric old tabernas of Madrid and it lived up to every expectation lonely planet had.
After a full belly and refreshing jug of sangria we made our way slowly up towards Gran Via and along it stopping intermittently for some quick sopping and more so air conditioning before heading towards Templo de Debod. A break in Plaza de Espana was very welcome with it's shade and fountain of water. The Egyptian temple was nice and though everyone raves about the view from there I have to admit I wasn't the biggest fan.
After this full circle of Madrid we made it back for a change and ready to hit Chueca on our last night. And once again what a meal - Bazaar on Calle de la Libertad was simply delicious. Fois mousse with melted goats cheese, duck crumble on hummus and pesto base and asparagus risotto accompanied with a gorgeous bottle of red and completed with heavenly chocolate mousse.
On our last day we debated with what we should do and decided on completing the museum triangle at the Thyssen and boy am I happy we did. Again I know there will be a debate on this but I have to admit it was my favourite. If you are not an art student but interested in understanding the different eras and evolution of art throughout the centuries this museum is the one for you. With a large breath of work and it's extremely well planned layout and audio guide, this museum got me to appreciate artists in their own era along with the ones who were the pioneers. I even managed to understand the different forms of expressionism and fell in love with Fauvism, specifically works by Kirchner and Derain's El Puetro de Waterloo. It was a perfect way to end our short but eventful visit in Madrid.
