A Taste of Two Spains

A long weekend in Spain, 4 days, 4 flights, 2 cities, and numerous sights. We flew from Basel to Madrid on good old EasyJet, a flight just under 2 hours. We stayed at this hotel right in the middle of the city.

It was raining when we arrived and we took the subway from the airport to the city which was pretty convenient and way cheaper than a taxi. We made a few wrong turns trying to find our bearings, and only when I finally pulled out the map did I discover that the street our hotel was on intersects with the square where we exited the subway twice and at right angles. Not feeling brave enough to go out and find a restaurant, we ate at the hotel and it was good, not great, and it was nice not to have to trudge through the rain.

The following morning we walked around and visited some of the local sights. In my humble opinion, Madrid is more like Paris or New York than the other European capitals we visited. It's a huge city, it's got a great subway system, the architecture is a fantastic mix of new and old. If you like Fifth Avenue, you'll love the shopping street in Madrid.

After touring the Palacio Real, I declare it my favorite European palace. The building is still in use by the government and it is impeccably maintained. It is at once majestic, but not overwhelming in its lavishness. It has some fantastic art including one room completely covered in porcelain. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed inside, and I can understand no flash being allowed, but really, no photos? I'm tired of all these fantastic places not allowing photography, I'd even pay for a camera pass like they have in Prague or Budapest. I can't figure out if they just want to sell more postcards and books, if they are truly concerned about preserving the artifacts, or if it's terrorism related. Sooner or later, they're going to have to get over it, because cameras these days can be so small, it's almost pointless to restrict it--a quick search on flickr yields 12,435 photos for "palacio real madrid".

We spent the rest of the day walking around enjoying the cold, or should I say cursing the cold weather. It wasn't raining, but it was may 18c, and the forecast for Basel was to be much warmer--why is it that we always travel with the cooler weather?

We had lunch in the old town, a fixed menu with some gazpacho to start and a nice beer in a really cozy cellar of the restaurant. I had some lamb chops and it was good.

In the afternoon we hit up the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art. This place had a really outstanding collection of art. We thought it was a small museum, but it turns out to be fairly large and we spent a good 2 hours going through the whole thing, and at a quick pace. Definitely worth the visit, if you're into art.

We walked back through the old town to the neighborhood or our hotel and had dinner at a nice out of the way place called Cornucopia. The food was really good, the dessert, the wine, a great atmosphere, good service. I would definitely go back, if we are ever in Madrid again.

Breakfast is great in Spain, coffee and churros, yes churros like you get at Taco Bell or at a carnival, but, of course, much better. There are lots of little cafes around and even when I ordered what was basically a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, two of us had breakfast for less than 5 euros.

Today was another museum day, we spent most of the day at the Museo del Prado. The highlight: Spanish painters, including Velazquez's Las Meninas. We also had a great lunch at the museum cafe, and missed a bit of rain while we were inside. My favorite painting turned out to be El Lavatorio, by Tintoretto. I had the audioguide and it said you have to view the painting from the far right because it was installed in the front of a church and everyone would be looking at it from that angle. What was most impressive, however, was that when viewed from that angle, the proportions looked much better, I was fascinated in the skill it would take to customize the perspective to such an odd viewing angle.

We had another nice meal at a very touristy place, but the food was good and then we headed home, and packed up as we were flying to Granada early the next morning.

Granada could not be more different than Madrid. It's located in the south of Spain and it feels more like a an old Tuscan hill town from Itally, certainly there was no feel of the big city here. We only had about 24 hours to spend here and we had reservations to see La Alhambra in the afternoon, so we headed to the city center to check it out.

We wandered around, visited a church, enjoyed the feel of the city, had lunch and walked up to La Alhambra. La Alhambra is a palace on a hill overlooking Granada, built originally in the 13th and 14th centuries. It has stunning views and stunning details carved out of stone, fantastic gardens, and a just a general wonder about the place. We had a fantastic day exploring the many buildings and gardens. The photo is just an example of the intricate details that are found through the palace buildings. Definitely a don't miss, if you're ever in southern Spain.

There might be more to tell, and there are more pictures to show, but that will have to wait. I'll post a link to the photos when I get them edited.