Museo del Prado and more, our third day in Madrid

April 13, 2011

I think of all the art museums I visited on this trip, Museo del Prado was my favorite.  What I really loved about it, besides all the wonderful Spanish masterpieces, was that in nearly every gallery, there were artists painting their versions of the masters on canvases of all sizes.  The smell of linseed oil, turpentine, and oils wafted around the galleries, and to me, that helped bring all the paintings alive, as if they were just being painted and the canvases were still wet.  I could spend days in the Prado. I dragged Greg through all the Spanish masters, searching every gallery of all three floors until I saw every Velazquez, Goya, and El Greco that I have always wanted to view in person. Well, not every one, since some were out on loan, but nearly every one. There are no photos allowed in the Prado, but you can search their Online Gallery to review works by title or author.

After the museum, we wandered around a bit. The Prado is surrounded by beautiful parks and fountains.

After a light lunch, we headed back to our room for a siesta.  At this point in the trip, a daily nap was a must, especially with the late nights typical of Madrid (dinner doesn't really start until after 9pm).  After resting a bit, we decided to walk around and revisit some places we had already been.

Plaza Mayor:

You know any place called the "Museum of Ham" has got to be tasty (and it was).

More Plaza Mayor:

I love the alley ways of Madrid:

We stopped at La Torre del Oro Bar Andalu for some gazpacho, cañas, and to admire the bulls and photos of bullfighting decorating the walls.

Greg with a caña.

Barbera, the bull

Mmmmm, jamon!  I wish I could get ham this way at home!

I didn't catch this bull's name, but he is missing an ear, so the matador fought well.

Our tapas--gazpacho and beets.

This bull has both his ears, so the matador must not have fought as well. To the right of the bull is a photo of Franco waving.

Greg enjoying the ambiance. We were there really, really early, so the bar was empty.  We came here specifically for the gazpacho. The bar serves Andalusian cuisine, and so they have gazpacho year round. We were feeling the need for some vegetables (that weren't potatoes) after all the ham and chorizo we had been consuming.

On the way back to the hotel, we followed this protest to Puerta del Sol.  Every evening, there was a protest of some sort on Puerta del Sol. Some were very large (like the one pictured below), and some were only a handful of people.  But even though it was sometimes loud, it was always interesting to see what people were protesting.  The protests rarely went beyond sunset, and afterwards everyone wandered off to the bars and restaurants for dinner.  

Whatever differences there are in cultures, there are also similarities; in this case, the desire of people to improve their government by making their wishes known publicly through peaceful protest. May the day come soon where all cultures can have this right.