Madrid

We had arrived in Europe! Unfortunately our clothing was more geared to 100 degree heat rather than 40 degree wind chills. But no matter, it was time to brush up on Spanish, eat Tapas, drink Sangria, and snooze through Siestas. Madrid was a great place to ease in to Europe.

This huge palace was begun on the site of the Madrid Alcazar, which burned to the ground in 1734. The armory of the 2000 room uncompleted palace was the highlight, with suits of armor, armored horses and even plated dogs.

Unfortunately, no photos allowed, and it was well guarded by the security folks, so I had to grab this photo from their website.

The biblioteca shelves first editions of Don Quijote. The palace is stuffed with art treasures and antiques - salon after salon. Dare we sayit: gaudy.

This massive structure sits on the other side of the palace courtyard. Both structures together cover at least a couple city blocks.

The retired locals were very serious about their game. Arguing and yelling would erupt after every couple of throws.

17th century nobles on horseback spent Sunday afternoons chasing bulls through in this plaza. It was the center of ceremony for a city that was once the capital of the world's greatest empire.

On the weekends and evenings the cafes would fill with tourists and madrilenos. Kyra was amazed at the performers and made sure we always gave them money.

In its darker moments the plaza was also used for executions by the Spanish Inquisition.

Follow the left nostral of the horse statue in Plaza Mayor through the archway and to the Irish pub, Moores. In the cellars is where the Inquisition coaxed confessions.

Quite a building to go and mail our postcards from. The Madrid residents successfully protected this emblem of their city during Franco's bomb raids by covering it with a pyramid of sandbags.

It was startling to find out that Spain was under a dictatorship until 1970's and it wasn't until the 1980's it started to thrive, relieved from Franco's reign.

This is a private club for famous Spanish authors; indicative of the level of support Madrid puts on its arts.

The nightlife starts late in Madrid. Dinner starts at 9:00 and the younger folks (painful for us to say that), do not start going out until midnight. Luckily we found a Flamenco performance that started at 9:30, as Kyra was determined to see "those dancers".

There were plenty of great parks for us to explore. This one is just opposite museum row which included 3 world class art museums The Prado, The Thyssen-Bornemisza and the National Museum of Art Reina Sofia. We spent a lot of time on this road.

This museum housed Spanish contemporary artists such as Dali, Picasso and Miro. Picasso's most famous painting Guernica - a huge 25 foot by 10 foot cubist painting of a Basque town bombed by the Germans at Franco's request during the Spainish Civil War. It took our breath away.

The weather broke for a week and we were treated to 70 degree days, so it was time to get to the parks.

Kyra and Dad got their picture with Don Quijote and Sancho Panza.

After the plaza we wandered into a quaint restaurant that turned out to be serving the full Sunday multi-course meal. A couple hours later we continued our walk.

Built by Pharaoh Zakheramon in the 4th century BC it was saved from the floods of the Aswan dam and sent stone by stone to Spain.

Ending a very fine day we took the sky-tram back. The large old down-town area Madrid is amazing with surprises around every corner. The madrilenos however were quite conservative and aloof. At least the city was clean, by Spanish standards that is. Now on to our Madrid day trips...

Palacio Real (Royal Palace)