September 10, 2019

September 10, 2019

This morning was our city tour of Madrid. Today Madrid is the largest city in Spain. It was a minor Spanish city until the king moved the capital here from Toledo in 1561. One of our first stops was at the Royal Palace. It has been expanded over the years and is now the largest palace by square footage. I toured it 35 years ago, and I was going to take Aimee through it, but it is closed today for some official visit. Instead there are horse guards patrolling in shiny armor and security checking sewer gates for explosives. It must be somebody important coming.

After driving around to see a few of the many monuments that litter the city, we stopped at the Prado Museum. This is one of the best art museums in the world. With all the riches of the Spanish Empire flooding back here, the monarchs were able to lavishly spend on artwork. Their finest possessions are now the property of the state. We take a guided tour that covers the three Spanish Masters at the height of the empire: Goya, Velasquez, and El Greco. I enjoyed it and felt like I was back in college taking one of my several art history classes. This is also the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Prado Museum.

We left our tour group and stayed at the Prado for as long as Aimee could stand. We breezed through the other art periods, that included famous works of Raphael and Hieronymus Bosch. I am a big fan of sculpture and the Prado has a decent collection of classical Roman pieces, although my favorite was an 1855 marble bust of Isabel II in a veil.

We also visited the two temporary exhibits. One was an extensive collection of the early Renaissance Italian painter, Fra Angelico. The other was a collection of Dutch merchant portraits.

After ODing on art, we strolled through nearby Buen Retiro Park. This is exactly the same thing I did 35 years ago albeit alone. I will have to compare my photos of the 1922 lakeside Monument of Alfonso XII to see if there were any changes.

We then walked west through the heart of the old city. We rested our legs for a while at a street side restaurant. We ordered Mexican food at an Irish pub in Spain, although I did wash it down with a pint of Guinness. We finished our city stroll back at the Royal Palace. It was another mile to our hotel.