Madrid

Our first full day in Madrid was a Sunday, the first one of the month, which just so happens to be the day that a lot of Museums are free. So we decided to hit the 2 that we wanted to see. First we went to the Reina Sofia. This is the modern art museum, which was actually built as a hospital, and then later modified into what it is now. We saw a lot of art. One specific painting by Picasso that I like, its called “Guernica” not sure what that means but look it up to see a picture of it. It was pretty cool, but you know, you can only see so much art…

We didn’t take any pictures inside, but here is a picture of the outside.



Between going to 2 museums, we decided to take a rest and eat and walk around in the biggest park in the center of the city. Park El Retiro. It is the most popular and widely visited park in Madrid. It was originally built for the Spanish King Phillip IV as a hunting and relaxing area, but was then opened to the public in the 1800’s. It had a few museums in it, a large and small pond, one on which you can use a paddle boat, many street performers, restaurants and small stands for ice cream, and of course people selling goods. Here are some pictures of us at the park.
Just before eating our lunch and relaxing in the grass



The Crystal Palace




The large lake


We later went to the Prado museum, which is another older art museum, and one of Madrid’s top cultural sites. It is the largest art gallery in the world! I read that they have more than 8,600 paintings in it, but only showcase around 2000 because of space. Wow! I thought there was a lot, but apparently there were even more! It has old and new art from all over the world, and it was very interesting seeing all of the different art. It also had sculptures, coins, and other works of art. We were very exhausted after walking a lot and being in the sun for a lot of the day, so we headed home to go to bed.
Some of the other days were spent relaxing at the house we are staying at, or walking around shopping a little bit. There is also a nice park near the house we are staying at, so we went there a few nights to walk around and played some cards. It was very relaxing.
The day before we left for Portugal we spent walking around the city again. We went and saw the other sites that we wanted to visit in Madrid which included the Palace, Plaza de Espana and a few other big/famous shopping squares.

Here is us stopped at a park.



The Palace






A man played an accordion. Pretty much everywhere you go in Madrid or Barcelona and some other places, there is someone playing an instrument asking for donations, or just someone asking for donations. These people are in the metros too! Here is a very common man playing an accordion. Of course it was nice to hear while looking at the pretty palace, but its definitely not something needed…



Here is me sitting down relaxing after a lot of walking.



Plaza de Espana



And we walked over to Madrid’s river. It was super hot this day so we found a place to sit in the shade and play some cards. Here is a picture of the river and one of the bridges.