The Prado was huge and the guide suggested we not try to see it all but just concentrate on the highlights. We were insulted by this suggestion and took it as a personal challenge to see the lot.
We started with the Velasquez special exhibition. This was a natural follow on from the Picasso exhibition. He became a bit obsessed with one of Velasquez's paintings and used and appropriated parts of the painting for his own purposes. We wanted to see what the original looked like. The exhibition helpfully gave us a potted history of the royal family so we could recognize the portraits. It was interesting seeing the Infanta Margarita age before our eyes. Curiously her eyes were always painted in the same way whether she was a child or aging widow.
We returned our audio guide to the front desk and they reprogrammed it for the general exhibition. I was blown away by what was there, just 30 cm in front of me. It was just about every major work that I had to learn about in HSC art...Fra Angelico's Annunciation, Mantegna's stocky human representations, Breughel and Hieronimus Bosh's cataclysmic and tortured visions of heaven and hell. there was Durer and his bigger than life sized crucified images, saintly Raphael scenes! Titan's panoramic enactments of religious scenes, Tiepolo, Goya, Van Dyke, Velasquez, Carravagio, Rembrant, El Greco ....and a couple of hundred other greats I was too ignorant to recognize. It was like loving chocolate but then gorging on it and not being able to face any more. After about two and a half hours, we had had enough of religious scenes, of writhing crucifixions and ecstatic assumptions to heaven. All we wanted was a slice of tortilla, a cup of coffee and a rest. After a break we found the energy to continue a little longer. This really was an amazing experience. John suddenly realized that his name in translation was Juan Carlos (John Charles). Well that will have to be his name, at least for the remainder of this trip.
On the doorstep of the Prado was another church and so we slipped in again as a service seemed to be finishing. They are a religious lot in this country. We walked past the botanical gardens down to the Paeo del Prado, a wide tree lined boulevard.
We walked towards the Puerta del Sol and a famed cake shop. This had the same atmosphere as the market tapas bars. People stood three or four thick, waiting for a place at the bar to come free. When we got to the front it was cafe con leche and pastry. Every local and there dog was there scoffing cake, skulking coffee and catching up with friends. It was a great jostling atmosphere and when the jostling got a bit strong the woman next to Juan dropped her glass of water and it broke into a hundred pieces, scattering little shards of glass all over the place including into our coffees. The staff whipped everything away and we were given two new ones.
I thought we might have a quick peek into the department stores nearby, just to see how they compared with ours at home, but by then it was the dreaded siesta time and the shutters were down. The enterprising street venders with their knock off handbags and other merchandise swept in and set up all the way along Calle de Preciados
. By the time we'd walked to the end of the street, the police patrol had arrived and we stood to the side and watched the show. The lookout signalled the approach of the police and before they could take twenty steps from their vehicle, the vendors had picked up the sheet with their wares and melted into the crowd.
At the end of the Calle de Preciados was the Gran Via, an enormously wide street of some 200 feet. This is modern Spain and looks a bit like central Melbourne. This is real, everyday shopping and business here. We walked the full length, which was lined by so many impressive historic buildings in a range of architectural styles, till we got up to the massive arch of triumph. This was the Puerta de Alcale area. As with Rome there is architectural excess everywhere we looked, Juan Carlo's and my feet were starting to feel the toll and we headed back to the hotel.
On the way back, we decided to have dinner at the Argentinian beef restaurant nearby. It looked pretty swish so on the way back to the hotel we popped in to make a reservation. It all became too hard. The maître de was pretty haughty and dismissive, spoke no English and waved us off. Back at the hotel we asked the staff to ring and make a reservation for us. Though they were pleaseg to have a go, the staff at the restaurant were not picking up. After some persistence the hotel stff got through but when we arrived the restaurant door was locked and we could see cleaning staff inside. No worries, there were loads of other choices and we ended up at a nearby place called Ginger. It looked very nice and was well patronized. The food was nice ( veal with roast potatoes for me and cod with artichoke chips for Juan). We were home by 10.30 as we had to plan for an early start the next day. Tuesday we are planning a day trip out to Toledo.
At the end of the Calle de Preciados was the Gran Via, an enormously wide street of some 200 feet. This is modern Spain and looks a bit like central Melbourne. This is real, everyday shopping and business here. We walked the full length, which was lined by so many impressive historic buildings in a range of architectural styles, till we got up to the massive arch of triumph. This was the Puerta de Alcale area. As with Rome there is architectural excess everywhere we looked, Juan Carlo's and my feet were starting to feel the toll and we headed back to the hotel.
On the way back, we decided to have dinner at the Argentinian beef restaurant nearby. It looked pretty swish so on the way back to the hotel we popped in to make a reservation. It all became too hard. The maître de was pretty haughty and dismissive, spoke no English and waved us off. Back at the hotel we asked the staff to ring and make a reservation for us. Though they were pleaseg to have a go, the staff at the restaurant were not picking up. After some persistence the hotel stff got through but when we arrived the restaurant door was locked and we could see cleaning staff inside. No worries, there were loads of other choices and we ended up at a nearby place called Ginger. It looked very nice and was well patronized. The food was nice ( veal with roast potatoes for me and cod with artichoke chips for Juan). We were home by 10.30 as we had to plan for an early start the next day. Tuesday we are planning a day trip out to Toledo.
