Catching Up
A lot has happened in the last few days, most of which I can´t remember right now because I am a worn out after many late nights, lots of alcohol and not enough sleep.
I went to El Escorial and Valle de los Caídos yesterday, two locations Northwest of Madrid. Pretty impressive places, both.
El Escorial was originally a monestary that eventually becaume the king´s residence and now acts as a royal burial location. It was wierd to see the tomb where the current King and Queen are going to be buried some day. I think I would feel a wee bit uncomfortable if I knew there was a casket with my name on it somewhere.
When we were there, some ceremony was taking place, so much of the Palace was closed. We got an audioguide which looked like a small cell phone and walked around the various areas anyway. I lost count how many images of the Virgin Mary there were in the Palace...it must have been at least 80.
After the Palace, we hung around the town of El Escorial for a while, ate just outside the main entrance and headed back to the bus station for Valle de los Caídos.
If any of the areas I had already seen were impressive, Valle de los Caídos blew them all away. In the late 50´s, Franco created this gigantic monument to those who died in the Spanish Civil War. Or so he would have people think. In reality, it is a monument to himself. There is a huge cross atop a high hill just north of El Escorial, and under it are two enormous plazas. One is the entrance to the tomb of the fallen soldier, which is about 180 meters long, and I am not sure what the other plaza is. We ran out of time after having done the tour of the tomb.
The most impressive sight, other than the enormity of the site that was bored into solid granite, are the 8 tapestries hanging from the walls indicating different passages from the book of Revelations. They are incredibly intricate and beautiful, but contain some disturbing images.
Okay, only a few minutes left...
Went to the Thyssen musem and saw quite a lot of paintings that really struck me. I spent quite a lot of time jotting down ideas, inspirations and interpretations of the various works there. I want to start sketching and painting as soon as I get home!
Went to Retiro (a giant park here) and saw lots of cool statues, fountains, etc. In fact there is a statue to the Fallen Angel, our good buddy Satan, right near the centre of the park. It´s odd to see a statue like that in such a Catholic stronghold as this.
Spent an evening with some of my sister´s friends down by the big Opera House. We had a dinner that we cobbled together from various dishes we all thought might be interesting. Among some of the better dishes (an excellent cheese & meat dish) we tried callos, which is basically the intestinal tract of a sheep, pig or cow, I wasn´t sure. I noticed that it was a bit rubbery and hard to chew through, but I thought it was the way it was made. Until the guy to my right explained what it was.
I wish he had waited until after I swallowed before telling me.
We drank lots, talked lots (my colloquial Spanish is improving rapidly), and had a really great time. Jane´s friends are cool, all very interesting and fun to speak with.
Tomorrow is my last day in Madrid before I fly home, so I am going to spend most of the day in the Prado, the biggest museum in the city. I have been told that it would likely take 2 or 3 days to see most of the pieces there, so I will try to make the most of the 10 hours it is open.
After that, we are planning to go to Seville, Ronda and Cordoba, but we may make stops in Cadíz, Gibralter, Grenada, Antequera or possibly even Malága. Although, as things have been kind of busy here (we couldn´t get tickets for the AVE, Spain´s high-speed train), we may end up just sticking to the larger areas.
Anyway, this will probably be my last update before I get home, so I hope you are all well.
¡Hasta Luego! Iré a Sevilla...
I went to El Escorial and Valle de los Caídos yesterday, two locations Northwest of Madrid. Pretty impressive places, both.
El Escorial was originally a monestary that eventually becaume the king´s residence and now acts as a royal burial location. It was wierd to see the tomb where the current King and Queen are going to be buried some day. I think I would feel a wee bit uncomfortable if I knew there was a casket with my name on it somewhere.
When we were there, some ceremony was taking place, so much of the Palace was closed. We got an audioguide which looked like a small cell phone and walked around the various areas anyway. I lost count how many images of the Virgin Mary there were in the Palace...it must have been at least 80.
After the Palace, we hung around the town of El Escorial for a while, ate just outside the main entrance and headed back to the bus station for Valle de los Caídos.
If any of the areas I had already seen were impressive, Valle de los Caídos blew them all away. In the late 50´s, Franco created this gigantic monument to those who died in the Spanish Civil War. Or so he would have people think. In reality, it is a monument to himself. There is a huge cross atop a high hill just north of El Escorial, and under it are two enormous plazas. One is the entrance to the tomb of the fallen soldier, which is about 180 meters long, and I am not sure what the other plaza is. We ran out of time after having done the tour of the tomb.
The most impressive sight, other than the enormity of the site that was bored into solid granite, are the 8 tapestries hanging from the walls indicating different passages from the book of Revelations. They are incredibly intricate and beautiful, but contain some disturbing images.
Okay, only a few minutes left...
Went to the Thyssen musem and saw quite a lot of paintings that really struck me. I spent quite a lot of time jotting down ideas, inspirations and interpretations of the various works there. I want to start sketching and painting as soon as I get home!
Went to Retiro (a giant park here) and saw lots of cool statues, fountains, etc. In fact there is a statue to the Fallen Angel, our good buddy Satan, right near the centre of the park. It´s odd to see a statue like that in such a Catholic stronghold as this.
Spent an evening with some of my sister´s friends down by the big Opera House. We had a dinner that we cobbled together from various dishes we all thought might be interesting. Among some of the better dishes (an excellent cheese & meat dish) we tried callos, which is basically the intestinal tract of a sheep, pig or cow, I wasn´t sure. I noticed that it was a bit rubbery and hard to chew through, but I thought it was the way it was made. Until the guy to my right explained what it was.
I wish he had waited until after I swallowed before telling me.
We drank lots, talked lots (my colloquial Spanish is improving rapidly), and had a really great time. Jane´s friends are cool, all very interesting and fun to speak with.
Tomorrow is my last day in Madrid before I fly home, so I am going to spend most of the day in the Prado, the biggest museum in the city. I have been told that it would likely take 2 or 3 days to see most of the pieces there, so I will try to make the most of the 10 hours it is open.
After that, we are planning to go to Seville, Ronda and Cordoba, but we may make stops in Cadíz, Gibralter, Grenada, Antequera or possibly even Malága. Although, as things have been kind of busy here (we couldn´t get tickets for the AVE, Spain´s high-speed train), we may end up just sticking to the larger areas.
Anyway, this will probably be my last update before I get home, so I hope you are all well.
¡Hasta Luego! Iré a Sevilla...
<< Home