I was incredibly lucky to be able to go to Madrid and spend some time with my cousin, Emily! It was so nice to be around family- and to see her because it has been a while. She moved and has been working as an english teacher in Madrid since the summer, so she knows the area very well. (Another reason why I was very lucky, a free tour guide:) ha!)
Unfortunately, I brought the bad weather from Florence, so it was rainy my first day there and then pretty chilly the rest of the trip. It was okay though because I was in Madrid!
Monday, I flew out of the Pisa airport to Madrid and met up with Emily. We went back to her apartment to drop my stuff off, relax, and catch up! Our first stop was to get some food. We had tortilla (spanish omelet) and churros with the hot chocolate/chocolate sauce that you dip the churro in. It was so good! These are not like the churros you get at Cedar Point, these were freshly made and brought right out to you with a cup of pudding like hot chocolate to dip them in.. YUM!
These were everywhere! You could buy one of these legs at a grocery store, but these were at the central market.
We had tapas one night, its pretty much appetizers they keep bringing you when you get something to drink! It was delicious!
It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back to Spain some day and see more of this beautiful city!
After this, we started some sight seeing. We stopped in the Peurta del Sol where we saw the most famous symbol of Madrid, the bear eating from a strawberry tree. It is called El Oso y El Madrono, and it is 20 tons.
Next, the Santa Maria La Real de la Almudena Cathedral. Before coming to Europe, I had one set idea of what a Cathedral looks like and I kinda thought that they would all be similar. Like the same tipes of paintings on the walls, nothing very bright or very dark. Having visited Venice and now Madrid, I know I was very wrong. Where the Cathedral in Venice was darker and had the mosaic art, this cathedral was so beautiful and full of bright colors. Not just colors as part of specific paintings, but the actual decoration of the ceiling were patterns with these great bright colors. I really liked this one for that reason, I wouldn't have picture these colors and patterns as any that would be in a cathedral, well on the ceiling- stained glass is different:)
We also went to Palacio Real de Madrid. It is the "Real Palace" apparently, but the King does not actually live there. We walked through the armoury,the area that had all the portraits of the royal family, and a bunch of different rooms that were really elaborately decorated, the patterns on the rugs matched the patterns on the walls and the furniture. My favorite room to see, though, was the dining room. This HUGE table was set up like they were having a dinner party that night! Like it was straight out of a movie! We were not allowed to take pictures, so I don't have any of the inside, but here is the outside and the flag that was in the entrance.(The only place we could take picture)
The next day we walked through some gardens which were really beautiful!
Sounds like you had a great visit with Emily. Madrid is a pretty fun city, isn't it? We only got to spend a day and a half there, but plan to go back some day. (I also want to get to Barcelona.) We went to Almudena Cathedral and I was as amazed as you at the bright, modern paintings on the ceiling! In fact, I use a picture that Uncle Ron took of the ceiling as my cover photo on my FB page. (check it out) By the way, Uncle Ron is drooling at your picture of the jamon! Oh, and thanks for finding the salt for me. Yea!
ReplyDeleteIt was great, I can't wait to go back some day and get to Barcelona as well- a few friends of mine have gone and they said it was absolutely beautiful! That is a great picture of the Cathedral ceilings! Who knew that those would be in a Cathedral!? And I am happy I found the salt, too! I can't wait to try what you make with it!:) Ha!
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