Friday - Travel and Art

Friday 17th May 2019

The good thing about having a husband that travels with his job, is that Oli and I often get to tag along, and visit some great cities.

Andrew had already arrived in Madrid a few days before and had been saying how much he thought we would love it, so we were excited to see what it had to offer.

An early start, and my teenage travelling companion did not let me down by getting out of bed after me asking ONLY ONCE and we were on the road to Gatwick by 6:30am. We arrived with lots of time to spare and had a nice breakfast and boarded a packed Norwegian flight to Madrid.

When we arrived, we sped through passport control, and with only hand luggage did not have to wait. I had decided to get the metro into Madrid centre, which meant negotiating a ticket machine! Easy peasy! As it was at the airport, all the ticket machines were in various languages, so we were soon ready to travel.

The undeground in Madrid is made up of 12 lines, all in familiar London Underground colours, and called simply “linea 1”, “linea 2” etc etc. We took Linea 8 (lilac) from the airport terminal to Nuevos Ministerios, and changed onto Linea 10 (dark blue) two stops to Alonso Martinez. Here we needed linea 5 (lime), but the station was heaving with people and we had to let two trains go before we could squeeze on. Four sweaty stops later we were in Opera. Our station. The underground was very very clean, as are the stations, but it’s worth noting that there are 3 rush hours a day for Madrid. The early (7am-8:30), the late (7:30-9:30pm) and, in true style of any food loving city, a mid one (1-2:30).

Andrew’s meeting had finished early, so we met him at our apartment. We are in a lovely old block with a HUGE wooden door to a lobby and large staircase with flats on 4 floors. Very similar to the old apartment blocks in Paris. The apartment is lovely. Modern and clean, with one bedroom , a kitchen diner and sofa bed for Oli. We set down our bags and headed off for some food. We are very close to a beautiful old covered market called Mercado de San Miguel. It was built in 1915, and it is very art nouveau in design with its wrought iron frame and glass. Most travel itineraries or programmes will mention this. It didn’t disappoint. Despite being packed, it was still a delight. Stalls selling ham and salted cod, which you can buy in small amounts and eat there and then. Vermut stalls are also in abundance where you can try the different types by the glass. It’s a place to be seen, and there were lots of beautiful people sharing time with friends.

We then made our way to Plaza Mayor, which started life as a market square, but is now full of cafes and restaurants. It’s bustling and full of tourists, hen parties and people going about their day. We found a cafe, and had some food. Oli had pizza (his taste is a work in progress) and Andrew and I shared calamari, and chorizo with potatoes. We had a glass of vermut to share, which was delicious, and a beer each.

Fully refreshed we made our way to our first earmarked art gallery. Madrid is quite the place for art lovers. It has three major galleries , Reina Sofia, Prado and the Thyssen. They are all quite close to each other and are called the Paseo del Arte (art stroll). We started at the Thyssen. Mainly because it has some Edward Hopper. Unfortunately, we were too late to go in, and were told that we could no longer buy a ticket. Hmm. Madrilenos (residents of Madrid) are a bit grumpy, and also totally averse to speaking anything but Spanish. I get that, it’s Spain, but when I look blankly at them, they still speak in Spanish. Nope. Me no understand.

Our next stop was to be the Reina Sofia museum, but first a stop at an old railway station, Atocha, that has served its purpose due to size of the trains, but is now repurposed as...a greenhouse. It’s small, but beautiful. There are birds flying inside and people eating their lunch or chatting to friends, and it’s full of exotic plants. Amazing!

The attraction of the Sofia is Picasso’s ‘Guernica’, plus some Dali. On Fridays at 7pm, the gallery is free, so there was a queue, but it moved quickly, so we were soon inside. Has to be the worst signposted place ever. It is arranged by collections, but only in Spanish, so it was hard to know where to go. No apparent guides either. We wandered around before seeing a sign for a collection called “Is the War Over? Art in a divided world”. I challenge you to tell me what you’d find there!

After much wandering amongst white rooms with one twig on the floor (art), we found a few nice pieces from the 40s and 50s and a few Picasso, but not the Guernica. We finally figured out that it would be in the collection called “The Irruption of the 20th Century” - of course. We made our way down a Escher style staircase to that collection. Guess what? Closing in 15 minutes. You can’t come in. In Spanish , naturally.

What a shame!

By now, we were really tired. It’s a long day of travel and walking galleries is a killer, so we made our way back to Plaza Mayor, and had a glass of wine and some small tapas dishes. We walked back via the market again, and this time there were less people, so we stopped for a try of the traditional Churros dipped in hot chocolate and Oli had chocolate mousse. A real treat. We wound our way back to the room, fell in to bed and immediately asleep!

Looking forward to tomorrow and exploring the city with more energy.