We made an early start this morning as we wanted to get into the city in time to do a guided tour. We were sitting at the bus stop at 8:00am, in the dark, in the cold, waiting for a bus that was running half an hour late. Did I mention the cold? It was freezing. It feels like autumn is finally coming to meet us.
We arrived in the city and made a quick dash to the Tourist Info, only to be told that their tour doesn’t start until noon (it is now the winter season). So we went for a walk to a shop to pick up the tickets for tonight’s event, only to find it was closed and wouldn’t open until 11:30am. Time for a new plan.
Our new plan involved going to the Museo National del Prado, until we were due back for the walking tour. This an extremely cool gallery and well worth a visit if you are in this town. The majority of work here is by pre 19th Century Spanish artists which is fantastic to see. Large sections were dedicated to Goya, but there were also many Rubens. We wondered why there were so many Flemish works and then we were reminded that the Netherlands were governed by the Spanish crown for a long time. It has been an interesting learning through our travels, how the various lands have been integrated and separated at various times. It all becomes a giant jigsaw of who belongs to who, who governs who, who marries who, and at what time. It all makes sense in the end.
From here it was back to the walking tour, which to say the least was a little disappointing. Not the wealth of knowledge and learning that we have come to expect from these things. However we did pass a church with an interesting story. The Basillica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, a certain farm labourer of old times who to say the least was a little ‘work shy’. But despite being a ‘lazy sod’ he prayed a lot. When his employer was about to ‘fire’ him for not doing his work, he found that despite his lazyness and perchance for running off to church, the fields were well kept. It was ascertained that by praying all the time, that angels did his work for him. Now that the miracle had been established, there was a basilica built in honor of him and his wife. Hmmmm … we had been wondering what you needed to do to become a saint, apparently nothing. Sit around drink beer, pray and have someone else do your work. And that is the patron saint of Madrid, not a good role model one would think.
We finished the day on a completely different level. We went to a bullfight, but that deserves a whole new chapter.
We arrived in the city and made a quick dash to the Tourist Info, only to be told that their tour doesn’t start until noon (it is now the winter season). So we went for a walk to a shop to pick up the tickets for tonight’s event, only to find it was closed and wouldn’t open until 11:30am. Time for a new plan.
Our new plan involved going to the Museo National del Prado, until we were due back for the walking tour. This an extremely cool gallery and well worth a visit if you are in this town. The majority of work here is by pre 19th Century Spanish artists which is fantastic to see. Large sections were dedicated to Goya, but there were also many Rubens. We wondered why there were so many Flemish works and then we were reminded that the Netherlands were governed by the Spanish crown for a long time. It has been an interesting learning through our travels, how the various lands have been integrated and separated at various times. It all becomes a giant jigsaw of who belongs to who, who governs who, who marries who, and at what time. It all makes sense in the end.
From here it was back to the walking tour, which to say the least was a little disappointing. Not the wealth of knowledge and learning that we have come to expect from these things. However we did pass a church with an interesting story. The Basillica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, a certain farm labourer of old times who to say the least was a little ‘work shy’. But despite being a ‘lazy sod’ he prayed a lot. When his employer was about to ‘fire’ him for not doing his work, he found that despite his lazyness and perchance for running off to church, the fields were well kept. It was ascertained that by praying all the time, that angels did his work for him. Now that the miracle had been established, there was a basilica built in honor of him and his wife. Hmmmm … we had been wondering what you needed to do to become a saint, apparently nothing. Sit around drink beer, pray and have someone else do your work. And that is the patron saint of Madrid, not a good role model one would think.
We finished the day on a completely different level. We went to a bullfight, but that deserves a whole new chapter.
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