Tuesday 30 June 2015

Bienvenidos a Madrid

This past weekend we visited Madrid; the place that I have always dreamed of going. Let me just say that all of my dreams of what Madrid would be like did not even come close to how amazing it actually was. The people of Spain are so friendly and willing to help, it reminded me of home. Not to mention, Spain is just so beautiful. There is so much history everywhere you look, it makes it really difficult to leave.

First we visited the Museo Nacional Centro del Arte Reina Sofia which houses the Guernica by Pablo Picasso. Having studied Spanish for so long, I was so excited to get to see this painting in person. The painting takes up an entire wall and it depicts the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Just being in the presence of such a historically important piece was amazing. The Reina Sofia also houses some original Dali pieces. I am personally a fan of Dali, so it was really awesome getting the chance to see them up close.

Museo Nacional Centro del Arte Reina Sofia
We also visited the Museo Nacional del Prado, home of many paintings by El Greco, Diego Velasquez and Francisco de Goya. I could have spent days in this museum! Unfortunately we only had a few hours, so we had to prioritize what we wanted to see. I would say we probably got through a third of the museum. After we visited Buen Retiro Park and saw the Crystal Palace. The day we went they had all of these cushions set up inside the Crystal Palace for visitors to grab and lay down on. They had strung all of these semi-transparent pieces of cloth all around as well. It was really nice to just lay there for a while after walking around all day!

Crystal Palace in Buen Retiro Park
The next day we visited Toledo, Spain which is about a half hour train ride (we took the bullet train). As soon as we stepped off the train it looked like we had stepped back in time to medieval Spain. All of the buildings had such ornate details, with the streets being purely cobblestone where we were. We explored the city a bit before venturing to the Toledo Cathedral. The Toledo Cathedral was easily the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen. Construction on the cathedral began in 1223 and it took over 200 years to complete. The details in the cathedral were what made it so spectacular.
Toledo Cathedral
Toledo Cathedral

Toledo Cathedral
Overall I would say that our trip to Madrid has been one of my favorite parts of the trip so far. All I can say is that I hope I get to visit Spain again sometime soon!

2 comments:

  1. Spain has so much history and there is so many cities that you would have to come back again and again.

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    1. You are so right! All I know is that I can't wait to go back!

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