My good friend from England and I always meet up when we can somewhere in Europe. This time it was Madrid, and of course the first thing we did was hit the Prado.
The Prado definately is a must-see when you are in town. I am happy that we got here in March because it were not too many people there. It must be packed in high-season! My favourite painters are the old maestroes of the Renaissance, and you find all of them there. Unfortunately it is not allowed to take photos.
A good idea, as always, is the hop on/hop off bus. It makes you get a feeling for the city, and you can get off at any sight to stroll around there. We only passed the Houses of Parliament, because there was no stop there.
But of course we got off at the Almuneda Cathedral. Locals say that it is not worth going inside, but I definately liked the inside as well.
Right opposite is the Palacio Real, another must-see in the Old Town. The Spanish Royal Family, by the way, is not living here but in the more decent Palacio Zarzuela.
Walking around the Old Town also is something very nice. You hit the sights almost by accident, like here the Mercado de San Miguel. When we were there it was almost impossible to get inside. People go there for snacks and drinks, and on a Saturday afternoon it simply was packed. So I just went inside, turned around and left again. But it smelled yummy everwhere.
Food is definately an issue in Madrid, there are zillions of places to eat and snack. One of the really nice things you should grab is a Boccadillo del Calamares. Usually I do not like fried food, and I even less like squid, but this was something to die for.
And then of course the Paella. I had had Paella before on Mallorca and it was not good at all - the rice too hard, you could not get the seafood out of the shell - and so I was not sure if Spanish people just like their rice and stuff on top differently, or if the Paella was just badly cooked. But I must say the Paella in Madrid - with tenderloin, Spanish jamon and chickpeas - turned out to be really nice.
Of course Madrid is a place for art lovers. There is no better place for modern art than the Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.
Here I am trying to look really intellectual. Thing is: I liked the place - the atmosphere of the house is so really nice and quiet - but I simply do not understand Modern Art. I always think "WTF?" when I see these installations - which is why I never went to the New York MOMA for example.
To sum it all up: It was a nice weekend with plenty of impressions. But if you go to mainland Spain for the first time I would rather recommend Barcelona, which is more fun. Madrid is the capital, so it is bound to be serious, but I imagined everything to be more magnificent and bigger and somehow different. And beware: The Spanish do not speak any foreign language at all (or pretend to), so leave for the airport well in advance. It is not so easy to find your way back to your plane. It was a good idea that I calculated like three hours....