Last Full Day in Madrid...THANK GOD!!! :p

Saturday, 22nd March

Made my way to the Palacio Real de El Pardo to the north of Madrid, which was GORGEOUS!!! :D

Bit of info: Covering an area of 15,821 hectares, the Real Sitio de El Pardo was mentioned in documents as early as the 14th Century, but it was King Enrique III who, in 1405, had a small pavilion built on the site, which was later developed into a Royal Palace by Charles V. It was half-destroyed by fire in 1604, but thereafter enlarged by successive Monarchs, notably Charles III (1716-1788). It also served as the official residence of Franco until his death, after which--in 1976--it was opened to the public.

Palacio Real de El Pardo


Grounds of the Palace

Couldn't take any pictures inside the Palace (tut!) or even of the façade 'cos it was covered in scaffolding, but it really is an impressive place, from the inner courtyard where we gathered for the guided tour, to the Queen's Gallery (with its tiles, tapestries, and Baroque ceiling paintaings), the Royal Chapel, and the little Theatre, which was SUCH a surprise but an absolute delight!!! :D). It also has a HUGE collection of tapestries (which I'm not normally impressed by, but which were magnificent--each and every one! :p), so well worth a visit! :)

I then made my way back into Madrid, and I had INTENDED to go to the Buen Retiro Park, but when the pissing rain came on, bang went that idea!!

Getting ready for Semana Santa!!!






Inside Atocha station

So I went and treated myself to something else from the Corte Inglés (a DVD: Sissi: el beso del emperador [God! Place is an addiction!]), and then I made for the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales (had that joint ticket), but lo and behold! It was shut for bloody Semana Santa--tut! So, I treated myself (again!) to a fan with Las meninas on it, and I bought another (red) fan as a gift for Esther, the Spanish woman I was living with, and then I went to the little-known but well-worth-it Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, a collection of 700-odd paintings accumulated by father-and-son German-Hungarian magnates, and put on show by the late Baron's fifth wife, Carmen Cervera, a former Miss Spain!! It includes works by European Old Masters (such as van Eyck, Holbein, Raphael, and Titian), as well as examples of Impressionism and Expressionism i.e. 'Modern Art'!!! Pieces I was particularly pleased to see were :

Portrait of King Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger (a painting I'd seen sooo many times before and was DYING to see this time!!! :D)


Retrato de una Infanta. Catalina de Aragón (?) by Juan de Flandes. A portrait presumed to be Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, and daughter of los Reyes Católicos. (Again, I'd seen it many times before, and was DELIGHTED to see it!! :D)


Orquídea y colibrí cerca de una cascada de montaña by Martin Johnson Heade (absolutely GORGEOUS!!! :D)


Tough Customers by John George Brown, which was charming!!! :)

*No photos allowed in the Museum, so I didn't take the above, but wanted to show you them! :p

So I bought myself the poster of Retrato de una Infanta, and 2 postcards: the one of Henry VIII, and Orquídea y colibrí cerca de una cascada de montaña. Back to the hostel after that to get ready to go back to Oviedo!!! :D

Metropolis building on Gran Vía surmounted by winged Victory

Wee blue bus! :)