Stewart in Spain!!!: Madrid: Day 2!!!

Museo del Prado. One of the finest collections of Art in the world, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection. It has about 1300 paintings on display, as well as a collection of more than 5000 drawing, 2000 prints, 1000 coins and medals, and about 2000 other works of decorative art. Thought photo was taken while waiting in the queue outside, and I thought the lady in the middle of the three statues made a charming scene! :)

Tuesday, 18th March

Up and out early again, heading for the Convento de la Encarnación, a convent founded by Margarita de Austria (wife of Felipe III) in 1611, so the ROYAL CONNECTION was there!! :p Bought a joint ticket (valid for a week) for the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales (Monastery of the Barefoot Royals 'cos the nuns are shoeless! :p)--determined to head there when I had the time--and then I wandered round till the tour at 11:00. Saw a little religious exposición that they had on, bought a guidebook to the 2 monasteries (9.90€!!! :O), and then off we went! Really quite an impressive place, with some lovely works of art (loved the Salón de los Reyes! FULL of Royal portraits! :p), but some bloody gruesome stuff too: dead and bloody Christs, and skulls in the Reliquary--eurgh! :p Tour ended in the Church though, which was an absolute DELIGHT: a LOVELY colour of blue ('eggshell blue'?!), all marble and gilt, and oh! The ceiling!! Tour was worth it just to see that! :D

Convento de la Encarnación (note the statue of Lope de Vega!)

So, after that, I took the Metro to Banco de España (screw walking!), for a look at Plaza de Cibeles (so called because of the statue of the Goddess Cibeles [Cybele] found in the fountain there, where victorious Real Madrid fans celebrate a win!) and the HUGE Palacio de Comunicaciones, which was--until recently--Madrid's main post office, and then it was off to the Prado!!!!!!!!

Palacio de Comunicaciones

Pretty little fountain on the way to the Prado! :)

Statue of Velázquez outside the Prado.

So, I had been soooooo looking forward to going to the Prado! Had to wait in a queue for about 40 minutes to get in, but nyah! Could've been worse, and I got in for nothing! :) (*No photos allowed in the museum, so none of the following pieces will have been snapped by me!).

So I started with 'The 19th Century Pieces in the Prado,' and WOW! Was I impressed?! Some MAGNIFICENT pieces: López's María Cristina de Borbón, The Contemporary Poets by Esquivel, the children of Lorenzo Flores, and oh! The SCULPTURES!! Especially the veiled bust of Isabel II!!!

María Cristina de Borbón (mother--and Regent--of Queen Isabel II) by Vicente López y Portaña, part of the Prado's 19th Century Collection.

Made my way through ALL of the rooms on the ground floor, then I headed upstairs starting with Goya! The Majas did not impress me in the slightest (another one of those 'Is that it?!' moments!), and the famous 2 and 3 de Mayo paintings weren't even on show!! Under restoration or something! Tut! LOVED seeing the portraits of Carlos IV and His Family, but I think there's always something of the caricature with Goya: they don't look remotely human (except the King Himself!)!

Goya's 'obscene' La maja desnuda.

And the woman with her clothes on this time! La maja vestida.

La família de Carlos IV

DELIGHTED to see Moro's Queen Mary I of England (a painting I'd seen SOOO many times before!), and then it was on to the MASTERPIECES!!!

Mary I of England by Antonio Moro

Rubens, Titian, VELÁZQUEZ!!! Las Meninas did not FAIL to impress: delightful--and it does seem like a continuation of the room!! THIS is what I wanted to see most!! :D

Velázquez's masterpiece Las Meninas, painted in 1656, and one of the most widely analysed works of art in the Western World due to the questions it raises with regard to reality and illusion, and spatial structure and positioning. It depicts the young Infanta Margarita Teresa, attended to by two ladies-in-waiting (meninas in Spanish), members of the Court of Felipe IV, and indeed the King himself and Queen Mariana de Austria (in the mirror), and the artist!!!

So after having seen this (and been delighted by it!), I made my way to the so-called Tesoro del Delfîn (Treasure of the Dauphin), a display of part of the collection of the Grand Dauphin, son and heir of Louis XIV of France, and father of the Spain's first Bourbon King, Felipe V. Just a load of old jugs really! (Nice, pricey jugs, but not one bloody jewel or anything! :p).

I then bought a little postcard of Las meninas, and then (after 4 hours!!) I left the Prado, bloody exhausted from walking about, and feeling like I deserved a MEDAL!! Totally worth it though! Magnificent place, and certainly on a par with the Louvre! World-class!!! :p

I then made my way up the Paseo del Prado to Sol, getting something to eat, and treating myself to a book from the Corte Inglés (Spain's answer to John Lewis!): La família de la Reina Sofía: La Dinastía Griega, La Casa de Hannover [,] y los Reales Primos de Europa! :) (Spaniards don't capitalize book titles, and it annoys the hell out of me!). It was then back to the hostel, where I read some of my book, had loads of Cola Cao (Spanish Nesquick!), and spoke to some American guy from Wisconsin, who was studying at Oxford (ooooooo!!! :p), and moving on to Sevilla and then Barcelona! :) You meet all sorts!!! :p

Iglesia de los Jerónimos (outside the Prado)