WELL...I've had quite the week! Tuesday we toured the Prado museum where many masterpieces are housed. We saw Las Meninas by Velazquez and it took my breath away. It wasn't just a painting of a princess, it's one of the most popular and widely analyzed works in Western paintings. The princess (Margarita) in the painting can be found EVERYWHERE throughout Madrid. I could go on and on about this painting but I don't want to bore anyone so you can check it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas. We also saw many works by Goya as well and I bought postcards there! Haven't written them yet but some of you will probably receive one :) I have very few pix from the Prado because we weren't allowed to take them inside but here's a few.
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| Front of the Prado |
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| Statue of Goya outside of the Prado |
After Prado we went to the Royal Palace. It was GIGANTIC! We spent over an hour and half there, saw 10+ rooms and it was only 10% of the entire palace. The royal family doesn't live there anymore, I think it's only used for special occasions.
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| At Palacio Real |
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| In front of the royal cathedral |
We walked around Plaza Mayor and Plaza del Sol for the remainder of the afternoon. Hill and I both bought Real Madrid jerseys...I'm officially obsessed with Sergio Ramos. We ate some montaditos (mini sandwiches) and had some vino for lunch then headed to the indoor mercado (market). They sold fresh fish, fruits, vegetables, homemade pasta and soooo much more. There we also had some fresh sangria with lemons and apples and it was delish! We also saw wine on tap at the mercado. After that we went back to the hotel & we were so tired we ended up sleeping for almost 3 hours! Around 10 we got up and got ready to go out. We met one of Hill's friends studying in Madrid at a pub and had a couple drinks with him. We went back to the hotel around 1 and were on the internet until after 3am...jetlag had definitely set in.
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| Mercado |
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| Sangria |
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| Wine on tap |
We woke up a little late the next morning but at least we were on time for the bus to Toledo...they ended up leaving 2 people because they couldn't find them! Toledo was INCREDIBLE. If you've ever wondered where the phrase "Holy Toledo" comes from, all you have to do is look at the city...it's also a pretty holy city too since it has influences from Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The guide told us it was over 5000 years old! And it was the original capital of Spain until the 16th century when they moved the capital to Madrid...a much younger city. First we went to the Monasterio San Juan de los Reyes which was commissioned to be built by Ferdinand and Isabella and was originally supposed to be their burial site, but they ended up being buried in Granada.
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The chains represented all of the Christians who were freed from Moorish captivity.
The used to cover the entire facade but damn Napoleon and his army... |
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| Ceiling of the chapel |
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| Altar of the chapel |
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| Cloister view (courtyard-type area) |
We got to see one of the oldest Jewish synagogues still in existance there even though they no longer have a Jewish community. Then we went to the church of Santo Tome which houses El Greco's masterpiece "The Burial of Count Orgaz". Apparently the count was a very pious man and on his burial day at that church a miracle happened when St. Stephen and St. Augustine came down from heaven and buried him with their own hands in front of the community. We were basically on the site of a real miracle and viewing the 2nd most visited painting in the world at the same time (second only to the Mona Lisa at the Louvre)...breathtaking to say the least. Check more of it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burial_of_the_Count_of_Orgaz.
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| Synagogue |
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| Star of David under the columns |
After that we went to the square of the city and saw the great cathedral. It's the second largest gothic cathedral in the world (second only to the one in Sevilla). The building began in the 13th century and didn't finish until the 15th century. The king in the 13th century had just won Toledo from Muslim control, decided to destroy the mosque in the center of the city and replace it with this very cathedral.
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| In the streets of Toledo with the cathedral in the background |
We spent the rest of the day at our hotel which was on the other side of the city. We watched the Real Madrid vs. Sevilla futbol game in the lobby bar and Real Madrid won (yay Sergio)! We left Toledo around 10am and arrived in Sevilla around 5:30pm FINALLY....
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| View from our hotel room, the city is to the left |
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| Pool area at our hotel, unfortunately it was a little chilly! |
Our host family is AMAZING. Our parents know no English, but their 12-year old daughter, Marta, knows quite a bit. I guess all of her classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays are in English! Mama Esme speaks very clearly so Hill and I can understand her, but Jose Manuel and Marta speak very fast and it's going to take some time getting used to that and the Sevillano accent! I'm glad they don't speak English though, how else would we learn? Our apartment is very cute, very new. They've only lived here for 2 months. Hill and I have our own room and share a bathroom. The view is amazing especially when you go out on the roof...you can see the top of the Giralda Tower from it! They told us in March it's perfect for "tomar el sol"...sunbathing :)
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| View from our roof, Giralda in the background kind of masked by sunlight |
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| View from our apartment |
Just had a wonderful dinner of mixed veggies, cheese and mayo omelet, and banana yogurt. It's 10:30pm, I was going to eat anything put in front of me and I did I was so hungry and this is the NORM! Also I'm all for the European mentality of conserving everything but...wait, no I'm not I'm actually totally against it...and I'm FREEZING in my room right now because we had the window open all afternoon and now it's dark and central heating and cooling simply don't exist! Brr...can't wait for 60s tomorrow though. All of you snowpocalypse survivors be jealous.
Hasta luego!
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