We rented a car on Friday and headed toward the Spanish capital of Madrid. The five hour drive was long, but fun to see more of Spain from the car.
Driving through Galicia and into Extremadura, we saw beautiful mountains and forests, plunging river valleys, and little hamlets.
As we pulled into Madrid, we found that there are tunnels all over the city. It was odd to see some of the many bike delivery riders charging through them with the traffic.
We were staying in the La Latina neighborhood, a hip enclave of Madrid's downtown area. The apartment we stayed in was on the fifth floor of a historic building, read: funky, but it was pleasant and had everything we needed. And more importantly, it was close enough to walk everywhere we wanted to visit. It took us awhile to figure out the parking garages, so walking back to the apartment, we found some dinner and went back to the apartment for the evening. L had been fighting a cold, so we didn't want to overdo it, especially since we wanted to see so much in such a short time.
The next morning, we headed out early for a tour of the Palacio Real, the Royal Palace that has a beautiful collection of art and incredible decor.
We met our guide and headed in, entering the massive courtyard flanked by the Palace and the Madrid Cathedral on the other end. While it once housed Spain's royal family, it is now just used for state functions and as a museum. Previously there had been a 9th century Moorish fortress on the site which had been converted into the royal palace and expanded. This palace lasted until 1734 when it suspiciously burned down. Philip the V of the Bourbons had grown up in Versailles in France, but unexpectedly became king of Spain. It is said that he did not feel that the more modest Spanish palace met his expectations, and he wanted something more like Versailles. To this day, it is the largest palace in Europe with and astonishing 3,418 rooms. It is said that Philip V, the reluctant king, was also challenged with manic depression, which led him to sometimes act like a frog jumping around the palace, sometimes believe he was a vampire, and often he walked around naked because he was afraid someone was going to poison his clothing. He abdicated to his son, but his son died soon thereafter, and he ended up back on the throne, having one of the longest, and likely most miserable reigns of any Spanish royal. But he commissioned quite a palace. It has been renovated several times over the centuries, but retains the grandeur of a French-style palace (at least in my un-expert opinion).
We were only allowed to take photos in a few of the rooms, but there was a highlight that we were all looking forward to...the Stradivarius Palatinos, a set of five string instruments. One is an undecorated cello, while the other four, two violins, a viola, and a cello, are decorated with inlays and ink. The decorated quartet were a gift to King Felipe V in 1702, and are the only set of decorated instruments known to have been made by the master luthier. They were absolutely gorgeous, although G favored the undecorated cello with its beautiful wood pattern.
Other highlights of the Palacio Real include the glass sarcophagus containing the bones of Saint Felix in the gorgeous palace church which, according to our guide, was a wedding gift to the royal family, the bathroom completely decorated in gorgeous porcelain, the table set for 124 people, the room with the wallpaper that was hand-embroidered, and the gorgeous artwork everywhere.
Because wiggles build up especially in places where we aren't supposed to be wiggling a lot, like in a Royal Palace, we headed toward a playground. It was an epic one, with huge swings, play structures, and things to get dizzy on.
Our next stop was the Temple of Debod, an Egyptian temple which was gifted to Spain when the Egyptian government was preparing to flood a valley with the building of the Aswan Dam. It was dissembled, moved to its current site and reassembled stone by stone, quite an undertaking. We were surprised to find quite a line to enter, but there was another playground nearby which wiggling people could enjoy while someone waited in the line that make it tolerable. Inside there were 2 stories with displays of heiroglyphs, artifacts and scale models. It was definitely worth the visit and the kids enjoyed it.
L had been fighting a cold when we left for our trip and was feeling a bit worn out the next morning, so she and I rested in the hotel while D and G walked across downtown to visit the famous Plaza del Sol, which they nicknamed the Plaza del Lluvia because it was raining and a bookstore to find some treasures for G. When they returned, V and G walked across downtown to visit the Thyssen Museum. On the way to the museum, G and I spotted a bit of dark fluff on the ground which was moving. We quickly discovered it was the tiniest, fluffiest dog we had ever seen and it was just wandering with everyone around smiling and pointing at it. It came toward my feet and I kept looking around to see if I could find its owner but I couldn't get confirmation from anyone as it walked up to my feet. I bent down to pet it and continue to look around and as it passed between my feet, I spotted its owner, a man who was grinning ear to ear at the astonishment and delight his tiny dog brings. It was such a hilarious moment to see him chuckling as his tiny dog passed under me as I looked askance. Anyhow, at the Thyssen I was impressed with how interested G was in the art, and we enjoyed starting with art from the 12 and 13th centuries and moving through to modern art. I dug deep into my art history background to help him notice some common threads through the art, development of perspective, naturalistic art, symbolism, figurative art, and it helped us to notice themes throughout, think about the history of the time of the painting, and notice what we each were drew to and what we enjoyed less and why. I was awed to be in the presence of works by artists who I have studied and admired for so long.
We had hired a guide to help us with the museum on the advice of a friend with children, and we were glad we did. She was wonderful at helping us navigate the museum, taking us to particular pieces to help us understand some themes she wanted to emphasize and guided us to iconic pieces. The museum is so large, it would have been completely overwhelming to just wander it on our own. So while we didn’t see everything we would have wanted, we did get to appreciate the art we visited. We weren’t allowed to take any photos in the museum, but some of the highlights include:
“The Descent From The Cross” by Rogier Van Der Weyden was a relatively early piece which surprised me. When I walked around the corner and saw it, it leapt out at us, the luminosity was incredible. Definitely one of my favorites. And it had so much lovely symbolism, both in objects and the composition, it was a delight to admire.
“The Mona Lisa” from the DaVinci Workshop…wait, isn’t this at the Louvre? Yes, there is one at the Louvre, but it turns out that there is one at the Prado as well. They are not 100% certain that it was painted by Leonardo himself, but it is just so similar and when both pieces were scanned they found that the same changes had been made to both. She told us that sometimes when a painter was making a portrait, they would make multiple of them of the subject to choose from, so it is likely that this is why they version exists. And it is also possible that one of daVinci’s apprentice’s painted it, but it is also possible that it was painted by daVinci himself. As our guide said “there are rumors that it was daVinci.”
The Charles V Sculpture, of which we saw a copy in the Palacio Real above, but this one without the armor. It turns out that the armor is removable, a dress-up sculpture. The piece depicts him dominating Fury; Charles V is demonstrating what a level-headed leader he is, not impulsive and acting out of anger.
And of course, Diego Velazquez. Walking into the room with those larger-than-life portraits of the Spanish royalty, I felt thrilled to see these gorgeous paintings that I had studied in both art history and history books over the years. The highlight in this room, though, was “Las Meninas,” one of his most famous paintings. At first glance it seems to be a painting of the Spanish princess, her companions, and the painter. Las meninas refers to her companions, as the princess would not have many children to play with, these would be her royal companions. But upon closer inspection, we see some more details that challenge that simple theme. The princess looks directly out at you, the viewer, but her companions are attending to her. This is not a typical scene that would be painted by a court painter; it is not posed but instead seems like a moment captured in time. The painter is mid-stroke, while we see a dog also resting on the ground with this group. In the background there is a man in the doorway, looking at the scene and waiting for something, possibly for this group to pass through. And then along the back wall of the room, between the man in the door and the painter, we see a mirror reflecting an image of the king and queen. Noticing this detail, we realize that we are in the place of the king and queen, looking onto the scene where Diego Velazquez has been working on our portrait while the princess and her entourage have burst in and are looking at us posing for out portrait. This is a cleaver scene that Velazquez has painted, at once putting us in the shoes of the royals while at the same time showing us a casual moment in the lives inside the Palacio Real. When the fire broke out at the Palacio Real, the fire I wrote about from our visit to the palace, many works of art were destroyed, but many more were saved by throwing them out the windows of the palace, including this one.
Finally, I had seen Goya’s painful “3rd of May _____” painting in print many times before, but it was definitely more impactful in person. It is a powerful reminder of the terrible atrocities committed in the name of power and war to subjugate people.
After three hours at the Prado we were ready for some fresh air, and after a picnic lunch, we strolled through the Royal Botanical Gardens at G’s suggestion. They included a lot of plants from all over the world that were gifts to the Spanish royalty, as well as vegetables and fruits and a beautiful bonsai collection. It was a refreshing visit which we relished before our next stop.
The other piece was a sculpture that L wanted to see. While G tends to enjoy figurative art and earlier pieces through impressionism best, L tends to favor modern and abstract more. She was very enthusiastic about a large sculpture on the grounds of the museum called “Brushstroke.” It was a whimsical piece and a nice counterpoint to the intensity of “Guernica.”
L loves to be active and we head learned about a trampoline park in Madrid that has a ninja course as well as climbing walls and a parkour area. So to wrap up and round out our visit to Madrid, we hopped into the car and drove 30 minutes outside downtown to JumpYard in the the Oasiz mall. Originally L’s focus was the ninja area, in keeping with her desire to do ninja warrior training. So when she started trying the course, after looking forward to it for so long, she was a bit disappointed that it was so difficult. Over our time there, she took breaks to try other things and would return to it to work on the various sections. By the end of the evening, she had accomplished each section of the course, but she was tired. So when she tried to put it all together, she was so tired and kept slipping off midway. D and I were both so impressed with her strength and determination as she kept trying until the very end of the night, determined to make it all the way through. L also challenged herself on the climbing walls, both working on technique and her speed. G found his sweet spot at the parkour, jumping over and onto padded barrier walls. It was fun to see his improvement over the evening, watching him challenge himself to try new moves and modify his techniques. While I kept to simple jumping, they all worked on flips and jumping off and onto things and lots of other tricks.
The Oasiz mall was impressive with a lake, lighted water fountains, and a fun whale play structure. We grabbed dinner before heading back to the hotel, and it ended up being a pretty late night.
No comments:
Post a Comment