Travel and Living!

Had a nice breakfast at La Rotonda Restaurant located under the Hotel spectacular glass dome :) After breakfast, we dispersed so we could concentrate on what we wanted to see on our last full day in Madrid/Spain.

Madrid is known as a centre for fine arts. Indeed when we walked towards Museo del Prado, the queue was extremely long! The art museum houses one of the world’s greatest collections of paintings, especially Spanish ones. We decided we are not that keen in Spanish paintings anyway and headed for Retiro Park instead.

Parque del Buen Retiro (Retiro Park) - We took a stroll in the beautiful and huge park towards the lake. At one end of the park is a half-moon colonnade with a statue of Alfonso XII riding on a column in the middle. In front of it is a lovely lake where you can rent rowboats. The park is a perfect place to relax on a beautiful Saturday morning. There are a number of musicians busking all around enhancing the already romantic ambience. To the south of the lake is Palacio de Cristal (Crystal Palace) made of iron and glass, a forum for receptions and art displays.

Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Reina Sofía Museum) - We arrived just in time as the museum opened its door for Free entry after 2.30 pm (Savings!). Some notable works in this museum of 20th century art are by Picasso, Miró and Dalí. The highlight of the museum is the 'Guernica', Picasso's famous depiction of the horrors of Civil War. Personally I like the ‘Girl at the Window’ by Salvador Dalí.

After about 2 hours at the museum, we went for yummy churros (fried batter sticks) and hot chocolate at a Churro Mania cafe just outside the museum. Did I mention that Hot Chocolate is to the Spanish what Tea is to the English? :)

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza - next we visited another famous Art Museum (Entrance Fee: €6 each). It is situated next to Palace Hotel where we stayed. This museum is based on collection assembled by Barons of the T-B family, and is regarded as the most important privately assembled art collection in the world. The paintings cover the history of European Art from 13th century to the present. They are displayed chronologically according to the different century, Romanticism to Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism etc. I was particularly pleased to see some of Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh's paintings. Some interesting pieces are the 'Hotel Room' by Edward Hopper and 'Swaying Dancer' by Edgar Degas. Paul Gauguin and Alfred Sisley's artwork are very unique and colorful.

After spending some 2 hours in the museum (i.e. till closing time), we went to do some last minute shopping in the vicinity. Sam bought some stuff from Zara which was enough for a VAT refund :) And the prices are half of what it would cost in Singapore.

Met the Gaws at the hotel for dinner. We went to another nice Taberna (Tavern) and ordered lots of delicious Tapas accompanied by a few glasses of Sherry for our last dinner together. We had a great time!

Labels: Madrid, Spain

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