EZ Honeymoon: Madrid
The drive from Sevilla was longer than the drive to Sevilla for many reasons, but we were determined to make it to Madrid in time to catch the free hours at the Museo Nacional del Prado. Overall, it was pretty smooth sailing, and the rental car return was relatively quick and painless. The final obstacle was the Madrid metro, and for better or worse, we chose to wing it.
It all went beautifully, until we got off at our stop. First, we went down the wrong street. Then, a nice man with mop assumed the confused-looking American tourists were coming to the shady hostel in his building. We weren’t, but we did not realize that until a bewildered family opened their door to a pair of strange Americans.
Thankful our reservation was not with the family and their Dutch guests, we quickly headed back downstairs and outside. Looking at the building number, it was easy to see we stopped three buildings short. We walked a little further, and our host’s daughter met us at the front door with the keys to our weekend apartment.
The apartment had maps and internet so we planned a route, and set off for the museum. Admission to the Prado is free on Fridays from 18:00 to close, and when we arrived at 17:45, there was already a rather long line around the building. Fortunately, EZ read in Maribel’s guide that once we had our tickets, we should bypass the congested main “Upper Goya” entrance and walk to the “Jerónimos” side-entrance. Despite standing towards the back third of the line, we made it into the museum with minimal waiting.
The Prado is full of Spanish classics, and there were a lot of impressive paintings and sculptures. We only had a couple of hours, but could have easily spent a full day in the museum. EZ appreciated the ancient Roman sculptures, and I enjoyed the expansive collection of Goya’s works.
We finished the evening with a super touristy dinner at a place called Ginger (not recommended), and went to bed early in hopes of catching the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía when it opened.
After a quick bite to eat around the corner, we were one of the first visitors to enter the museum. If we had waited until Saturday afternoon, the Reina Sofía has free hours as well, but we wanted to have more time and space to explore the expansive modern art collection. EZ had a plan to get us to the Guernica first, as it is the most notable painting in the museum and can become clogged with tourists. The highlights for us were Picasso, Torres-Garcia, Miró, Dalí, and Domínguez, but the whole place is amazing. They had an interesting exhibition of Hungarian photography, and the costumes from Oskar Schlemmer’s “Triadic Ballet” captured our attention enough to send us to YouTube later. Those of you following LivingEZ on Instagram already saw this, but here are a few of our favorite photographable pieces.
Sufficiently overwhelmed by the expansive modern art collection, we left to roam the city. We had a plan of attack that efficiently included all the shops from which we sought gifts and goodies, but our stomachs intervened. Standing outside of a magnificent looking olive oil shop, we decided to first go for a snack. Unfortunately 20 minutes later, at 14:00, the shop closed for the day as did many of the places on our list.
On the upside, we traded our shopping for the above pictured banana cream macaroon paired with the parmesan and the Granada chocolate truffles. They were delicious, and so was the Iberian ham, bread, and salad that preceded them. Although, we expected nothing less from the renowned chocolate shop, Cacao Sampaka. With the assistance of a few taxis, we then made our way around town, checking out the Plaza Mayor and a few other local spots.
Pomme Sucre provided another outlet for refueling, and we made sure to top off our tanks. We kept ordering new pastries, and with each new flaky, sugar-filled bite, the treats seemed to get better and better. We highly recommend this cafe to anyone visiting the city.
After a bit of shopping, we made our way to the apartment to clean up for dinner. For our final Spanish meal, EZ selected a modern tapas place, Gastromaquia. Fortunately, there was just enough space for us at the small bar because they were turning away anyone without a reservation.
Their eclectic menu was beyond our intermediate Spanish, but thankfully, one of the servers spoke impeccable English. We had an incredible dinner starting with plantain chips and a unique take on guacamole, followed by clams, octopus, and Iberian pork skewers, but the mojito sorbet really knocked it out of the park. It was all absolutely amazing, and a fantastic finale to our weeklong adventure in Spain.
EZ Honeymoon Series:
First Things First
Holy Toledo! Part 1
Holy Toledo! Part 2
Holy Toledo! Part 3
Cordoba
Sevilla
