Last day in Madrid

On the last day of this three week cultural adventure the priority was to see Picasso's Guernica.

Picasso was born October 25th 1881 in Malaga Spain. The Guernica painting which is at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Museum of Modern Art) was painted and displayed at the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris Exposition on 26th April 1937. The Pavilion was sponsored by the Republican Spanish Government that was still in power in the middle of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).

The inspiration for the painting was the aerial bombing of Guernica by the Nationalists led by General Franco. The bombing was by planes provided by the Nazi and Fascists (Germans and Italians). It was the first example of aerial bombing that resulted in the killing of many of the population (particularly women and children) otherwise known to-day as collateral damage. Following the second world war the painting, which expresses the grief of particularly women and children,  travelled the world, underwent several restorations before ending up in the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia as Spain's "National piece of art" in 1981. 



The Museum has a huge collection of modern art including  works by Picasso and Dali but also other Spanish artists - Miro, Gris and Tapies and International artists.  

Madrid was the center of the Republican side of the Civil was but fell to Franco's Nationalists on April 1st 1939 five months before the onset of WWII. 

That evening I was able to take in another display of passionate Flamenco dancing at Cardamomo Restauraunt.

The following day it was 24 hours door to door from my VRBO to home in Victoria.

Segovia and the Alcazar

This fortified palace has a history dating back to Roman times. It’s function changed many times - a palace, a prison and an armoury. It burned in 1872 but was then rebuilt based on much of its original layout and rooms. There was an excellent audio guide. The restoration reminded me of how well many of the palaces in St Petersburg have been reconstructed.
It was cold (Segovia is at 3000 feet) and then it started to rain but I had a hot choclate in the cafeteria to get warmed up before taking the bus back to the railway station.

Segovia and the Cathedral

The outside of Segovia’s cathedral which was built in Renaissance times (1525-1758) was Spain’s last major Gothic building. Embellished to the hilt with pinnacles and flying buttresses, the exterior is a great example of the final, overripe stage of Gothic, called Flamboyant. Yet the Renaissance arrived before it was finished - as evidenced by the fact that the cathedral is crowned by a a dome, not a spire.

Segovia and the Roman Aqueduct

I took a fast train (30 mins) from Madrid to Segovia. The first objective was to see the Roman Aqueduct. Segovia was a Roman military base. Empezror Trajan’s engineers built a nine-mile aqueduct to channel water from the Rio Frio to the city, culminating at the Roman Castle (which is the Alcazar to-day). The famous and exposed section of the 2000 year old Aqueduct Romano is 2500 feet long and 100 feet high. It has 118 arches, was made from 20,000 granite blocks without any mortar, and can still carry a stream of water. It functioned until the late 19th century.

The Prado

I have a copy of Rick Steves snapshot of Madrid and am using some of his descriptions.
Like the Teatro Real the Prado is celebrating its 200 year anniversary. Rick says “ With more than 3,000 canvases, including entire rooms of masterpieces by superstar painters, the Prado is my vote for the greatest collection anywhere of paintings by the European masters. The Prado is the place to enjoy the Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, and it’s also the home of Diego Valazquez’s Las Meninas, considered by many to the be world’s finest painting, period.”

Anyhow - I spent half a day here. I particularly liked the Spanish painters with their Realism and Nativism. One gets a little overwhelmed by too many Christian (Christ, virgin birth, stages of the cross, church related, promotion of the faith etc) type of paintings. The works of Goya were refreshing and realistic. I would go again because one gets visually exhausted with too many paintings. An art history buff could spend days here. An audio guide was most helpful in interpreting different paintings and artists.  Most of these are by Goya. I found it difficult to find images to post but thanks to my newfound IPad skills I found these on the web.

Some impressions by a tourist in Spain

Although I have been to Spain before - in the 1960s to Lekeitio, San Sebastian and Santander when Ocean Racing and then about 5 years ago to visit an old friend of Penny’s on the Costa Del Sol near Malaga I had never been to Barcelona and Madrid.

I find very few people speak Spanish even in the tourist industry (my two guides exceptions) but with little understanding one does get by and nowadays you can have an App on your IPhone which translates if needed.

The internet availability is excellent enabling rapid uploading of pictures. (my way of knowing how good the internet is). Also helpful in buying tickets and finding out how to get to places.(Google maps).

It seems every person has a smart phone - travelling on the Metro people are glued to their smart phones texting messages or playing music or games.

Spanish people seem somewhat abrupt and matter of fact but also helpful if one can understand.

The infrastructure (trains, metro, buses and roads) seem to be very modern. The Metro in Barcelona and Madrid is very easy to get around on and is extensive even though it may have originally been built at the beginning of the 20th Century or before. Maps of the Metro are available to assist with navigation.

 Although there seems to be a good bus system it was impossible to get a map of the routes inspite of efforts by my guides so I did not use it.

The high speed rail - between Barcelona and Madrid and to Toledo and Segovia are very modern, efficient and the stations recently modernised. Spanish history is fascinating and how Spain during different periods stimulated the arts and literature.

Spanish people keep different hours. Shops are open till about 9 pm. People eat dinner around 8 pm. There are crowds walking the streets at 8 pm.

It has helped to do a little research on the history of Spain before coming but then you get into focused history for each city and places like Montserrat, Toledo and Segovia.

I leave to come back to Canada in two days but wanted to record all this while it was still fresh in my aging brain.

Teatro Real

This historic theatre is celebrating its 200th anniversary. I have managed to attend three music events that happened to be on during the week that I am here in Madrid.
The first was a chamber music concert. The music was played by several different groups. There was a clarinet piece by Tchaikovsky, a Borodin quartet for strings, a very difficul Shostakovich piece for violin, cello and piano, two pieces by Spanish composers - one for brass and the other for a string quartet. Much enjoyed.
Then I was fortunate to see and hear the Nutcracker Ballet performed by the National Dance Company. Wonderful costumes, superb ballet dancing and a great orchestra.
Lastly I went to an Opera “Only the sound remains” by Japanese composer Kabila Saariaho who composed it in 1952.  Two principle singers - a baritone and a counter tenor (or alto) and a dancer on stage. Off stage four singers and an orchestra playing unusual Japanese type of music. I had a ticket in the “Gods”. The audience liked it but I found it, although a very professional performance, somewhat difficult to get used to.