I can’t remember the last time that I was as sore as I was when I awoke this morning. If not for my desire to get to the Prado before the long lines formed, I would definitely have slept in. Rather than walking across town again, I decided to take the metro and found to be very clean, efficient and user friendly.
After arriving at the Prado, I embarked upon a marathon session of art appreciation. For the culturally challenged like myself, I would heavily recommend paying three Euro the audio guide. It provides artistic and historical insight into many of the paintings through 1-2 minute commentaries and, as an unforeseen added benefit, allows you to tune out the other museum visitors at the push of a button.
The highlights of the Prado for me were the works by Velasquez and de Goya. I wasn’t overly familiar with their paintings before my visit (I basically just knew their names) and really enjoyed them. I also really liked seeing some of the works by artists that I remember learning about in middle / high school but never really appreciating at the time (e.g., those by El Greco, Rubens, Tintoretto, Titian).
After a nearly comprehensive exploration of the Prado, I moved on to the final leg of the so-called Golden Triangle of Art – the lesser known Thyssen-Bornemizsa, which houses a former private collection that was subsequently purchased by Spain. While my tour of the Prado was the running equivalent of a marathon, my plan for the Thyssen was effectively a sprint. Specifically, I knew which artists / genres interested me and I was ready to be very focused and direct with my exploration.
Overall I have to say it was a success. Given the smaller collection size (relative to the Prado’s), the museum can definitely be toured in under a couple of hours and the breadth of the art it contains is extremely impressive (particularly relative to the overall collection size). Some of the more notable artists represented include: Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Rubens, Renoir, Degas, Holbein, Van Eyck, Van Dyck, Titian, Durer, Manet, Picasso and Pissarro.
As with yesterday, I took advantage of the proximity of Retiro park to log some much needed recovery time following another long day on my feet. As restaurants would not be opening for at least another couple of hours, I found the park to be the perfect spot to enjoy the early evening – particularly since the temperature was still in the upper 70s.
Here are some additional shots from my walk back before dinner...
For dinner I went to Los Huevos de Lucio, a tapas place that came heavily recommended from a local that I had met. I timed my arrival perfectly as I got there about a half hour before it opened, right when a line was starting to form. By the time the doors finally opened, it was basically a mad-dash, free-for-all for open tables. Thanks to my choice position in line coupled with some strategically placed elbows, I was able to stake claim to a prime seat in the middle of the bar.
The dinner was fantastic. Over two very entertaining hours, I had another great assortment of tapas, with the highlight being an egg, potato and ham concoction that literally everyone at the restaurant ordered. To my right were a nice group of girls from southern Spain who took pity on my solo status and offered me a number of their tapas as well as some quality conversation. I had to turn them down when it came to the offer for morcilla (a.k.a. “blood sausage”), however. While I’ve become more experimental from a culinary perspective in my elder years, I’m not quite ready to try a sausage made of congealed pig blood. Perhaps next time…
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