Madrid Mayhem and Museums

Madrid is more or less a business city. But that didn't stop us from having a good time here! We loved the opulence of the Palacio Real, and the Royal Armory was particularly stunning.

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Madrid is pretty easy to get around via the Metro. It's clean and fast.

This hotel was facing the Gran Via and we saw the sign immediately after we came out of the Metro station. It had a Starbucks underneath it, which made my husband very happy. The entrance to the hotel is actually to the left of the Starbucks, down a narrow street. It's not an alleyway, just a narrow street. Since it is basically situated on the Gran Via in a commercial area, there was no lack of taxis, places to eat or places to shop. It was, however, quiet in the noise category so we slept pretty well while we were there.

The room was modern, comfortable, air conditioned, and we had a view of the narrow street but we could see the Gran Via if we poked our heads out the window. The bathroom was all done in glass- frosted glass wall to separate it from the room, frosted for the sink counter, and clear around the shower. The shower itself was very large, and had a "rain" shower head plus additional body shower jets that were adjustable in both direction and pressure. (It was fantastic.)

There is a continental brunch offered that costs extra and which we opted not to get, and there is free Internet downstairs in the lobby.

The staff were friendly and multi-lingual, the rooms were clean, and although the room was a little on the expensive side for us, we felt that it was worth it. The best things about this hotel were the comfort/cleanliness of the rooms, the coolness of the decor, and the location in proximity to the Metro. I would definitely stay here again. The price we paid was about 240 euros for two nights.

I took almost five years of Spanish in high school, and every year I had to hear or watch a video about the Prado. I guess all that build up had to lead to some kind of disappointment. We were impressed by the size of this museum. It never seemed to end! But that was about it. There were a couple of pictures that we liked, mostly from El Greco. Some of the others were quite grotesque in nature, like the one of a god chowing down on a cherub. It literally showed the cherub's throat being chewed off. That one gave me the creeps. There were others by Fra Angelico that I liked, and one of two dogs' heads that my husband liked.

There are not only paintings in the Prado, but sculptures as well. However, since we had already been to Rome we found some of these to be copies. We're not that into sculpture anyway, so we weren't terribly upset.

We spent what seemed like hours in the Prado. We got hungry and headed for the restaurant. it was quite crowded and difficult to get a seat, so I scoped tables while my husband grabbed food he thought I would like. They served a hot buffet, cold sandwiches, coffees and pastries. After a quick meal, we decided to call it quits. We had seen a lot of the Prado, and yet we still felt like we had wandered from room to room, to room and hadn't seen very much that we liked. We still wanted to see the town some, and we only had a day and a half to do it.

The Prado is worth seeing if you have time, but I suspect if you are into art that isn't so dark, unusual or downright weird (as much of the art in the Prado is), try the Thyssen - it contains works by Degas, of whom I am a fan, and Van Gogh and Renoir.