Day 3

We spent the morning today on a fascinating tour focused solely on the Spanish civil war in Madrid. Almudena was our tour guide - one of the most passionate and enthusiastic guides I've ever met. She was also a true believer in Communism. Almo walked us all around the city centre pointing out various sites where events linked to the civil war occurred. Spaniards generally do not discuss the war and its never commemorated in any way - very strange. At the Madrid university where battles raged for several weeks, many of the building walls have bullet and shrapnel damage - very obvious in many places - yet when Almudena stopped some students to ask them if they knew why the walls were damaged, none of them could say why!

Here's a photo of me with Almudena, and below that is a photo of one of the very few monuments in Madrid that commemorates the International Brigade, volunteers who came from all over the world to fight with the Republicans against Franco. My great uncle was one of those volunteers and was later killed during the final phase of the war in 1938.












In the afternoon we visited the Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza that houses an amazing collection of art assembled by Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and sold to the Spanish state in 1993. It's regarded as the most important private art collection in the world. Among its 1,000 paintings are masterpieces of Van Gogh, Titian, Goya and Picasso along with a portrait of the baron himself painted by Lucien Freud.

Here's a photo outside the museum which is a former palace.




We had dinner tonight at very authentic tapas and wine bar called La Dolores. Delicious tapas, heavy on the chorizo, Manchego cheese, and seafood. The place is very popular with the after work Madridelenos who don't leave work until 7:30 or so but before you think they're workaholics you need to know that they don't start work until 9:30 and then usually take 2 hour lunches.

Weather continues to be hot with cloudless skies.

Tomorrow we're taking a tour to the Escorial (home of the Spanish kings for centuries) about 45 mins from Madrid and then on to the Valley of the Fallen, a very controversial site where Franco happens to be buried. More on all that in tomorrow's blog.


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Location:Madrid