Day 6 - Madrid/Casablanca

Our midday flight was cancelled and we ended up being rescheduled to a later flight which meant we would arrive at 8:30pm instead of 2pm on Saturday. As a result we will miss seeing the King Hussein mosque, one of only two mosques in the world that allow non-Muslims to visit. The upside is that we can get some much needed sleep. Adjusting to 9pm dinners has been a bit of a challenge.

Sadly We said adios to Madrid and headed to the airport. Now writing this while on the Royal Air Maroc. Just now up from the bar in our Rabat hotel, a lovely rambling place. Much of it is open and filled with the smell of flowers.

Location:Madrid/Casablanca/Rabat

Day 5 - Madrid

One of Madrid's specialties is decadent hot chocolate and pastries known as "churros". This is thick creamy stuff is delicious for dipping or sipping. We skipped Los Gines the heavily advertised tourist site in favour of the local recommendation Los Riojano.



After breakfast we jumped on the excellent subway system. We visited the palace of a Carlist marquis where we saw his exquisite collection of Murano glass lamps, china, sculptures and paintings including Greco's Ecstacy of St. Francis. This was a short visit so we could down to the Reine Sofia, Madrid's museum of modern art.



The star there was of course Picasso's Guernica, a massive canvas that only came to Spain only in 1981 after Franco's death. It tells the story of the Nazi bombing of the civilian population of Guernica. It was actually painted in Paris and during WWII a German officer searching his apartment angrily asked "Did you do this?" Picasso replied "No you did!" Above is his Woman in Blue, an early Picasso that simply dazzles.

Overall we moved quickly through the very large collection. While there were many fine pieces especially from the Spanish school to stop for, much of it did not speak to us. Still we were three hours.

From there, we headed back to El Retiro Park, the site of Phillip II's palace but now a gorgeous park on the scale of NYC's Central Park. Madrid has a huge amount of space devoted to parks and squares and fountains. They are used heavily by all ages. The young in particular are present at all hours perhaps due to their 25% unemployment rate but always look like they're enjoying themselves.





Before dinner we stopped into a sherry bar called La Venencia. It was famous as a Republican haunt and Hemingway apparently wrote Civil War dispatches from there. The old and dusty bottles and casks that lined the walls seemed at least as old as the Civil War. We had fino sherry (Tio Pepe) the first night in Madrid and neither of us were impressed. However, La Venencia's Amontillado sherry was lovely and nutty and it converted us.


We had a wonderful seafood dinner at La Combarra. Delicious turbot and cod with the always present sardines and olives.

Streets are packed again tonight. Can't get over the number of people, all ages congregating on the streets or in the very numerous bars and restaurants throughout the city. This is not a town that shuts down at night!

Location:Madrid

Day 4 - Madrid

Very busy morning. Our tour bus picked us up at the hotel at 8:15am and approximately an hour later we were deposited in front of El Escorial. El Escorial was the summer home for generations of Spanish monarchs especially in the 16th and 17th centuries. It's both a palace and a monastery - built as a religious retreat for Philip II and stands in an exceptionally beautiful site north of Madrid. The architecture of the very austere looking palace reflects Philip's strong religiosity. It's built around a basilica and has the unique feature of the monarch's bedroom doors opening directly onto the church altar allowing him access at any time. The palace is perfectly preserved with many of its original furnishings from the 17th century. A truly fascinating place to visit.

Unfortunately no photos are allowed of the interior so we had to settle for a couple of exterior shots.










From there our bus took us on a 20 minute ride to the Valley of the Fallen. The Valley or Valle de Los Caidos is a type of war memorial built by Franco between 1940 and 1959 to commemorate those who died during the Spanish civil war. The monument is a catholic basilica built deep into the mountain over which a 300 foot stone cross stands weighing over 200,000 tons. It's controversial in part since 10% of the construction workforce were political prisoners who had fought against Franco during the war. Franco's tomb is inside the basilica. Frankly I found the place rather creepy. The basilica has a very fascist style particularly in its architecture and sculptures. Given Franco's bloody record during and after the civil war, it's very strange to see this monument to a dictator which essentially honours him.

Carl really enjoyed the visit because it was the location of the climactic scene of Graham Greene's late masterpiece "Monsignor Quixote". It was a comic assault on fascism and the Catholic church's collaboration with Franco whose grave Carl trod on. The security guy gave him a dirty look.

Once again, no photos of the basilica were allowed so here are some exterior shots.








Great dinner tonight at La Castela. Dined on braised bull tails and a delicious prawn and chickpea dish. We're enjoying all the Spanish wines...and we're loving Madrid. Really an amazing city to visit.

Our hotel from the Prado street.


Watching foreign TV can be weird. Who'd have thought we'd see the Jays highlights on Al Jazeera TV. Must be Bautista's beard. P.S. Carl wrote this, can't you tell!

Location:Madrid

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

Day 2

A very good day 2 for us. Few of you would enjoy 7.5 hours in an art museum but we managed it today (including breaks). An incredible collection in the Prado with masterpieces Fiona had only read about. In particular, Goya and Velasquez were featured which was great because they are rarely seen elsewhere.



Then a lucky phone call came in. Our good friend Allan Chan called to say he'd just landed at Madrid and were we in the city? Our dinner was just up from his hotel so we had a wonderful time catching up over ham and sea bass. Our walk back gave us a photo op in Plaza Espana.

Location:Madrid

Day 1

We arrived at the Westin Palace hotel around 1:30. Flight was excellent and we managed to sleep 5 hours of the 7 hour flight - not bad! We are in the heart of the city with a good blend of local businesses and historic sites.

We set off on a long walk through the city centre and found Mercado San Miguel, a large warren of tapas and wine bars where we washed down bites of tapas with sangria. It's all very convivial in the mercados. Madridelenos love to huddle at long bars in tapas places, chatting away while eating tapas and drinking wine.

The streets here are packed with people, even though it's a Monday night. Madrid impresses as a very vibrant city with a big social life. Weather is hot and very sunny. Nice to be able to continue wearing summer clothes.

Then onto the main cathedral, rather ugly, and Europe's biggest royal palace. The ticket lines were long so we passed to get ready for dinner.



Had a very authentic Spanish dinner at El Senador. A bit off the beaten track and we took some wrong turns but we prevailed, despite some locals giving us wrong directions, and finally found the restaurant. In Madrid no one eats dinner before 9pm so we have to adjust our dining hours to lunch between 2-3pm, dinner around 9pm and a quick breakfast at 9am or so. I don't think we will have much difficulty getting used to that!

Tomorrow we have booked a good long visit to the Prado art museum - one of the world's finest.

Location:Madrid

We're off on the Road to Morocco & Spain

With apologies to Dorothy & Bing :-)


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Location:Toronto

Last day in Rome

Sadly our last day here. Yesterday we visited a church to see Bernini's stunning some say erotic Ecstasy of St. Theresa. It was in a chapel which made it all the more amazing.



After lunch, we had a private tour of the Borghese art museum with Francesca who will complete her Ph.D. in art history in January. So many stunning works of art, especially the Bernini sculptures - my favourite being his beautiful Apollo and Daphne - see photo below. We had an excellent tour guide who added much commentary that enhanced the whole experience.



We visited two churches today. There is so much beautiful art in the Rome churches that one could spend months touring the almost 900 churches that exist within Rome. Before the churches however we toured through the Barberini Palazzo, home to a massive art collection. Here we are with our favorites - Carl with King Henry VIII by Hans Holbein and me with LaFornarina by Raphael.







Then on to the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.





After that over to San Pietro in Vincoli (St Peter in Chains) where a large crowd had gathered awaiting the 3pm opening. At 3 pm people began banging on the door - quite strange. The church claims it has the chains used to tie St Peter in his captivity by the Romans - see below. However the high point of the church is the sculpture of Moses by Michelangelo which was created for the tomb of Pope Julius II. Also took some photos of other funerary monuments in the church - some of a more macabre nature, as you can see below.












Then back to the hotel to pack followed by a pizza dinner at a nearby restaurant. Sad to leave Rome. It truly is the eternal city.

Arriverderci Roma!


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Sistine Chapel and Vatican Tour

One of my favourite experiences in Rome is being in the Sistine Chapel, but in the past that has not always been very enjoyable. Massive crowds and guards yelling "silenzia!" do not allow for much peaceful reflection on Michelangelo's masterpiece. So to counter all that we booked a private tour that takes place after the Chapel has closed. Expensive but definitely worth it. We had an excellent guide who took us on a 2 hour tour of all the Vatican museum treasures and then brought us into the Chapel for 45 minutes with absolutely no one else there ! The guide explained all the wall frescoes and the entire ceiling. What can i say, a once in a lifetime experience.

Today we visited the Caracalla Baths - enormous Roman baths built around 200 AD and now nothing but magnificent ruins. Fascinating to tour through, and even though now only ruins, you get a real sense of life in Ancient Rome.










We also visited Trajan's Column near the Forum. A marble column commissioned by the Roman Emperor Trajan beautifully carved, depicting Roman battles against the Barbarians.









Statue of an angel on one of the many bridges spanning the Tiber river.


A view of the Tiber river.

Delicious dinner tonight at L'Arcangelo restaurant in the Prati. Definitely recommend to anyone coming to Rome.

Beautiful weather continues here.

Ciao for now.

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Rome

Two glorious days so far in Rome. We're staying in the Prati district very close to the Vatican. On Sunday we did a whirlwind tour of three churches to view some Caravaggio paintings. The churches close at 12:30 until 4:30 so we had to move quickly. At Santa Maria di Popolo we saw The Conversion of St Paul and the Crucifixion of St Peter. Then on to Sant'Agostino to see his Madonna di Loreto, and finally the dazzling St Matthew cycle at San Luigi di Francesi.






It's impressive to see these paintings in the churches for which they were commissioned instead of viewed in museums.

We've walked several kilometres around the city visiting many of these familiar Roman sights.




Castel Sant Angelo on the Tiber river.



The Colesseum


Looking toward St Peter's.


The two identical Santa Maria churches at Piazza di Santa Maria di Popolo.




Strange looking fountain we encountered while walking around.


The famous fountain at Piazza Navona.



Inside the Pantheon.

Had a wonderful dinner at Trattoria dal Cesare's - we were the only non-locals there- delicious Roman cooking. And of course there are the daily gelatos-they are impossible to resist.

Weather very hot here. This is the summer we never had in Toronto!

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