De Madrid al Cielo

From Wednesday morning to this Friday night, I was in Madrid! It was incredible, and my friends and I packed a ton into these past three days, so prepare for a monster of a post!

On Wednesday morning, we all got to school at 9:30 as usual. Of course, we had to cram in two hours of grammar (although my class has now transitioned to literature) before leaving. Then, all 30ish of us lugged our suitcases onto a city bus and went to the train station. We rode the AVE train, so it only took an hour to get to Madrid and we were there before we knew it. 

After checking into the hotel, we had an hour of free time, which my friends and I used to grab a Starbucks (there isn't a Starbucks in Zaragoza so we all wanted an American coffee fix) and walked around the city a bit. Then, we went on a three hour bike ride throughout Madrid in order to learn the city a little bit. We rode through tiny old streets lined with cafes and flowers, and stopped off at major monuments for pictures. I really liked this activity, because I got to see a huge portion of Madrid while getting a little exercise after the train ride.

My biking group

Palacio Real from a distance

Palacio Real up close

A newer statue in the Plaza de Villa, one of the oldest squares in Madrid, which dates back to medieval times, when Madrid was not a very large or important city.

San Jerónimo de Real church, of the Gothic style, was completed in 1505.

After the bike ride, we had a free dinner. My friends and I decided to go for something more Spanish, and went to a little restaurant in the narrow streets surrounding La Plaza Mayor. La Plaza Mayor was built during the reign of Felipe III in 1619. The statue of Felipe III on a horse was made in 1616, but it wasn't put in the center of the plaza until 1848. Today, it is a huge tourist attraction and lined by little restaurants, and although it was nice to see the Plaza, we were told that the more authentic Spanish restaurants were located in the little neighborhoods surrounding it, not actually inside it.

Statue of Felipe III (1616)

The next day, Thursday, was super busy. It started off with a visit to the Prado Museum, which I absolutely adored. I really love learning about the art and art history of the places I visit, and the Prado has one of the most impressive collections of European art in the world. Construction on the museum itself was started in 1785 by the king Carlos III, and it was established in 1819. Carlos III was a member of the Casa de los Borbones from France, and during this dynasty the kings (especially Carlos III) tried to make Madrid like Paris, so the Prado is sort of the Louvre of Spain.

The main entrance to the Prado

 Although my culture class mainly focused on three extremely important Spanish artists, I also wanted to see this painting, which is the oldest of the handful of favorites I'll write about. It is called The Garden of Earthly Delights, and it absolutely crazy. The first panel shows Adam and Eve with God, or the beginning of the world from the religious perspective. The second panel shows the age of man, and the third shows the end of the world. This is an extremely early example of surrealism, and I was intrigued by its immense detail.

The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490-1510) by Hieronymus Bosch . . . Photo Creds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights#mediaviewer/File:The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights_by_Bosch_High_Resolution.jpg

Now we'll get into the three important Spanish artists. The first is El Greco, who is actually from Greece (hence the name, which means The Greek), but spend the majority of his career in Spain. His painting style is also before its time, as it incorporates abstract elements and multiple perspectives when, at the time of its creation, realism was the popular style.

La anunciación (1597-1600) by El Greco . . . Photo Creds: http://hoocher.com/El_Greco/El_Greco.htm

The next Spanish master I'll talk about is Velázquez, as he is chronologically next. I have to say that he was my favorite artist in the Prado, so I'll include three of his paintings.

This first one, La fragua de Vulcano, is from the second stage of Velázquez's art, la Etapa Madrileña (the Madrid Stage), which lasted from around 1623 to 1648. In this stage of his art, Velázquez first came into contact with the king Felipe IV, and also took his first trip to Italy in 1629. During his trip to Italy, Velázquez learned a lot about painting anatomy and contrasts between light and shadow, both which can be seen in La fragua de Vulcano.

La fragua de Vulcano (1630) by Diego Velazquez . . . Photo Creds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_in_the_Forge_of_Vulcan#mediaviewer/File:Vel%C3%A1zquez_-_La_Fragua_de_Vulcano_%28Museo_del_Prado,_1630%29.jpg

The second painting by Velázquez that I want to show is called La rendición de Breda, or the Surrender of Breda. It depicts one of the only successes of the Spanish military during the Eighty Years' War, in which Spanish general Ambrogio Spinola conquered Breda, Netherlands against his superiors' orders. This happened in 1625, although the painting was not started until 1634. Also part of Velázquez's second stage (Etapa Madrileña), this painting shows the strong, clear colors that Velazquéz learned about during his trip to Italy as well. Another interesting fact: the man on the right side of the painting, in between the horse and the edge with the white hat, is Velázquez.

La rendición de Breda (1634–1635) by Diego Velazquez . . . Photo creds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez#mediaviewer/File:Velazquez-The_Surrenderof_Breda.jpg

The last painting of Velázquez I'll talk about is the most famous painting in the Prado, Las meninas. This painting is from Velázquez's third stage, la Etapa de Plenitud (the Stage of Plentitud), which lasted from 1648 to Velázquez's death in Madrid in 1660. This painting is of the royal family of Felipe IV, who can be seen along with his wife in the mirror in the background of the painting. The blond little girl is their daughter, princess Margarita Teresa, and her maids of honor. The maid of honor on the right is doña Isabel de Velasco, and on the left is doña María Agustina Sarimiento de Sotomayor. Of course, Velázquez is the artist, and the man standing in the doorway is supposedly his cousin, Don José Nieto Velázquez, who was the queen's chamberlain during the 1650s. 

Las meninas (1656) by Diego Velazquez . . . Photo Creds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez#mediaviewer/File:Las_Meninas_%281656%29,_by_Velazquez.jpg

Okay, just one more piece of art, this time by Francisco de Goya. Goya was born in Zaragoza, the city in which I have been living, but left for Madrid because he did not like how much power the church had in Zaragoza. His work went through many phases, from colorful, happy depictions of country life around Madrid to his portrait of the family of king Carlos IV to his 14 depressing Pinturas Negras, which are all pretty disturbing. However, after his slow descent into the crazy Pinturas Negras, his last works became a little more optimistic. This painting, Los fusilamientos del tres de mayo, depicts a battle that took place on that day (May 3rd) in 1808, during the Peninsular war between Spain and France during the Napoleonic Wars. Spain fought against Napoleon's forces because they wanted to be governed by a Spaniard, and this painting depicts French forces massacring Spanish citizens. Attention is immediately drawn to the man in white, and if you look closely you can see holes in his hands, as if he had been crucified...

Los fusilamientos del tres de mayo (1814) by Francisco de Goya . . . Photo Creds: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Los_fusilamientos_del_tres_de_mayo_-_1814.jpg

I think that's enough art history for this trip. After leaving the Prado, we had four hours of free time. I went to a restaurant with outside seating in a cute little square with three friends, where we ate paella and tapas. Afterwards, we walked to the giant Parque de Buen Retiro, the biggest park in Madrid. It was really beautiful, and to top it off the weather was perfect. We decided to take a row boat out in the pond in front of the monument for king Alfonso XII.

Then, we met up with the school group in front of the Palacio Real, or the Royal Palace. It was also built during the time of the Casa de los Borbónes, who tried to make Madrid just like Paris. I have to admit, the Palacio Real really reminded me of Versailles! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but here's one of the outside. It was ringed by a golden gate (remind you of anywhere?) and the rooms inside were decorated in the Rococó style, which originated in France and also bears similarities to Versailles.

After the visit to the Palacio, we were all really tired. We got some ice cream but then went back to the hotel for some rest. That night, the whole group went out to a sort of dinner theater to watch flamenco dancing! Although the food wasn't very good, the dancing was really cool. Here's a video to show a bit of flamenco dancing:

On Sunday, we started our day with a visit to the Spanish Congress. I really enjoyed seeing the Congress room because we learned a lot about the government during the reign of king Juan Carlos I, and on the 23rd of February in 1981, military leaders stormed into the Congress and attempted a coup d'état (or golpe de estado en español). We watched the video of this happen, and it was cool to see the room where it all went down, although unfortunately I wasn't able to take pictures inside.

Last but not least, we visited the Satniafgo Bernabeú stadium, the home of Real Madrid! The stadium holds 81,000 people, and it was the most massive stadium I've ever seen. We got to walk through through the trophy rooms (there were a ton - Real Madrid had been in existence since 1902) and room with tons of history about the team. It was all super high-tech, with life-size videos of the players kicking around soccer balls as statistics swirled around them and giant touch screens on the wall with tons of information on the team's history. I felt like I was in a spaceship or something! We also got to walk through the team's locker room and up through the tunnel onto the field. It was really cool to sit on the team's bench, although the "bench" really was like a bunch of super fancy leather seats with silver Real Madrid emblems. Although I don't follow soccer or even know much about it, I really enjoyed our visit to the Santiago Bernabeú.

The Fifa Club of the Twentieth Century Award - Real Madrid was recognized as the best soccer club in the world throughout the 1900s. Awarded on December 23rd, 2000.

Cristiano Ronaldo's locker

After the visit to the stadium, a big group of friends ate in a beautiful square across the street from the Prado. It was really nice to just relax outside and enjoy Madrid. At 5:15, it was back to the hotel and off to the train station. I was super wiped out on the way home, but to me that just showed how great a time I had in Madrid. I really hope to come back soon!