La Dolce Vita - España 2000

 

 

Friday morning we found a nice café with Internet access (Natura Gran Via) in our way to the Prado.  We stopped to check our e-mails.

 

Ascension (Our guide) made our visit to the Prado Museum unforgettable.  This beautiful museum is considered to be one of the world's greatest art museums, with a collection of paintings highlighted by the works of three great Spanish masters: Diego Velasquez, El Greco, and Francisco Goya; plus many Titians and a Rembrant. 

 

For an “artistic desert”, we visited the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia to see Picasso’s “Guernica”.  

 

As we didn’t have to meet Nacho until 10:30 PM for dinner, we took a three hours evening nap at the hotel.  We had dinner with Nacho at Café Miranda.  Later we went to his place.

Saturday we spent with Victor.  That evening we took an overnight train to Granada.  We arrived to Granada fresh and ready for my birthday. 

We loved Granada even under the rainy and cool day.  The Moors founded Granada in the 8th Century, an Arabic people who ruled much of Spain for hundreds of years.  Even though the Moors are long gone, they left many traces of their presence behind.

The highlight of Granada for us was the Alhambra. The Alhambra, and its next-door neighbor, the Generalife, were built by the Moors in the 13th Century. The combined complex contains palaces, forts, churches, and acres and acres of gardens. In centuries past, the Alhambra saw its share of battle and bloodshed, but today it's one of Spain's premiere tourist attractions, and a wonderful place to spend a birthday.     

It consists of three areas: Generalife, which is the gardens, Palacios Nazaries, the palace, and Alcazaba towers and fortress.

We had to enter on a "scheduled" a time to visit the palace, so we visited the Palacios Nazaries first.  The landscape of the gardens was very inventive...odd shapes and bushes trimmed into unusual formations. Mini mazes and secret coves. Wicked views overlooking Granada and of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The three areas together formed what would have been a medieval hilltop amusement park, a playground for royalty. The palace gardens even had been originally built with a fountain-topped swimming pool.

 

The Generalife was a summer vacation home for ancient sultans. The Generalife sits on the side of a mountain, which means that anyone who walks through the gardens and courtyards is going to encounter a lot of steps. 

 

There's certainly a lot more that can be said about the Alhambra. We're certain that many volumes have been written about the incredibly detailed carvings and the spectacular architecture. We'll just close by saying that, if you're ever in Spain, you should make certain that Granada and the Alhambra are on your itinerary. Amazing architecture, beautiful gardens, and crowds of happy people combine to give the Alhambra a fun, vibrant atmosphere.

 

The sidewalks in Spain are paved with beans. Actually, they're rocks, the smooth oblong kind that you're likely to find in your backyard, if you're the type of person who goes poking around your backyard looking for smooth oblong rocks. In Granada the "beans" were simply pressed into the pavement in a seemingly random manner.

 

Downtown Granada, we visited the Royal Chapel, where the Catholic Monarchs are buried.  These were Isabel and Fernando, the ones that financed Columbus trips to America.

That afternoon we had the opportunity to witness a bullfight. We may have missed opening day at Orioles Park this year, but were there to help launch bullfight season in Granada.  It was a benefit, so the matadors did not wear their “trajes de luces.”  The “traje de luces” is the one with the “Mickey Mouse” hat.  

Only the matador sported the popular red cape, the "helpers" had bright pink capes with yellow insides as extra protection when their back was turned. Before the bull would even enter the ring he is stuck with a small knife--so he's already agitated. Then the taunting phase starts. The "sub-matadors" then ran around the perimeter of the ring to tease the bull and get it to chase them so as to tire it out. 

Then, a parade of men with armored horses would come into the ring and as the bull attacked the horses, the men stabbed the bull with a huge harpoon to start the bleeding.  Next came the “picadors” who we thought were the bravest.  These men, without the diversion of a cape or a sword, would run up to the bull and stick it behind it's neck with two colorful stakes--while simultaneously avoiding the bull's horns.  As you might imagine from all the terrorizing, the bull was quite dazed and exhausted by the time the matador even arrived on the scene.

But there is a reason why the matadors get all the attention (and all the chicks). They appear on the scene in elaborate costumes and taunt the bull with their blazing red capes as the crowd cheers.  They strut, they dance, they swish, they tease.

After the matador spends ten or fifteen minutes taunting the bull, he kills the bull by stabbing his sword in the back of the bull's neck.  As you can probably imagine, it is probably very difficult to stab a bull behind his neck as he comes at you full steam.  The best matadors kill the bull with one strike.  The others may require several attempts before the "clean-up-guy" appears to make sure the bull is dead, or to quickly put him out of his misery.

We did enjoy ourselves and were glad we experienced a "live" bullfight.  And certainly our neighbors help us understand the “sport” behind the bullfight.  

 

We took the overnight train to Madrid

 

Monday we waked up back in Madrid.  After a refreshing nap we decided to do some shopping and visit the Retiro before our trip back home.

 

We Visited the department store El Corte Ingles' basement grocery store and different shops along the Calle de Alcala.

 

We went to El Retiro.  We had dinner with Victor, Paella.

 

Madrid is a great place to live with a lot of people and activity.  Madrid is Intense