In Madrid we based ourselves at Puerta del Sol, a large bustling plaza in the very center of the city. Our days started at La Mallorquina, a Puerta del Sol bakery cafe that has drawn Spaniards and tourists for generations. The apron-skirted woman is the pastry-shop's icon. (Can't explain why I took such delight in seeing her on the wall each morning...it might be because she was accompanied by all sorts of delicious smells--baking croissants and strong spanish coffee--or perhaps because she is clothed in the colors of the Italian flag).
The attentive purveyors of the bakery's delicacies...
One happy customer:
"Tio Pepe" the iconic billboard that has presided over Puerta del Sol for about as long as the bakery has been in business (this was reputed to have been the first billboard in Spain):
The area around Puerta del Sol is lined with tapas bars and "ham museums"--not exactly what I think of when imagining Madrid's museums! Here is one such ham museum--really just a jumbo-sized cured meat shop...
While the food of Spain merits museum exhibition, ham "museums" were not the only museums we visited in Madrid. We also spent time in more traditional museums, and even spent a morning at the Palacio Real (depicted below):
One newly-finished church adjacent to the palace was especially captivating--light, uplifting and airy, with a colorful ceiling that could have been painted by South Pacific artists.
My last visit to Madrid was as a teen in the Franco era and in my memory, save for the squares and parks around the Prado, the city felt gray. For me, this was a new, brighter Madrid. Some of the plazas in the heart of town burst with color, and the tiled surfaces of some of the small businesses carried romanticized imagery of the past. Even the tackier tiled shopfront murals kept me dawdling behind Peter and Danielle...
SEVILLA:
From Madrid we took a train to Seville for several days. It was the first burst of warm weather in Spain and people were rediscovering outdoor life, strolling, setting up terrace cafe tables, and refurbishing after the rains of winter.
Sprucing up Seville's bull-fighting ring, in anticipation of the start of the new season later in the month:
Side door entrance to the bull-pen area:
Bull-pen:
Paintings depicting bull "types" from the bull-fighting museum (for my bovine & kerbau-loving friends!):
Where matadors pray before the bullfights (a small chapel adjacent to the bull stalls):
Where matadors & fans go after the bullfights:
Around Seville:
:Inside Seville's Alcazar: A tiled, fountain-filled oasis...
Day trip to CORDOBA:
Cordoba Alcazar gardens...
Streets of old Cordoba...
Exterior of the Mesquita (the old mosque):
Interior of the mosque:
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