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Day 1: Madrid is not only the capital of Spain, it is home to kings and queens, bullfights, soccer, many ethnicities and priceless art. We plunged head-on into the mix as we ate breakfast on our hotel balcony and took in the sights and sounds of this vibrant city. It is quintessentially Spanish and European, sporting everything from Roman, Moorish, and Celtic influences to modernistic architecture.

We are staying in the Huertas district, known for its theaters, nightlife, and great restaurants. Our hotel is located two blocks from Plaza del Sol, the heart of Madrid and “kilometer 0” for all of Spain’s highways¹. Though quite large Madrid is known as a walker’s city, since it’s very easy to get around. With the extensive Metro system everything is within reach.

The goal was to scope out some museums, explore the city, and hopefully visit a bookstore to replenish Erin’s supply of books for the trip home (she already finished and passed on all her books about Europe). First stop: Reina Sofía Museum, home to 20th century and Spanish greats Picasso, Dali, and others. Unfortunately, the painting we really wanted to see, Picasso’s Guernica, was closed. So, we opted not to go in. Almost all the other musuems in Madrid are closed on Mondays.

We ambled along city streets people-watching and admiring architecture until we came across a huge market that spanned three stories and almost a whole block. Every floor had meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, and bread stalls: each vying to outsell each other. We found the best deal on ripe cherries, peaches, and tomatoes and packed them away to snack on during the day.

We devoured the delicious cherries as we meandered through several key plazas: Plaza Mayor, home to the original corridos (bullfights) and sight of many deaths during the Inquisition; Palacio Real, royal palace and ceremonial home to Spain’s king and queen; and Plaza de España, with its huge monument to Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes and his two heros Don Quixote and sidekick Sancho Panza.

For lunch we ducked into “J and J English Bookstore” bar and cafe, since we’d heard they dealt in second-hand books. The bartender was very welcoming and freely offered us lots of advice on Madrid and what to see and do. Also, we each picked up books for the flight home, Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons for Erin (she’d already read it but since it’s set in Rome she wanted to reread it while the memory was fresh ) and Neal Stephenson’s The System of the World for me.

A young man from South Africa, Oliver, joined us at our table. We had a great time talking about traveling, culture, and race issues in both English and Spanish.

Next: siesta! We could really get used to this afternoon nap thing…For dinner we nibbled tapas at several places rather than having one big meal (tapas are small appetizer-like dishes ranging from potato slices to omelettes to olives to sausage and cheese to seafood). It was a wonderful introduction to a very fun city.

Day 2: Our guidebook listed all the major art museums, but also mentioned a lesser known gem of a place called Museo de las Americas. The purpose of this museum was to catalogue culture, food, religion, and the exploration of the New World. The key though, is that it is presented from Spain’s perspective; Erin and I realized that would be very fascinating since we know a lot about the history of the Americas but only from an American² perspective.

We jumped on Madrid’s wonderful subway system early in the day and visited the museum all day (they kicked us out at 3 PM when they closed). It was great; just as we expected we learned a lot. They had a lot of artifacts from various cultures including Incan, Mayan, Aztec, Inuit, and many others. I was surprised at how well they covered even the North American tribes like the Great Lakes and Plains Indians.

Since we had lunched in the museum cafeteria, we decided to just head back to the hotel for siesta; I must mention again that we like this custom of taking naps in the afternoon every day. We still wanted to explore more, though, so we were soon back out walking east from our hotel towards Parque del Retiro, a huge green space with ponds, band shells, gardens, tons of trees, and even a Glass Palace.

We watched people rowing rental boats on a lake, rollerbladers, moms pushing babies in strollers, and just relaxed and talked. Sometimes a really short lady or two would walk by, and I would walk behind them for a bit so that Erin could gage their height; it was fun!

Since the tapas thing went so well last night, we did it again by visiting three or four different restaurants and bars and trying different things.

We were still a small bit hungry as night fell, so we went to a supermarket for snacks and drinks, then finished out our great trip in the hotel. We sat on our balcony people-watching and eating ripe cherries. The cool breeze kept us awake, and we were sad that our last day in Europe had come.

Tomorrow it’s a plane to the US, and home to Arizona. Don’t forget the photos of our trip, you’ll see lots of the things we’ve talked about here.

[1] This means that all highways start here in downtown Madrid, and the kilometers count up from there to where they end on the coast or in the mountains. See article on Wikipedia for more.
[2] I mean American as in North, Central, and South American, not just USA-centric.