Visiting the Museums of Madrid

After a 14 hour journey from Boston with a short layover in Frankfurt, we arrived in Madrid.  The Wife had arranged for a car service to take us to our Airbnb apartment in the Plaza Mayor section of the city.  Our base of operations for the next several days would be this 3 bedroom loft on the top floor of an apartment building.

We would later discover that the 2nd floor "master" bedroom has very little noise insulation.

The roomy common room is below on the lower floor

The shower in the "master" bathroom seemed pretty ordinary...

...until we realized there is a window where
anybody in the common room can see into it.

The apartment had an outdoor sitting area, but it was way too cold to enjoy it.

Since we had arrived in the early afternoon, we had plenty of daylight hours to explore the surrounding area.  Our location was great.  It was in the heart of the city with most of the tourist destinations and mass transit systems within walking distance.  There were also a multitude of restaurants, shops, and a grocery store nearby.  Unfortunately, it also meant that the area would be crowded and noisy.

We walked to the nearby Puerta del Sol, probably the busiest public square in the city.  Since it was only a week before Christmas, the square and much of the city was decorated for the looming holidays.

A large conical structure was placed
in the square as a Christmas tree
that would be lit up at night.

A horde of parents with young children crowd around a holiday attraction. 
We couldn't get close enough to see exactly what was going on.

There were a lot of shops around this touristy section of the city.  After seemingly stopping inside every single one of them, the sky became darker and the air got colder.  It was a perfect time to stop off at Chocalateria San Gines, the most poplar hot chocolate cafe in Madrid.  Although chocolate originates from Central America, its popularity in Spain is only natural considering the country's long history of colonization of the New World.  Originally established in 1894, Chocolateria San Gines began as a small cafe tucked away in an alley.  As the cafe became more popular, it expanded and expanded, taking up the whole block.  This allows them to serve hundreds of locals and tourists daily.

We weren't the only ones with hot chocolate on our minds.  The line to get a seat inside the cafe was long.

This seating area off the main cafe
was oddly decorated like a theater .

Unlike the hot chocolate usually found in the U.S., the hot chocolate in Spain is so thick it coats a spoon.

Unlike the churros that are usually served in the Western hemisphere,
these in Spain were not coated with sugar and rather unsweetened.

The churros are supposed to be dipped into the thick hot chocolate, creating a perfect snack.

We backtracked a bit towards the Plaza Mayor, the central public square of the city.  Created in the late 16th century by order of King Phillip II, this plaza was the site of several cultural and political events in Spain's history.  During the Spanish Inquisition, heretics were often tortured and executed in the Plaza Mayor.  When we visited, the only thing being tortured was the spirit of Christmas.  The Plaza Mayor was the site of the city's main Christmas Market.  Garish and cheap junk were sold at temporary stands in the square.  Visitors could pay money to take photos with people wearing large stuffed animal costumes.

I wouldn't have been surprised if indulgences were also being sold at the Plaza Mayor.

The ornate Casa de la Panadería looms over the Plaza Mayor.  This building was originally
the main bakery of the city.  Now it serves as the headquarters for the Tourism Board.

There really wasn't anything to see or purchase at the Plaza Major so we decided to find some dinner.

Many famous restaurants are located off the Cava de San Miguel. 

Our destination Meson del Champinon is famous for their mushrooms.

Like many tapas eateries in central Spain, this restaurant has a bar in the front of the house where patrons can order a drink and munch on some specialties of the house.  As we would find out countless times during our trip, trying to cram six people into a limited space at a bar is a bad idea.  Luckily, the Meson del Champinon has a couple of tables in the back where diners can be seated.

Fake fungi decorate the ceiling of the restaurant, an homage to their expertise with mushrooms.

Jamon Iberico

Padron peppers

Croquetas de jamon 

Their signature mushroom and chorizo dish.

The wait staff were very friendly and patient with us with our very limited Spanish.  It did help that their menu was on electronic tablets, and we could just point to the photo of the dish we wanted.  Overall the food was good.  However, the mushrooms were truly exceptional--the star of the meal.  Even The Boy who dislikes all things fungus thought it was the best dish.  We enjoyed the mushrooms so much we ordered a couple more plates until we were stuffed.


*****


Monday, December 18, 2017


*****


The next morning, The Wife announced to The Kids that we were going to visit some of Madrid's best art galleries.  They responded with silent stares.  I'm pretty sure they were celebrating inside.

The best part of a family vacation is when everybody gathers
around without any distractions and converses with one another.

The museums were only a 20 minute walk from our apartment so we eschewed the subway or a taxi.

Along the way we stopped at a boutique store called Lola Fonseca.

Silk scarves and shawls are beautifully hand painted in their small studio.

Although these textiles are mind-numbingly boring to me, The Wife and
The Mother-In-Law found them fascinating enough to purchase several scarves.

Eventually, we continued on our journey and made it to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.  The museum contains over 1,600 paintings that were once a private collection.  The artwork consists of a hodgepodge of styles spanning the 13th to the 20th centuries.  Although I am an unabashed Philistine, there were several paintings that I did like.

I like this Dali painting.  It has a hat trick of
cool things: Tigers, a gun, and a naked chick.

This painting was pretty cool as it uses camouflage schemes from the armed forces of several countries.

The Wife would have stolen this Degas painting if given the chance.

WTF?!?!?!?!  Seriously.

Once we finished soaking in all the culture of the Thyssen Museum, it was time for lunch.  Using Yelp as our guide, we dined at Restaurant Laveronica.  Each one of us ordered the lunch special which  consisted a handful of choices from 3 set courses.

House salad

Cream of zucchini soup

Cream of carrot soup

Hake with roteña and rice

Laveronica hamburger

Filet Laveronica

The food was pretty good, but the service so slow to the point of being inattentive.  It wasn't just for us non-Spanish speaking tourists, but for the entire restaurant.  It took quite a while to get our food and we had to remind them to bring desserts (the 3rd course).  They then brought it out for The Kids only, skipping all the adults.  It was bewildering, but we just chalked it up to a cultural gap.

Since lunch took almost two hours, we had less time than we had planned to see the Prado Museum.  We definitely didn't have time to visit Reina Sofia Museum, the last of the 3 "must-see" museums in Madrid.

The Kids stand in front of the statue of Diego Velázquez
who served as court painter to King Philip IV.

The Prado Museum is the former collection of Spain's royalty and focuses on European artwork from its expansive empire.  Therefore, in addition to having numerous works from Spaniards such as Francisco Goya and Diego Velázquez, there are numerous works from Flemish and Italian painters such as Bosch, Rubens, and Titian.  What that meant is that a significant portion of the collection is very Baroque with religious themes--not a favorite of The Wife nor I.  The most famous painting in the museum is Velázquez's Las Meninas, which I found interesting only because I studied it in art class an eternity ago.

The Prado Museum is actually very large and it took us the remaining afternoon to breeze through it.  As we left, there was a long line of people that snaked around the building.  They were all waiting for entrance to the museum as the general collection is free to visit from 6PM-8PM.

As we walked back to our apartment, The Wife wanted to stop off at a confectionery called La Violeta.  Not surprisingly, they specialize in candies made with violet flowers.

An assortment of violet-flavored hard candies.  The flavor was interesting, but not my favorite.

For dinner, we only had to walk 5-10 minutes from our apartment to Casa Toni.

The restaurant specializes in less popular cuts such as organ meats. 

A pitcher of their sangria was inexpensive, but it
was also watered down  to the point of being bland. 

 

Pimientos de padron (padron peppers)

Berengenas de la casa (fried aubergines)

Zarajos (braided lamb intestines)

Revuelto de chorizo (eggs and sausage)

Rinones a la plancha (kidneys on a hot plate)

Mollejas de cordero (lamb sweetbreads)

Boquerones fritos (fried anchovies)

Callos caseros (stewed tripe)

While the food was a bit greasy, it was inexpensive, delicious, and not too gamy.  For me, it would be one of the better meals we would have in Madrid.