The Retired Shows: And On to Madrid!

Friday, September 12, 2014

And On to Madrid!

FRIDAY

We took an 11:00 high speed train from Barcelona to Madrid. The trip took 2 1/2 hours and it was wonderful. Comfortable seats and lovely scenery - vineyards, groves of olive trees, fields of corn, villages with cathedrals, castles, and old city walls, going through tunnels and watching the terrain change.

Waiting in the train station

We arrived at our hotel, AC Palacio Del Retiro in the Bourbon Madrid area. It seems to be in a good neighborhood. After settling in we decided we could walk to the Hard Rock Cafe for fajitas.

In front of our hotel

In the hotel - an old home of a train owner restored
to keep its original features.

Our suite of 3 rooms - bedroom behind the partition
and this living room

and bathroom

Our view from the 4th floor window of the
Park of Madrid which is HUGE and
equivalent to Central Park

Our hotel at night

We walked up our street, Calle De AlfonsoXII along the park, Parque Del Retiro. Our first sighting was the Plaza De La Independencia which has the Puerta de Alcala, the former gateway into the city.

Puerta de Alcala

The Hard Rock Cafe is in the Plaza de Colon which is a monument to Christopher Columbus (Colon).

We found the Hard Rock Cafe

We walked to the Plaza de Cibeles to see the fountain with a statue of the Greco-Roman goddes of nature, Cybele.

Palacio de Communiciones
One of the ornate buildings around Plaza de Cibeles
It now houses Madrid's city council

We walked back through Plaza de Colon which is a large square beyond the Columbus statue. A cluster of four large concrete shapes are inscribed with quotations relating to Columbus' historic journey to America. It just so happen that the Fan Zone is there for the FIBA world cup.

A hoop in front of one of the Columbus monuments

Another section of the Columbus monument.

SATURDAY
Don met with BJ to go over some USA October training camp details and then sat in with the USA coaching staff in a meeting. USA is staying at the Westin Palace which was a former palace of the Duque de Medinacelli.

Palace Hotel

In front of the Palace Hotel is the Plaza Canovas del Castillo and dominating that plaza is the Neptune Fountain.

Neptune Fountain

We spent the day walking through Madrid! Here are some highlights.

San Jeronimo church, Madrid's royal church
Built in the 16th century

Fountains and statues!

Puerta del Sol - Gateway of the Sun

Our favorite market from 2 years ago - Mercado de San Miguel

Housed in a 19th century iron structure

Tapas!

We enjoyed tapas, paella and mojitos!

Plaza Mayor - a beautiful 17th century square competes with the Puerta del Sol as the focus of Old Madrid. The arcades at the base of the impressive buildings are filled with cafes.

Approaching Plaza Mayor

We ate dinner at an outdoor restaurant near our hotel. I had shrimp and Don enjoyed his sea bass. This was our view. We walked back to the hotel via Plaza de la Independencia to get a view of the Puerta de Alcala lit up at night.

SUNDAY
After our continental breakfast of a fruit plate, toast and pastries, fresh orange juice and hot tea we bought 2 day tickets for the hop on, hop off city tour.

Breakfast in the library of our hotel

We started the tour just 2 blocks from our hotel

Seeing some of the familiar fountains - Neptune

and Cibeles.

The Madrid "futbol" soccer stadium

We hopped off the bus at the Royal Palace to tour and have lunch. This vast and lavish Royal Palace was built to impress. It stands on the site of the original Moorish fortress in 1085. After extensive modifications in 1561 it became a royal palace for Felipe II. It was destroyed in 1734 by a fire and Felipe V commissioned a new royal palace decorated in the French style.

Grilled shrimp and sangria for lunch

Our lunch time view of the palace.

Iberian ham being sliced off

Equestrian statue of Felipe IV

Many statues of early kings stand in the Plaza de Oriente
which were intended to adorn the roofline of the Palace
but proved to be too heavy.

In the same area as the Royal Palace is Cathedral de la Almudena. The building of Madrid's cathedral began in 1879, but it wasn't until 1993 that it was completed.

Some sights from the rest of the bus tour today:

Cathedral of San Francisco

Cute little plaza

The train station where we arrived from Barcelona

Statues on a building top

Prado Museum - so many museums here

GAME NIGHT: USA WINS GOLD! USA vs Serbia

MONDAY
Our agenda for this last day in Madrid consists of exploring the Park of Madrid which is across the street from our hotel. It was once the setting for Felipe IV's palace. In the 17th century the park was the private playground of the royal family and became open to the public in 1869.

One of the many gates into Parque de Madrid

Two rows of statues along this entrance.
Note the fall leaves on the trees!
Surprising considering it's mid 80s here.

Monument of Alfonso XII facing the boating lake
in the Parque del Retiro

Palacio de Cristal

View from Palacio de Cristal toward pond and fountain

View back at Palacio de Cristal built in 1851

Palacio de Velazquez built in 1884

Fall leaves and buckeyes

Monument of Alfonso XII

At the north end of the park if Independecia Plaza
Don is standing next to a Spain2014 FIBA basketball sign

Next on our agenda was lunch at one of Madrid's best tabernas (taverns). We hopped on the tour bus and then walked to Restaurante Botin. Established in 1725 the is the oldest restaurant in the world according to the Guinness book of records. It was once a small inn where traders ended their productive journeys, so near the Plaza Mayor. At the end of the 16th century it was a cellar in a shanty one floor house for living-in guests. In 1725 the ground floor was restored and an oven for roasting was added. It is considered by many to be one of Madrid's finest.

Restaurante Botin
We had lunch at 3:30 just before they closed for
afternoon siesta.

We started with the Sangria, bread, Salad Botin
which was full of lettuce with beets, potato, tomatoes,
artichokes, asparagus ,olives, and egg with oil and vinegar