A little more of Madrid

Posted on April 29, 2018 by Catherine Wright

With the ECCMID conference over I was left with a day and a bit to finish exploring Madrid.

There are many museums in Madrid, and I thought I should visit at least one. My choice was not the extremely popular and well renowned Museo National del Prado; instead I went to visit the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (also very well regarded) and solely because I wanted to see Hans Holbein’s portrait of Henry VIII.

I wasn’t disappointed; it’s actually quite a small painting.

I also got to view many more famous paintings and works by famous artists.

For example – Rembrandt’s self portrait.

You will also find paintings by the greats – Van Gogh, Gauguin, Renoir, Monet, Manet and Moreau- all in the one room (room 32)! It was fantastic, what a treat!

Renoir

van Gogh

I walked a little more of the city; there are some very nice green spaces.

On my last morning in Madrid, I finally made it to the royal palace. But before I got inside, I was able to witness the changing of the guard.

What a wonderful place. It is very opulent and not hard to see where the Spanish spent some of that gold brought back from the Americas. There were no photos allowed in the main apartments of the palace (Google images for Madrid Royal Palace, and you will be amazed), but the main central staircase is ok.

The gardens around the Palace are lovely too!

I found a few more Meninas too:

Holy Toledo – a visit to the historic town in España!

Posted on April 24, 2018 by Catherine Wright

Part 2 of my day trip from Madrid.

After a couple of hours in Segovia, it was back on the bus to Toledo (south of Madrid). What a view from above the city.

A very interesting old city, located at the top of a hill (we took 6 escalators up to the main city) high above the plains of Castilla-La Mancha. Toledo is a walled city and known as the “City of three cultures” as Christians, Muslims and Jews lived here together for centuries. Toledo was also the capital of the Visigothic kingdom of Hispania following the fall of the Roman Empire. Toledo is well known for its quality steel and sword making (today there is not such a great call for quality swords, but the city has made swords for movies and TV shows such as Lord of the Rings, 300 and Game of Thrones. The city was listed as a UNESCO site in 1986.

After some lunch and a little free time, we headed up to the cathedral.

The present cathedral dates from the 1220’s as it was rebuilt after the church preceding it burnt down. Prior to that it was a mosque, and before that the Visigothic Cathedral. Yes, it is another awesome church in Europe, and it is of course unique with many wonderful features (including paintings by El Greco who lived in Toledo for 37 years before he died in 1614),

but one thing in particular made this cathedral stand out.

The Tesoro (or Custody of Enrique de Arfe) – is made up of 18kg of pure gold (the first gold that Christopher Columbus brought back from the Americas) and 183kg of silver, with myriad precious gemstones and some 260 statuettes. Made in the 16th-century, this processional colossus gets out once a year for the Feast of Corpus Christi, when it is paraded around the streets of Toledo.

Toledo was an interesting town, and deserves more than 1/2 a day –

The city’s coat of arms – the two headed eagle

Both the cities of Segovia and Toledo deserve more time, but I am so thankful I did this tour; it was great! If ever you are in Spain, don’t miss Segovia or Toledo!

Segovia – a little town with a lot of history in España

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Catherine Wright

After 2 days wandering around Madrid, I thought I needed something more interesting to do. I decided a day tour full of history and culture would be just the thing. This is the tour I took (recommended). I took a day trip to the UNESCO listed towns of Segovia and Toledo (blog post to follow on Toledo).

Before the tour started, I was already enjoying myself. I had caught the metro to Las Vestas and when I exited the station, right there is the Plaza de Toros; the bullfighting arena. The arena can hold 24,000 spectators and even has its own chapel and hospital (for when things don’t go the way of the bullfighters I guess).

First stop on the tour was Segovia (northwest of Madrid in the Castile and Leon region) – a walled city dating back to before Christ.

Apparently Segovia was originally a Celtic possession, but control later passed to the Romans. Segovia was UNESCO classified in 1985.

All the buildings in Segovia have a unique finish; it’s very ornamental and you won’t see it anywhere else except for this region. To hide the flaws of the mortared finish they decorated the finishes. They are beautiful:

There are 3 notable monuments in Segovia. The first is the Roman aqueduct.

This is over 2000 years old, has never been restored, so stands as it has always been and was in use up until the 20^th century. At its highest point it is 29 metres tall and 818 metres in length, with 170 arches. The aqueduct is constructed using about 25,000 granite blocks and has no mortar holding them in place. Awesome!

The 2^nd great thing in Segovia is the Alcazar (the castle), which sits between the rivers Eresma and Clamores and was inhabited by the kings (and queens) of Castile.

This is a real fairytale castle, as it was the castle for the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Snow White castle.

Isabella I (also known as Isabella the Catholic – Isabella of Castile) was crowned here.

Isabella (I of Castile)

The Throne Rooom

Ferdinand (II of Aragon)

It is also the place where she met with Christopher Columbus before sending him on his way to India when he ended up discovering the Americas (Isabella also financed Columbus’s journey by selling her jewels). There’s not much to this building really, and it’s smaller than you might expect, but definitely worth a visit.

There are some great views to be had too.

The 3^rd thing of note in Segovia is the Cathedral, a gothic style Roman Catholic Cathedral built between 1525 and 1577. We didn’t get to go inside, but it’s an awesome building.

Segovia was amazing and definitely worth a visit.

What a view!

España – 2 days exploring Madrid, Spain (part 2)

Posted on April 21, 2018 by Catherine Wright

Day 2: A bit more exploring Madrid

Today I did a bit of training to get to various places, I found the metro very easy to use (and a tourist ticket is the way to go for a visitor). There are 12 different lines, so you can get anywhere within the city relatively easily. My line was No. 5.

On my way to visit the museum I was intending to visit, I passed the Banco de España, a beautiful example of 19th century Spanish architecture:

In the end I didn’t make it to any museum (perhaps I had my fill while I was in Italy, I just couldn’t get motivated – and it was such a beautiful day); instead I visited a park – Parque del Retiro.

The Parque del Retiro was originally part of the royal grounds and in 1767 the aristocracy were permitted entry. It was another hundred years before the gates were opened to the general public.

The park is huge (at 125 hectares, one of the largest in the city) and very relaxing, even if there are plenty of other people around, you can find somewhere to sit, ponder, have a picnic, snooze, play with the kids, whatever.

I found myself having lunch here, by the lake that once was used to perform mock naval battles. It dates from 1631. Today you can hire a row boat and cruise the lake.

After my late lunch (it was after 4 before I left the park), I explored a little more and did a little shopping (couldn’t resist a pair of Spanish sandals – it was so hot, I needed them! Don’t tell my husband) around Porta del Sol (“Gateway of the Sun”).

This square is actually oval shaped and has 10 streets radiating from it. I found some interesting things within the square: the statue of Carlos III (above), the bear climbing the arbutus tree (the symbol of the city):and a Spanish mariachi band performing:

On the way home I walked part way along the Gran Via (a Parisian style boulevard 1315m long) which was begun in 1910, but not completed until 1940.

300 buildings were demolished and 14 streets disappeared to make it happen. There are still some architecturally fabulous buildings along this street.

At the end of the Gran Via is the impressive Metropolis building.

As I have wandered around Madrid, I have found these Spanish Ladies throughout the city. All are different and after doing some research I discovered there are 90 of these Meninas, created by artist Antonio Azzato in fibreglass. I thought they were pretty cool, so here is a selection.

España – 2 days exploring Madrid, Spain (part 1)

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Catherine Wright

I’m back in Europe!

The European Congress for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) has presented me with a wonderful opportunity to do a little bit more exploring of the world. [For those who don’t know, my real job is working in medical microbiology]. This year ECCMID is being held in Madrid, Spain and I have been very fortunate (but have worked hard) to be able to be here. So, I thought I’d take the opportunity to explore for a few days before the conference started.

Day 1:

I am staying about a half hour out of the city (out near the airport), so I caught a metro train into the city centre. I hopped off at the Opera station and wandered a little

before I did my usual thing of doing a city sightseeing hop-on-hop-off bus tour.

There were 2 loops you could do, but I only did the one for historical Madrid. This took quite a long time the traffic is crazy busy and we were at a standstill for quite a long time (hence why I didn’t do the second loop).

The botanical gardens looked good, so that was my first hop off stop. It cost €4 to get in, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, so very worthwhile.

Spring has sprung in Spain, so there was an excellent display of flowering tulips.

I also saw some great bonsai

My 2^nd stop was the royal palace (Palacio Real); I’d read about this and it looked really interesting. Unfortunately, when I went to buy my ticket I was told the palace was closed for the week (Bummer!), but I could get into the armoury for €5 if I wanted. I was most interested in looking through the grounds rather than the armoury, but I went in anyway. So glad I did.

The palace is impressive from the outside and the pictures I saw on inside looked amazing.

The armoury was fantastic- I was so impressed. The body amour of the soldiers and the armour plating for the horses were amazing – these were works of art, so much detail and excellent craftsmanship. The same can be said for the swords and pistols. Most of the armour dated from the16 century. Unfortunately no photos allowed, but Google images for Madrid royal palace armoury and you will see what I mean.

When I came out of the armoury, I encountered this peacock.

He was beautiful, I’d had never been so close to one, and was able to get a close look at his feathers.