Spain – sunny, warm and so much more than we expected. We spent time in Madrid, Bilbão, and the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain. Coming from Israel and Jordon we planned to enroll in a Portuguese language class in Porto, Portugal. A few weeks before we left, though, Portugal decided to not allow anyone from Israel to visit. (They said residents and citizens could enter, so we should have been ok. But they also said no-one coming from Israel could enter, so at that point we could be refused by either the airline or customs, so it wasn’t worth the risk) Instead, we diverted to Spain for two months to explore and we are SO glad we did. We began in Madrid with its many restaurants, busy downtown, palaces, gardens, and museums. I (Deb here) was able to attend several concerts, an opera (Siberia by Umberto Giordano) and the ballet (Giselle) and was in my happy place again. Both performances were incredibly beautiful. Also, it was fun to figure out the bus and train schedules in Spanish as it gives one such a feeling of accomplishment. The concert venue of Teatro Real is seen below.
The food in Madrid was very good although we never did get on their schedule of going for an evening meal sometime after 10 PM. There are many pastry and coffee shops open throughout the day, as well as cafeterias and tapas bars. Lunch is normally eaten around 1-3pm. Fortunately we prefer to stay in AirBnB’s and cook when possible.
A samosa shop a few blocks from our house, near one of our metro stations. In my happy place again!
There are many delicious pastries in abundance here. These delicious custard glazed tarts are from the grocery store, 1.25 Euros each. (About 1.35 US at the time)
One of my favorite smaller museums is the Museo Cerralbo. It was the residence of the 17th Marquis of Cerralbo. Here one can see what life was like for an aristocratic family in late 19th-century Madrid. From the website esmadrid.com, “The classical style Palace, decorated with Neo-Baroque and Rococo elements, was designed with a dual purpose, as a home and a museum, headquarters of the works of art collected by the Marquis of Cerralbo and his children, the Marquises of Villa-Huerta, during their many trips in Spain and Europe. Therefore, the museum is made up of over 50,000 objects, including paintings, sculptures, ceramics, glass, tapestry, furniture, coins, medals, drawings, stamps, clocks, weapons, armour and archaeological objects…”
Chandelier and dining room at Museo Cerralbo
Venetian Murano Glass chandelier
Interior staircase Museo Cerralbo
And, of course, you need a sitting room to properly entertain guests.
Madrid has a location called the Golden Triangle of Art, which includes three major museums. The Prado Museum displays a collection of European and Spanish Art from the 12th to the 20th century from Francisco Goya, Rubens and Titian. The Reina Sofia Museum, dedicated to Queen Sofia, is Spain’s National Museum and therefore displays mostly Spanish artists such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. The third museum in this triangle is the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum which houses mainly 13th-20th-century European masterpieces. We managed to see two of the three as they are massive and take the better part of a day to really appreciate. Thank you to Professor Floyd Fairweather (deceased 2012) from Minot State University for teaching me, and many others, to appreciate art!
Here are some sights as you walk around Madrid:
Vertical garden from the Caixa Forum in Madrid was a former power station now converted to an art exhibition gallery and a place for cultural events. This gentleman takes gardening to a new level, literally!
Hmmmm – interesting human bunny artwork
At one of the local parks
Traditional dress worn for a festival these Spaniards were attending
Frog of Fortune on Paseo de Recoletos, Madrid
There is a 350 acre park in the city center of Madrid called El Retiro Park where many activities such as walking, boating and picnicking take place. Palacio de Cristal del Retiro (below) is a conservatory in El Retiro Park, and is used to house temporary art exhibitions and events.
We are no horticulturists but we enjoy finding the names of flowers. Some of these are from our walks, many of them are from a botanical garden near Retiro park. We hope we have labelled these correctly!
Scarlett O’Hara
Azaleas
Rhododendron
Allium
Brown-Eyed Rock Rose
Happy place again! 
At times we need to visit a pharmacy to resupply medications. This one was especially charming. To find these pharmacies, I search on google maps to find a pharmacy, then look for tourist areas where they are more likely to speak English. While minor mix-ups can happen, we have been happily surprised by the level of knowledge of pharmacists. We have never had any serious issues with medication so far and I am amazed at how much supply they have on hand in such a tiny back room.
Prickly Pear Cactus
Some other sights:
The museum Sorolla features work by the artist Joaquín Sorolla and was originally the artist’s house before being converted to a museum after the death of his widow.
It also has a small but nice garden outside with sculptures and other artwork.
The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando was originally a palace, then was converted to an arts academy. Later it was changed to an art museum. The painting “Primavera” is from the gallery.
By the way, Real in Spanish means royal, so therefore the Real Madrid Football team is what we in the states would call the Royal Madrid Soccer team. Which, by the way, kept us up pretty late one night as they were playing Liverpool in the UEFA championship, and the entire city of Madrid was partying until the wee hours of the morning!
Below is the interior of the Museo Lázaro Galdiano.
There are dozens of rooms like the one above, each one with unique woodwork and art. They surround a two story central room that was originally used for dances, with musicians lining the balconies on all four sides.
Plaza de la Villa, an urban plaza in central Madrid.
A Citroen electric city car. About 45 miles range, and 30 mph top speed. (70km, 50 km/hr) But a very inexpensive car, and small enough that it can be parked nose first into the curb. Handy for limited city driving- but we either walked or took the metro everywhere.
Aside from museums and restaurants, we did a lot of walking around the city. Madrid has a number of nice parks, such as the one below.
About 30 minutes walk from our apartment was a very large park that we often walked through. The pictures of cactus flowers and some of the wildflowers shown above are from this park.
Back in the city center, we have some of the gardens of the Royal Palace of Madrid.
On the day that we went to the palace we found that there was a long line of people waiting to enter to see the changing of the guard. (Done once or twice a month if I recall correctly) Rather than wait in line for an hour in the sun, we instead toured the cathedral across the way from the palace, and hung out on an upper balcony to watch the exhibition after our tour. Cavalry, a small band, and military drills were seen.
A few days later we came back and toured the museums that are located in the former palace.
On one of our last days we were out walking separately, and both came across a large street festival that spanned almost a mile. There were food booths, marching bands, vendors, but mostly events for the kids. Below is a bicycle training course.
A typical Madrid street (with decorated Do Not Enter sign)
Monument to Alfonso XII, located by a lake in Retiro Park.
A pretty building in the center.
And finally, the interior of the Basílica pontificia de San Miguel. We especially liked this unusual church, with it’s heavy yet elegant stonework, very somber and elegant.
Well, it was a fun and exciting 5 weeks. We are glad that we ended up coming here, so much to see and do. And next, on to the Picos mountains for a change of scenery.
Deb and Tim