Madrid

Just a short note to say we are still in the lands of the Iberian Peninsula. Currently in Madrid where we have been for three days now exploring art galleries and works of art we had been able to read about but to see them was just awesome. We did a couple of hours with a Picasso exhibition but it was the Master Painters Rubens, Goya, El Grecho (and lots of others) which really were well worth looking at. While we have ‘done’ the Galleries here, we ‘did’ the churches in Lisbon (where we spent five nights just before coming to Madrid) – both in terms of their art and their services as we were there during Easter week. Lisbon and Madrid have been really cold with a strong northerly wind coming straight south from the arctic, but with a bit of luck it will warm up a little before we head to Barcelona tomorrow morning.
Lisbon was a beautiful city to visit. The churches and cathedrals match those of Rome and a just staggering when you walk in and see the altars and chapels that line three sides of the buildings. Once we got used to the No28 tram (which for some reason we seemed to develop an affinity for) we were able to get around quite well. The Metro (as it is also here in Madrid) is just so easy to navigate and for very little cost we have been able to get around both cities very easily.
Seville was just lovely. We were accommodated a little way from the town centre and once we discovered the appropriate buses it too was easily accessible. Every day we were there (from Palm Sunday to Holy Thursday – Holy Week) there were huge parades which thousands of people, visitors and locals alike turned out to see. Every day there were 9 different processions, each starting from different parishes around the city, and each with its long lines of hooded penitents and ‘floats’ of the Virgin and another of. Usually, a scene from the Passion. This is what they call Santa Semana (Holy Week) but they (the Sevillians) are proud of and show off their Catholic heritage.
We loved the warmth and ever-present smell of orange blossom in Seville and we have come to like their cafe con leche (coffee with milk) which we have been having as a fix each mid-late afternoon. Spanish don’t go to bed early and they don’t get up early: restaurants won’t start serving food until 9.00pm and breakfast (at this hotel as an example goes from 7.30-12.00 noon) is late too. There’s not much point getting up and going early as most places are shut until about 10.00 am and shut again between about 1.00 and 3.00 – hence the later nights.
We’re struggling with language but trying to use as much as we can. Our Spanish vocab is a bit wider than our Portuguese was: ‘Obrigado’ and ‘Ola’ got us through Lisbon and around its attractions, but our Spanish runs to at least four words and we can even count up to four!! (Well, at least we think we can.)
So that’s it: still very much enjoying our travels and its been a really interesting experience being in two countries (Spain and Portugal) which have Catholicism in common (and which we could recognise in Masses and in their art) but at the same time not being able to understand their language: but people here are so accepting of tourists and we think some of them even like to practise their English on us. On our flight to Madrid we sat next to a young Portuguese woman who suggested our best route and Metro stop to find our hotel and on the Metro (on the way to the hotel) Shelley bumped into a man with her back-pack: must have been a Spanish introduction because he got off at the same Metro station as us and then took us up to the street to help us find our way to the hotel. People do like to help.
Must go and pack: our bus to Barcelona leaves at 10.00am tomorrow and is an eight hour ride. The idea is to stay awake for as long as possible so we can see the countryside and we need some sleep (after going out for a late meal, of course!)