2 Nov 07 - Madrid Day 3

Much of the day was spent trying to get in touch with our long-lost artistic side. The Museo Nacional Reina Sofia beckoned, with its impressive array of paintings, the most famous amongst those being the ones by Picasso and Dali. You could spend the whole day scrutinizing each exquisite painting and marvelling at what goes into the minds of these geniuses and how they were inspired to create such an avant-garde style.


Museo Nacional Reina Sofia

I don't profess to know anything about art but I was really intrigued by the following works which best portray surrealism.

left: El enigma sin fin (Dali)
right: El gran masturbator (Dali)

left: El enigma de Hitler (Dali)
right: Guernica (Picasso, pained and disgusted by the military caste, painted this depiction of the Nazi bombing of Guernica)


Monumento imperial a la mujer niña (Dali)

Nature called next, literally, so it was off to Parque del Buen Retiro (park of a pleasant retreat). Pleasant it was. Bewitching even! It was so full of life but at the same time has peaceful little known corners which permit one to get away from it all.





left: yep, it's siesta time!

Our virgin attempts at row-boating! It was tiring at first but once you get the hang of it it's impossible to wanna hand over the oars!




left: the boat that sailed with its nose in the air =D
right: this adorable toddler who kept trying to jump into the water hehe


left: Mama store!




As evening approached, it was time for another artistic immersion at Museo del Prado. Madrid was holding some arts fest at that time I guess, so the entrance fee to this museum was waived for 4 days and hence, the snaking queue which wound around the whole building and stretched a block away. It wasn't that bad though, we only waited in line for about half an hour.

The museum was massive, housing some of the greatest works of big names like Velázquez, Joaquim Patinir and Raphael! It consisted of 4 floors and more than a hundred rooms, of which we only visited less than half.



for some reason, there were people dressed like this walking around. Curious.


I was really captivated by these paintings by El Bosco, placed side by side supposely depicting heaven, earth and hell respectively. Click on the images to see the larger picture.
left: El Éden
centre: El Jardin de las delicias (the garden of earthly delights)
right: infierno musical

For dinner, Andi suggested going to Museo del Jamon, this eatery chain that seemed incredibly popular with the locals and boy, was it a wise choice! Like the Spanish, we stood by the bar and ordered our tapas of boquerones frites (fried fish similar to ikan bilis) and some cured pork sausage which was the speciality of the bar. The atmosphere was much like a more atas kopitiam, with waiters shouting orders and lots of lively chatter. I really enjoyed soaking it in.



We did some souvenir shopping as we let the meal digest and for dessert, we found this chocolateria which served churros! It's kinda like our you tiao but instead of dipping it into tao hway, the churros are eaten with thick chocolate fondue. I could just die.

left: at the bar in Museo del Jamon

pure bliss =)

On a side note, to get by in Spain, you HAVE to learn a little spanish cos not a single person we came across spoke English! The phrases that I found most useful to learn were the following:

Hello, excuse me... (Hola, perdone) - oh lah, pair-doh-nay

Do you speak English? (Habla usted Inglés?) - ahblah oos taid eenglays

Where is...? (Dónde esta...?) - donday estah...

Thank you. (Gracias) - like it's written but pronoucing the 'C' with a hint of the 'th' sound

- And master your sign language.