All in all I had another very good day but for two relatively small disappointments.
I slept straight through till 8 AM, woke pretty rested and planned the day with an eye toward logging 15 miles. I figured if I started the morning heading west to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace), the Parque del Oeste and the Museo Cerralbo and finished the day heading back east to the Museo Nacional del Arte Reina Sofia with a stop at the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, I’d be close to 15 miles.
Cary and I had been to the Cerralbo many years ago and I loved it. It’s really the ultimate museum for guys. It’s the actual home (palace) of Don Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa who was the 17th Marques de Cerralbo and was a collector like no other. Tens of thousands of pieces of art, sculpture, ancient artifacts, suits of armour, coins etc etc etc. It’s amazing one guy could have collected so much stuff in one lifetime. He gave it all to the country of Spain when he died in 1922 including the palace and grounds.
I’d never been to the Monasterio but it sounded really interesting and I’d been wanting to go to the Reina Sofia because it houses Picasso’s Guernica which many say is the greatest work of art of the 20th century.
First stop was breakfast at La Mallorquina. It’s been in the same location near the Puerta del Sol since 1894.
In December they make special bread and pastries for Natal and the line runs out the door and halfway around the block. In 2009 we waited an hour in that line with all three kids and it was well worth it.
This morning I stood at the bar shoulder to shoulder with the locals and ordered a palmeira con glacé, coffee and juice. Those things are delicious.
I know you’re thinking that there wasn’t much protein in that meal but don’t worry I took care of that at lunch. Note how they give you a fork and a knife with everything in this country.
Next the Palacio Real and the adjacent Sabatini Rose Gardens followed by the Parque de Templo Debod which I think must be the only ancient Egyptian temple located outside of Egypt. No kidding it’s 2200 year old, was originally found south of Aswan and was given to Spain by Egypt in the 1970’s. They had it dismantled and rebuilt in a park next door to the Royal Palace. It’s pretty cool and really worth seeing. It faces west and they say the sunsets are beautiful from there.
Along the way I had a vision about what I want to be when I grow up:
I then set out to log some miles in the Parque Oeste. It’s not as large as the Buen Retiro, narrower but actually much longer and in the middle there’s a “teleferico” that runs to the Campo Moro. It had a short line so I went for it. Cary wouldn’t have approved. I’m sure she would have called it “telerrifying” but it wasn’t bad. 25 minutes to the Campo de Moro and back and as advertised it offers spectacular views of Madrid:
I walked almost the entirety of the Parque Oeste which is a really wonderful park with enormous magnificent rose gardens and beautiful pine and chestnut trees and then headed to the Museo Cerralbo:
Imagine living in that place!
It closed at 3 o’clock and by then I was hungry so I decided to go to a restaurant I passed on the way to the Royal Palace called Taberna del Alabadero (next to the Teatro Real) because the sign out front said they had Chuletillas as one of the lunch specials and Chuletillas are one of my favorite things in Spain. I’ve never seen them in the United States.
For those of you who are vegetarians or animal lovers you may want to skip my description. Chuletillas are tiny but incredibly delicious lamb chops. They are tiny because they come from baby lambs. Sometimes they are referred to as “lechal” because the baby lambs only months old are still nursing when sent to be slaughtered. Of course I put that out of my mind when I eat them.
They came with fried potatoes, peppers and “setas”:
Only a couple of small bites in each baby lamb chop but so good. The setas were amazing kind of salty and sweet, perfect with the peppers.
I had two glasses of wine with them. That’s another great thing about this country. If you want wine you don’t have to stress out about what to order. Just ask for vino tinto and whatever they bring will be just fine. Today it was a crianza from Rioja. I took baby sips of my wine with each baby bite of my tiny lamb chops.
After lunch I headed to the monastery and the first disappointment of the day. I rushed over there after lunch because the book said it was only open from 4:00 to 6:00. I got there in plenty of time but the guard told me that all tickets had already been sold. Somehow the guidebook left out the fact that they only let 20 people in for each half hour tour and the tickets are sold on the internet and sell out quickly. I waited around for a no show but no such luck
So it was off to the Reina Sofia by way of the Gran Via and Calle del Prado.
The Reina Sofia is a fabulous museum. It’s filled with 20th Century art of Picasso, Miro, Magritte, Dalí, Juan Gris etc:
And Guernica well it’s incredible. So glad I finally saw it but they don’t let you take photos.
I got back to the hotel about 8:00 having completed my 15 miles:
and took off my hiking boots to find my second disappointment of the day:
Oh well that sort of thing was bound to happen and I came prepared:
I’m not going to do much walking tomorrow. I’m taking the afternoon Ave Train to Sahagun changing trains in Palencia.
The Camino is calling!