While in Madrid we, of course, wanted to tour the Prado but overlapping the Prado’s holiday schedule with our travel schedule proved to be a bit tricky—basically, during our days in Madrid we really only had a 4-hour window of opportunity when the Prado was open on New Year’s Eve to get our fill of it. I had purchased our tickets ahead of time online so we didn’t have to worry about lines, but we left early to give us time to explore that part of town first before entering the museum. We took the metro from Plaza Tirso de Molina to the stop near Atocha train station, just south of the Prado, and from there walked around the area taking in the new sights and also looking for a café to stop for breakfast. We happened upon a café right across the street from the Prado (La Tapería) and I think we had one of our favorite breakfasts while in Spain (at least for Jonathan and me), the madrileño: a tortilla española with peppers in it, pan con tomate (toasted pan drizzled with olive oil and rubbed with a very fresh tomato), freshly-squeezed orange juice, and, of course, café con leche (don’t know how I start my day without these since coming home from Spain).
At 10am, we wandered around the grounds of the Prado, appreciating the statues of famous Spanish artists as well as the extremely long line of people waiting to buy tickets, and found the entrance for us to enter with our tickets which were printed at home (you can’t beat that). I was amazed at the rapt attention Ella and Jack had for the works of art in room after room after room. They were especially captivated by the religious-themed Italian Renaissance art (for Jack this could’ve perhaps been due to his introduction to Raphael by the TMNT…but I think for anyone it’s pretty cool to see artwork by Raphael in person). We regarded and discussed so many great pieces of art: a self-portrait by Albrecht Dürer from 1498 that might possibly be the first time an artist depicted himself; Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights from 1505 (it was interesting to get the kids’ take on that one); Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas (c.1656), Los Borrachos (c.1628), and a Felipe IV (c.1634-35) where you can find extra ghost legs on the horse; as well as works by Goya, El Greco, Rubens, and Titian. About two hours in to enthralled silence by all four of us, Ella turned to me and said, “I think I’m done.” I was, too, by that point—but, boy was I was impressed with the respect Ella and Jack had for the great and historical pieces of art we were viewing (I think it did help that we’d done quite a bit of research about artists with works on display at the Prado, especially Velázquez).
From the Prado, it’s about a 15-minute walk down the pedestrian lane Calle de las Huertas to Puerta del Sol. On New Year’s Eve—or Nochevieja as they call it—in Spain, Puerta del Sol is the place to be. All of Spain watches the countdown to midnight on television as it happens in Puerta del Sol—it’s like our Times Square, but on a smaller scale. When we went through Puerta del Sol at around 1pm, the place was already bustling and you could see the preparations happening for later that night (barricades around the statues, lights and stage going up, an unlit ‘Feliz 2015’ neon sign above the clocktower).
We spent the rest of our day really just walking around, exploring more of the city, enjoying being a part of the crowds and people watching all of the crazy outfits/hats, stopping in here and there to have a tapa and drinks, doing a little shopping—Madrid definitely had an easier feel, even with the crowds of New Year’s Eve for exploring, shopping, and finding places to eat than Seville and Barcelona. At dusk, we walked back over to Plaza Oriente and the Royal Palace area and then up to Parque de Montaña to see the intact Egyptian temple, Temple de Debod, which I really wanted to see all lit up at night. From there we walked through Plaza de España, down the Gran Vía, and back to Puerta del Sol. We covered a lot of ground that day.
We rung in 2015 back in our hotel room with our drinks, Puerta del Sol on the television, and 12 grapes each (it is a Spanish tradition to eat a grape for each chime of the clock tower at midnight to ensure 12 lucky months to come). We woke up in Madrid on the first morning of 2015, so I’d say that’s a good start to the new year.
{From left to right, top to bottom: Victory and the Pegasuses atop the Ministry of Development near Atocha train station; taking this picture of Jack I realized that I had lost the eyepiece cap for my camera, never to be found again, so for the rest of the trip my eye was not placed correctly when looking through the viewfinder to see what was in focus…oy, just had to have faith that I’d put my focal point on the right thing from here on out; I love all of the balconies on the apartment buildings in Madrid; two goofballs in front of the living wall (which is probably more lush during the rest of the year) of the Caxia Forum; the San Jerónimo el Real adjacent to the Prado museum; Goya—there were statues all over the grounds of the Prado of the famous Spanish artists with works in the museum; exploring the Prado grounds; Museo del Prado; we spent several hours in the Prado exploring great works of art from European masters.}
{The clock tower of Puerta del Sol; standing at the middle of Spain (just off of Puerta del Sol); walking up pedestrian avenue Calle de las Huertas; pretty light on the street; Puerta del Sol preparing for the festivities of New Year’s Eve (Puerta del Sol is Spain’s equivalent of Times Square on New Year’s Eve); the iconic bear eating the fruits off a tree (there are quite a few different stories on what the statue represents)—there was a barricade around the bottom of the statue on this day because of the impending crowds.}
{Looking for the door with the lazy Susan for dulces, or convent sweets, from the cloistered nuns of the Church and Convent of Corpus Christi; the outside of the Plaza de la Villa; we found the old door entrance for the convent, but unfortunately they were closed for the holiday; the entrance to our hotel—just back for a quick break before our evening stroll and dinner.}
{Out for some evening exploring—Ella and Jack loved to explore all of the touristy souvenir shops; street art; it just makes me smile how peas and carrots Ella and Jack were on our trip; hanging with a local (it was a statue); Mercado de San Miguel—a pit stop for some yummy snacks and such a pretty place; Almudena Cathedral at dusk; inside the Plaza de la Villa.}
{The Royal Palace at dusk; Almudena Cathedral at dusk; I love how all of the streets and sights in Spain are so well lit at night; we made the hike past the Royal Palace to Parque de Montaña to see the Temple de Debod, an intact Egyptian temple that was a gift from Egypt in 1968.}
{The holiday celebrations continue in Spain for the Twelve Days of Christmas leading up to Three Kings Day, Día de los Reyes Magos; the streets in all of the cities we visited were thoroughly decked with Christmas lights; pretty colors and lights; Puerta del Sol lit up for New Year’s Eve; me in Puerta del Sol on New Year’s Eve—selfies don’t work quite as well with the big camera (my camera was on a theft-proof strap under my coat, which made it rather difficult to take off which, in turn, made it rather difficult for me to be in very many pictures myself, with the exception of Instagram pics); Puerta del Sol on New Year’s Eve—we only stayed here until about 10pm before the huge crush of people, but it was fun to see it that night nonetheless. From here we strolled on through Plaza Mayor to enjoy the best bite in Spain, a take-away calamari sandwich (I wouldn’t have guessed I’d have said that before our trip, but, man, it was perfection.}
