Madrid

When we arrived in Madrid the first thing we noticed is how insanely full of people the streets were. 

The sky was gorgeous at night. 

Loved these purple trees

We thought maybe it was a national holiday or some other big kind of parade. When we checked into our hostel, we asked about why it was so busy and we were informed that it was nothing, that it was just a normal evening in Madrid. Needless to say, we were kind of surprised. The hostel we stayed at was called The Hat and it was by far one of the most impressive hostels we'd seen. 

 It had a fun vibe and was extremely eco friendly. There was also a rooftop bar and it was located in a very central area. Plus, there was free breakfast-our favorite. 

Our first day was spent exploring the town and going to the Prado Museum. On our walk to the Prado we stopped at the Botanical Gardens next door and peered inside the gates. There were gorgeous tulips blooming in the garden and all the colors were gorgeous to look at.

The Prado Museum was filled with an endless amount of artwork however, they did not allow us to take any photos so I'll have to share with you what I remember from my memory.

Posing with this female statue outside the Prado museum. 

One of the paintings that stands out, is the Madrid Mona Lisa. Who knew that there was a second painting? It was done by a different artist but it was just as fantastic. I tried to compare the differences between the two paintings and the biggest difference I could find was the dress this Mona Lisa is wearing is darker and some of the surrounding colors are slightly darker as well. I also think this Mona Lisa was just a little bit larger.

Another main artist in the Prado, was Francisco Goya. His artwork struck me as very dark, but I think that's because the colors look like they were done with charcoals. One of his paintings was a group of witches (a coven) that were surrounding a goat. The goat was supposed to represent the devil and there was a girl sitting in a chair on the side which was supposed to represent a sacrifice or someone being initiated into the group.

A big surprise of the museum was that there were 10 Picasso paintings during out visit. We were bummed to have missed out on the Picasso Museum in Barcelona so we were thrilled to see some of his work while at the Prado. They really do look like what you imagine. His characters look larger than life and the majority of the artwork is like a mixup mashup. It was as if Picasso looked at life very differently than the rest of us and brought color and objects to life with his point of view. One of my favorite paintings was called the Lady with the Blue Hat.

This statue is really a person outside the museum.

After the museum, we went to lunch with Darius and Freddy. We ate at a delicious vegetarian restaurant. You wouldn't expect to see too many vegetarian restaurants in Madrid, nor would you expect them to be so popular. The food was not only delicious it was very popular in the city. There was a line waiting outside this place once we were done eating.

We spent most of the afternoon trying to find a place for a much needed massage but since it was Sunday evening we were out of luck. 

Exploring the city on foot. 

Darius enjoys some water from a fountain. 

So we decided to take the Teleferico over the park. The Teleferico are little cars that travel over a wire across the big park in Madrid. Imagine the little cars that used to be at Disneyland and traveled over the park? Same kind of deal. 

The ride was long and the views were amazing. Dana is pretty terrified of heights to you can imagine how torturous this adventure was for her. However, as long as you didn't rock the car too much she did good.

The Little Superheroes loved the ride and the view. 

One thing I observed about Madrid is how much they love their parks. I saw parks everywhere throughout the city. The park that we went over in the teleferico was about 3 times the size of Central Park. Some of the park is dedicated to growing plants, trees and different produce. We saw this in many different countries-areas of land dedicated to growing produce. I believe it's government funded but don't quote me on that. We also saw a variety of greenhouses that looked to be run by the government as well. I wonder if this is why the fruit and vegetables taste so good abroad?

On the other side of the Teleferico

If I lived here I'd come to this park as often as I could go ride bikes, hike or picnic. 

After we were done with the teleferico, we found a small bar to reenergize and enjoyed some free tapas. Then we had a much needed siesta.

Read about our adventure riding bikes in Madrid in the next post.