My Spanish Vacation Part I: Madrid

For my second travel break I went to Madrid and Barcelona. I got to know these cities pretty well because I stayed in each of them for a long time, and it was worth it because Spain is a beautiful country. Right when I got out of the metro station in Madrid after coming from the airport and riding the metro I ended up in the middle of Plaza Puerta del Sol, which is in the heart of Madrid and was also close to my hostel. There was a KFC and naturally I treated myself to an American lunch. KFC is really expensive in Europe (I tried it in other countries) and it is quite a luxurious meal (even the one in Paris). Despite the price (like 7 euro for a meal, and multiply by 1.5 to get dollars) it was worth it, even if the portions are slightly smaller than America and they are stingy with the ketchup. After I had my one taste of American and international life, I wanted to get accustomed to the city.

I immediately noticed that Madrid has its own identity and own style and flair, and I could easily notice a big difference in building styles, designs, facades, and street designs and traffic flow from Roma. I like the Spanish style becuase of its modern design (something maybe taken for granted in America), which is obviously absent many parts of Roma. Madrid has no travertine, which is used extensively in Rome, and buildings are built from scratch. The roads are designed for car traffic and there are open spaces between buildings, all somewhat absent in different parts of Roma. Madrid was really easy to get around in and navigate through. I still remember how the city is laid out and Madrid was one of my favorite cities (but not as much as Barcelona). And I love the soccer culture. It's amazing. You can't go wrong with their amazing soccer team Real Madrid (sorry L.A. Galaxy), especially with their two megasuperstars Cristiano Ronaldo and of course Kaká, who plays for the Brazilian national team. Both of these players have won the FIFA Player of the Year Award recently, which means that this team has two MVPs as teammates, which is amazing. I was also really close to going to a game but I ultimately couldn't go, which was a bummer. Anyways, here we go starting off with the big monument in the Middle of Plaza Puerta del Sol, the statue of King Carlos III on his horse. This is also a popular place for street performers and people trying to sell gold. And of course tourists. Herds and herds of tourists everywhere. And below is the inscription on the statue...

As they say in Italian, ecco, or here it is. I really can't make out the rest but oh well...

Here is a view of the plaza going south in the direction of King Carlos' horse. As always it is bustling with traffic on all the streets leading to it. The Mickey street performer was pretty standard as well. In Europe people dress up in costumes all the time hoping to get tips from pictures. I became used to it, even with the buff male fairy with vampire teeth in Barcelona.

And here is an internet photo of the plaza itself. This is the west side of the plaza and the picture above is looking north. The east side is similar but with the KFC on its north side.

Here are some Mariachi performers on Calle de Carmen (right off of Plaza Puerta del Sol). hey were pretty good and even though the accordion can get a little annoying at times.

By day there is a Mariachi band next to the statue. And I'm sorry to say but they weren't that good. Kind of annoying like all Mariachi music inevitably is. But by night...

...there is some sort of instrumental band with an array of instruments. These guys were good and they played all types of different songs. I even tipped them because they impressed me with their playing. That and the street performs in the Gaudi Park in Barcelona were the best I saw along with the break dancers in Paris (sorry but no pictures exist of those).

And of course I also saw a rap group. It might have been in a sound room in an electronics store, but it was still decent even if I could barely understand what they were saying in Spanish. I just remember that they kept telling people to put their hands up for a whole 5 minutes or so.

Next up is Plaza di España. This is on the east side of the city at the end of Gran Via, the main street that runs west-east through the city that intersects Plaza Puerta del Sol. There were many shops there and grand fountains and statues of course. But not like the marble or travertine statues in Roma, but with a more modern and of course Spanish flair. This fountain was a centerpiece of the plaza, as well as the statues.

Near Plaza de Espana there was a fountain that also served as a roundabout for traffic. I'm pretty sure it was of King Triton riding his horses in the water, which of course is the mascot for UCSD. Because I put my camera in night mode I took a lot of bad pictures, and this is the best I could get. Almost all the other pictures became blurry.

Some of the messed up pictures (about half of the pictures turned out this way) actually looked pretty good in their own way. See below.

This is another monument dedicated to King Carlos III, or Rege Carolo III in the year 1778. It is also a roundabout in traffic and rivals Roman architecture with its arches and statues.

This is the base of the Claudio Moyano monument/statue. Who is Claudio Moyano you ask? Why of course he was a former Minister of Education in the 1800s. And he lived from 1809 to 1890. He also has a street named after him in Madrid.

And here it is. After looking at marble and travertine statues in Rome, this was quite refreshing.

I went to two museums in Madrid, El Museo del Prado and the Museo Riena Sofia. This is outside of the Prado, and of course its the statue dedicated to Goya, who was featured prominently in the museum itself. Apparently in the art world he's really famous.

This is on the west side of Madrid in what I noticed was the restaurant district. There was a big open plaza and it was taken over by an outdoor restaurant seen in the background, capped with the backdrop of the building that changes colors. And of course a statue.

Stay tuned to see what I saw in the Madrid museums, which were my favorites (well the Riena Sofia, not the Prado). This Picasso was pretty standard in Madrid, and more of this to come...