Madrid
OUT Barrio de Letras
VISIT Museo Reina Sofia, & Museo del Prado
DO Walk through Mercado San Miguel on to Plaza Mayor and then to Parque del Retiro
JULIO
Madrid feels like its own modern, cosmopolitan, and historical Spanish country. The main city, museums, restaurants, nightlife and transit stations are truly impressive and and all around world class. The first class on the high speed Renfe train was spectacular. Delicious food, cava and impeccable service was superb. We had reserved an AirBnB in the Las Letras area which was a short walk from Madrid's incredible Atocha train station.
We began by touring the spectacular Museo Reina Sofia in the heart of Madrid. Before entering we stopped into the museum restaurant/cafe/club/lounge called Arola Madrid, which is incredibly designed and hosts a top notch sound system by Void audio. We saw the masterful Guernica by Picasso and the extensive Dali collection. Spain has a rich modern art history and this museum definitely should not be missed. We had also heard a great deal about the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, which houses one of the world's most important collections, however it simply did not fit into our schedule. We then headed into the Prado museum next which was filled with the a host of amazing paintings and of course Spain's finest. We marveled at Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, the extensive el Greco collection, and the Van der Weyden paintings among others on display.
At night, we explored the Plaza Mayor and our Letras neighborhood and it did not disappoint with its hip array of theaters, restaurants and bars. We missed a lot of Madrid's Palaces but having done so much time touring in Greece and Andalusia we took some time to take it easy and get some much needed rest in Madrid.
Thankfully, there was an amazing churreria right down the street from our pad called Xocolat on Calle Santa Maria were we could get our fix of amazing coffee and chocolate con churros at all hours.
christina
Madrid is a cosmopolitan dream - much like NYC with all that it has to offer - wonderful art, fabulous people, and an overall sense of sophistication. While I could talk endlessly about all that I was especially moved by the Guernica piece by Picasso in the Reina Sophia Museum. It was so powerful I couldn't move from the room. I just kept staring with mouth agape. The sheer size and the way it moves you to understand the devastation of war was beyond words. Each component, each inch, when unpacked revealed deep metaphor and the cubist perspective on those metaphors added dimension and emotion in ways I wasn't expecting. The deep sense of grief and destruction that the size of the mural and the context of it portrays is astonishing and had me deeply considering the history of Spain, the history of Europe and the history of suffering in one breath. I had to wipe away tears as I surrendered to the scope of this truth - this reality of history here on Earth - not just in Europe but throughout the world.
Within our journey, it seems that each day we are untangling this truth - and it has me considering all of the ways we have internalized trauma as cultures and the way we pass that down through our lineages. It reminds me of the work of Thich Nacht Hanh in his Reconciliations book. In it, he talks about how the true act of activism and love is healing the lineage of this trauma - putting an end to it - by witnessing it for the people that have come before you, whether they be your grandparents or even your culture. It too is a work of art that is greatly needed in today's world of separation, unhealed trauma and long-held division.
