The trip to Madrid was uneventful. A layover at JFK and then onward we go, Upon arrival in Madrid, as expected, we were the LAST off the plane. Then we had to go through the immigration and customs, Not difficult but not as easy as one might expect. We were transported in a van for mobility impaired from the plane to the portion of the terminal for immigration. (There were about 10 of us requiring this service.) It was fairly quick and then we had to retrieve our luggage and be on our way. So, back in a van and half way across Madrid (at least if felt that way) to the terminal where we were to collect our luggage. By the time we got there it was easy to find our bags as they were the only ones left on the carousel.
We were supposed to be met by a driver to take us to the hotel. There was some mixup and we never connected with a driver so we get a taxi to the hotel where we were met by Olga, our guide for the day. Don't know what the hitch was but it all worked out OK.
On the schedule was a visit to the Prado Museum and a couple of other Madrid sights. However, we move so slowly and Granny was having a bit of trouble walking, so we didn't get to all the places.
Our guide, Olga, is an art historian and gave us an outstanding tour of a few of the more important works in the Prado. We saw only a limited number of works but what we saw were the most important ones and we got a very good explanation of each work. My favorite was a work by Tintoretto. Part of the painting had some architectural elements that changed as you viewed the painting from different spots. Amazing!
Not many pictures. Photography is not permitted inside the Prado. On the left is a statue of Goya and on the right a picture of the San Jeronimo church.
After our Prado visit, we went for some tapas - small portions. Olga explained that you don't go to A place for tapas, you go from one place to another. Each place you may have their "specialty" tapa and then on to the next place. Because of our mobility issues, we limited our visits to two places.
Our first stop was a little "up-scale" and we tried tortilla española (more like a potato quiche), croquette (a small breadcrumbed fried food roll) one half or ours were filled with ham/cheese the other half were filled with cheese. I didn't tast too much different between the two. Also a charcuterie platter - some salami and some tiny baked bread rolls. Of course we also had our dish of green olives.
Olga wanted us to go to a second place which is popular for its calamari. This place was VERY crowded and we had to wait a minute for a TINY table where we could squeeze in 3 people. Once again we had a dish of green olives and we had calamari and a dish of anchovies. Both very good. The anchovies were in an oil mixture and were very good and not like the anchovies we get on a caesar salad.
Olga and Granny ouside the second tapas stop.
The schedule for the third day was a day trip to Segovia. We took the high speed train and were met at the Segovia station by Enrique, our taxi driver. It seems a bit unusual but the train station in Segovia is a ways our ot town. Sort of like an airport. Enrique took us into town where we met our guide, Elena, at the aqueduct. This is an amazing structure. It was built in the late 1st century and completed early in the 2nd century - about 112 AD.
It was about 8pm and we decied to get a little something to eat. We weren't very hungry after our afternoon tapas but we still decided to try a restaurant near the hotel that Olga recommended. It was closed. They were just unlocking it as we were leaving and said it didn't open until 8:30pm. We weren't that hungry and didn't want to wait so we went around the corner and found another tapas bar.
Nice little place. Quiet street.
Granny enjoying her tapas
Close up of the statue on the left.
We had nothing planned for the second day. After a long travel day and then right into the sightseeing, we needed a "relax" day. We decided to take a taxi to El Retiro Park and stroll through the park for a while. The park is LARGE and BEAUTIFUL! We only saw a very tiny portion of it as Granny was in her transport chair and I was the "transporter".
While we were resting, I was watching this cute 1 1/2 year old girl - Lucia - and her mother feeding the fish, the ducks and the birds. On the right is this other cute, not so young girl, enjoying the sun.
:Islam was a widespread religion in the Iberian peninsula for more than nine centuries primarily coming from Moorish Africa. As a result, there is a significant moorish influence on the architecture and the architectural decoration. Look at the decoration on the side of the building.
Elena said they get quite a bit of snow in Segovia in the winter. In order to faxcilitate the snow sliding off the roof, the shingles are put on "upside down" creating a trough for the snow to run off.
The two primary sites on our tour were the Segovia Cathedral and the Alcazar. On the way to the Cathedral, we passed the San Martin church which was built in the Romanesque style in the 12th century. The cathedral, which was built in the 16th century, is late gothic style.
On the way to the cathedral, we passed a market where a vendor was selling a local delicacy - garlic. We also passed by the Jewish quarter identified by both a sign and an imbedded marker in Hebrew.
A few pictures of the interior of the cathedral.
Too much for one page. Our Segovia excursion is continued on the next page.
