Madrid and Porto 2007.
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Triumphal Arch |
Buen Retiro 1 |
Buen Retiro 2 |
I write this, sat on a bench near a fountain in the Buen Retiro, a pretty park in the middle of Madrid. For a change this trip had nothing to do with work. I’ve decided that where I have a month or two with no travel planned I will book a cheap get-away with one of the budget carriers. On this trip I’ll be spending three days in Madrid and two days in Porto. The flights cost me £40 including taxes with Ryan Air and a private room in a youth hostel is averaging about £25 per night, so it’s a pretty cheap way to see the world. Unfortunately it was raining when I arrived in Madrid and the weather remains overcast
Madrid is a nice city. The parks and historic sites remind me of Paris, though on a slightly smaller scale. My favourite spot so far is the ‘Plaza Mayor’, a court-yard close to Puerto del Sol, the city’s biggest square. One side of the square is covered with paintings of nymphs and other mythical creatures and the colours of the painting seem to grow warmer as the light changes at sunset.
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A Painted Building in Plaza Mayor |
Statue and Spring Flowers |
Palace through the Trees |
So far, I’ve been less impressed with the religious and royal sites. I found the palace grand, but a little austere and so far the big churches like ‘Basílica de San Francisco el Grande’ have not impressed me in that same way that Paris’ gothic churches like Notre Dame. Anyway, time is ticking by and I want to check out Madrid’s biggest museum, the Prado. Adios for now.
On my way to the Prado from Buen Retiro park I ran across the smaller Museo Prado Buen Retiro. Like the Louvre, the main Prado spoils you with thousands of great works, but the exhibition at Buen Retiro tells the story of a single artist, Luca Giordano. It is easy to see his work progress and I also think that you get a feeling for his character. In the Buen Retiro exhibition, Giordano painted only two subjects looking ugly - himself and his boss, King Philip V of Spain, which I think is kind of cool. In the remainder of his paintings, depicting various religious scenes and the battles of Spain he shows more reverence, painting only idealised figures. My favourite painting was one of Mary Magdalene but as you can’t take photos in the museum I’m afraid I can’t show it to you. Unfortunately I spent my last day in Madrid hiding from the rain and nursing a head–cold. But not to moan – by the time I arrived in Porto I felt much better and the sun was shining.
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A Porto Street Car |
Igredja de St. Ildefonso |
A Typical Porto Street |
I’m now sitting in my hotel room in Porto, which is nice, but a little rustic and enjoying a glass of Tawny Port. After arriving at Porto airport earlier today, I caught the metro into the old town. As I emerged from the Bolhao metro station, my first site was of Capela Das Almas, a pretty 18th century church covered with blue and white tiles (added to a lot of Porto’s churches in the 1930s) depicting the life of St. Francis of Assisi.
After checking into my hotel, I ate lunch and had a couple of beers in the square facing Igredja de St. Ildefonso, another impressive blue-and-white tiled church. After lunch, I walked to the massive, but austere, Se Cathedral and then across the metro-bridge spanning the river Duora, where I was treated to some spectacular views of the river. Unfortunately, I now have to spend my evening working on a paper submission… no rest for the wicked!
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The River Duoro |
A Ship Loaded with Port |
Blue Flowers |
I spent another pleasant day in Porto eating nice food, drinking the cheap and pleasant local wines and snapping some shots -- a few of which are above. I also noticed that near the Duoro river, the same kind of flowers grow that you see on the hills around San Francisco bay. Near the pacific they’re mostly orange, but here they’re mostly blue… I wonder why?