Madrid

This is us in Plaza Mayor in old Madrid.

Madrid was big and grand and elegant, but slightly reserved. We meandered through the big, formal park in the centre of Madrid, the Retiro, where Madrileños seem to enjoy a Sunday stroll on the promenade around the toy-sailboat filled lake in the centre. The park was the site of a former palace and it still retains the grace and refinement of old Spanish life. Nearby is the gorgeous Prado, one of the world's premier art museums. The Prado is home to some 4,000 masterpieces, most of them acquired by Spanish royalty bankrolled by the riches from the new world in the 17th century. The place is filled to bursting with Italian renaissance and Northern European masterpieces, not to mention the Goya and Velázquez royal commissions. For some reason, Eden didn’t seem to appreciate the art, so Dave ducked out to the Retiro, while Hannah and Bronwyn and I wandered the galleries.