Day 35: Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Our last day in Madrid. We spent it at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Museum.  When we walked out of the metro, we were facing one of my favorite buildings in Madrid--the city hall.

We have been using the metro most days--it is so easy and convenient. It can get a bit crowded at times, but it still is a wonderful way to get around the city.

The  Thyssen-Bornemisz is completely overwhelming--we only saw 2 of the 3 floors and that was already overload. The pieces are fabulous. There are just so many of them. Here is a very small sampling.

von Jawlensky

Chagall

Schwitters

Hopper

Bearden

Gauguin

This had been a fabulous trip and Madrid has graced us with a beautiful sunset to say goodbye.

 

Day 34: Gardens, Gardens

This morning while out on our patio, a series of Spanish military planes flew over in formation. I couldn't figure out what was going on and looked on the web. Today is National Day in Spain. It commemorates Columbus landing in the Americas in 1492. The King and Queen presided over a military parade. I didn't take this photo, but this is what it looked like over our hotel.

We took the metro over to El Retiro park. I had never been there before. Thousands of people were out walking and enjoying the holiday.

There were lots of folks wearing flags.

I spotted an Egyptian Goose on the shore of a small lake.

We then took the metro across town to Plaza de Oriente in front of the royal palace. It's a small, but pretty park there.

There was action at the palace, with vehicles driving in the gate the royal standard hanging above the main gate.

We ate at an old favorite on the plaza looking at the park and palace. Relaxing day.

  

Day 33: The Reina Sofia & Maruja Mallo

 The Reina Sofia is one of my favorite art museums in the world. We spent the day lingering with extraordinary paintings and other works of art. What a privilege. The crown jewel of this museum is Guernica. I've seen it before, but it is still stunning and emotional.

After Guernica, Picasso kept painting weeping women. There are quite a few in the museum. Some are black, white, and gray like Guernica and others very different like this one.

There are so many Spanish painters represented at the museum. Here are the usual suspects.

And even the French painter Leger--one of my favorites.

But the highlight of the day, was being introduced to an artist I didn't know--Maruja Mallo. Her work is absolutely phenomenal.  There was room after room of her art. These first two are from fairs. She did many of these colorful surreal canvases.

She also did amazing portraits.

I feel so lucky to have seen Mullo's work.

 

Days 31 & 32: Malaga to Madrid & The Prado

 Yesterday we took a fast train from Malaga to Madrid. We are here in Madrid for a few days before we head home. Malaga was really a pleasant surprise. I don't know what I was expecting, but I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Its old town was much bigger than I anticipated and the museums were small, but lovely. In Madrid, we're staying at an old favorite hotel on Plaza San Martin. It's a very quiet plaza, but two blocks in any direction and you are in the middle of tons of action and people. We have one of the rooms at the very top with a balcony which is great. We have an amazing view from the room.

Today we wandered all over town, Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, the museum district. Our first stop was Mercado San Miguel, which had some of the best tapas we've seen during the whole trip.

We spent about half the day at the Prado. We had never been there before and it was pretty overwhelming. There were about 10 pieces we really wanted to see. Even with maps it was like a treasure hunt. We needed up doing pretty well. Here are a couple of my favorites. Velasquez--Las Meninas and Bosch--Garden of Earthly Delights.

This was a good first day in Madrid.

Day 30: Marbella & Mijas

Today we took a bus out to Marbella and Mijas. We had to get up before dawn and walk a ways to catch the bus. Seeing the main Street of Malaga completely empty was a surprising sight.

Marbella was very pleasant. There are tons of orange trees, narrow streets in old town, and lovely gardens with ceramic benches.

On a walkway that goes down to the beach, there are ten sculptures that are inspired by Dali. They are really quite amazing. Here's one.

Then we were off to Mijas, one of the white hill towns of Andalusia. It was marvelous. A place we'd like to come back to.

There was a small museum of contemporary art. The first floor was all Picasso and the second floor Dali. Here are two of Picasso's pieces. The first is to be expected, but the plate surprised me.

And Dali had made a bronze menorah. This was a total surprise to me. I'm a sucker for ceramics.

We had a lovely paella lunch at a local spot that the the museum administrator said was good. From our table we could see down into the main plaza of Mijas.

On the way home, the bus went by the beach towns to the west of Malaga.

We have had absolutely beautiful weather this whole trip. We've been very fortunate. Tomorrow we're off to Madrid.

Day 28 & 29: Around Town in Malaga

 For the past two days we have been roaming Malaga really enjoying the place. We love the walk to the port through long gardens. We walked down to the beach and over to the market.

We also went inside the cathedral. We said we weren't going to see another one, but we broke down.

It was beautiful inside. I was able to find a number of items in the church that didn't seem too religious. Here are a few.

We have become obsessed with the port and spend lots of time on our deck watching ships come in and out. There are a number of super yachts here and we've been sleuthing who owns them. So far we have the Walmart heir, the President of the UAE, a guy who owns the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team & has a billion $$ art collection, Lord someone or other, and the beat goes on.

We went to a marvelous Flamenco show--very small. About 16 people in the audience. We loved it. There was a woman singer which you don't see that often.

 

Tomorrow we're off to Marbella for the day.