After a nice little stop in the sleepy beachside town of Peñíscola (snigger), the wheels on the bus went round and round over the rolling plains of Central Spain (it didn't rain so I can't comment further) and finally we got to Madrid at 6:30pm. In 32degC heat. Not so nice when you have to lug your pack for a good 15 minutes to reach the hotel. Still, mustn't grumble ... it was festival time (in honour of Madrid's patron saint) so that meant lots of people about and a pretty cool atmosphere. The closest I got to bull-fighting was watching one in a bar - it left one of my companions decidely light-headed and me not much better. Riveting and repulsive, all at once. The next day was "focus on culture" time so I checked out the Reina Sofia Museum - loads of modern art including stuff by Miro, Dali and Picasso, his massive "Guernica" being the highlight - and the Prado Museum ... a huge collection of 15th-19th century art, with a big Spanish focus. Very impressive. Interspersed with the high art was a good dose of low-brow: Star Wars: Episode II was showing (in English!) and I was powerless to resist it's pull. Yeah, it's flawed ... but it's fun, and seeing former New Zealand soap stars as galactic bounty hunters was well worth the price of admission alone! (a paltry 4 euros).
‹ 22.5.02 / 0 comment(s) ›
Comments
Feel free to leave a few words about this post. Pithy, on-point comments will earn you 100 frequent surfer miles and a place in the afterlife ...