Madrid for Easter 2016

Easter holidays 2016 - in Madrid!
Already during the Christmas holidays, when down in Sicily, we had discussed with Marco's family to visit all together Marco's brother Dario in Madrid where he lives with his girlfriend Sandra. Some weeks had passed though before we decided on some dates and eventually booked flights over the Easter holidays.

(Maundy) Thursday, 24/03:
Marco's parents had arrived from Italy already in the morning and checked in to the apartment they had booked on airbnb and walked already a bit around town.

Later in the evening also Marco and I arrived from Oslo. Together we went for a (first) tapas dinner at the "Cava de Illan". Not easy to move around town that evening as streets were super crowded due to the Maundy Thursday processions.

(Good) Friday, 25/03:
Heading towards the Museo del Prado, Spain's national museum of art and one of the greatest art museums and most visited sites in the world. It features numerous works by Goya, Vélazques, Titian, Rubens, Bosch and others.
I don't know how much time the average visitor spends in the museum to check out the current 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints and 8,200 drawings, but we left after a little bit more than an hour... Well, fine for me as I had been to the museum before, when I came to Madrid for a client visit in 2011.
Next to the museum: the church of San Jéronimo el Real.

At the "Parque de El Retiro".

with some funny trees :-)

Estanque (=pond) del retiro

Palacio de Cristal

The bookstalls in Calle Claudio Moyano, at the exit of the park on the way to Atocha station.

In the afternoon we visited "Sunny Academy", the language school that Marco's brother Dario has started up right in the heart of Madrid close by Plaza del Sol.
(Living in Madrid and interested in a language course - Spanish, English or Italian? The click here for more information and offers at Sunny Academy.)

 two very eager students even during the Easter holidays ;-)

That evening Dario brought us to the oldest restaurant in the world "Botín" which opened in 1725 in Madrid.

Dinner was fine and the interior very charmingly kept in old-style. I liked it, the atmosphere and also my dish. But I guess being that famous and looking at their prices we all expected a bit more of the dinner. However, apart from its age it's not as special as reputation and price would let you assume. So it's rather touristic.

Saturday, 26/03:
Today we headed off to the southern part of Madrid city centre to discover the renovated park area of Arganzuela.

Strolling along the riverbanks of the Río (river) Manzanares passing through Arganzuela. Not to be missed there: the Estadio Vicente Calderón, the stadium of Atlético Madrid.

Back to childhood :-) Sandra and me having a good time!

Having fun - at least Marco's mother and Dario's girlfriend Sandra :-) The guys had a hard time pedaling for 4 grown ups. Marco's father and I had it much easier as we had rented normal bikes and were much faster cycling around the river promenade.

The Royal Palace from the Western Madrid.

The Bank of Spain building.

View over Madrid from the roof top terrace of the "Círculo de Bellas Artes".

(Easter) Sunday, 27/03:

Happy Easter! On this special occasion we had planned something particular and made a day trip to Toledo, some 65 km southwest of Madrid in the region of Castilla-La Mancha. The city was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage and historical co-existence of Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures.

 

Plaza del Ayuntamiento with the Catedral de Toledo

the city hall

the Jewish Quarter

the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes

Lunch at the "Restaurante La Orza"

While Marco's parents, Dario and Sandra visited the cathedral from the inside (paying a fortune for the entrance ticket)...

...Marco and I visited the "Iglesia de los Jesuitas" where we climbed up to the bell tower.

Leaving the historical city centre and heading back to the train station.

What a great day in this beautiful town!

(Easter) Monday, 28/03:
Catedral de la Almudena in Madrid

Plaza Mayor

Somewhere in the streets of Madrid.

Tuesday, 29/03:
Marco's parents already left today and for Dario the Easter holidays were over and his school reopened. So while Dario was at work, Marco and I did some groceries (a lot of good stuff to take from Spain back to Oslo), packed and stuffed everything in our suitcases, I went to the hairdresser (it was really time for a cut) and in the evening we went out for dinner with Dario and one of the teachers.


Wednesday, 30/03:
Our day started already at 3 a.m. or so as we had a very early flight back to Oslo. So early that we actually took a taxi to the airport (which doesn't cost anything in Spain compared to Oslo).
Our initial flight plan didn't actually have such an early departure. However, we had booked our return flights with Brussels Airlines via Brussels Airport. And due to the horrible happenings at Brussels Airports, the bombing on March 22nd, our flights were cancelled and we were rebooked onto some Lufthansa flights via Frankfurt. Despite the early departure this was actually the better option as we arrived in Oslo during daytime (compared to the originally 8 hours transit in Brussels and an arrival in Oslo by midnight).

All in all this was very nice and relaxing Easter holidays. We had mostly good weather, saw nice things, visited beautiful places and had every day so much good food. Dario had taken us always to very very good restaurants - from yummy tapas restaurants to typical restaurants for classic cuisine from Murcia (where Sandra from) and not to forget to the oldest restaurant in the world.
And I really enjoyed our excursion to Toledo :-)
And after all a special thanks to the sponsors of this trip, Marco's parents. Grazie mille, M. & L.!

(Thanks to Marco and his father for your many nice pictures that I mainly used in this blog!)