One of the reasons the saxophonist was going with us was that by now, we are pretty much pros when it comes to the metro. We were glad to explain the system to him and instruct him on how to get back without us. At 9:25, we were on the train to the Bilbao station and at 9:47, we got out at the Atocha station. The weather was quite pleasant and I liked the random fountain in the traffic circle.
We passed statues of famous painters on our way to the Goya entrance.
Since we had a combo ticket, the daughters and I did not need to buy tickets, but the saxophonist was able to buy his rather quickly and we all got in line.
I liked these lists of artists that were on either side of the entry porch:
I thought they were a nice touch.
The museum opened its doors at 10 and we were in at 10:05. We said good-bye to the saxophonist, who would be spending only a couple of hours there, and we got in line for the audio guide that my husband had recommended. He got it on a previous visit and found it to be invaluable. It cost only 3,50 euro, but we soon decided it was worth much more than that.
We were given a brochure containing a map and thumbnail photos of the museum's masterpieces. Recognizing that there was no way to really give each piece in the museum its due, we decided to concentrate on these "greatest hits". We'd stroll through each gallery, look more closely at whatever struck each of our fancies, and be sure to see each of the 48 paintings, 1 sculpture and 1 cup on the masterpiece list, checking them off as we went. Now, here's the frustrating thing about this list-there is no rhyme or reason to the way it is organized. The rooms are not in numerical order. The artists are not in alphabetical order. By the same token, the rooms themselves are not numbered in a logical fashion. For example, Room 61 is connected to Room 61B, but not 61A. To get to 61A, you go through 60 and 60A. Room 62 is not connected to either 62A or 62B. This made things rather frustrating if you suddenly realized you'd missed a masterpiece and had to go back to find it. I can't tell you how many times that happened. It's a good thing, we each checked off the paintings as we went!
We do not stick together, generally speaking, when we are in an art museum. Oh, we might try to find one another, if we want to say something about a particular piece or to point out one we liked that is not a so-called "masterpiece", but, basically, we each go at our own pace. My older daughter is the fastest of the three of us. Due to physical issues, I would often seek a bench to sit on and listen to the description of a piece. Unfortunately, perhaps because it is so crowded, the Prado does not have as many of those as one might like.
You won't be seeing any pictures here of the art we saw. We knew ahead of time that they did not allow photography and that meant we'd be searching for postcards of our favorites at the end.
There were pieces that I'd heard of and was particularly happy to see. Fra Angelico's "The Annunciation" was lovely and prints of Dürer's "Self-Portrait" don't do it justice. Velazquez' "Las Meninas" has a lot more detail in it than I expected. El Greco's "Knight with His Hand on His Chest" is rather stern and not something I'd want hanging on my wall. Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights" had so much detail that I wanted to study, but it was hard with so many other people wanting to see it, too. At least one could circle his"Table of the Seven Deadly Sins", which meant you had more of a chance to see things. They really like Goya there and had a lot of space devoted to him. The piece I was most familiar with ahead of time was "The Third of May, 1808", but I didn't realize it until I was standing in front of it. The thumbnail just shows the guy with his hands up. I was happy to find a Caravaggio ("David Victorious over Goliath"), because I like that reprobate's work, if not his lifestyle.
As always in a museum that features only older art, I searched for St. Catherine of Alexandria and found her several times. One that made her truly lovely was by Fernando Yañez de la Almedina called "Santa Catalina" from 1505-1510. She has her hand delicately on the hilt of the sword whose point is touching the broken spiked wheel at her feet. A very vertical composition.
Although the Prado does not have modern art in its collection, they were having a special exhibition of 10 works by Picasso. These they had in the largest galleries that acted as hallways. Our Spain guidebook noted Picasso had been director of the Prado for a time.
By 1:30, we knew we needed to take a break for lunch in the Cafe. It is right next to the Book Shop, but we resisted the temptation. The Cafe is set up in two separate sections. One concentrates on cold foods, which are pretty much self-serve; the other has warm, which you'd ask for. We opted for cold, grabbing our usual 2 Coke Zero and 1 Coke, as well as 2 Roast Beef Sandwiches and 1 Chicken Royal Sandwich. To be healthy, we also got a flat peach and a nectarine to split. The total was 22 euros. After all that art, the food was delicious, but then we love museum food.
When looking at the warm food, we'd spied the desserts. We do not pass up dessert, if we can help it. We got a Muffin Sabor, Mousse de Chocolate and a Capula de Arroz, which came to 22,10 euros-more than the meal! But, were they delicious! We'd seen those muffins before-chocolate and orange, very nice. The mousse was so creamy. The rice bars were a bit like rice pudding in flavor.
At 2:30, we went back to art-loving. One thing that surprised us was that in spite of being on our feet so long, our iPhone health app was showing really very little in the way of mileage. That was disappointing. I guess, looking at art is good for the soul, if not the body.
The last masterpiece on the list "Cup with Golden Mermaid" by an unknown artist, was absolutely the hardest to get to. It was in the only gallery on level -1. We were going to blow it off, being as tired as we were. Then, one of us noted it would be the only one we missed and we'd eventually feel badly about that. So, we gave up and went in search of it. It turned out to be one of a large number of pieces of plates, cups, serving pieces, etc. in a little-visited, dimly lit gallery. They were the "Treasure of the Dauphin", a collection inherited by Philip V from his father, the "Grand Dauphin". We were actually glad we went and not just because we completed the list. The pieces were amazing! Gold and delicate glass were signature features of the pieces.
At 6:35, we were finally finished with the art and moved on to the shop. That took time, as we searched for postcards and made decisions on little books about the masterpieces. I did not find a pin for my collection, which was a disappointment. As we shopped, we were surprised to see many people pouring in through the Jeronimos entrance. We finally realized that it was because there was no entrance fee now.
When we left through that entrance at 7:20, we'd been in the museum for 9 hours and 15 minutes, spending about 7 hours looking at art. Wow!
As you can see, the Goya entrance was much less crowded now. It was also much, much warmer with some small clouds. We saw lots of cops around the museum and just could not figure out why. We also saw this interesting vehicle:
At 7:40, we were at the Atocha station, which was impossibly hot. It took 19 minutes to get to the Bilbao station to change to the 4 train. However, the trip to San Bernardo was only 3 minutes.
We met my husband for a quick meal at Pandria near our hotel, before it closed. They heated up some things for us that we chose from what was left in their displays. I got Hojaldre Espinacas, which had spinach for only 1,60, a Red Fruit Smoothie and then a 1,45 Hojaldre de Manzana (chocolate cake). The younger daughter ordered an Empanada Carne and a Strawberry-Banana Smoothie. The older got pizza and her Coke.My husband ordered a quiche with sweet ham and cheese, gazpacho and carrot cake, along with a Strawberry-Banana Smoothie. It all totaled 34,25 euros. It really wasn't bad for food left at the end of the day. The smoothies felt healthy, too.
We left at 9:03 and were back to the hotel by 9:10. My husband headed off to the evening concert, if you can call 9:30 evening.
A long, exhausting day, but so worth it!
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