Spain April 2025
- Lydia Padilla
- May 2
- 5 min read
It's funny how some things just resonate with you...captivate you...entrance you. I suspect that's what wife says about me. Probably moreso how she's captivated with the idea of throttling me sometimes...haha! Just joking, The Recombobulaters in no way promotes or approves of violence...especially on this husband...
When we got married, we took a big leap - quit our jobs, sold our house and took three months for a honeymoon. It was our first time with passports. Me 33 and her $% years old at the time. Our first stop on that trip was to Madrid and it was life changing. Travel seemed so exotic and unachievable then (still seems exotic) and you didn't even know to think of the ancillary benefits...foods, history, architecture, standing in awe at a concert at a 3000 year old amphitheater...but it was the seas and oddly, art, that hooked me the most. I will go to a sea, any sea, whenever I can. Even better is going under the sea!
But art amazes me. I can wander through a museum, dodging tour groups and Instagrammers, and get lost in paintings that are twice as old as my home country. I didn't know that I would love it so much until that first trip to the Prado. I don't even remember why we went, other than it was probably the top thing that Rick Steves recommended. (Thank you Rick!) I know NOTHING about painting or painting techniques (leave that up to my friends The Becky's) - I can't even make my signature legible to myself. Maybe that's why it fascinates me so.
It's also interesting to see into the lives of people 600 years ago and know what life was like, at least in some small part. Once you get past the thousands of paintings of the Big J and a cross you find some really interesting scenes, still mostly religious, but beautiful nevertheless. The way El Greco does that really cool black-light velvety purplish psychadelic thing in his paintings. The mirthy drawings of De Goya. The real life (or so) scenes from the Dutch painters. Baudin and the sea. These are always the draws for me, but the one that stands out is the crazy, LSD-like scenes of some of the early Dutch painters, most specifically Bosch. Heironymous (Jheronimus) Bosch lived in the late 1400's and painted some of the most drug-addled scenes ever. It's like Hunter Thomson with a paint brush but 650 years ago. But then you realize they didn't have LSD back then. When I first walked up to the Garden of Earthly Delights I was mesmerized. I think I stood there for an hour that first visit, studying every little vignette. If you don't know it, there are a few pics below but the Prado is one of the only majors that doesn't allow photography (thankfully, as it limits the crazy posing Influencer idiots from blocking everyone else - no pet peeve here, I tell you!) so we don't have a great shot to offer other than Google. Props to Lyd for distracing the guard long enough to take a sneaky few pics! The Prado has an entire room for Bosch, which is impressive as there are only a few known remaining paintings left in the world. This specific painting has gained in popularity with the internet and now the crowds around it are huge, but that is not new at ANY big museum now - always lines and crowds. My cheat is to pop in my noise-cancelling earbuds to drown out the noise, which lets me drown out the din and just enjoy/study the painting. I even got a Bosch tattoo (I know, WEIRD choice) years ago, so guess I am a little fan-boy'ish...ugh. The painting is about heaven and hell and the earthly world...insinuating what will happen based on the choices you make in this life. And if you believe el Bosco, there are some strange-ass things that will happen to you if you make the wrong choices. Check it out, you'll thank me.
Aside from the Prado, there are two nearby world class museums you must visit also, both take two to three hours each - the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. The Sofia holds the iconic Guernica, from Picasso, which merits almost an entire wing by itself. With all of the frightening history and sad stories surrounding it, in addition to the model sketches, it is a world treasure. What is truly frightening is that much of the build-up to the Guernica massacre seems like it is happening again, now. Make your own inferences once you read what the German and Spanish governments were doing to people at the time and compare them to today...pretty scary stuff.
The Thyssen is a wonderful museum, and like the Barnes in Philadelphia or Crystal Bridges, was a PRIVATE collection. Amazing that so many great works of art can get aquired from tycoons. Even more amazing when those tycoons make those collections public. The Thyssen holds many smaller paintings from world masters, basically lesser-known works from the same masters housed in the Prado, Louvre and Orsay.
And all this writing to say that Madrid and the Prado are among my most favorite places in the world. It would edge out Rome as my favorite city if there was a beach closer. The city is the model of well run - clean, lots of significant tourist sites, great architecture and easy to walk. The only downfall is that they have Real Madrid. Ooops, I said it! I'm more of an Athletico fan and definitely a Barca fan first. I tried to go to a Real game the first night but tix were $300 euros...ouch!!! This trip only gave us three days, so the pics are limited. If you're going, I'd recommend three at least. We stayed this time close to the Opera train station, near the Palace, Puerta Del Sol and Plaza Mayor. It's a great walking city and we definitely recommend the area for lodging/restaurants/nightlife. We were about a 30 minute walk to the Prado, the Reina and the Thyssen and 40 minutes to the Atocha train station. And 20 feet from an amazing restaurant on every corner.
The 2nd half of our trip was in Valencia, to see some of our favorite people in the world, Tom and Lisa. They are also our models in this retirement experiment...having moved to Valencia a couple of years ago from StL. We took the train to Valencia - you'll notice a screen shot from the train. It was actually going 300 km per hour for much of the nearly 300 mile trip and we made it in 2 hours.
It's been 25 years since we last saw Valencia and was way too long. It's such a beautiful city, but it gets little of the fanfare that the bigger cities get, such as Madrid and Barcelona. Which is good for T and L - they want me to say it's a dump so tourists will stay away - haha! In addition to getting to see our friends and retirement sponsors (mentally, not financially, unfortunately) we were taken to the best Paella location in the world, Navarro's. Definitely go! Lyd makes an amazing paella but this is the home of paella. I overate so badly I hurt. And the sisters that own the place are adorable.
While Valencia doesn't have the notable tourist hot spots that the major cities have, it has an amazing world-class Arts and Sciences Center, a group of beautifully architected buildings that house their science facilities and aquarium. We didn't get to spend much time there but enough to snap some great shots. Additionally, Valencia has a very long and gorgous beach - again, not enough time there but we did get to wander for a mile or so and touch a little sand.
Oh yeah, well we have Forest Park, at least what remains of it after the tornado! Enjoyed your post and miss my neighbors. Safe and joyful travels …
Might be your best post yet! Keep up the great work!