11 April, 2009, Madrid

Today in the morning hours I've visited the Museo Nacional del Prado. I saw the permanent exhibitions of this huge museum. Well, could not cover all of it, but I did see the most important masterpieces of Bosch, Francisco de Goya, Diego Velázquez, Peter Paul Rubens and some of Rembrandt. Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. From the Prado I walked through the Praque del Retiro, a huge park with lakes, modern statues, and tons of squirrels in it. I saw the used-book sellers, I walked via Puerta de Alcala, Banco de Espana and Calle Gran Via. For lunch I entered one of the most famous and authentic tapas bars: the Malaspina. I ate some of those tasty tapas with cheese, meat, anchovies, and other toppings.
In the evening hours I walked all around the small streets of Calle Mayor, and Calle de Segovia. This area is located between the Palacio del Real and Plaza Mayor. Wonderful streets with excellent restaurants. I went back to Plaza del Mayor, one of the amazing places of Madrid. I entered two places tonight. Both of them were authentic pubs where I ate mussels and giant shrimps and drunk beer. Heared football game broadcasted by the radio, standed and sat with all the locals. I also discovered that when I speak French with pronouncing out all the vowels and consonants it simply becomes Spanish and they understand me. Hm. So I ordered in Spanish. Some pictures of today.
book sellers. cheap!

the park

modern art statues in the park

Banco de España

tapas at Malaspina

inside Malaspina

an avarage restaurant on Plaza del Mayor. Yami...

and another one...