Madrid
Delights for the Soul
Chocolatería San Ginés
Pasadizo de San Ginés, 11, 28013 Madrid, España913 656 546
The Chocolatería San Ginés is a café at Pasadizo de San Ginés, 5, in central Madrid, in a passageway close to San Ginés church, west of the Puerta del Sol. Popular with tourists and madrileños alike, it has served principally chocolate con churros (hot chocolate and churros) since 1894. Coffee and cakes are also available.
The interior is decorated with mirrors and green wood panels, with green velvet seats and marble tables. The hot chocolate is served in Spanish style - thick, dark and strong - and the churros - deep fried batter, similar to a light, crispy, linear doughnut, cut to length by the staff - are served hot and freshly cooked, ready for dunking.
Chocolate con churros is a quintessential Madrid treat, and a serving of both will usually only cost you around 3 or 4 Euros. This breakfast/late-night treat is served at cafeterías, chocolaterías and churrerías throughout the city.
Thick and pudding-like, Spain’s chocolate is best enjoyed with churro sticks, whose fried ridges are engineered for dunking. Porras are thicker than churros, but both taste best with chocolate since the dough is not very sweet. If you crave the Mexican-style sugared churros, there’s the stand outside of the Atocha train station (6 will cost you 2.50). They serve other fried sweets — like chocolate cream-filled churros — none of which I’d recommend if you’re diabetic or watching your waistline.
I like my churros warm and my chocolate on the bittersweet side. The classic Chocolatería San Ginés (which became our nightly ritual) is a popular destination not only for taste but also for its ambiance, location and hours (open all night long). There’s nothing like chocolate and churros to end a night on the town.
Chocolatería San Ginés
Pasadizo de San Ginés, 11, 28013 Madrid, España913 656 546
The Chocolatería San Ginés is a café at Pasadizo de San Ginés, 5, in central Madrid, in a passageway close to San Ginés church, west of the Puerta del Sol. Popular with tourists and madrileños alike, it has served principally chocolate con churros (hot chocolate and churros) since 1894. Coffee and cakes are also available.
The interior is decorated with mirrors and green wood panels, with green velvet seats and marble tables. The hot chocolate is served in Spanish style - thick, dark and strong - and the churros - deep fried batter, similar to a light, crispy, linear doughnut, cut to length by the staff - are served hot and freshly cooked, ready for dunking.
Chocolate con churros is a quintessential Madrid treat, and a serving of both will usually only cost you around 3 or 4 Euros. This breakfast/late-night treat is served at cafeterías, chocolaterías and churrerías throughout the city.
Thick and pudding-like, Spain’s chocolate is best enjoyed with churro sticks, whose fried ridges are engineered for dunking. Porras are thicker than churros, but both taste best with chocolate since the dough is not very sweet. If you crave the Mexican-style sugared churros, there’s the stand outside of the Atocha train station (6 will cost you 2.50). They serve other fried sweets — like chocolate cream-filled churros — none of which I’d recommend if you’re diabetic or watching your waistline.
I like my churros warm and my chocolate on the bittersweet side. The classic Chocolatería San Ginés (which became our nightly ritual) is a popular destination not only for taste but also for its ambiance, location and hours (open all night long). There’s nothing like chocolate and churros to end a night on the town.
Flamenco Dancing in Spain
Though a lot of people visiting Spain want to see 'flamenco dancing', flamenco is actually not a dance at all. Flamenco is a musical form that sometimes has dancing in it. The most authentic flamenco is when a singer and a guitarist spontaneously perform. If someone gets up to dance, that's an added bonus.
But if you're not too concerned about authenticity and you want to see guaranteed flamenco dancing, you should go to one of the more elaborate shows at a venue known as a tablao . Personally, I loved the passion found in the dancers who entertained us. They were very authentic flamenco performers.
But if you're not too concerned about authenticity and you want to see guaranteed flamenco dancing, you should go to one of the more elaborate shows at a venue known as a tablao . Personally, I loved the passion found in the dancers who entertained us. They were very authentic flamenco performers.
Museo Nacional del Prado
Considered one of the world's most important art galleriesCarlos III commissioned Juan de Villanueva to design this beautiful building, which was converted into an art gallery in 1819. It has the major Spanish painting collection from the XI and XII Centuries, and most of the greatest painters´ masterpieces such as Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, Tiziano, El Bosco, RubensMurillo, Zurbarán, Ribera, Titian, Boticelli, Tintoretto, Van Dyck, Poussin and Durer. In total there are approximately more than 9,000 works of art, mainly paintings, and only 1,500 of these paintings are exposed to the public.
I spent a couple of hours in the Prado while we were on a tour of Spain. There wasn't one thing I disliked about the Prado. I understand now more why it's one of the foremost national museums in the world. The works by Goya , Valesquez and the other artists of the 15th-18th centuries are simply breathtaking. These works are pricesless and once you've been to the Prado, one visit is n't nearly enough. This is a museum that you'll ant to return to time and time again!!!!!!!! Much to my disappointment, photos of the collections were NOT tolerated in any fashion… go figure. However, I did purchase wonderful books to bring home for further study of these great masterpieces.
I spent a couple of hours in the Prado while we were on a tour of Spain. There wasn't one thing I disliked about the Prado. I understand now more why it's one of the foremost national museums in the world. The works by Goya , Valesquez and the other artists of the 15th-18th centuries are simply breathtaking. These works are pricesless and once you've been to the Prado, one visit is n't nearly enough. This is a museum that you'll ant to return to time and time again!!!!!!!! Much to my disappointment, photos of the collections were NOT tolerated in any fashion… go figure. However, I did purchase wonderful books to bring home for further study of these great masterpieces.
Cibeles Fountain
The Cibeles fountain is in the Spanish city of Madrid, in the plaza of the same name. It was installed in 1782 at the Salon del Prado, next to the Palacio de Buenavista, facing the fountain of Neptune (now at the center of the Plaza de Canovas del Castillo, in the Paseo del Prado near the Villahermosa Palace, now the Museum Thyssen -Bornemisza, and the Hotel Palace). Includes the goddess Cybele, the symbol of the Earth, agriculture and fertility, on a chariot pulled by lions. The current square was first called Plaza de Madrid and in 1900 took the name Castelar Square. It is currently bounded by the great edifices of the Palacio de Buenavista (Army Headquarters), Palacio de Linares (Casa de América), Palacio de Comunicaciones (former home of Post and currently the Mayor of Madrid) and Bank of Spain. The funny thing is that each of these monuments belong to a different district of Madrid.
Those responsible for its realization were Francisco Gutierrez (figure of the goddess and the car), Robert Michel (lions) and Miguel Ximenez decorations, according to the design of Ventura Rodriguez. The Goddess and the lions were carved in marble purple Montesclaros town (Toledo), and the rest in stone Redueña, locality situated 53 km north of Madrid, near the Sierra de La Cabrera [citation needed].
Being located in a place so central, its busy history, even recent traditions as a place of sporting celebrations have helped to make it one of the best known symbols of Madrid.
Those responsible for its realization were Francisco Gutierrez (figure of the goddess and the car), Robert Michel (lions) and Miguel Ximenez decorations, according to the design of Ventura Rodriguez. The Goddess and the lions were carved in marble purple Montesclaros town (Toledo), and the rest in stone Redueña, locality situated 53 km north of Madrid, near the Sierra de La Cabrera [citation needed].
Being located in a place so central, its busy history, even recent traditions as a place of sporting celebrations have helped to make it one of the best known symbols of Madrid.
Convent of the Royal Barefoot Nuns (Monasterios de las Descalzas Reales)
The Convent occupies the site of the mansion in which King Charles I (Emperor Charles V) and his wife Isabel of Portugal resided, and it is where their daughter Juana was born in 1535. After being widowed by the death of her husband the Crown Prince of Portugal, Princess Juana founded this convent of Poor Clares in 1557. She is buried in one of the chapels, and a tomb sculpture by Pomeyo Leoni portrays her at prayer.
The enclosed area of the convent preserves the structure and many decorative features of the mansion. In the "Plateresque" style. Princess Juana, retired to this convent, as later did her sister the Dowager Empress María, who died here in 1603. Still preserved from the seventeenth-century are frescoes in the Main Staircase and in the Chapel of the Miracle. There are also extraordinary tapestries based on work bt Rubens.
Address: Plaza de las Descalzas Reales, s/n 28013 Madrid
Spain
The enclosed area of the convent preserves the structure and many decorative features of the mansion. In the "Plateresque" style. Princess Juana, retired to this convent, as later did her sister the Dowager Empress María, who died here in 1603. Still preserved from the seventeenth-century are frescoes in the Main Staircase and in the Chapel of the Miracle. There are also extraordinary tapestries based on work bt Rubens.
Address: Plaza de las Descalzas Reales, s/n 28013 Madrid
Spain