1985 (4) - Madrid

Internet Photo.  Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

To go to the beginning of this book, Tropic Moon: Memories, click HERE.

At the end of our stay in Toledo, Frank and Marie Anne headed south again; while Ed and I took a short train ride on to Madrid.  We spent our first full day in Madrid at the Prado, the national art museum, visually feasting on the work of Spain's most famous masters:  Velazquez, Goya and El Greco.  The day was a lesson in history, as well as art, as we followed the line of succession to the Spanish throne through the work of Spain's great artists. 

Internet Photo.  Royal Tapestry Factory.  Note the
beautiful tapestry in the background.

A guidebook we had read spoke about the existence of a Royal Tapestry Factory, where Goya had worked in the late 1700's.  There, he designed many of the paintings that were still used as weaving cartoons.  From the cartoons, the picture was traced onto the warp on the loom, and then the cartoon was used as a guide for the colors as the tapestry was woven.  The original paintings that Goya did while employed at the Tapestry Factory occupied several rooms of the Prado.  

Internet Photo.  We only saw men weaving on our visit.
They obviously employ women now.

The following morning, we navigated our way by foot and map to another part of the city.  After a bit of searching, we found the Royal Tapestry Factory.  There were many similarities to the use of traditional techniques employed at the sword factory of Toledo; the wall hangings were still woven by hand on upright tapestry looms.  The looms looked like they had been in service for several centuries.  They were about eight feet wide.  Up to three men (we saw no women), would sit behind a loom, weaving with a speed that was difficult to follow.  We stood before the looms, entranced, watching the development of brightly colored, highly detailed tapestries of some of the very designs we’d seen the day before in the Goya halls of the Prado Museum.  

Internet Photo.  Dining Room at the Royal Palace, Madrid.

That afternoon we visited the Royal Palace, no longer the residence of the royal family, who lived in a "suburban" palace, but now a museum open to the public.  Of the 2,800 rooms in the palace, we toured 45.  Every room seemed more ornate than the one preceding it.  The palace defied description, especially by my feeble efforts.  Suffice it to say, the opulence was beyond anything I had ever imagined.  We saw the dining room with a table that seated 145.  The room had fifteen chandeliers (I counted them).  The walls in many of the rooms were hung with beautiful tapestries, some Flemish in origin, but many "home town" products, woven a couple centuries earlier at the Royal Tapestry Factory.   

Internet Photo.  Display of Tapas.  Madrid, Spain

In the evenings we would wander the streets of Madrid, a city of dark, bulky, brooding buildings.  We didn't find it as pretty as Lisbon but, like any place, it had its own charm.  We saw a lot of the city while waiting for the dinner hour - never before 8:30 p.m. - and if you wanted to be Spanish, you'd starve till 10:00 p.m.  Or, far more likely, you'd visit one of the many bars, and sample the "tapas" (bar snacks), which ranged from olives and omelets to baby eels and pickled tripe!  

On our last night in Madrid, we boarded an express train at 10:30 p.m., and settled in our comfortable private compartment for the overnight ride south to Granada.  We had a sleeper compartment with two berths, a sink, and a cute little chamber pot.  We spent the first hour mesmerized by the passing countryside, slept well to the train's motion (good experience from Tropic Moon), and switched bunks in the middle of the night so we each got a turn at the upper.  First class all the way - the train slowed down during the night so passengers wouldn't arrive in Granada at some ungodly hour.  Each compartment was called on the telephone to give people a half hour's notice before the train's 8:00 a.m. arrival.