Sunday Stroll--Madrid

Face of the Great Masturbator by Dalí, Reina Sofia



Many visitors and locals in Madrid start their week with a trip to El Rastro, the local Sunday flea market. There isn't much of value to actually buy here, if you ask me, but there are perhaps hundreds of stalls and thousands of people on dozens of streets. I saw lots of vendors selling all manners of used CDs, T-shirts, underwear, socks and lots and lots of scarfs. Much of the goods being sold are actually from East Asia but the flea is a nice slice of life in Madrid.

From there, I made my way on foot to Reina Sofia, a modern art museum. It's a good idea to follow the crowds to the second floor for a glimpse of the world and the history of modern art through the eyes of greats like Picasso, Dalí and Gris. The museum is free on Sundays, making it a perfect stop on my way to The Prado or Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid's biggest draw, which was just a few blocks away in the museum district. The Prado holds all the royal art collections--some 1,300 works at a time--and is touted as Spain's Metropolitan Museum of Art or Louvre. Hmmmm. I love the Metropolitan, perhaps my favorite museum in the world, but the Prado...

Well, it holds a lot of old Spanish art--some five dozen by Diego Valazquez alone.

I finished my day with a stop at the nearby Parque del Retiro, a parking spot for Madrileños on weekends. The park plays host to dogs, tarot card readers, tai chi and yoga practitioners, musicians, students and families. In the center of the park, there's a manmade lake where you can rent a rowboat for an hour.