Our Lives as Spaniards: Madrid

On Sunday last we took the premium bus to Madrid to party, visit excellent museums and more excellent friends and, most importantly, try to get our pending and frustrating visa issues resolved. Happily, we had success on all fronts, as you'll see below. However, for those of you who find the details of bureaucracy tedious, or are tired of me whining about the non-lucrative residence visa process, I'll post information on the visa separately.
The premium bus ride was easy and very comfortable; there's a 'flight' attendant who offers food and drinks, and a better entertainment system than most airlines. Free internet access too. We originally planned to take the train, but there's no train to Madrid on Sundays, and David talked up the premium bus to the point where we thought we'd try it. It was so popular that we decided to take the bus back to Bilbao, too.
We hopped off in the long distance bus terminal on Avenida de América and walked a short distance to the metro, where, 2 stops later we were met by our friend Teresa and her mother. We spent 3 days with them and Teresa help getting our residence papers was invaluable. She also recommended the Hotel Inter Plaza San Martín, where we spent another 3 days.

Descalzes Reales

The walls of Descalzes Reales convent and museum are just outside the hotel's entrance. It's one of my favorite places in Madrid and we ended our visit to Madrid with a 45 minute guided tour. The convent was founded in 1559 by Juana of Austria, an infanta of Spain and designed to hold just 33 nuns, each with their own miniature chapel or altar they cared for. The nuns were, and still are, sequestered from the world, meaning that once they entered, they never left and never saw or spoke to anyone outside the order. The convent attracted wealthy and titled women, some young, some widowed and some both. Maybe it was a convenient place to stash "embarrassments" or "wild women". Ah, the stories the walls could tell! Their dowries were significant and made the convent one of the wealthiest in the country, with the dowry money invested in tapestries, paintings and holy relics. The novices also brought portraits of their family with them and as a result, there's an amazing assortment of royal portraiture. The guide took pains to ensure we understood that the convent didn't just accept wealthy women, and this must be true, because by the mid 1900s the nuns were pretty much destitute as they couldn't sell any of their treasures. Thank God for tourists! Now the guided tours through unused areas of the convent support the community of 33 nuns.
We also spent 6 hours at the Prado, a personal new best for maximum time in a museum. Love this museum! Unfortunately, no photos allowed, unlike the Reina Sofia museum. Although much of the modern art in Reina Sofia leaves me cold, there were a few memorable pieces, aside from Picasso's Guernica.

Tom really liked this one

Of course, there were the obligatory walks, dinners and glasses of cava, wine or sherry. We loved a new trendy spot called Mercado San Miguel, a traditional market that has been updated while preserving it's beautiful ironwork. A lovely spot, with interesting tapas, wine bars and trendy stalls selling gourmet items, like truffle salt, my new favorite.