Madrid - Day Four

So, if you’ve ever read my posts on previous trips you’ll know that there are certain things I like to do whenever I go to a new city. I like to ride a funicular if they have one. Well, I haven’t found one of those, but there is a cable car, the Telerifico, but sadly I just haven’t been able to cram it in. Maybe next visit. I also like to ride the trams if they have any. No, but I have been riding on the Metro, and you can see the picture I sketched this morning. I had to let three trains go before I’d ‘got’ it mind you, but wwe all have to make sacrifices in the name of Art. Then one of the other things I really want to do is find if the city has what I would call a ‘signature’ bridge.

You know what I mean, I’m sure. If you think of my previous sketching adventures, Prague has its Charles Bridge, Berlin its Oberbaumbrucke, Budapest has the Chain Bridge, and even Kaunas has the Vytatutas the Great bridge, albeit that’s rather more modest in scale. I was beginning to think that Madrid maybe didn’t have one. A bit of googling first thing this morning, though, brought up the Puenta de Toledo – the Toledo Bridge. This was completed in the 1720s, and in my humble opinion, as bridges go, it’s a bit of alright. Mind you, at this time of year the Rio Manzanares really isn’t anything to write home about. One of the other things I try to do is to take a river sightseeing trip, and up until I got to the bridge I wondered why I couldn’t find anyone in Madrid offering them. Having seen the Manzanares I think I now know. Basically you can forget about getting a boat down it. The closest thing you could have to a river sightseeing trip is wading through it in a pair of wellies.

I’d taken the Metro to the bridge, but I walked back along the river path towards the palace, and from there onto the Temple of Debod. Basically, the Egyptian Government donated it to Spain since it was going to be flooded by the Aswan Dam anyway. It’s, how should I put it? – a bit – bleh, mind you, it was built in the Roman period anyway.

I walked back to the hostel for lunch and a wee siesta, and then decided to check out the Parque de Buen Retiro. Now, the path that I took from the main road took me up hill, along an avenue full of what looked like little green beach huts on either side. Each of them belonged, so it seemed to a bookseller. I asked one of them if she minded me doing a wee sketch of her, and whether she understood - difficult to tell since she replied in fluent grunt – she didn’t make a fuss when I did. And so, good people, she became my Madrilena of the day. Thence to the park.

Considering that the park is in the middle of one of the busiest areas of the centre of Madrid it is incredibly peaceful and tranquil. Mind you, it’s huge. However most of the pathways are lined with trees, so it was well shaded, which is just as well since the tips of my ears were burning – although I notice that my legs are staying stubbornly white, a legacy of my Scottish ancestors, I’d guess.

One of the features signposted in the park was El Palacio de Cristal. Now, even with my poor Spanish I could work out that this probably meant crystal palace. Well, I’m very sorry, but offer me the chance to see a crystal palace and I’m your boy. I have to say, when I reached it I really wasn’t disappointed. It was built a couple of decades after the London one, and like that one, for an International Exposition. According to my research the plan was to make it in Bilbao, which they did, and construct it in such a way that it could be dismantled and re-erected elsewhere. The Spanish authorities had the good sense to leave it where it is. It’s terrific.

I shan’t lie – I’ve loved Madrid, but I’m cream crackered. So I’ve decided to call it a day. The train to Madrid is just after midday tomorrow, so if there’s anything I’m desperate to sketch I can maybe do it before I leave. I sketched the Toledo Bridge about 8:30 this morning, and it was so lovely to do because the day hadn’t really started to heat up, so maybe there will be an opportunity tomorrow morning.

So that’s almost it for Madrid. However don’t worry – for tomorrow we’re off to Alicante.

Madrid - Day Two

episode 2 of An English Fool Abroad With His Sketchbook – Espana 18. Now, much as I would like to pretend that I’ve had a catalogue of relatively amusing disasters today, I can’t. Frankly, it’s been fantastic.

Jenn picked out a hostel right in the middle of Madrid. It’s a masterstroke, especially considering it’s no more expensive than the hotels I stayed in on the outskirts of lots of the other cities I’ve been to. So, although I did take the Metro to he Royal Palace and the Cathedral this morning, I later found out that I didn’t really have to. Not only could I easily walk back to the hostel, I could carry on walking past it, all the way to the Prado. More about that later.

So, the first thing to do was to sit down and make the first sketch of the day. So I made a sketch of the equestrian statue of King Felipe IV with the palace in the background. Now, this was about 10 am. When I started the sketch, I was in the shade of some trees. When I finished it, I wasn’t. I can’t have been in the sunshine long, but it was enough to ensure that the only part of me that burned today was my neck. Walking past the Palace towards the cathedral there was a guy busking with his guitar, and to my untutored ears he didn’t sound bad. I gave him some coins, and then asked if he minded me sketching him. I’m not sure what he said. It wasn’t ‘si’ and it wasn’t ‘no’, so I did it anyway.

Past the National Opera House next, and I stopped to make a sketch of the Monasterio Descalzas Reales. I wouldn’t say it is the most impressive example of baroque architecture in Madrid – it has a LOT of competition, but it was handily situated for me to sit in the shade and do it.

The next thing then was a challenge to myself to find my way back to the hostel on foot. Not only did I manage it, but I kept on walking , and passed the railway station I’ll need on Thursday, then turned up the Paseo del Prado and found. . . well, the Prado, actually. They’re not trying to catch you out like that , the Madrilenos. And the Pradio really is the reason why I only made 4 sketches today. I made a sketch in the line, but once I got in, I was there for hours. Mind you, I had a bit of a hairy moment getting into the museum, for when they searched me they were not happy about my sketching pens. They had a conflab for about five minutes before they let me put them in my bag, and haul my bag off to the cloakroom. I promise that I wouldn’t have added extra facial hair or spectacles to a Velasquez or Goya, however tempted I might have been.

Joking aside, the Prado is incredible. Honestly. It was worth the price of admission for the El Grecos. Then there were the Velasquez. Then Goya. And so on. I could easily have stayed a few more hours. If you ever have the opportunity, then just do it.

The hostel being so close, I will admit that I did go back and had a late siesta, giving the feet a bit of a rest. Normally, when I’m on a city break I stay out until the feet can take no more, but it seemed silly not to have a break under the circumstances. When I came back out, it was raining. Spanish rain, mind you. Spits and spots never really developing into anything, while there was plenty of thunder. Go figure. What it did do was clear the air a bit, and drop the temperature to a bearable 31 degrees. So I had another good wander around, and an early supper of the Spanish delicacy called patatas fritas con curry. Well, you’ve got to be prepared to try new things, haven’t you?

Last sketch in Kaunas

So, yesterday my sketchpedition to Kaunas ended. I'd already planned the journey to the airport the night before, and decided that ideally I wanted to leave the hotel at 8, and that at the latest I needed to leave at 8:30. I was ready by 7:30, so that was it, I was off.

This gave me actually a good three quarters of an hour between arriving at the Railway station, and catching the bus to airport just outside it, and so I took a wander towards ton. Just round the corner I saw these guys. This wasn't a market, they'd just placed their goods on the pavement and were selling them to anyone who seemed at all inclined to buy.

It's nice from time to time to try to catch figures in poses. There's three distinct pairs of figures here. Each pair was done very quickly in one go, which means that this exact scene never quite happened - it's a composite sketch to that extent, although still faithful to the scene itself. Also I did the filling in of shapes after I'd done the outlines.

Close to Home - Cardiff

Just a couple from another capital city - Cardiff - capital of Wales. We have the Cardiff Central Railway Station: -

and also a statue in the National Museum of Wales called "The Drummer Boy"

10) Spain - Alicante Area - Catral-Dolores-La Marina area - Early August 2017

Church - outside Dolores

 Confession time. I saw this church as we waited by traffic lights in the car, and took a phot. This line and wash is based on that photo, and not made on the spot, sadly. It would have held up the traffic if I'd tries to do it in situ.

El Pinet Beach nr. La Marina

 This I did do sitting on the sand by the water's edge, and it's not too bad thought I say it myself.

Catral - late breakfast

 Will you please put your pen and your sketchbook down and eat your breakfast - I think that's what they said while I was doing this one. To which the answer was - no, sorry.

Catral Saturday morning market

 Too hard to stand painting in the market so had to make do with an ink sketch . I found that I got far more interested in combining figures to make the picture than I was in the scene itself.

Catral - evening in main street

Again - will you please put your bleep sketchbook down so we can go in and eat. We had a lovely Chinese meal too once I finished this one.

7) Czech Republic - Prague - Other sketches - April 2017

Vintage style car cruiser - Prague Old Town

 These stylish car tour vehicles were everywhere. You can't drive through every street in the Old Town, but through the few that you can drive, these were a constant.

St. Nicholas Church - Prague

This is y favourite church in Prague, and it's pretty much as good inside as it looks outside. It's a baroque masterpiece which sits on the same hill as the castle complex, only a little lower down.

Watercolour - Prague Old Town Powder Tower

 This is the only true watercolour I made in Prague, and I won't lie - it's based on a photograph. This illustrates one of the great things about the Old Town - you can literally turn a corner and find a medieval remnant just waiting for you to admire it, like this one.

Prague Legionariu Bridge

 You can see the dome of the St. Nicholas Church here in the background. This is a perfectly tidy metal arched bridge which only suffers by comparison with the Charles Bridge, which is really unfair competition for most bridges.

Prague - Number 23 tram approaching Legionariu Bridge

 Yes, as well as bridges I also have a thing about trams. This is the number 23 tram which I used to get to and from my hotel in Kubanski Namesti. I won't lie. I had to sketch incredibly quickly, but even so I needed three number 23s to stop there before I had the tram finished. The figures were sketched in the same way as I often do to form a composite sketch - as I've said before, they were all there, but not necessarily at the same time. This next sketch was made later from a photo that I took at the time: -

Prague Tram Café - Wenceslaus Square

 Imagine my delight to discover the café to one side of Wenceslaus Square made out of 2 vintage trams. I sat down and ordered the most expensive cup of coffee in Prague ( I can't prove this, but I can't believe anywhere else charged more) while I sketched this.

Prague - Church sketched while sitting on a bench in the street market off Wenceslaus Square

I made this sketch about an hour before my airport transfer was due to pick me up just off Wenceslaus Square, and finally a couple of passers by reacted and took a good look at my sketch. I was beginning to get paranoid through lack of feedback.

4) Czech Republic - Prague - Charles Bridge - April 2017

Charles Bridge, Prague

I've already explained the circumstances of my trip to Prague n April 2017. One sight that I sketched more than once is the Charles Bridge. I will confess, I have a thing about bridges. I once took part ina very well known British quiz show where contenders are required to answer questions on a specialist subject, and one of the subjects I picked was the History of London Bridge, The Charles Bridge is a really good one - built across the River Vltava in the 14th and 15th centuries. It's named after King Charles IV of Bohemia, in whose reign construction started. It has stunningly impressive gothic towers at both ends.

I like this sketch, since I took great time and trouble over it, fortuitously adding the two silhouette figures just as I was about to finish.

Monk on Charles Bridge

This sketch on the other hand was all about the figure when I started it. I was crossing the bridge first thing in the morning, and saw and followed this monk, sketching furiously as I did. Then I added other figures one by one - to this extent it's a composite sketch. These figures were all there, but not all at the same time. You can see the towers a little more clearly.

Charles Bridge

This is my clearest sketch of the bridge, from the Old Town side. Sadly it's not complete. All I can tell you is that the day was nobbling cold. It took me about 10-15 minutes to get this far, and by then my hands were absolutely frozen.

The next day was a little warmer, but I didn't return to sketching the bridge itself. I did, though, makes this sketch of the statue of Charles IV at the Old Town end of the bridge.

Statue of Charles IV of Bohemia - Charles Bridge