Milan

We escaped to Milan for a long weekend and it was great! Milan is a big city, the second largest in Italy, and generally recognized as the fashion capital of the world.  Fashion momentarily aside, the history of the city is long and eventful. First settled in 400 BC and conquered by the Romans in 222 BC, Milan became the capital of the Western Roman Empire in 286 BC. In 1796 Napoleon invaded and conquered the region establishing Milan as the capital of Cisalpine Republic and later he created the country of Italy and declared Milan the capital. Napoleon was crowned as the self proclaimed King of Italy in the Duomo Cathedral in Milan.  He dubbed himself Emperor of the French and King of Italy. In more recent history Milan was heavily damaged by allied bombings during World War II.  As the war was coming to an end the resistance took control of the city and executed a fleeing Benito Mussolini and his mistress hanging their corpses in the Piazzale Loreto. 

All of that said, we came to this great old city to spend some time with the friendly and outgoing people of Milan, to see the sights, to visit a museum or two, to enjoy fine Italian food, and of course outstanding Italian wine. And, oh yes, to do just a little shopping. 

                 

One of the most famous sights identifying the city of Milan is it's massive cathedral. The Milan Cathedral, Duomo di Milano, is built in gothic style and  took over six centuries to construct, no kidding. Construction on the site of an earlier church began in 1386. The last details were completed and the last gate was inaugurated in January of 1965. However, a full time contingent of about 150 artisans continue working today to complete unfinished carvings, replace weather warn statues and replace damaged structural marble, causing some to say that construction has never really been finished. This is the largest Cathedral in Italy (remember that the Vatican City is its own country) and the fifth largest christian church in the world. The Cathedral is incredibly adorned with statues and spires with one golden figure at the very top, the Madonnina, depicting the Virgin Mary. In all there are 3400 statues, 135 gargoyles and 700 figures decorating this grand Cathedral. It is simply amazing...

Madonnina

The Opera house of Milan with one of the  yellow 1500 ATM Trams, an iconic symbol of Milan, passing by.

And then there was shopping! Milan is also home to one of the oldest shopping malls in the world! The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, named after the first king of the Kingdom of Italy, is an impressive four story double arcade sporting expansive glass domed roofs. It was built from 1865 to 1877 running a good bit late and over budget.

In the center is a large octagon space with wonderful mosaic scenes at the top of each of four large designer shops illustrating the four corners of the world. The floor is also a beautiful mosaic and includes the coat of arms of Turin, Florence, and Rome, making up the Kingdom of Italy plus one for the city of Milan. One of these, the one for Turin includes a large Bull. Tourists dig their heals in and spin on the bull at a strategic location to bring good luck. Not so much good luck for the bull.

The Galleria connects the Piazza Duomo to the Teatro Alla Scala, which means you can go in  from the location of the Opera on one side and can come out the other side at the Duomo Cathedral. There are a number of familiar big name designer shops inside the Galleria including Versace, Armani, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada. There is even a Mercedes-Benz spot here! Shopping at The Galleria is not for the faint hearted, however, as the prices are quite jaw-dropping at times. We actually did a bit of window shopping here on a couple of occasions and we even bought a few things, although definitely not of the "jaw-dropping" variety. We also had a couple of enjoyable long lunches at the cafes as we watched the colorful people go by.

Coat of Arms for Milan:
the Cross of St George!

The Bull of Good Luck!
You can see the hole where tourists dig in their heal
 to spin around three times...

Beyond the Galleria the streets are full of … what else but more shops! We walked about 6 miles all around and through the exclusive shopping district of Milan in an attempt to look in on all of the designer shops. Every big name designer on the planet seems to have a shop here, from Andrea Ghelli to Zanotti and everything in between. We did a whole bunch of looking….and just a little buying.

We went for a long walk through the city and came upon the beautiful Church of Santa Maria Del Carmine, built in 1446. Here there is a most unique statue on display in the courtyard and a rather unique cafe in front of the church as well. The Sculpture titled Breast in Half is the work of Igor Mitoraj. The restaurant is appropriately called God Save the Food. What a nice scene.

From our hotel we walked to the Sforza Castle, known as the Castle of Milan. Construction of the castle began in 1358 commissioned by the Duke of Milan and continued over several generations with the castle growing larger and more impressive with time. The castle got a major rebuild in 1891 and today is the well maintained home for a number of fine museums.

Among the treasures on display is the last work of Michelangelo. This unfinished marble sculpture is the Rondanini Pieta. Michelangelo worked on this from the 1550's until the final days of his life in 1564. The sculpture captures the Virgin Mary mourning Jesus. Our guide pointed out to us that when viewing the sculpture you can get the impression that Jesus is actually holding up Mary comforting her rather than Mary cradling Jesus. It is believed that this was the intention of the artist. The statue certainly is intriguing.

After visiting a few of the museums within the castle we walked through the series of courtyards and exited into the largest park in Milan, Parco Sempione. The park was established in 1888 and fills the space between the Castello Sforza and the Arch of Peace. On our visit there was a festival in progress and we found lots of individuals and families enjoying good weather and the open spaces.

The next day we continued our explore by checking out the navigational canals of Milan, the Navigli. We were a little surprised that Milan actually has canals. Who knew? There were once five of them each with a unique name. We had a nice walk along the footpaths and across little bridges that cross the canals checking out the little cafe's and shops.





Continuing on just beyond the canals we found the Porta Ticinese. This is one of the ancient gates of the city. The gate faced southwest and was first built in the 16th century as a part to the Spanish Walls. The original structure was demolished in the early 1800's and replaced by what stands here today where it holds its place as one of Milan's landmarks.

We found Milan to be exactly what we hoped it would be. A large and energetic, yet welcoming city with it's own unique character. The mix of rich history and vibrant commerce especially around the fashion industry underscored with all things Italian made this a great holiday for us. The people of Milan made sure that we left with great memories. We just relaxed and took it all in, really good!…Chao!

Madrid

Each year as winter starts to loose its grip on us we look for a place to visit the sun. This year we visited Madrid for a four day weekend to celebrate Easter where we enjoyed the wonderful people of Spain, warm sun, blue skies and many observations of Easter.

We began our explore with a walk to Plaza de Cibeles in search of the famous Cibeles Statue and fountain.  We found the statue but the fountain was not operating…oh well. The Cibeles Statue is one of the most recognizable icons in the city. This is the place where Real Madrid football fans celebrate big wins, and they do have lots of reasons to celebrate. The statue placed here in 1782 is Goddess Cybele driving a chariot pulled by lions. It sits in a square in front of the very impressive City Hall building that was built in 1909.

City Hall

We ventured on to find the Puerto del Sol, the Gate of the Sun which is one of the busiest and most recognized places in the city. This large square is the center of a radial network of roads and is marked as Km 0, the starting place to all roads from here. This was once one of the gates of the city wall which protected Madrid in the 15th century. The gate was named for the rising sun as this was the eastern entrance of the city. Today it is a popular meeting place with a number of notable monuments, crowds of people and plenty of entertainment including musicians, showmen and all manner of character actors.

The most famous symbol of the city is also prominently displayed here, a statue of a bear eating fruits from a tree, officially "El Oso y EL Madrono". Madrid was originally called Ursaria, or the land of the bears, because the surrounding forests were quite full of bears. Today the Bear and the Strawberry Tree are recognized as the symbol of Madrid.

A Mariachi Band at Puerto del Sol

Next for us was the Plaza Mayor and lunch. The Plaza Mayor is very large and colorful and considered the center piece of Madrid. You just can't visit Madrid and not visit this place. 

This place has a long history, not all of it pleasant. Of course it's a great place for big celebrations and in the past was even home to bull fighting and football games. More infamously, during the Spanish Inquisition the Plaza saw the ritual of public penance, "autos de fe", imposed upon supposed heretics, or if penance was not in order, the executions of those condemned to death. We are glad to report that those days are long past and that everyone we met was extremely friendly.

Today Plaza Mayor is a fun place to visit surrounded by distinct architecture with many wonderful outdoor cafes. We enjoyed a couple of relaxed lunches here; tapas, paella and a beverage or two in the warm sun while taking in the sights. 

The colorful buildings of Plaza Mayor

Sights along the Gran Via, the Main Street of Madrid with great buildings, shops and lots of people. The Principal Hotel where we stayed is the building on the right. The Rolex building is to the left, the Metropolis would be to the extreme left.

The Royal Palace was built here on the site of a Moorish fortress or Alcazar. The palace was completely destroyed by fire in 1734. It was rebuilt from 1738 to 1764  uniquely constructed of all stone and brick with no wood to guard against a future fire.

Right next to the Palace, Cathedral de La Almudena was a long time in the planning and was also under construction for a very long time. Built on the site of a medieval mosque that was destroyed in 1083 when Alfonso VI reconquered Madrid, construction of this structure began in 1879. The project was abandoned during the Spanish Civil War and then restarted in 1950. The cathedral was finally completed in 1993. It was consecrated by Pope John Paul II. The interior is Neo-Gothic and is a modern place of worship. We visited during the day and then went back at night during evening services.

Cathedral de La Almudena

The Palace at night

We were told that Madrid is the place to find traditional Flamenco. We asked for some help and were directed to Corral de la Moreria as host to one of the best Flamenco shows in the city.

We had a great time. We enjoyed a lovely traditional Spanish meal and were treated to an outstanding show of classic guitar, singing and, of course, lots of dance. The artists are first class professionals and the passion they bring to their presentation of Flamenco certainly distinguishes them and their art form. 

Puerta de Toledo

Metropolis

Museau de Prado

We really enjoy strolling through art museums and spent the better part of the next day at Museau de Prado. This is the largest museum in Spain and holds a collection of 7600 paintings, 1000 sculptures, 4800 prints, and 8200 drawings of which about 1300 are on display…wow. We did our best to see it all but we are sure we missed some. Artists include Francisco de Goya, Diego Velazquez, Peter Rubens, and Hieronymus Bosh among many, many others. We had a great day.

Museau de Prado

There are great fountains all over the city of Madrid. Just a short walk from the Prado is this fantastic fountain, Fuente de Neptuno, the fountain of Neptune. It is located in the Plaza de Canovas del Castillo. It depicts Neptune on a conch shell chariot being pulled by sea horses. 

The steps of the National Congress 

We walked all around Madrid enjoying the sights and checking out the statues that adorn the buildings. Here are a few of our favorites including the Lion guarding the Congress of Deputies (National Congress), the Winged Victory which sits on top of the dome of the Metropolis Building and the Minerva from the deck of the Circulo de Bellas Artes Building. In all during our visit we walked about 16 miles through the city. Madrid is a great city with lots of parks and gardens full of beautiful fountains and sculptures.

We had a great time in Madrid. We found the sun!  The food of madrid is great, the sights of Madrid are great. But above all the people of Madrid are fantastic!

BBVA Bank Building Quadrige (four horse chariot) Sculptures

atop the Ministry of Agriculture