Finding Goya in Madrid

One of the true joys of living in Spain is the opportunity to see some of the world’s greatest works of art in their original settings. On a day like today, Francisco de Goya, one of Spain's greatest painters, was born. Most tourists who come to Spain, visit El Prado Museum where you can find a whole section dedicated to Goya, but few decide to trace his footsteps through Madrid.
Every time I go to Madrid, I try to find something I haven't visited before. So on this trip I decided to find Goya in other places besides El Prado.

I took a train to Principe Pio Station and walked down an avenue called Paseo de la Florida. There on the right were two identical chapels or hermitages called "Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida" (Royal Chapel of St. Anthony of la Florida). Goya's tomb is inside one of them, now a museum. This hermitage not only houses Goya's remains, but one of his least known masterpieces. The dome and ceiling are painted with his frescoes sometimes referred to as "Goya's Sistine Chapel".

I was surprised to see that there were very few tourists, eventhough the admission was free. They were probably all standing in line at El Prado.


Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida & Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

Don’t Cast a Clout ‘till May is Out

The English saying: "Don't cast a clout till May is out" means do not take off your winter coat untill the May flowers are out. In the past people in autumn sewed themselves into their heavy winter underwear and wore it until the following spring when the flowers appeared on the May bushes (Yuck!)
Well, there is a similar Spanish proverb that says: "Hasta el cuarenta de mayo, no te quites el sayo", which means "Until the 40th of may, don't take your coat off". Last week we went straight from winter weather to summer weather, no spring weather in between. Yesterday was the beginning of spring, but it snowed, back to the winter weather, showing that the people who invented the proverb were right, you can’t bet on non-stop good weather in Spain until June.

The rain in Spain stays mainly NOT in the plain

I’m sure most of us remember Professor Higgins teaching Eliza Doolittle the lyrics: "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain". Of course it was a language exercise for Eliza to learn how to pronounce correctly, but do the lyrics hold true? Certainly not. I can assure you that the rain in Spain stays mainly NOT in the plain. I happen to live in the plain and it hardly rains here. As a matter of fact, Spain has faced its driest winter ever recorded. Is it because of climate change? Probably… As a result, Spain is in the grip of facing its worst drought this summer. As water reserves start to shrink, "Water Wars" (Cities or whole regions import water from other areas in Spain) from past years will soon unfold again. This week we have gone straight from winter to summer, no spring weather in between and it makes me wonder when will the water cuts begin?

11 M - Never forget

Today is the eighth anniversary of Madrid's train bombings. On that day, 191 innocent commuters were killed and 1858 injured when 10 bombs were detonated on four trains at three train stations: Atocha, El Pozo and  Santa Eugenia during morning rush hour. Why? Nobody knows, another terrorist act of cowardice. Just the thought of it, still gives me the chills.

Atocha Station

Call it coincidence, but I have to travel to Madrid around this time of the year. I have to go through the three train stations that were bombed on my route. I happened to be in Madrid a couple of days before the attack in 2004 and on this date the "what if's" start running around my head. To this day, I haven't been able to visit or look at the permanent monuments to the victims. As I prepare to ride the train one more time, I can't help feel numb and wonder, "What if it happens again?"