Sunday in Madrid May 3

We awoke to an extravagant breakfast at our hotel, El Madoño, and then spent the morning in the Reina Sofía, the premiere museum of modern and contemporary art in Spain. We saw Picasso's famous "Guernica," named for the town that was bombed by Nazi Germany in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. This painting was the result of a commission to create a mural for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. A huge painting in black, white, and grey, "Guernica" combines three artistic styles: cubism, surrealism and expressionism. We also saw images of Goya's series of etchings titled "The Disasters of War." Other painters that stand out of course are Dalí, Miró, Gris and Serrano. We only managed to view the second of 4 floors! Then we had lunch at a restaurant in the courtyard of the museum, picked up our bags at the hotel and took the bus back to Segovia, home for the next two weeks.

Reina Sofia Museum