Yeats College School Tour 2013
This year our school tour took us to the beautiful Spanish city of Madrid. On arrival in Madrid on a sunny Thursday afternoon we took a lovely walk from our centrally located hotel down Gran Via and on to Puerta del Sol. Here we were able to stroll along the many streets taking in all the Spanish energy and of course have our first taste of Tapas.
On Friday we were escorted through the city by a tour guide who gave use a wonderful insight into many of Madrid’s customs and traditions and a brief history of the city itself. We visited the Palacio Real or Royal Palace of Madrid. The Palace itself contains furniture, tapestries, paintings and ceramics as well as other important works of art and frescos by Tiepolo, Velazquez, Goya, Giordano and Mengs, making the palace one to the Europe’s most important museums. Afterwards we lunched at the Palace Gardens called Campo del Moro.
The guided tour continued after lunch and included the Plaza Espana, the Plaza Castilla, the Obelisco de Calatrava, and the Bullfighter stadium. We then visited Prado Museum with its dazzling and vast display of works including ones by the great European masters such as Velázquez, Goya, Raphael, Rubens, and Bosch. After a long day of walking we all decided to embrace the Spanish tradition of eating Tapas as a group and to our delight everyone enjoyed their Spanish meal.
On Saturday we visited The Reina Sofia Museum which was located just behind our hotel. Many of its art works were transferred from the nearby Prado, and it’s now a treasure-house of contemporary and modern art. The highlight of this museum is the 20th century’s most famous painting, Picasso’s “Guernica”. Another highlight is “Woman in Blue” also by Picasso. Miró and Dali are two other influential artists well represented in the collection. From art to the amusement park Parque de Atracciones de Madrid with more than 40 exciting rides and attractions such as The Tornado, The Shuttle and The Turbine which allowed us all to experience a 63 metre free fall and the feeling of our lunch getting thrown around our stomachs. Saturday evening we were lucky to experience a carnival, as performers walked through the streets in front of us in a wonderful spirited atmosphere.
On Sunday we went to the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, home ground of the Real Madrid football club. Here, we had the opportunity to take a unique tour of the stadium, with access to places you would have only dreamed of visiting. We saw the tunnel to the locker rooms, the bench, the pitch and even the presidential box. We rounded off your tour with a visit to the museum celebrating the legendary Real Madrid team. From here we spent some quality time shopping in the bustling streets of Madrid to return home exhausted but we all enjoyed every moment of it.