Tuesday 13th February 2018
Our campsite in Aranjuez was a short drive from the main train station into Madrid, making it ideal for ‘letting the train take the strain’. A must to visit for us was the Museo Nacional Del Prado.
Finding the station at Aranjuez wasn’t a problem but parking was a major one! The small car park outside the station was full, as was the main approach road and nearly every possible space within a kilometre!
After driving around several residential roads we found a spot to leave the car and made the rest of the journey on foot.
Having done our homework, we purchased two return tickets to Atocha, the nearest station on the Madrid urban rail network RENFE, to the museum. The tickets were just over €16 for the 45 minute return journey.
Our train left on time and was incredibly busy, even though it was after 11 o’clock. It continued to fill as we made our way towards Atocha Station, Madrid.
A short walk from the station past the Real Jardin Botánico brought us to the museum. €15 for a general admission plus €24, for a general and the Prado guide. (This you collect from the book shop, once inside the museum. It is very comprehensive and very heavy, so not easy to carry around with you, but well worth a read at a later date).
There is free admission from 6pm to 8pm Monday to Saturday and 5pm – 7pm on Sundays.
Getting into the Prado can be a bit of a nightmare and the queues can often be very long but we didn’t experience this on the day we visited and entered with no problems through the Jerónimos Entrance or Goya Entrance. Although, to avoid queuing, tickets can be purchased on- line.
Once in the main building we encountered the now usual x-ray machine of bags and metal detector arch and had the opportunity of a free locker service which is brilliant for leaving coats and other small items that you don’t wish to carry around with you.
Also we would recommend you pick up one of the free plans of the museum, in your preferred language, as the museum is enormous! The Prado’s official website has recommendations for tours, depending on how much time you have available.
We opted not to buy the Visitor’s Guide Book or make use of the Audio Guide Services to take the guided tour of the 50 masterpieces highlighted in the free plan leaflet but ‘went it alone’. We needed the cerebral challenge to test our map skills 😉
4 hours later, and one pause for pastries and coffee in the Prado café, we had completed the tour of the ‘Masterpieces’ recommended! Phew!
We certainly wouldn’t class ourselves as lovers of art but it is not hard to appreciate the skill of the artists and their paintings and sculptures but we hope we came away feeling more knowledgeable and enlightened, if only to help us answer a few more questions on University Challenge 😉