Diary+Entry+5

Dear Diary

Our next destination was Madrid and our next site seeing attraction was the art museum Museo del Prado one of the most famous art galleries in the world. It features one of the finest collections of European art, from the 14th centuary through the early 19th centuary. Art is one of my greatest interest and my friends agreed to come. The museum contains some work by my favourite artist such as El Greco, Ribera, Murillo, Goya, Titian and Rubens. I couldn't believe that I was going to see actually paintings from the most well-known artists in the world.

We got some cheap flights from Valencia to Madrid for €25 which is around AUD$45 which is pretty good. When we got to the airport we caught a bus to the art gallery and it took us directly there, we found this out through the brochures that the receptionist at the service desk gave us.

When we got to the Museum my eyes were stunned to see how massive the place was, it looked like a royal palace!

Once we got inside a gentleman was at the front door it was very professional and he was very well presented. He showed us to the front desk were the tours took place. A tour costs a fair bit but it was worth every penny.

Their were about 21 of us in our group. The tour guide officer introduced himself as Manuel, he was very polite and he spoke english! So I didn't have to translate to my friends. The gallery was broken up into sections, so each section was spoken about individualy.

Manuel told us that their were more than 5000 drawings, 2000 prints, 1000 coins and medals, and almost 2000 decorative objects and works of art. Sculpture is represented by more than 700 works and by a smaller number of sculptural fragments. He also said that the largest number that the gallery holds is 8600 paintings! He spoke of so many famous artists and I actually got to see their paintings, sculptures with my own eyes it was unbelievable the detail that the artist put into the work and how old the art work was. One of my famous artist of the world is Goya and when Manuel took the group to that section my heart stopped there were 150 canvas works that he had done and with more than 450 of his drawings. This was a very special moment for me.

The day ended so soon the tour had ended it took at least 3-4hrs to get through the museum but how fast the time went. Manuel took us to the restaurant at the gallery to have something to eat I had just a bowl of chips i wasn't that hungry. He the took us to the gift shop the shop attendant was very nice she helped me pick out a few copy's of some of Goya's paintings. Manuel then walked us out the door, he farewelled us and wished us well. The museum was one of teh most spectacular places I have everg been in my whole life one of my favourite destinations that we have been too.

Rachael Verdejo