2-6 October We arrived in Madrid on Tuesday afternoon. Our AirBNB apartment was one block from the Gran Via, a very convenient location that allowed us to walk to most places. On Wednesday morning we walked to the nearby Puerta del Sol where we met up with our walking tour. The bear and the strawberry tree is Madrid's official symbol, and there is a statue which allegedly gives you luck. One of our early stops was Plaza Mayor, the main town square. And also the restaurant Sobrino de Botín. Our guide organised for us to visit it. This is the oldest restaurant continuously operating in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. Their speciality was roast suckling pig. I later learned that the piglets are only a few weeks old and have never had anything to eat other than their mother's milk. Apparently very tender. The tour was really interesting and we felt we understood a little more about Madrid and it's history. We also did a tapas tour on Wednesday evening. Unfortunately our plan to jump on the Metro at the local stop was foiled as it was closed due to building works. So we ended up being a little late. But we met some nice people on the tour, and the host was very knowledgeable about the local food and history so we had an enjoyable evening. We had booked a Hop-on Hop-off bus for two days (Wednesday and Thursday) and so spent some time being shown around the city as well as doing a lot of walking ourselves. There were a lot of building and road works so the buses were quite slow in places. But we did get a feel for the city. One of our stops was to visit the cathedral. Construction started in 1879, but it was only consecrated in 1993 - 25 years ago. Until that time Madrid did not have a Cathedral at all. Our other stop was the old post office Palacio de Cibele, which is now a cultural centre. We went up to the top where there is a bar with a view. On Friday we went to the Royal Palace, the largest royal palace in Europe (by floor area), with 3,418 rooms. We spent a few hours there. It was very opulent and interesting. The Royals do not live there anymore, but it is still used for state occasions. Unfortunately we were unable to take photos in most of the rooms. In the afternoon we went to the Prado art gallery. They have an amazing collection of paintings and we spent hours there.
In the evening we went out to a local restaurant recommended by our host. Amazing meal for a cheap price. Great way to finish our visit.
1 Comment
Ian McCauley
6/10/2018 09:54:28 pm
Lovely weather and lots to see clearly. Quite interesting, I'd imagine, to contrast a modern cathedral with all the ancient ones that one sees almost exclusively in all the other places we would tend to visit.
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