We arrived into Madrid’s Atocha Station by train from Barcelona. It was a quick 2½ hour train ride on the AVE high speed train. The apartment we rented in Madrid was beautiful and located in a great, high-end neighbourhood on a quiet street. It was, at most, a 15 minute walk to the Royal Palace. The apartment was spacious and our host, Maria, get us some great information about the city and what it had to offer. She was wonderful to deal with and the information she provided was very useful.
Once we settled in and freshened up, we headed out to see Madrid. As we walked towards the Royal Palace, we strolled through a number of sidewalk cafes of which most weren’t serving food or only half-portions at lunch time. We decided that we’d try them at the end of the day on our way back.
Here are the things we checked out:
Palacio Real (Royal Palace): A short walk from the apartment, we strolled past a few gardens on our way to the palace. The royal gardens were beautiful and we had such good weather to take pictures. The Royal Palace was as beautiful as its gardens. It’s still in use for state ceremonies and is considered the official residence of the King of Spain although the royal family does not actually reside in the palace.
Royal Palace Courtyard
Royal Palace Gardens
We entered the palace to do a self-guided tour and en route tried to listen in on an American school group who had a guide. The state rooms we walked through were amazing and decorated with tapestries, paintings, silverware and other ornate decorations. After touring the palace, we exited the palace into the courtyard which overlooked a bluff. We also looked at the Royal Armory, a two-story collection of medieval weapons and armor.
Puerta del Sol: We then decided to head over to the Prado Museum. On our way to the museum, we ended up walking through the Puerta del Sol.
Puerta Del Sol
Puerta del Sol was original one of the gates into Madrid’s city walls in the 15th century. The name of the game, Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun), came from the rising sun which decorated the entry, since the gate was oriented to the east.
Monument to King Charles III
We took pictures at the monument to King Charles III which is in front of the post office. Some of the other sites in this part of Madrid include:
– the kilómetro cero (kilometre zero) on the pavement at the entrance of the House of the Post Office.
– the old Post Office which now serves as the office of the President of Madrid.
– the Tio Pepe lighted sign is above the square’s eastern building.
– a statue of a bear and a madrone tree.
Museo del Prado: One of my co-workers recommended the Prado Museum because of the art she saw in this musuem. We hoped on the subway to go to the musuem. The walk from the subway station to the Prado Musuem was great and we stopped along the way to rest and people watch. Since we did this at the end of our day, we ended up going in for free. After 6pm during the week, the entrance fee is free but there is a long line up of people waiting from well before 6pm. We arrived at around 5:30 and the line hadn’t gotten to the sidewalk yet. Over the course of half hour, the line up grew to the sidewalk and around the corner.
Prado Museum
The Prado Musuem houses one of the finest art collections in the world from many different collections: the Spanish (El Greco, Velázquez, and Goya), the Flemish and Dutch (Rubens, van Dyck, and Brueghel), Italian (Botticelli, Tintoretto, Titian, Caravaggio, and Veronese) and German (Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, and Baldung Grien). Some highlights we saw were The Garden of Earthly Delights,Las Meninas, The Black Paintings and The Third of May 1808 by Goya, Adoration of the Shepards by El Greco, and David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio.
Plaza España: We were on our way back from the museum when we got off the Plaza España subway station. We weren’t planning to pass through this plaza but we did anyway. There were a lot of people playing games, sitting around, reading, chatting, etc. It is a very prominent square on the northwest side of central area of Madrid. There are two of the tallest buildings in Madrid adjacent to the plaza – the Torre de Madrid and the Edificio España. Central to the square contains a large fountain and a sculpture of Cervantes and his famous Don Quixote and Sancho Panza characters.
Gran Via: We didn’t do much shopping but we were driven along this avenue in order to get to the apartment from the train station. It is quite congested and busy regardless of the time of day. There are also a lot of people walking around as well. The avenue runs from Plaza de España to Plaza de Cibeles, it is the location of the cinema district and a number of shopping malls and is lined with large billboards and lights.
