The Palacia Real Madrid (Madrid Royal Palace):
Spain is a
wonderful place. Today was one of the hotter days of the trip, with
temperatures in the upper 90s, but it really did not feel that hot due to the
extreme dryness away from the coast. We started off the day by grabbing a salad
for breakfast near the Palacio Real. Max slept in while Collins and I explored
the grounds around and inside the Royal Spanish Palace.
The Palacio Real Madrid:
The Spanish
palace was particularly interesting to me because it is one royal family in the
world that I know almost nothing about. Walking around the beautiful halls of
the palace also gave me a history lesson along with the immaculate décor and
beautiful artwork found all over the place. The palace is not one of the
tallest I have seen on my trip, but it contains hundreds of rooms and extends
laterally in many directions. We wandered around the palace for what seemed
like a couple hours before meeting up with Max in the massive palace courtyard
to check out a nearby church, the Almudena Cathedral.
The Almudena Cathedral:
The idea
behind the Almudena Cathedral came about when the capital of Spain was
transferred from Toledo to Madrid in 1561. Madrid did not have a massive
Catholic cathedral for royal use at the time. Unfortunately, plans were set
aside and the Almudena Cathedral was not completed until 1993, over 400 years
later. As a result, the church is lavishly decorated with modern Spanish art,
but used for such important events as the weddings of royals. The church is a
pretty unique combination of modern art and ancient artifacts, and it was a
welcome change from many of the other churches I have been visiting over the
course of my trip.
Max and I eating Caviar at the San Miguel Market:
Following
our visit to the Almudena Cathedral we decided that we were pretty hungry for
lunch. Wandering around the city for a little while, we stumbled upon a market
that we later discovered was the San Miguel Market and known as the “upscale
food market of Madrid.” We wandered around in here for a while, sampling
different exotic seafood dishes and traditional Spanish tapas fares. Max and I
even had some Russian Beluga Caviar with Russian Standard Vodka! I had never
had real caviar before, and Max, being from the Ukraine, treated me to a unique
experience.
Plaza Mayor:
We spent
the rest of the day wandering around Madrid and relaxing. It was a very hot
day, so we didn’t end up doing a whole lot. We did find Plaza Mayor, one of the
main meeting places and lively scenes in the city, and we found a bar crawl to
join up on for the evening. To pass the time, we walked up and down the Gran
Via main road in the city before getting hungry. We got some dinner at an
Italian restaurant back near Plaza Del Sol where I ate my usual, Spaghetti
Bolognese and a Caprese Salad before heading back to Plaza Mayor. We found an
Irish bar to grab a Guinness or two before starting the crawl, again with the
same Sandemans company that I used for my bar crawl in Scotland. We had a fun
time wandering around Madrid with a crew that was much smaller than the
Edinburgh pub crawl. This crawl didn’t take us into the early morning hours,
but we had fun and made a friend in the Sandemans host. Only a few more nights
of my trip left!
The Gran Via:
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