Madrid, Spain

We got an early start this morning and found a little coffee shop for our morning croissant.

We continued our walk in a milder temperature – 36ºC. We walked along Gran Via to Plaza de la Cibeles. It is like a huge intersection that has many banks on its’ corners, one of which is topped by the most ornate dome, and Palacio de Communicaciones, a post office which looks like a grand palace, both inside and out. We headed north past the Biblioteca Nacional to the Monumento a Colon (Monument to Columbus). Behind this was another monument, Monumento al Descubimiento, which commemorates the discovery of America. From here we headed south, passing the Museo Arqueologico and the Prado, both of which are closed.

This was the end of the suggested walking tour, but what we did was walk back up Calle de las Huertas, where we stopped for some lunch, through Plaza Mayor, along Calle Mayor, until we came back to Palacio Real. We went in and had a guided tour through twenty of the 2070 rooms of the Royal Palace. Each room is extravagantly decorated (one room taking 40 years to complete), floors are covered in marble, built in the 18th century, some walls are silk lined, most of the ceilings are alfresco painted and the palace boasts twenty square kilometers of tapestries. The tour took an hour, so you can only imagine how long a proper look around would take. Once again, another monarchy shows off its’ excesses. The worst thing about this place is that it is no longer used as a royal residence. It is only used for official receptions and tourism.

Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain

We went back to our room after this, to recover from the heat. We showered before having a siesta. We went and got pizza for dinner, before going to two bars and having a couple of drinks to finish the night off.