Today’s post is mostly going to be a photo dump of places that I went to see in Madrid. My AirBnB host was so sweet that he sent me a whole itinerary with a map already planned out for me this morning which he custom created based on me telling him what I was interested in. All I had to do was follow the map on my cell phone and mark each stop - easy, peasy.
Of course, first came breakfast.
If you’ve been reading this travel blog so far, you get one guess to name what I ate.
Then stops at various churches.
First, a small church called Capilla del Christopher de los Delores. The private tour guide spoke no English, but tried very hard to communicate to me in Spanish, assuming I would understand some of it. I think he was relieved when another Spanish speaking couple joined us. I think I understood him to say, “That guy speaks no Spanish, I speak no English, I tried.”
The second church I visited is called Real Basilica San Francisco el Grande. And Grand it certainly is. I was certainly impressed with the gold-leaf EVERYWHERE! There was a gentleman at the front desk taking 5 Euros for donations. He let in each group separately. I was alone and no one behind me when I offered him my euros. He asked if I was from New York. I said, “No, I’m from Pennsylvania.” He then said, “New York, Pennsylvania, same thing. For you, it’s free.” I wasn’t going to argue with that!
The third church today was Catedral de Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena. This large cathedral is situated directly in front of the Royal Palace.
My favorite photos from this church are the impressive organ, the rather modern sculpture of the Madonna and Child, the colors that the stained glass played on the marble columns, and the old Olive Tree outside in the garden.
Of course, I had to visit the King and Queen at the Palace. Unfortunately, they forgot I was coming and were not in residence. Actually, the current King and Queen of Spain no longer reside at this palace, they have living quarters elsewhere in Spain. This royal palace is mostly a museum now, but still is used for official business of the country. The banquet hall, for example, is still used for state dinners and easily sits 50 guests. I got in a little bit of trouble for taking pictures. I missed the sign that said no picture taking, oops. But, I managed to get a few:
The young man who came up to tell me that picture taking wasn’t allowed, tried to make nice with me a bit later on by giving me some personal attention, explaining details about various pieces in the room. Although he was speaking in English, his accent was so heavy I could barely understand him.
I didn’t have lunch, as I was meeting a group for a Tapas crawl - a common “event” in Spain. You have a drink and a little “snack”, then you move on to another establishment for another drink and a snack, and so on through the evening - until very late at night! At our 6th establishment (after having a glass of wine, a glass of vermouth, another glass of wine, a pint of beer, a glass of Sangria, and a Moscow Mule), I was done for the evening. We also had Iberian Ham, bread (lots of bread), olive oil, fried pork belly, chorizo and peppers, anchovies, pickles, more olives, an empanada, a Spanish omelette, and something similar to cheesecake, but also not (can’t remember the name). Somewhere along the way I stopped taking pictures, but ended the evening having a wonderful Google Translate conversation with a group of guys who had been best friends since they were 2. They now live in different parts of Spain but had come together this weekend to watch one of Spains most beloved events - a football match. No, not our kind of Football, but what we call soccer.
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