Day 2 in toasty Madrid, Spain
It is so hot here! My skin tingled as I walked around in the sun today… that can’t be good!! I must say though, we are definently not the whitest people in Spain anymore… Not even Simon! :) We bought ourselves a 2 day Metro card when we arrived and have been putting it to good use. I can’t believe how good the train systems are everywhere. People must come to Melbourne and wonder what’s wrong with our trains! We headed to the older part of Madrid and took a look at Palacio Real which is the old royal palace. It consists of 2800 rooms but we only ventured though about 30 of them. They were just amazing. Simon and I wouldn’t mind living there. They consist of lots of gold and velvet as well as walls decorated with tapestry. Nice change from paint, although every room had a massive fresco covering the roof! There was a huge dining table which seats about 90 people and huge mirrors everywhere. It was great seeing all the silverware and crystalware they used back in the day. It was all very spectactular! The palace also included a pharmacy and distillary from the 18th century. One room was entirely porcelain, covering the walls, everything! The most interesting parts were the throne room, which was amazing, and the music room, containing four instruments by Stradivarius.
We then headed to Plaza de Oriente for lunch. There are plazas everywhere and they’re great as they’re a big open space away from the hussle and bustle of the streets. Simon thinks we need some plazas like this in Melbourne. Next stop- Plaza Mayor which is Madrid’s main plaza. We then made our way along one of the shopping strips, stopping at Zara of course! I wasn’t really in the mood for shopping, much to Simons delight, so we headed home for siesta.
So our time in Spain has come to an end. We’ve really enjoyed everything here and are so grateful to have brought a phrasebook with us! English is really not widely spoken here except in hotels and cafes around tourist traps. Adiós Spain!! Katie xo
