We all slept well last night, some clocking about 10 hours of sleep. We made coffee in our AirBnB and some of us had almond biscotti which was brought over from America because I like breakfast and I wake up at the crack of dawn. Yes. Even in Spain! Isn’t our tiny kitchen cute?
We found a cute bakery around the corner from our place and quickly got an appetite for chocolate and croissants. How are three bacon empanadas only $2.60? The Euro and Dollar are about equal right now and we are thankful!
We walked to the Prado Museum and quickly discovered that buy ahead tickets was the way to go. Thanks to our AT&T International data plan, we quickly bought some online for entry at 12:45pm and then had time to kill so we hit the Botanical Garden next door. There were a lot lights which probably means that this is going to be super cute at night when it’s all lit up. But we enjoyed the plants and the scenery.
Afterwards we walked to the Palacio de Cristal which was filled with smoke for some cool photos.
Then we trekked over to the Embarcadero de El Retiro which had cute boats that we didn’t want to row.
Next up was the Palacio de Velazquez which was a free museum with a quick exhibit.
And then we headed to the Prado where no water is allowed. In Europe, you don’t find free water in many places and the constant carry hydro flask thing is not as trendy. The museum had lots to look at! Goya is the most popular artist found in there but guess what, no photos allowed so we don’t have anything to share from that exploration.
And next we needed food! We saw a place that literally had a “tourist menu” and decided to try something more authentic. We think we found it with this place. Lots of seafood options and even some beef! Everyone left full and happy. Their complimentary soup was served in these cute bowls that were the perfect size.
And yes, there’s more! Even though we were starting to fade and it was around 4pm, we trekked on to the Palace and walked right through the Puerta de Sol which was a large market area where we saw a ton of street performers looking for cash for a photo. These were interesting ones though….a transformer, a Mickey Mouse…we even saw a teddy bear and a few Chucky dolls. Yes, that red haired doll. Very interesting…
Oh, and one weird thing was that they sold pop it’s. So kids were throwing these on the ground freaking me out, while Todd reminded me that they don’t have guns here so I guess nobody jumps at the sound like I did.
We didn’t go inside the Palace because the line was quite long, but we did check out the Almudena Cathedral which was beautiful.
Doesn’t that statue seem like he’s wearing shades?
Our next trip was to get cafe because we had one more stop and needed a jolt of energy. We found mochas and even a churro with dipping chocolate - which is very popular here.
And next we the Temple of Debod which is an ancient Egyptian temple that was dismantled and rebuilt in Madrid, Spain.
Again, we didn’t need to go inside but we checked it out and since it was golden hour…
And what else? Well, we took another Mercedes Uber van back to our AirBnB because we tired!!! Now we are sitting with our feet up, recapping on the day, and writing this blog. And planning for tomorrow….
Oh wait, there’s more! Like true Europeans, we went out after dark. I know, it’s a rarity for us old people. We enjoy those early nights because our mornings come so early!
So what did we do? We toasted to our trip with sangria and had some sharing plates of shrimp, meatballs, and calamari. You know, just random mixtures of protein.
21,281 steps and 8.8 miles. We tired.
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