Madrid in a Day
We took a relaxed approach this morning, slept in, and had breakfast at the hotel. It looked like gorgeous weather, though our phones said that it was in the low 30s this morning. Time to bundle up, I guess. We wore sweaters under the parkas.
We left the hotel just before 10:00 and wandered through the Plaza de Oriente for more pictures. Felipe IV looked regal in the sunshine.
Then we got to the Royal Palace about 10:10. It was (as I should have predicted) mobbed! The lines were streaming way out the entry door, and I wondered if we’d ever get tickets for a reasonable time.
Even the line for people who already had tickets was stretching out the door, but at least that line was moving. After waiting about 5 minutes in the ticket line without moving much more than a few feet, I got an idea...
Smartphone with international data plan to the rescue! I went to their website to look at tickets, and there were only 4 slots left for the 10:30 entry. Yikes!
I snagged two of the tickets posthaste, paid by credit card, and downloaded the mobile tickets to my phone. Then we quickly jumped into the prepaid ticket line, and were in and touring the palace right at 10:30. The mobile tickets worked perfectly. So glad I thought of that!
Fun tour, nice rooms with ornate decoration, like many other similar European palaces we’ve seen. No pictures after the first few rooms, though. Still worth the visit.
The Grand Staircase has a nicely frescoed ceiling. Plenty of tapestries and beautiful chandeliers to go around. The central courtyard looked like a nice quiet place to escape the crowds.
There is another viewpoint on the terrace, at one edge of the front courtyard, but despite the beautiful viewing conditions there isn't a ton of cityscape to see.
After the palace, you can tour the armory, which was worth a quick stop. They have some neat historical stuff including a few possessions from the last Moorish Sultan of Granada, Boabil, who was defeated by the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492.
The guards had just changed over as we passed the front of the palace. But they put the horses through their paces for our viewing pleasure.
We took a detour around the torn-up Plaza d’Espana, through the Jardines de Sabatini,
and headed to the Temple of Debod, in a nearby park.
Lots of climbing, but the lines to
get in were huge, and we figured we’d seen plenty of Egyptian temples already. They only let 30 people in every half-hour, and there were over 100 people in line. Who has time for that?
There was a nice mirador in the park as well, but again, not much cityscape to see. So back down the hill to a nearby Metro where we popped into the hotel for a few to recharge for the afternoon.
Of course, as luck would have it, they were busy servicing the suite. We waited a while, but they had no intention of finishing, so we dropped off our sweaters and then asked our hotel staff for dinner reservations.
The lady at the front desk suggested a nearby restaurant; we asked for an 8:30 table, and she said she’d take care of it and send a confirmation to the room. Then we headed back out. Today was the nicest sunny day we’ve seen all trip, so we wanted to take full advantage! The high was predicted to be 50F, but it wasn't quite there yet.
Back down to Puerto del Sol to find lunch, but it was insanely crowded. We decided to head over towards Retiro Park instead, since the afternoon and early evening’s activities would be centered in that part of town. So, a quick jump into the Metro then we were there.
We wandered the park a little and then looked for nearby restaurants. It took a while; everything here was quite crowded as well. Finally we found an outdoor table at a café and had some drinks and sandwiches to tide us over until dinner.
It was relaxing, once we finally found a seat, and a good way to pass the time. Our feet really needed the break after this insane week!
But we eventually pried ourselves loose from our table, and walked over to the Archaeology museum – which was free entry after 2PM on Saturdays. Score! Nice museum, and worth visiting even if you have to pay, in my opinion.While wandering through the museum, I got the dreaded message from Delta that it was time to check in. I always hate that reminder; it means that vacation is almost over!
So I negotiated that process for a few minutes – since we were on a DL codeshare, on an Air Europa plane, it took a little while. But I wanted to make sure that our seat assignments, which couldn't be assigned until check-in, were good. No choice but to do it ASAP. We got the last pair of outside seats in a 2-2-2 configuration.We finished up at the Archaeological Museum after 5PM, having spent two full hours there. We grabbed a coffee for me, as museums always make me tired, and walked towards Retiro Park. The Puerta de Alalá was on the northern edge.
We wandered aimlessly through the park some more. This time, we took a few pictures. Here, the Monumento a Alfonso XII glows with the rays of the setting sun, on the edge of a beautiful lake.
The Jardin del Parterre was another nice photo stop.
Time to move along to the Prado.
El Casón del Buen Retiro, and a statue of Maria Cristina de Borbón.
Eventually we got to the Prado, right on time, a few minutes before 6:00. We thought we’d timed that one perfectly, since admission is free after 6:00. But we hadn’t anticipated…
That this is the world's worst-kept secret! The line for free entry looked long, so we started walking to the end. And we walked. And we walked some more. The line stretched along the entire front façade of the building! It was insane, and we seriously thought of not bothering with it. But, we were here, and we figured it was our only shot so we better at least try.
It took almost 40 minutes to get into the museum, and we almost froze to death waiting. As soon as the sun went down, the chill was back in the air. I missed my sweater!
But we did get in and it was indeed totally free, so that in itself was pretty amazing. And, we had a plan for a speed visit – again, thanks to Rick Steves. We don’t use his books very much, not for any good reason other than it seems a bit cliché, but in reality his Madrid guide was pretty helpful.
So we zipped from room to room, following his tour, saw a ton of great art, and learned a little more history, in about 75 minutes. It was a perfect amount of time to spend there. The museum was truly amazing and perhaps some day we might revisit in a more relaxed manner. Perhaps, but not likely – that’s just how we vacation!
They started ushering us out around 7:50, so it was time to face the long-ish uphill slog back to the hotel to get ready for (hopefully) our dinner reservation. There were a few photo stops along the way, including the Fuente de Neptuno.
It took over 20 minutes to walk back, because of the photo stops. Also, the crowds slowed us down somewhat. This impressive building is called the Congreso de los Diputados.
When we got to the room around 8:15, we were actually relieved to find that the restaurant we’d wanted had no availability and she’d substituted another nearby place for 9:00. That is more relaxing. We sat, rested our feet, and drank a bunch of water.
Once more, we stepped out into the throngs on Gran Via, until we got to some slightly less-crowded side streets, and ended up at Taberna La Carmencita for our 9:00 table. A nice rustic place, seemingly full of locals, with nice substantial dishes on the menu. We grabbed more water, and of course some wine, and ordered.A local wine, mostly Garnacha, fit the bill nicely. We started with an appetizer sampler of ham croquettes, fried calamari, and fried cheese. Delicious.
Chris then had pimientos rellenos. Her serving was a reasonable size.I had bistec, a thin simply-prepared veal steak served with lots of garlic, fried potatoes, and a fried egg. That was great, and I soaked up the egg yolk with the fries. So tasty! But a big portion.
We lived large and had dessert too: French toast (which they called Torrija Quijotesca), and a limon sorbet served in a wine glass with rum and vodka. Now we were stuffed.
One last short walk to the hotel and it was time for bed. Tomorrow, we come home, but what an amazing trip. I can't believe that we've managed to stick to this crazy itinerary, and to see all that we've seen without much of a problem.
Another check on the Portuguese tolls was in order before bed time. All looked well - the last set of tolls from Thursday have registered, and they’ve processed and paid all of the earlier tolls except those last few. It looks like I'll have €2 or so left over once everything is paid. Cool!
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