Madrid Part 1



We could not get enough of Spain on this trip. After our day trip to Barcelona we hopped in the car again and drove to Madrid! Another great idea because it now ranks in top of our favorite places visited. 

Several bucket list items of mine where fulfilled in this beautiful city. The main one eating paella in Madrid! I had always heard about how paella was the main dish of Spain in my Spanish classes and have dreamed about going to Spain and eating paella. And it happened!

I was very surprised at how beautiful the Madrid is. I was expecting it to look more like Greece, but it was nothing like Greece at all. I wish we had more time there. There was so much more we wanted to see.

We spent most of our time in Old Madrid. We took a walking tour of the sites in that area. We started at the Plaza de Orient, one of Madrid's most beautiful plaza's. It is right in front of the Palacio Real. 
Cosette loves horses so much I like to get pictures of her with all the different horse sculptures we see while out and about.

 The Plaza de Orient has sculptures of Spain's rulers on the perimeter of the plaza gardens. Legend says that at the night the sculptures come alive and dismount their pedestals and take strolls around the plaza to stretch their legs. Lyndon and Cosette are standing in between a couple of them.
In front of the Palacio Real. A little funny antidote: You know how in cities there are people who dress up as different people like Captain America or Spider man, etc. Well we met the Invisible Man walking about in front of the Palacio Real. This person was dressed in a suit with a hanger that went out where the head should be supporting a hat and sunglasses. Seeing this person dressed up as the invisible man made me laugh so hard. It might have been one of those things you had to be there for. Click here to see a picture of him. 
View from the Palacio Real. It is set upon a hill over looking the city. It was a beautiful sight.

The Palacio Real gates remind me of Buckingham Place. 

Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena was right behind the Palacio Real. Madrid is the one city in Europe that does not have a stand out signature cathedral. Cathedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena is as good as it gets. The architecture fits nicely with the Palacio Real but as far as cathedrals go does not have the same charm as say Notre Dame. The Cathedral is trying to draw you in because it is trying to appeal more to people by making the stories more accessible There are panels or reliefs depicting Biblical stories on the outside which follows along with the architectural history. It was nice to look at but maybe not worth going inside. 
Not on the walking tour but definitly worth the stop was the crypt at Almudena Cathedral. I have a thing for crypts. I find them fascinating to explore. This one was particularly beautiful. Mosaics everywhere!

The mural on the back wall of the crypt was my favorite. The scene depicted was so beautiful. This was not a mosaic, but a fresco. I had never seen a fresco until then.
Husband next to the Muralla Arabe. This is the ancient wall built by Muslims that ruled Madrid during medieval times. There are parts of the wall that date back to the 9th Century. The wall was built to look sturdy on the outside while the inside was built with cheap materials. Pretty ingenious I'd say. It worked too because Madrid was rarely taken by force.
We walked up Calle Mayor to our next stop the Plaza de la Villa where we saw some of Madrid's best baroque architecture. It is one of the prettiest plazas in Madrid and was home to the city's government until recent years. 
The Plaza de la Villa is surrounded on three sides by the baroque architecture. Here is one of the sides illustrating the architecture. Madrid is beautiful! We were all pretty amazed by the beautiful architecture.

Mercado de San Miguel food market where we found it, paella! It is Madrid's oldest markets and the coolest place to eat in Madrid. And we did feel like super cool party people eating our paella there, or that just might be the effect paella has on you. It's the saffron that does it.
Checking off eating paella in Madrid off my bucket list. You have no idea how long I have been wanting to do this. It might seems silly, but it was a dream come true!


The next stop was the Plaza Mayor! It you go to Madrid you have to go to the Plaza Mayor. It is Madrid's most famous plaza in the city. It is the center of Old Madrid and a great place to sit at a table and enjoy the city's most medieval quarter. The photo at the top of this post is of us in front of the famous statue of Philip III on horse back. Oh it was quite a sight!
We have this eating chocolate con churros thing down. The Chocoleteria San Gines was the number one recommended chocolate con churros place. It was the best! Cosette approved of it very much so we went twice and bought some of the chocolate to take back to France with us. 

Eating breakfast like real Madrileanos at Chocolateria San Gines. Chocolate con churros y porras, that is how to start the day off right. The Porras are the large churros and so much better than the regular ones. We are porras converts. They have more dough than the churros which we like.
Restaurante Sobrino de Botin, the oldest restaurant in the world! But do not worry, they do not serve old food.
We finished our walking tour with the Convento de las Decalzas Reales. It was supposed to be open, but it was not. Sad because the interior is supposed to be amazing. 
We made a trek out to the Ermita de Dan Antonio de la Florida. Under royal commission Goya painted frescoes of the Miracle of St. Anthony. The frescoes here are the original! I guess often times frescoes are removed from their original location so this is a rare find. No pictures allowed so we had to do with one of the Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida on the outside. I loved sitting inside just looking at Goya's work. It was beautiful.  
Madrid has taken a little piece of my heart. We had an absolutely wonderful time there. I would have main Spain one of our top travel destinations sooner if I had known how great Madrid is. 

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