Sunday
Today we slept in and took our time getting up and going. Two days of travel is very tiring! We all needed some extra sleep and we were glad to be horizontal for a while. We’re excited to be in Spain!
After breakfast, we all wandered through town to El Rastro — a weekly market that is said to be the largest in Europe! There certainly were a lot of people out browsing the stalls! It felt more like a regular market than a flea market, but I doubt we saw all of it and perhaps we were just in the wrong part to find the hidden deals. We didn’t purchase anything yet, though there are a few things the kids are considering purchasing next week. Their souvenir money needs to last a lot longer than just one day!
From the market we wove our way back toward the center of Madrid and ended up in Plaza Mayor. This is one of the central squares in Madrid and a hub of activity most of the time. (Don’t let my photo fool you that it’s quiet.)
We picked up a “racion” of Valencia paella in a local market as a snack too. It’s not our new favorite thing, but it’s not bad either.
We had lunch at Rosi La Loca, a small bustling and colorful tapas restaurant. The pesto filled burrata and the pork tenderloin medallions were excellent, though we were equally impressed with the eggplant chips and the squid stuffed with shrimp and pistachio. All the dishes were tasty and very different, which was awesome! Desserts were less impressive, but the tapas were a hard act to follow. Food is definitely a highlight of our trips, and Rosi was a great start to Spanish food!
We were very close to the emblematic statue of Madrid — the bear and the madrono tree. They even have the symbol on their man hole covers!
From Plaza Del Sol we picked up the Rick Steves walking tour and meandered through town — passing possibly the oldest door in Madrid (circa 1480), a bookshop tucked against a church that has been here since 1650, and all the way to the Royal Palace.
We also stepped into the Cathedral de la Almudena. One of the newest cathedrals we’ve seen, it was dedicated in 1993 after construction began in 1881. For a cathedral that’s actually pretty quick! LOL. It definitely has a more modern feel — the colors on the paintings are quite bright and I’m not sure the feel is as cohesive as older cathedrals. I loved the intricately painted ceiling though!
Caden was less impressed with the electric candles — they aren’t nearly as alluring as the ability to play with fire and light your own candle!
Wandering back toward Plaza Del Sol, we passed many different living statue performers. Everything from a chess player to a dirt bike rider to a golden ram! Some were more believable than others, though I was particularly impressed with the chess man.
Per the guide book, we stopped for churros with hot chocolate at San Gines, established 1894. They must have quite a following to have been around for 125 years! We found the chocolate to be pretty tasty and not too sweet, though the churros were a bit greasy and not necessary. I’d rather just drink the chocolate! Hehe. As iconic as this dish is though, I was glad we tried it.
We hiked back to our apartment, with a quick stop at a local ham and sausage store and a grocery store for some basics for dinner. I cooked chicken drumsticks and fresh chorizo sausage, which was a hit all the way around. I’m still figuring out the grocery store and market situation here, so meals require a bit more experimentation than I’m used to. We’ll figure it out though!
Monday
Monday morning we decided to give the kids some time to play and run around! The four of us headed to El Retiro Park — about a 20 minute walk from the apartment. It is about half the size of central park and used to be a private park for royalty before it was opened to the public.
On the way we passed the famous Prado art museum (in the plans for Thursday) and visited the San Jeronimo el Real church next door. This one felt a lot more traditional and I liked the enormous alter painting that was commissioned specifically for this church. Once more, electric candles thwarted Caden’s intention of lighting a candle in the church.
There are numerous playgrounds scattered throughout the park. Most are for little kids, but we ran across three that were a better fit for Kamy and Caden. Their favorite turned out to be this thing!
We’ve started calling it the Swing Saw! Essentially it is a large see saw on a complicated hinge that allows you to spin and swing around while going up and down. I’ve never seen anything else like it! Kamy and Caden had a blast riding it. As we arrived at the park before it got busy, they were able to play on it until they were super dizzy and ready to explore something new.
We found two other play structures for their ages — one was a complicated climbing set up and the second was a tower with a curved fireman pole to slide down.
We wandered by the large lake, admired many statues and fountains, and checked out the Crystal Palace. There were two free art exhibitions as well. I’d say we walked about half of the park before turning north towards lunch.
Keller picked out Flavia, a nearby Italian restaurant for lunch. It was quite tasty! The appetizer was my favorite and came recommended by our server. It was very smooth mashed potatoes, covered with warm cream and a lightly poached egg and grated truffle. MMMmmm, it was tasty! Our other dishes were good too, just less memorable. It wasn’t particularly pretty, so I didn’t take a photo, but I did get one of dessert!
We walked back home and enjoyed some down time in the afternoon. I hiked to a local market on the hunt for fresh meat. I found some pork tenderloin and chicken thighs to stock in the fridge. A quick stop at the fruit and vegetable stand and another stop at the Chinese grocery around the corner filled up my shopping bag and covered us for meals for tomorrow.
Tuesday
We went to the Naval Museum this morning. It is currently under renovation for the 175th anniversary, but they did have one temporary exhibit on Asia and one room with a small portion of their collection on display. The museum was founded by the Navy in order to preserve many of the artifacts and experiences of the Spanish Navy. Since the Navy was one of the strongest and most powerful in the world at the time, Spain was uniquely positioned to collect and preserve elements. They also have one of the largest collections of model ships in the world.
They also had an extensive collection of miniatures. The set below shows the evolution of naval uniforms over the centuries. They were incredibly intricate.
After the museum we walked back over to El Retiro park so the kids could play on the Swing Saw again. As expected, it was a hit! Caden said, “This is my favorite thing in Spain so far!” We’ll see how long that record holds. 😉
Wandering back towards home, we went to the CentroCentro building. Established as the Madrid Post Office, it is now an exhibition space and has a viewing platform on the 8th floor. The building itself is quite beautiful on the exterior and has views of all of Madrid.
We stopped at the Thyssen-Bornemisza art museum to ask some questions about ticketing and attempted to get tickets for the Prado art museum tomorrow. Unfortunately, we’ll still have to stand in line to pick up our online tickets before we enter the museum, but at least we’ll be in the shorter line. We saw the line on Monday when we walked by and we do NOT want to stand in that!
Wednesday
With cold, wet weather in the forecast, an art museum seemed like a wise choice for today. We ate a quick breakfast at home and then walked down to the Prado Museum. It was raining lightly and chilly. We had to stand in a short line to exchange our e-confirmation for paper tickets, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Once we were inside we dropped off our coats and backpack at the coat check and headed straight to Las Meninas by Velasquez. Regarded as one of the best paintings from the old masters, I was looking forward to seeing it in person. We’d seen a sneak peek of it at the National Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Since we started right here, we almost had the room to ourselves and could see it without a bunch of tour groups to work around. It was great!
Velasquez was the court painter for Phillip III and IV, so the entire room was filled with massive portraits of kings and queens, primarily on horseback.
We followed the Rick Steves walking tour through the Prado and hit the highlights of the museum. Caden was super patient and an audio guide helped his attention. Kamy seemed to enjoy the tour too.
After the museum, we walked back toward our apartment and stopped for lunch at Patong Thai — per Caden’s cuisine request. The food was all respectable, though not particularly spicy or special. It was Thai though!
Since the weather remains cold and wet, we spent the remainder of the day at home. The kids did some school and screen time, we played card games, and generally enjoyed some quiet down time.
We’ve sketched out a tentative plan for the next few weeks — spending one more week in Madrid before renting a car and working our way south to Seville before the end of the month. Fortunately, we were able to find a pretty good rental car deal which makes a car on par or better than the trains for getting around.
Thursday
Today we planned to divide and conquer a few things on our Must See list. Kamy really wanted to visit the Royal Palace, while Daddy and Caden are done with palaces. If you’ve seen Versailles, you get the general idea of European palaces. LOL!
So Kamy and I trekked across central Madrid to the Royal Palace. We had timed entry tickets for 10:15 and had no trouble getting in, picking up our audio guides, and getting started.
This particular palace isn’t as old as some others we have seen because the prior palace burned and this one was rebuilt. In fact, the only wood used in the exterior and support structure was in doors and windows. The rest is all stone and thus fireproof. It was rebuilt along the lines of Versailles as the king was a Bourbon monarch and related to the kings of France.
We were allowed to take photos of the entrance and receiving room, but not of the highly decorated rooms. It certainly was elaborate! The monarchs also loved clocks … the palace hosts 700+ clocks and 2800 rooms! The palace is still used periodically for politically significant events and to host foreign dignitaries.
After the main section of the palace, we also walked through the royal armory. My favorites were the suits of armor for the horses — they were quite impressive! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos in here either.
When we were done at the palace, Kamy and I walked back to Plaza del Sol for lunch at Bacoa Burger. The burgers were pretty good, though the fries were nothing special. Their truffle mayonnaise was tasty though. We picked out ice cream from Amorino for dessert, wandered the stores in the area, and then headed home to meet Caden and Daddy.
Meanwhile, Daddy and Caden slept in and then ventured down to the railway museum in southern Madrid. As all the plaques were in Spanish, they couldn’t read a lot, but they enjoyed seeing the old trains and carriages. Caden said they had one train that was cut into a cross-section so you could see how the boiler and engine elements worked together to create power.
They found a tapas place near our apartment for lunch, where they enjoyed a steak with goat cheese and some desserts.
We stayed at home for the rest of the afternoon — reading, doing some school, and having some down time. And I made a grocery run. I think we’re about acclimated to the new time zone. I’m so thankful we continue to get better at the transition and bounce back from jet lag quicker each time.
Friday
Today we went to the Royal Opera House, next to the palace. They offer a series of tours that, while not in English, would still allow us to see the opera house. We opted to take the Technical Tour!
This was a behind-the-scenes tour that allowed us to see a lot of spaces we’ve never seen before! We were the only ones in the tour too, which was extra special as it was private, the kids were free, and the guide did his best to explain things in English for us. Between Keller and myself, we managed to understand a portion of what he was telling us. It was complicated!
We were taken from the stage level, up to the very top (level 12 on the elevator!) and all the way to the very bottom (-6 on the elevator) and everything in between.
As this opera house does not have much storage space for props and scenery, they have a complicated system of platforms that can raise and lower separately in order to lift props from the lower levels. There is even a full additional stage that can be rolled out and lifted up between acts! It was very neat to experience some of the nuts and bolts that are involved in producing an opera performance — something most people are never aware of!
The opera house tour was definitely a highlight of the entire trip for Keller — it’ll be hard to top this tour anywhere else!
After the opera, we walked to a local spices store to replenish my supplies and then checked out the San Anton market. We grabbed some patatas as a snack and picked up some very tasty hamburger meat to make hamburguesas at home for “lunner.” This was our main meal of the day after we returned to the apartment. The burgers were okay — the cook was not as good as the one passing out samples at the market. 😉
Once we were done eating, I took the kids back down to El Retrio park to play on the swing saw and the climbing playground. They are always up for a turn on the swing saw and it’s still one of their favorite things.
They also played at the main playground for a while. Kamy made friends with a little British girl and Caden completed climbing challenges on the playground structure.
On the way home, we crossed paths with the march for International Women’s Day. I’m not sure how much of it was a march and how much was a protest, but there sure were a lot of participants and they were loud!
We managed to squeeze between two groups to cross the road and head toward home without getting caught up in it. That was a bit of a trick!