A bear and a strawberry tree...

On our last full day in Madrid , we set out after breakfast in our apartment and once again headed out to see more sights. Our location is perfect , we are within walking distance of everything. Lots and lots of walking but it is the best way to see everything and get a true experience of this city. One if our first stops was Palacio Real , the national palace. A magnificent 18 th century palace which is the official residence of the royal family but is only used for state ceremonies. Right beside the palace was Cathedral de la Almudena. It is a Catholic Church and it is the seat of the Archdiocese of Madrid. We were there when the bells rang at noon! Talk about loud ! We were determined to get to Puerta del Sol. It is a city square , the exact center of Madrid , kilometre 0. The spot is marked by a statue of a bear and a strawberry tree, which is the official symbol of the city!! From there we left and headed to the complete opposite side of the city to one of the most beautiful parks I've been in, parque De El Retiro. It's an expansive park that belonged to the Spanish monarchy until it was given to the public in the 19th century. It's known as the green heart of the city. It is 350 acres , with flowers , fountains , a man made lake where you can rent rowboats , and monuments. Palacio de Cristal is a gorgeous glass building in the middle of the park. We had bought a picnic lunch on our way. A sandwich of traditional cured Serrano ham on a baguette bun , a beer and an orange 😊. We ate in the park and being Sunday it was full of families spending a nice sunny hot day in the park. We headed back to our place. We had decided to cook dinner ourselves so we bought groceries to make pasta and dessert. After supper we walked back out to get coffee. We catch a train at 8:30 tomorrow morning to go to Barcelona. Luckily the train station station is just a 10 minute walk from our place! Madrid it's been real 😊Read more