Madrid - Home of Spanish Royalty

I decided to give the old guy a break and planned our day using the Metro. Our destination....the Royal Palace in central Madrid, considered one of the top three in Europe. It was built in 1683 and has been expanded by each king trying to outdo his predecessor. It now has 2300 opulent rooms but the current royal family live in a mansion a few miles away and only use the palace for state receptions and royal weddings. No photos were allowed beyond the grand staircase. It certainly made me feel like a commoner.

When we left the palace it started to rain so we stopped at a restaurant for a light lunch. We ordered one vegetarian paella to share and got two. John ordered a “cold beer” and of course was served the most costly one on the menu. I hate that we are being targeted as tourists almost on a daily basis and we just have to be more savvy when we place our order. On our way to the Metro we passed by a panaderia that was calling our names and we couldn’t resist the sweet treats. We also walked through a market that had the best selection of olives (Spain is the world’s largest producer of olives and olive oil).

We managed to survive Spain’s two biggest cities without getting pickpocketed, but I will continue to be hyper-alert as this is a major problem throughout Europe but Spain in particular.

We ended our day doing something necessary but not too exciting....laundry! It’s always a challenge to figure out how to use European appliances as the washer and dryer are all in one unit so there are a lot of settings and it can take two hours or more to do one load.Read more