Madrid, Spain

Date: August 6, 2018 – August 7, 2018
Location: Madrid, Spain

After leaving the Galicia region of Spain, we took the train from A Coruña to Madrid. From the train we could see the infrastructure for the roads. There are many bridges in the area that go over valleys.

Once in Madrid we went to our Airbnb and found that it was located on the one street with all the decorations.

In Spain, it is typical to eat very late compared to the United States. Most restaurants are open 1 pm – 4 pm for lunch and 8:30 pm – 11 pm for dinner. Most of the shops also close in the afternoon from around 2 pm – 5 pm. We went out for some food and ordered a chicken kabob. The dish was presented with the skewer hung above the plate. The waiter then poured some alcohol in the small dish at the top and lit it on fire.

August 7, 2018 – Madrid Bullring, Palace Tour, and Dinner in the Oldest Restaurant in the World

On the way to the Las Ventas bullring, we walked in the Parque del Buen Retiro. The park is very big and the gardens were beautiful.

The Parque del Buen Retiro has a large pond, Estanque del Retiro. This is the large monument by the pond.

Here is the one of the fountains in Parque del Buen Retiro, Fuente de los Galápagos.

This is Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas bullring. Las Ventas is the largest bullring in Spain and 3rd largest in the world.

Las Ventas was built in 1929.

The stadium can hold 23,797 people.

The royal box is on the left. The tour of the bullring was interesting.

After Las Ventas we went to Palacio Real. This photo is taken in Plaza de Oriente looking at the side of Palacio Real.

This is the front of Palacio Real.

This is the main staircase inside Palacio Real.

The palace ticket includes the royal armory. The armory was very interesting. One of the highlights was seeing the armor for the horses.

Below is Plaza Mayor.

For dinner we went to Restaurant Sobrino de Botín.

Sobrino de Botín was founded in 1725 and is the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the world. We ate dinner in what used to be the wine cellar.

After dinner we found a party in the street we stayed on. The below picture is taken from our balcony.

Here is the street during the day.

Madrid was enjoyable. We had only planned a short stay over before moving on to our next location (Sevilla), since the city gets very hot in the summer.