I attempted to purchase tickets online for the Palacio Real, but it didn’t give me favorable times to visit, so I started my second day in Madrid by walking to the Palace to buy a ticket. The queue wasn’t too long shortly after 10 AM (much like everything in Madrid it opens at 10 AM).
I bought the 13 Euro ticket and also the 5 Euro audio guide. The audioguide was very useful in explaining the items.
I started the tour in the armory which had a lot of armor for both the royal family as well as the horses. There were a few weapons (swords, guns) and also horse saddles.
After visiting the armory I walked through the palace itself. It’s quite amazing that nearly every palace in Europe has nearly the same layout. The palace was nice, but after you’ve seen five or six others they all seem to blur together.
After going through the museum I took some pictures of the outside of the palace before continuing my adventure.
I also took a time lapse video of the palace as there was an interesting cloud passing by.
For lunch I saw an empanada place, so I tried a few of them. I ordered the spicy beef, ham & cheese and a chocolate & banana one.
I recharged back at the hotel for a little while and reserved another free ticket for the Prado Museum to see what I missed. I also stopped in a department store to purchase a swimsuit as I left mine at home.
Since I still had some time and it was nearby I decided to go to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was 4 Euro to enter and it was mostly a waste of time. There were very few flowers, plenty of weeds – even in the footpath. The highlight was the greenhouses, but even that wasn’t really worth the price of admission.
I finally went back to the Prado museum and visited the few areas I missed. There was a room with the history of the museum and some more Goyas. It was good enough for free, but I am not sure it is worth paying to see if you have time to visit the museums during the free times.
Since sunset was late and the rooftop pool was open until 10 PM I went back to the hotel to go for a swim and enjoy the sunset.
The water in the pool was very cold, it took a while to adjust to it. The view was very nice and the sunset was enjoyable.
For dinner I ate at D’Corazon which is at Plaza Mayor. The ribs were tender and the price wasn’t too crazy despite being in a square. In Italy it would have cost 2-3 times as much!
On my way back to the hotel I came across this interesting dessert place…
Today’s timeline:
