With today being Sunday, many museums were closed, or open shorter hours – so I planned for a more relaxing day.
I started the morning by walking from the hotel to Plaza de Espana.
My next stop was the Temple of Debod, which was relocated from Egypt.
I had to wait in the queue for a while, but the benefit was a free visit inside the Egyptian temple and photography (without a flash) was allowed. It is one of the best attractions in Madrid – so put this on the top of your list when you visit.
From here I intended to visit Goya’s tomb, but got distracted along the way.
The first accidental discovery was the Western Park which had a wonderful rose garden.
Remember the Royal Botanical Garden from yesterday that cost 4 Euros and didn’t have many flowers? Well this place had tons of roses in different colors, was well maintained and FREE. I wondered around this garden a while, the only unmaintained portion was where it looked like a tree fell onto one of the metal terraces. The tree was removed, but the terrace wasn’t repaired as of yet.
After this I stumbled upon the gondola! I didn’t want to miss this before walking down the hill to Goya’s tomb.
The gondola ride was only 6 Euros roundtrip and worth it. I got off and walked around when it arrived at Casa de Campo. There was a small observation area on the roof, but other things of interest appeared to be a great distance away.
I took the gondola back and tried to get some more video and photos of the Royal Palace while in the gondola.
I walked down the hill and found Goya’s resting place inside of a chapel. It was free to visit, but no photos were allowed.
At this point I was starving so I went to Five Guys for a bacon burger and fries.
After lunch I went to Las Ventas bullfighting arena. Unfortunately it was a day with a performance, so the tours ended before I arrived. And I arrived too early for the bullfight. I still took some photos of the outside.
From here I went to Plaza de Castilla which had a few interesting skyscrapers that lean toward each other.
I decided to walk to Cava Baja where there are supposedly a large number of small bars that serve tapas with beer. I saw a few that were completely packed and most were empty. I obviously don’t know which places were good (I would assume the full places are), so I decided to skip it and try to get Paella.
I went to Museo del Jamon at the Plaza Mayor for dinner. I ordered serrano ham and Paella Iberico. What I failed to realize was that Paella Iberico was just ham, sausage and cheese on a plate, not the rice dish as I expected. I failed on my mission.
It was now time to pack for my flight back to the states.
Today’s timeline:
