Once settled in, I took to the city. Although Madrid is a big place, all the touristy stuff is central so everything was in walking distance. I first went and strolled around in El Retiro Park where they have a Crystal Palace and the Monument to Alfonso XII.
Once I was done there, I passed by the Puerta de Alcalá and walked down to the Museo Nacional del Prado. They do free admissions during the week from 6pm to 8pm but as it was Sunday, it was from 5pm to 7pm. I didn't realize this so I rocked up at 6pm, which of course only gave me an hour inside. The museum is homage to a famous painting called Las Meninas (I only had researched this right before I entered the museum) and as I was rounding the corner to enter the room of where this painting is situated, they started shooing everyone out as it was closing time. Only then did I realize they closed at 7.
:(
Puerta de Alcalá
After the museum, I walked back to the hostel to get ready for dinner and a night out. They had a pretty good deal; it was 20 euro for a pretty decent 3 course dinner and a bar crawl, which included a lot of free drinks. Of course, I got to meet a few more good people, some Americans, Aussies, Canadians, Germans, Swiss, and a guy from Sweden as well.
I rolled out of bed the next morning (a bit reluctantly) and went on the hostel’s free walking tour of the city. Among other things, we went and saw Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace, and the Puerto Del Sol. After the walking tour, in which we got a free glass of sangria at the end, I headed back to the hostel to recuperate a bit. I headed out again after to Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace to take a look more in detail there. Unfortunately, there must have been some meeting taking place at the Royal Palace as they were not allowing anyone into the palace or the gardens. Afterwards, I made my way up the hill to see the Temple of Debod (I liked to call it the Temple of Doom) which was a little underwhelming. I then walked via Gran Via which is the main touristy street in Madrid. I stopped at Chocolatería San Gines to have some churros and chocolate. I’ll be honest, they weren't amazing but still something that needed to be done in Spain and Chocolatería San Gines is supposedly the most famous. As it was getting later, I walked again via Gran Via towards the del Prado museum to have another stab at seeing this famous painting. After seeing the statue in Plaza de Cibeles, I showed up about 25 minutes early to the museum and sat near the ticket area. There was not many people around at this point and nobody in line. After a few minutes, this massive herd of people come around the corner and enter the ticket queue. My initial thought is that they’re probably just a tour group and they’re all going in as a group. This very well could have been the case but I noticed they were not moving into the actual museum and were standing still at the front of the line. I finally put 2 and 2 together and asked the lady to confirm my fear, and the answer was indeed yes, they are lining up for the free admission. I grumpily walked off to find the end of the line and it went on forever. Where did these people come from!? Not 10 minutes before, there was nobody there. I decided to not wait in line as I was over it and walked back to the hostel where I made myself some dinner and settled in for an early night as I had to get up at 5:30am the next morning.
Plaza Mayor
Royal Palace
Temple of Debod
Statue in Plaza de Cibeles
Madrid probably wouldn't be high on my list to return to but it was still a good time. I think if museums are your thing, there are 2 other big ones than just the one I went to, so then I would recommend it.
Next:
Seville
Faro
Lisbon
Porto
Marseille
Nice
Turkey
Rhodes
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