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Atocha Train Station, Madrid. After landing at Madrid airport and searching for an ATM for 30 min., jumped on a local train and arrived here 35 minutes later to begin the adventure
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The Almudena Cathedral. Started in 1883 and finished 110 years later in 1993, is the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid. The gray and white facade was added in 1950 to match that of the Royal Palace which is just a few steps beyond
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Royal Palace, Madrid is the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family but is is used only for state ceremonies today. Construction began in 1735 and completed in 1755. It has 3,418 rooms and is the largest royal palace in Europe by square footage
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Courtyard at Royal Paalce was rather stark with no greenery but some nice lamposts. My first of many selfies
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Example of the artwork in the ceiling. In most ares of the palace, photos were not permitted.
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My first taste of European artwork. Lots more to come in the next 36 days!
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Royal Palace
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Almudena Cathedral opposite Royal Palace. How about that lampost? More to come in the next few weeks
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Lunch near the Royal Palace at Plaza de Oriente. It was getting warm and that beer went down too easily
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Interesting buildings everywhere
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San Miguel Market-food
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Inside San Miguel
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continued my walking tour to Plaza Mayor. Construction of the plaza with residentail four story buildings surrounding the plaza was begun in 1617. After a serious major fires, reconstruction began in 1790
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One of nine entranceways. There are 237 balconies facing the plaza. Heaven for a peeping Tom I guess.
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There were lots of people in the plaza but it was so large(423 ft x 308 ft) that there was room to enjoy the warm afternoon. That is King Phillip III on his horse to the right placed there in 1848
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Interesting architecture everywhere
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San Jeronimo Catholic church next to the Prado Museum, Madrid
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Retiro Park, main Madrid park just a five minute walk from the Prado. In case you are wondering, the Prado does not permit any photography, so no pics here
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Lunch time....again. Yep had another beer today
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Retiro Park was quite large and had some very formal gardens
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Interesting trees in Retiro Park
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Quiet in the park. Walking back to my next art museum
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Dept of Agriculture in Madrid. Nice architecture. It is right across the street from the train station. I passed by this building a number of times.
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Reina Sophia art gallery, large collection of Picasso's. Guess what, I got in free because I was so old!
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Reina Sophia gallery courtyard, former convent. This museum was across the street from the station where I headed next for my late afternoon train to Seville
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Former track area in the older area of Madrid station
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It's a jungle in here!
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Better head toward the train for Seville. Goodbye Madrid, you were beautiful but crowded
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Leaving Madrid on the first of many high speed train rides. Seville is about 300 or so miles away and this train will make the trip in 2 and 1/2 hours for an average speed of 120 MPH. This ain't Amtrak folks!