June 9, 2022

This morning, we decided to try out the breakfast buffet at the hostel. Everything else at the hostel was amazing and the breakfast is all you can eat/drink for a good price. It was definitely the right decision! They had a spread of pastries, two types of eggs, beans, bacon, ham, salami, cheese, cereal, granola, an array of jams, butter, and honey, oranges, kiwi, bananas, juice, and coffee. We made sure we were both full before heading out for the day. 

Today’s agenda was to see the the Parque de el Retirio, the market of San Miguel, and the Royal Palace of Madrid. Our first stop was the park which also houses the crystal palace. We wandered through the park and even walked through part of a book sale that had about 300 booths with vendors selling all sorts of books. When we got to the crystal palace, we were first greeted by a giant lake with a fountain and lots of animals. The first thing we noticed were the turtles, but there were also lots of ducks, some small birds, some large birds, and fish. We had a lot of fun just sitting and standing by the water watching all the animals (but mostly the turtles). After a little time by the water, we went inside the palace which was very pretty but less interesting than the turtles. 

Since we had a lot we wanted to see and didn’t want to run out of time for lunch, we started heading back out of the park. On our way, we wandered into another section of the park which had beautiful hedges and flowers and we soon realized that that wasn’t even the best part of the garden. We saw that the garden also had lots of peacocks wandering around. Lunch would have to wait! We didn’t know about the peacocks and were so excited that we spent a ton of time looking at and taking pictures with all the peacocks we could find. It was so cool to see so many peacocks just wandering freely around a garden. 

After we decided we really did have to go, we hopped on a bus and went to Plaza Mayor which is has a very local restaurant (La Campana) that was recommended to us by multiple people. Their specialty is squid sandwiches, so that’s what we had to order. We squeezed lemon on top and both loved it, it is definitely a must for anyone coming to Madrid. While we were in the area, we also went into the market of San Miguel, but we were glad that we weren’t still hungry because the prices were ridiculous. Nevertheless, it was fun to see and we headed toward the Royal Palace. 

We ended up getting there a little early so we went into the cathedral first (it’s free and right next door) which was fun to see but no where near as nice as it’s Barcelona counterpart (Sagrada Familia). After the cathedral, we still had a little more time so we went into a bar across the street for beer, bathrooms, and air conditioning. We each got an Amstel and enjoyed the short break from the heat. 

When it was time, we headed into the Royal Palace and started by wandering through the main rooms on display. In total, the palace has just over 3,400 rooms, but we obviously weren’t allowed in most of them. On days (like yesterday), the palace is still used for diplomatic meetings and decisions and only opens as a museum on days that the king is not present. While everything in the palace was gorgeous and over the top, we both found ourselves paying more attention to how much detail went into the room itself. The ceilings in every room were painted beautifully, the walls were all either covered in beautiful designs or elegant patterns that were raised off the wall. Even the trim around the doors and windows was extremely fancy marble, and the floor was gorgeous tile that changed from room to room. No two rooms were even similar and each had their own personality before you even looked at the chandeliers or the furniture or the paintings. The other area in the palace to visit was the armory which was really cool to see. It displayed all different kinds of armor that was worn by men, horses, dogs, and children as well as weapons including swords, javelins, guns, and cannons. 

At that point we were exhausted, so we went to a nearby park and took turns taking short naps. The heat is deadly in the sun, but it’s actually very nice sitting in the shade. It was definitely something we both needed before wandering through the park more and then heading across the city for dinner. We met one of the girls we met at the hostel for paella at a local restaurant that we all loved. We ordered a mixed paella which had a variety of seafood and some chicken and then we each ordered a Catalan crème which was very similar to a crème brûlée but had more spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc) and a thinner layer on top. It was different from anything we’ve had but was very good. After dinner, we all hopped on a metro to get back to the hotel and got ready for bed. Tomorrow is Toledo!