A visit to Madrid
May 23, 2008
Almost 3 months ago i visited this city for a few days. In these days i visited the main tourist attractions like the Palacio Real, the Cathedral and of course the Museo del Prado. Everyone who loves art have to go see it. It's amazing and it has art of almost every European country in it's collection. I also visited a cloister in the center of Madrid. It wasn't allowed to make pictures unfortunately, because it was really nice with a lot of frescos on the walls. You can only visit the place with a guide so you'll learn a lot about the cloister. For people who like to shop, Madrid is great. Of course you'll find the El Corte Ingles shops where you can find everything you need, but there are also small boutiques in Madrid. Out of the center, you'll find the Calle Serano, a very chique shopping street. Shops like Armani and Louis Vuitton are located here. Having dinner in Madrid is great. Usually, you don't order a starter and a main course but you order a couple of small dishes that will be served at the same time and that you eat together with the persons you visited the place with. So you can eat a little of everything. Most of the time people drink wine with it, so that's good! When you're in Madrid on a Sunday, you should have breakfast in a coffeebar like the locals. They eat sticks that taste like pancakes then, which they put in fluid chocolate before. Really nice! All together, a trip to Madrid is really worth it!
Plaza Mayor
Cathedral of Madrid
Palacio Real
Cathedral of Madrid
Palacio Real, if you'll visit Ma
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The ancient city entrance
The postoffice of Madrid! Have y
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Cheap hostal in the heart of Madrid
This hostal was really value for money. The hostel has rooms with and without private bathrooms. We had a room with a private bathroom. The room and the bathroom were really clean. The bed (2 persons) was ok but a little unstable and small. The reception was guarded 24 hours a day and that was a nice feeling because the hostal was in an area with many bars and cafes so there were (drunk) people around 24/24. There was no breakfast available in the hostal but there is a Starbucks just around the corner so you won't need it. The location was very nice. It was close to the main attractions and also very close to a subway station. The location is in the middle of the famous gayscene area of the city. One thing i can mention as a point lost is that nobody from the staff can speak English. It's really hard to understand each other since they don't speak any language but Spanish. I mean, i understand some of it but they don't understand one word other then Spanish. But that seemed to be normal in Madrid we found out.
Richness in Madrid
Another great place to visit in Madrid! The Palacio Real is a beautiful palace were the royals still work on official occasions. You can visit the old living parts of the palace and they are really worth it. I can recommend you to do this with an audio tour or a guided tour. Other wise you'll walk by a lot of beautiful things and you won't hear anything about the history. You won't like it as much then. The rooms are all very beautiful and there's also an exhibition of wall carpets and military stuff (i suppose that's nice to see as well but i'm not so interested in that).
Combination of a monestery and art in Madrid
One of the highlights in Madrid was this monastery. Maybe it isn't one of the 'top 10 spots' in the city but this place is definately worth a visit. The only way to visit it, is guided so you have to go there and make a reservation for the English or Spanish tour. The Monestery is full of frescos, relics, sculptures and paintings. The art pieces aren't as well known as those in the Museo del Prado but they are very nice, especially the frescos. It's hard to describe all the rooms. Imagine a 'normal' monestery but then 10 times more beautiful. Go here when you're in Madrid and i promiss you won't regret it!
A must in Madrid
Whether you like art or not, the Museo del Prado is really a must when you visit Madrid. It's one of the largest and most important museums in Europe. Most important in the museum are the paintings from all over the world. Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Rafaël, Velasquez etc. are all represented in the museum. When i was in the museum, someone in the museum was painting the most famous paintings there. I thought that was really nice to see! Besides paintings, the museum also shows sculptures and drawings. The building and gardens around it are already worth visiting. So i can recommend this museum to you!
One of the oldest cafes in Madrid
This cafe is one of the oldest in Madrid. I loved it. You don't have to go here in the evening for a drink or to have dinner. The best thing is to go here in the afternoon and have a lunch or coffee with chocolate cake. The chocolate cake is a must here. The interior of the cafe is really nice but when the wheather is nice you can sit outside on the terrace. From there, you have a beautiful view of the Palacio Real and the Opera. The waiters here are really nice and polite and some of them even speak English, which definately isn't usual in Madrid. The one minor point is that it's a little expensive here.
