Half-term In Madrid! Hola!

Characters from the Velázquez pictures at the Prado.  These were on the other side of a very busy road so the picture quality isn't great. but I didn't want to get run over!

As mentioned in this post, we had a few days in Madrid over half-term as it's sunnier and slightly warmer than it is here. And we wanted to celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary and my 50th Birthday.

Here's what we did:

• Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, a 85,454 all seater stadium and the home of Real Madrid Football Club.  The Tubblet and Rev T really enjoyed the tour.  Seeing them so happy was lovely.

• Museo Nacional del Prado, one of the finest collections of European art, with works from the 12th century to the early 19th century - Francisco de Goya, Diego Velázquez, El Greco, Titian, Rubens and Bosch.  We spent ages in here, and it was absolutely fascinating.  We were only defeated by a desire for a drink and sore feet.  I think we only saw about a quarter of it. 

• Royal Palace of Madrid, the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family. 

• Santa María la Real de La Almudena, the Catholic Cathedral.  

• Bus tour.  Madrid has a few of these.  We went on one that had two routes, modern and historical, and did them over two days.  This gave us time to get off the bus every so often, potter about and then get back on to go to the next stop whilst seeing lots of the city.  

• Madrid Zoo, one of the few zoos with giant pandas.  Lovely zoo, with lots of different animals, all of whom looked really well cared for in large, spacious enclosures.  There are various ways to get there, including cable car.  (I could have done without Rev T reminding me about the end of Where Eagles Dare every so often).

We really enjoyed ourselves.  If you're looking for an interesting place to spend a few days with lots to do, friendly people and wonderful food and drink, then Madrid is worth a look.  

Have you been to Madrid?  Did you enjoy it?  Let me know in the comments.


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