Mi Familia Esta en Espana: El Tercer Dia

On the third day we went to Café Rojo for breakfast and had postre, or croissants, and coffee with milk, or café con leche to drink. Then once again we took the train into Madrid for the day. We took the metro into Plaza del Sol and then I was able to use my Mom’s tour book to give them a brief walking tour on the way to the National Palace. We walked through Plaza Mayor and then to San Miguel’s Market, and then to the town all. On the way we stopped at this convent that is home to cloister nuns. This means that the nuns took a vow to never see anyone again so their only communication with the outside world is to see cookies that they bake through this revolving window. We bought a box of these orange shortbread cookies that were delicious.

After the brief walking tour we went to the National Palace, which is the palace that the king and the queen use for important political events and celebrations. In the past the kind and queen lived here but now they live in palace outside the center. The palace is decorated in the style of Charles III, who was the first king to live in the completed palace. We got the audio-guide for the palace so we were able to understand all the rooms. The palace was amazing. Every room was elaborately decorated and had furniture that represented the time period and purpose of the room. Also, most of the rooms had a color scheme to them and had several clocks because Charles III was an avid collector of beautiful clocks. There were also huge chandeliers in all the rooms and some of them even weighed 2 tons. After touring the palace we went to the royal armory, which houses various armor from the history of Spain. It was interesting to see the various types of armor the soldiers had to fight with.

Royal Palace

Following the tour of the palace we walked straight across from the palace and went to the Cathedral of Almudena, which serves as the Royal Church. This church is only 70 years and was only recently consecrated by the Pope in 1993. The church has brightly painted ceilings and is where royal weddings occur and such. Recently the King’s son got married here. Then we walked down to the Basilica de San Francisco, which is known as the Sistine Chapel of Madrid because Goya created a masterpiece by painting the ceiling of the chapel. However, unfortunately the basilica was closed for the day. After, we headed back to Sol for lunch. We went to this restaurant known as De Mondaditas, which was similar to the restaurant I went to in Valencia but there were only 75 little sandwiches to pick form. Next we headed back to Alcala to go get ready for the night because we were going to a flamenco show known as the Corral de la Moreria. Before the show we went to this restaurant known as Colby’s, which is an urban restaurant that had this really cool atmosphere and the food was delicious. After we went to this is a famous traditional flamenco show. The dancing and the outfits were unbelievable. We then went back to Alcala for the night.

Royal Chapel