Madrid

About an hour out of Madrid is the castle of El Escorial built by King Phillip II (1527-1598), who was devout catholic.  The inside is gray granite block and sort of plain and ugly (no pictures allowed), except for the beautiful and ornate mausoleum where the kings and queens since Charles V are buried.

 Spain is in a severe depression with 20% unemployed.  We witnessed several strikes while we were there.

 The Royal Palace, known as Little Versailles, was more beautiful inside than the Paris Versailles, built by Philip V (1683-1746), who was French and ruled Spain for 45 years.  No photos allowed inside....  sad, because it was absolutely gorgeous.

 Madrid was full of entertainers, always with hat to toss $ in.

 

 The Palace had it's own "little" garden.

 This fountain was in a peaceful park with the Don Quiote 

statue on the opposite side.

National evening past time:  Peseo, simply walking the streets, shops, and public squares during the 6-8:30pm time slot.  Then you choose a sidewalk cafe for tapas.

 Plaza Mayor was the huge gathering place in town.

 The Andulician horses are very Spanish and really pretty.

Street signs were attached to the corner buildings. 

We used the "bible" of European travel books by Rick Steves.  David thought we needed to eat everything mentioned in there as 

part of the experience.  

Above is the post office.

 Retiro Park was lovely.  Every great city has a great park....

 

Not everything is hundreds of years old.  Madrid does have a modern section of town.