After spending so much time in Spain, we were very excited to be visiting the Capital. Unfortunately the temperatures are on the increase so we had to make the decision to do a whistle stop tour in a day as it was going to be too hot to leave the dogs going forward.
We decided to stay at a campsite of the edge of Aranjuez and catch the train into Madrid. The campsite offered plenty of shade for the dogs and the trains were every 20 minutes and cost 8 euros each return. The train took about 35 minutes and took us right into Sol which is bang in the centre of Madrid.
Our first stop was the food market which dates back to 1916.
The market offered a great variety of foods from tapas to plates of lovely foods and a large selection of drinks too.
We paid two euros and visited the Cathedral which was surprisingly new and very modern inside. It even had LCD televisions at the end of the pews!
We walked a little further down the street and admired the Royal Palace which was built in the mid 1700’s. The palace is on the site of Madrid’s Moorish Alcazer which burned down in It is the largest royal palace in Western Europe and has a blend of baroque and neoclassical styles.
We wandered through Plaza Mayor which is a very beautiful square and full of street artists. Unfortunately we couldn’t take a picture as they were setting up a stage right in the centre of it!
We wandered towards the park and headed up to see the Temple of Debob. This shrine was originally erected 9.3 miles south of the Aswan in Egypt. Due to the Aswan dam and the consequent threat posed by its reservoir UNESCO made an international call to save this Temple and it was donated to Spain in 1968 and was opened to the public in 1972.
The views from the park were stunning.
We headed back along Gran Via which is Madrid’s entertainment, shopping and cultural nerve centre. There were plenty of restaurants to choose from and we opted to stop and have pizzas.
Unfortunately that is all we had time for. So nearly 18,000 steps and 7 miles later we were ready to get the train back.
