Three In Madrid First Full Day

Backblip

Up early and all packed up ready for a full day of exploring Madrid. It was cloudy at 9am around 11 degrees but the sun would be out by lunchtime.

Little Cafe just up the road from the apaRtment served fab fresh made croissants, coffee perfect and freshly squeezed orange juice too. Didn’t hang about we were raring to go.

Our first stop was the Retiro Park ( formerly owned by the Spanish monarchy) but getting there we passed one of the top museums in Europe, the Prado, magnificent building and huge! Passed it and up by Independence Square which had a large garden in front full of purple and white crocus in full bloom.

The bike shop was open for the main event for Ben, hiring of e bikes for one hour. I must say we had such fun on them in the park. It’s not a small park it covers a massive area (350 acres) with lots of statues, paths, boating lake, colonnade, Cristal Palace , bands playing, street performers, outdoor gym, memorial to the 2004 Madrid attacks, and so many trees. It was also spotlessly clean. we absolutely loved it.

After the bikes were returned we had an hour on the row boats , not too busy either.

So that was done and next stop was a walk to a famous Churros Cafe which is open 24 hours! Ben was really looking forward to this after the cycle. We walked up one of the main streets of Madrid the Gran Via and stopped for some photos in the Puerta del Sol one of the main public squares in Madrid. Quite a number of street acts out in the sunshine but not too many tourists around. The churros were magnificent as seen in the extra photo Ben drinking the chocolate from the cup well you cannot waste a drop LOL!!

More walking up past the Royal Palace to the Delbod Temple which is an ancient Egyptian temple rebuilt in Madrid. We mostly sat here for some snacks as the view was fab. We were on our way to the Faro de Moncloa which has a panoramic lift that takes you up 92 metres to the top with the observation deck - the views were amazing - worth the walk.

We decided walking back was a step too far and got the metro back to Atocha and a short walk to the apartment.

A FaceTime with mummy and daddy showing them the apartment and tales of today and we were off out for pizza.

Today we walked 24k steps and there wasn’t one grumble from Ben. Only laughs and stories. Oh, and sunshine, no storms here thankfully!!

Great day