Madrid
7/10/2025
We spent the day in Madrid which is about 55 miles from Segovia and pretty much smack dab in the center of Spain (for anyone who needs a little brush up on their geography!). We chose to take the bus over the fast train as it was about a third of the price and we still had Madrid train station trauma from our initial arrival in Spain! We arrived in the main bus station of Madrid at about 10:00 am. And once again, another huge station with terrible signage. After a little wandering, we found our connection.
We eventually made it to the main plaza (Plaza Mayor – same name as all the other main plaza’s in Spain) where we met our guide for a walking tour. The plaza looks pretty much like all the other Spanish plazas with political buildings and lots of restaurants. There is also a large statue of King Phillip III who was considered one of the worst kings in Spain’s history. It was built in 1616, and later moved to Plaza Mayor.
We did the walking tour which was pretty interesting and promptly forgot all the history we had learned. After the walking tour, we went to a fabulous market for lunch (Marcado de San Miguel – I highly recommend it if you are ever in Madrid). This market is more like a giant food hall, not a market where you buy groceries or trinkets. It is similar to the Time Out Market in Lisbon if you’ve been there. We wandered through stall after stall of vendors with delicious looking food and wine. First, we settled on some pintxos and sangria and just bellied up to the counter to eat them. Then we wandered for additional grazing and chose some empanadas and more sangria and found a couple stools at a long table that ran down the middle of the market.
Here is where the Madrid Market story goes a little off topic… While I headed off to get more drinks (my wine was 3 euro and Grady’s IPA was 8.50 euro – let that be a lesson to you all!) Grady struck up a conversation with two ladies sitting across the table (or course he did – it’s Grady!). They were in town for a music festival so we were discussing concerts. She (New Zealand lady) mentioned taking her daughter to see Taylor Swift. The conversation went basically as follows:
Us: Getting tickets in the US is crazy impossible and insanely expensive. Some people actually go to Europe to see her because it is cheaper.
Her: I heard of that! I was talking to some girls in the merch line when we went to the concert in Amsterdam last July who did exactly that.
Us: That is the exact concert our future daughter in law went to!
Her: No way… there is no way I was talking to your future daughter in law. She was maybe late 20’s, long light brown hair, and traveling with a couple friends.
Us: Here is a picture of her (pulled up a photo of Erica)
Her: Wow… I am not positive, but I really think that could be her.
After a few text messages with Erica, we produced a photo of Erica and her girlfriends at the Amsterdam Taylor Swift concert. It was DEFINITELY her! Lot’s of “NO WAY”s and “HOLY CRAP”s!
What a small world - we are in Madrid, talking to a woman from New Zealand, who briefly met (and remembered) our future daughter in law a year ago in Amsterdam. How is that even possible!
Ok, back to OUR day. We left the market and failed to take a single photo (3 drinks each remember!) and headed to the Royal Palace of Madrid. Construction began in the 18th century, so not really that old by European standards. On this site there had previously been a much older Alcazar, but it burned and they started from scratch to build the current structure.
This thing is OVER THE TOP! It has 3048 rooms (that’s not a typo… over THREE THOUSAND rooms). We probably toured about 30 of them. Each more opulent than the previous one - One room is made entirely of porcelain! The dining room table can seat 120 guests!
Phillip V had this palace built… Yep, if you have been paying attention, that’s the same guy who had the La Granja Palace built. La Granja was his primary home while this ridiculous thing was being built, but Phillip V never lived in the Royal Palace of Madrid as he died before it was completed. Once finished in 1764, this became the official residence for Spanish kings and queens. While it is still the official residence of the Spanish monarchy, they have not resided here since 1931. It is now only used for events.
We wrapped up our Madrid day at the roof top bar on top of the Riu resort. It was SPECTACULAR!
Below you can add a comment: type your text in the white box and then Post Comment. If you get a second panel, you just need to enter your name and then hit ‘comment as guest’.
Be nice with your comments, we can always delete them 😊
