Madrid

MADRID Our[| apartment] in Madrid - small (one room), cozy but clean (it was tidy too until we unpacked), airy and right in the middle of everything - lots of cafes, bars and restaurants in the street outside plus within walking distance of the Prado, Plaza Mayor and most major attractions (with a metro station about 100metres away).
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 * [[image:IMG_6413.jpg]] || Wowzers, only a day here and already we are impressed! Madrid is easy to walk around and find your way – it seems to have a very relaxed attitude and is not as frantic as Barcelona appeared to be.

Today we basically just went for a familiarisation stroll. We caught the metro to Puerta del Sol which is a large semi circular plaza and “the” meeting place. In one corner there is a statue of the symbols of Madrid – a bear and a strawberry tree (yeh, we thought strawberries grew on the ground too ….. but ???) || || From there we made our way slowly to Plaza Mayor, Madrid’s grand main plaza, which was constructed by Phillip II in the 1560’s. Here we picked up a map and continued our ramble immediately coming across a food market where people of all walks (men and women in office attire, workers, backpackers etc) were eating and drinking sitting on stools or standing by the bars. It was really quite interesting and we had to stop and have a drink just to savour the ambiance! We then wandered on to the Royal Palace and Cathedral before heading back into the streets and discovering the pub and live music area which we will explore again at night. After a quick map check we walked our way home – we really didn’t need to catch the metro at all as we found we are based within 10 minutes walk from the centre of the city!
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