A breakfast of chocolat y churros |
We navigate our way back through the Plaza Mayor to the Convento de Corpus Cristi without too much trouble and buzzed our way inside. I'd imagined quite an idyllic scene with us buying biscuits from a sweet elderly run the other side of a revolving door. What transpired was a communication disaster with us unable to understand anything the nun was saying. After what must have been the longest transaction they've ever had departed with our box of biscuits. Even the lady outside who was hassling us for money on the way in had given up waiting for us to reappear.....
The nun biscuits |
I definitely have a sweet tooth, but wasn't the biggest fan of the churros for breakfast finding them quite oily and not very flavourful. The accompanying hot chocolate was excellent though.
I couldn't recap breakfast without mentioning the two Japanese girls who came and sat down at the table next to us while we were eating. One of them was wearing a skirt which could only be described as highly inappropriate. How her mum let her leave the house wearing it I'll never know.....
Jardines Del Campo Moro |
It was another beautiful Madrid park, although not to the heights of the Retiro or Botantical gardens that we had visited on previous days. We had a wonder up the central avenue towards the palace and then along a couple of tree lined paths. On our way back to the exit we had a quick sit in the rose garden and saw peacocks and ducklings near the ponds. There were a few other people around, but it was surprising how quiet the park was.
Madrid Rio |
We bought a couple of drinks and had one of our nun biscuits in the shade while we reassessed our plans. Looking at the map we decided instead to walk up to the laguna instead of original cycling plan. The lake wasn't the most attractive with a few canoeists doing circuits round the outside.
Looking up at the Royal Palace and Cathedral |
It was then a walk up the hill to the Temple de Debod an Egyptian temple which was rescued and moved to Spain when the Aswan dam was built (I think). The guide book got it pretty spot on when it said that the temple looks a bit out of place in the middle of Madrid.
Templo de Debod |
After our late lunch we tool the short walk to the Palacio Real which is free for EU nationals during the last two hours each evening. One of the largest palaces in Europe with over 2,000 rooms, it is no longer home to the Spanish Royal family who live 15km outside of the city.
The palace has just over fifty rooms open the public and seems to get mixed reviews with some people suggesting it isn't worth a visit. All I can say is that the doubters are absolutely nuts.
A view of the cathedral from the palace courtyard |
Once we'd finished looking round the palace we headed back to our apartment before going out for dinner later in the evening. A dinner that turned out to be pretty special with a 'best ever' shout for the food.
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