So by now, we have visited Sevilla, Vejer de la Frontera, Jerez, Cadiz, and Rota with Kelly, Jamie, Mom, and Dad. Are they tired? Sure. Does that stop the adventure? Nope!
Thursday, November 28: Flights, TukTuks & Prado Art Museum
If you know anything about me, you know I'm famous for booking the cheapest flights and I did it again. This time around, we had to leave the house by 3 am for the three-hour drive to Malaga Airport for our 6:30 am flight to Madrid!
I'm pretty sure Jamie hated me when his alarm went off.
Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport
At least people got to nap on the ride to the airport and again during the one-hour flight to Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport. Once we landed, we hurried out of the domestic terminal to be greeted by Ryan! His flight landed a few hours earlier and now the whole gang is back together!!!
Consigna 24H Plaza Mayor - Lock & Be Free
After making our train journey into the city center, we found a luggage storage locker to drop our bags before stopping for some Starbucks coffee for a morning pick-me-up!
Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great
With coffee fueling our morning, we met up with our TukTuk tour guides, and we split into two rides: one for the boys and one for the girls. The first stop on our tour of the city was at the Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great, famous for the Goya frescos covering the walls and ceiling of the Basilica.
Temple of Debod
The journey continued to the Egyptian monument on the outskirts of the city. That's right. Spain has an original Egyptian temple from the 2nd century. A little backstory: The Egyptian government donated the temple to Spain in 1968. It was dismantled, transported, and rebuilt in the Parque de la Montaña in 1970–1972 after Spain supported an international campaign to save monuments from Nubia, Egypt. It is one of the few works of ancient Egyptian architecture relocated outside Egypt and the only one of its kind in Spain.
Príncipe Pío Mountain Viewpoint
After walking around the Egyptian temple, we enjoyed the city's viewpoint from the park!
Royal Palace of Madrid
During our TukTuk tour we also drove by the Royal Palace of Madrid. (More about that tomorrow!)
Arab Walls: Muralla Árabe
Near the Palace are ancient walls originally built by the Moors when they established the city of Madrid. We learned that the name "Madrid" comes from the Arabic maǧrà, meaning "water source." The Moors built the first city of Madrid north of Toledo (the old capital city) because of its great underground water source!
Pizzart Villa Canalejas
With the end of our TukTuk tour, we were ready for some lunch! Not too far from our drop off point was Pizzart Villa Canalejas. Yep, we were quick to eat Italian in Spain's capital!
Museo Nacional del Prado
This whole day was fueled by coffee, pizza, and adrenaline; we just had to see as much as possible! Next up: the Prado Museum! The Prado is Spain's national art museum and is known for housing iconic works by Goya, El Greco, and Caravaggio.
I apologize for the lack of pictures. You aren't allowed to take photos, even without a flash! I only got to photograph two paintings before I learned this rule from one of the security guys. I will admit, though, this did speed up our visit with Mom!
El Retiro Park: Parque de El Retiro
When we came out of the Prado, the sun was going down and our feet were killing us. We planned to walk through El Retiro Park but when our group looked like the photo below, our walk through the park quickly turned into a walk back home to recoup before the next full day!
On our way home, we stopped in a market to buy a few things for breakfast and laundry at our AirBnB. Refusing to buy more reusable bags, we opted for armfuls of groceries. Clearly, I was not feeling this long walk home!
Day one in Madrid was a whirlwind! We all crashed and burned back at our AirBnB while trying to catch some shut-eye for tomorrow's exploration.
Friday, November 29: Royal Palace, Art Museums & Botin
You won't be shocked to know I booked us the earliest tour of Madrid's Royal Palace, which means we were up and at 'em pretty early! Mom was sure to snap pictures along the walk to the palace to meet our tour guide.
One of her favorite things to snap pictures of were all the shop gates covered in specialized graffiti. Mom was known to stop throughout all our journies so she could snap photos of this city's unique work! Here are a few of our favorites:
Royal Palace of Madrid: Palacio Real de Madrid
At 9:30 am we met our guide and were the first tour group of the day to enter the Royal Palace! The inner courtyard is massive and was a perfect spot for some family photos!
The Royal Palace of Madrid is the largest in Western Europe and one of the largest palaces in the world. (Russia's Kremlin is the only palace larger!) With over 3,418 rooms, this place is massive! It is also one of the few Royal Palaces in the world that is "open to the public," meaning it hosts tours...not that it's free to enter!
During our tour, we learned that the palace is one of the residences of the Spanish Royal Family, but that they choose to live outside Madrid at their country estate instead. The Palace is still used to host international events; President Biden actually visited in 2022 during a NATO event hosted by King Felipe VI of Spain.
Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena
Facing the Royal Palace Plaza is the Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena. Legend has it that in 1083, King Alfonso VI of León expelled the Moors from Madrid and discovered a rare "valuable statue of Mother Mary." After much prayer, the Arab walls surrounding the city crumbled in one area revealing the missing statue and two candles that were still lit from their original hiding. This cathedral was built over the statue and opened to the public in 1993.
Whether the legend is true or not, we enjoyed our time outside the cathedral!
La Musa Latina
Then it was lunchtime! We figured it was time for a traditional Spanish lunch of tapas, and La Musa Latina was the perfect stop for our big group! The gang all tried the famous Spanish tortilla and croquetas, while also enjoying tacos, gyoza, and sangria!
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to visiting Madrid's other two art museums. You can take the art teacher out of North Carolina, but you better be prepared to visit every famous piece in the city you travel to!
The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is a modern art museum known for its collection of Dali surrealist paintings and Picasso's Guernica. Guernica was painted in 1937 in protest of the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Now thought to be the world's most famous anti-war art piece ever made, Guernica stands 11 ft 5 in tall and 25 ft 6 in wide; it packs a statement and it's hard to miss.
UMAMI SPECIALTY COFFEE
Two of the big three museums done, it was now time for a coffee break! Bryan's quick at locating tiny hole-in-the-wall coffee shops, and Umami's Japanese name had us hooked! The coffee was good and gave us the extra energy to visit one more art museum for the day.
Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
Our final Madrid art museum was the Thyssen. This art museum held pieces by O'Keefe, Pollock, Lichtenstein, Mondrian, Cézanne, Kandinsky, Munch, Van Gogh, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Chagall, Monet, Renoir, and so many others! I will say, this art museum had the most notable collection based on the Kimble art education we received from the art teacher/mom!
Plaza Mayor
With all the art out of the way, we headed to Plaza Mayor to check out their Christmas Market. The whole walk there, Bryan and I hyped up European Christmas Markets. We couldn't stop talking about the mulled wine, vintage booths, and good food options we were used to after our visit to Vienna last season.
...but boy did Madrid's Christmas Market disappoint! This place sucked! The booths were filled with nothing but nativity scene figurines and dollar-store-quality crap. We were so bummed out! There's a reason German Christmas Market lists never mention any Spain locations...
Bee Beer Chueca
So instead, craft beer. Bryan and Ryan enjoyed beers at Bee Beer Chueca while we passed some time until our next reservation.
ZAFYRO Cocktail Experience
But the rest of the day did not disappoint! At 6 pm we made it to Zafyro for our first drink of the night! This cocktail bar specializes in musical and Disney-themed drinks, meaning it had our name written all over it! We weren't skipping out on this TikTok find, so we strategically ordered different drinks to get the most out of our experience! Here's what we tried:
Mom: Cats
Dad: Aladdin
Jamie: Frozen
Kelly: Coco
Ryan: Wicked
Bryan: The Lion King
Katie: Mary Poppins
All the drinks were tasty and the beverage presentations were out of this world! Dad and I's drinks included cotton candy as part of the magic, while Ryan's drink used dry ice to bring it to life! While the drinks were on the pricier side ranging from thirteen to fifteen euros each, this experience was one of the tourist pits I was happy to partake in!
Clearly, the music selection met our needs too!
Plaza del Callao y Plaza del Sol
On our way to our dinner reservation, we took "shortcuts" through Plaza del Callao, Madrid's time square with all the big billboards and lights on full display, and Plaza del Sol, which was packed so full of people that the metro stop was closed due to the congestion! Bryan was quick to remind everyone to keep their hands on their valuables; this was a prime pick-pocketing area!
Sobrino de Botín: Restaurante Botin
Lucky for us, our dinner reservation was located right outside of Plaza Mayor! This time we speedily passed the crappy Christmas Market and instead followed our noses to dinner!
Restaurante Botin dates back to 1590 when the building was originally established as an inn. Nearly two hundred years later, the exact same building was renovated and converted into a restaurant on the ground floor and that same brick oven is still used to this day to cook Botin's famous pork dishes. That's right people, the Kimbles ate at the World's Oldest Restaurant!
Lucky for us, we were seated in the underground cavern next to the wine cellar. Ryan and Jamie enjoyed exploring the ancient bottles of wine down there, while the rest of us enjoyed drinking and eating our way across the menu! If there's one thing we are good at, its finding good places to eat and making memories around a dining table!
Dinner ended and we slowly made our way back to the AirBnB. Just look at all those smiling faces; we know how to have a good time!
And the good times will continue in the county's original capital city of Toledo tomorrow!
Stay tuned,
--Katie