The Royal Palace


Advertisement
Spain's flag
Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid
August 13th 2016
Published: June 8th 2017
Edit Blog Post

We get up early, or early for us at least, and head off to the Royal Palace. First stop is the Royal Armoury which is on two levels and is full of suits of armour for both soldiers and horses. There also seems to be some armour for children, but we then wonder if maybe it's instead for very small soldiers. Even the biggest suits of armour don't look like they'd fit anyone over about five foot six, and they go down from there to about four foot. The Spanish people we've seen here don't look to be any shorter than anyone else, but maybe everyone was just really short back then. There seem to be about ten suits of armour on display for every one weapon, so their game plan must have had a heavy emphasis on defence.

We walk across a large courtyard to the main part of palace, and up a very large and impressive staircase to the first floor which is where all the state rooms are. A security guard sees a very faint light on Issy's camera which indicates that it's turned on, and tells her sternly to turn it off. They seem to be very strict here in Madrid in not allowing any indoor photography at all. We weren't allowed to take photos in the armoury either, or at the Prado yesterday. I've never quite understood why you're not allowed to take photos in some of these types of places. Only some. We could shoot away to our heart's content last year at Versailles, and in the Louvre. I can understand them not wanting people to take flash photos, because I've heard that the light can be damaging to the artworks, but photography without a flash surely couldn't damage anything. Maybe they just want to make sure you buy photos in the gift shop instead, or maybe they're worried about security. Perhaps they think that someone might take enough photos to be able to work out how to break in and steal the Crown Jewels. We come to the room that houses the Spanish Crown Jewels. The British Crown Jewels are locked away in the Tower of London behind metre thick concrete walls, with state-of-the-art alarms and other security measures. The Spanish Crown is just sitting in a glass case. We don't see any alarms, and no one really seems too interested in it. Issy says that it looks very heavy, and she says she wonders how anyone could wear it and still hold their head up straight. She also says that it doesn't seem to have overly many jewels in it. Maybe this is why it isn't locked away behind metres of concrete. The state rooms are all very impressively furnished and decorated, and the walls are all covered with pictures by famous artists. As we leave the Palace we watch the changing of the guard.

We stop for a drink at a cafe and then walk down a hill to the entrance to the Royal Palace's massive gardens. As we walk in we get a view up to the very centre of the Palace along a wide and very long grassed area, with a fountain midway along it. It's a bit reminiscent of Versailles. The gardens are generally very natural, with lots of very large trees, and not a lot of formal beds. Most of the trees are pines, yet it feels too hot here for pine trees. We wonder what it must be like in winter. The gardens are very peaceful and relaxing, and there aren't many people here, which is a bit surprising given it's a Saturday.

We go back to the cafe we were at before to get some lunch. The waiter was very happy and helpful when we were here before, and was having a good laugh with a large family group, who told him that they came from Belgium. I tell Issy that we should go to Belgium. If these people are anything to go by it would be a lot fun. The waiter is very helpful again, and he moves our table and umbrella around so that we're in the shade. A large English family party then turns up. The father goes inside to the bathroom, and leaves the rest of the party to organise the seating outside next to us. They get the waiter to move tables, move chairs, join tables together, and move umbrellas around in all directions so that they can all sit in the shade. Just as he finishes the father comes back outside and tells the rest of his group to come and sit inside. Our jovial waiter us no longer jovial. He looks like he might be ready to kill someone. We both order vegetable sandwiches, which come out packed with bacon. I think our waiter might have lost his concentration along with his sense of humour.

We finish lunch and move on to the massive Almudena Cathedral, which is next to the Palace. We read that its construction started in 1879 and it was only finished in 1993. It seems that the Spaniards just never quite got around to building a cathedral in Madrid while they were busy conquering the world, which is a bit surprising given the numbers and sizes of the cathedrals we've seen everywhere else in Spain. As has been the pattern everywhere, it's built on the site of a mosque which was destroyed when Madrid was reconquered in 1083. We go down into the crypt which is a maze of columns and arches, and is very impressive - more so than the Cathedral itself.

It's siesta time, so we walk back to the apartment. It's still hot. We've noticed that everyone in Madrid walks on the shady side of the street, and you could shoot a cannon down the sunny side of the street and not hit anything. I'm not sure that this would still be the case in winter. I suspect you'd probably cause carnage if you shot a cannon down the sunny side of the street in winter.

I open my emails and find I have a request to review yesterday's tour of the Prado. I salivate. I give it one star, and head the review "Extremely Disappointing". I've never given anything one star before. I use some expansive language to convey my feelings about the whole experience, and then hit the "submit" button. Within a millisecond I get an email back thanking me for my review. I feel good. Minutes pass. I start to feel not so good. I let the review identify me as David from Australia. I hope they can't work out from that exactly who we are or where we're staying, or maybe they'll come looking for us to exact their revenge. Maybe they'll stop us from leaving the country. I'm sure the email thanking us for our review was only trying to lull us into a false sense of security. I can feel a sleepless night coming on.

We join thousands of people at the Temple of Debod to watch the sunset. The sunset is excellent, as are the views of the setting sun hitting the Royal Palace and the Cathedral. When the sun finally disappears below the horizon everybody claps. I think that this is a good thing. The sun has put on a very good show and it's appropriate that it be applauded. Lights have come at the base of the Temple, and it looks spectacular reflected in the pools around it.

Issy's having raw fish cravings again so we look for a Japanese restaurant. We walk down the very crowded Gran Via and pass a Hare Krishna convention. We don't think that we've seen any Hare Krishna people for about twenty years. There are lots of them here chanting as they dance along in their distinctive robes. We can't find a Japanese restaurant, so we give up and resort to a restaurant in a square near the apartment. I think I've got a fair idea what we'll be having for dinner tomorrow night.


Additional photos below
Photos: 21, Displayed: 21


Advertisement



19th August 2016

Lovely photos

Tot: 0.271s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 52; qc: 197; dbt: 0.1864s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.7mb