Day 2: Exploring Madrid

Today we used the self guided tour in our guidebook to see the highlights of Madrid.  It starts in Puerta de Sol which is Madrid's version of Times Square without all the billboards.  They only have one sign on one building for Tio Pepe sherry.  I don't think they even make the drink anymore, but the sign was so loved that they left it up.  The square was a bustling place as a municipal building and several stores are located here.  We also found the best pastry shop in this square - Salon La Mallorquina.  They serve beautiful pastries and cakes with our favorite being the Napolitana.  

We spent a lot of time just wandering the streets.  Many of them have been closed off to cars so it's easy to stroll in and out of the shops and bars.  Several of the bars/restaurants just have walk up bars where you order a quick beer and sandwich and then keep moving.  We really enjoyed this as we just stopped in and got little things to eat during the day.  For breakfast, we popped into an open market and tried one of the breakfast specialities - a churro with hot chocolate.  The chocolate was amazing as it was more creamy and rich than normal hot chocolate.  I can't believe people have this for breakfast...it was soooo good!

Breakfast!

Having lunch in the Plaza Mayor.

Our next stop was the Plaza Major.  Anything important happening in old Madrid would happen here, from political rallies to executions.  Now it is full of restaurants and stores and locals and tourist mill around the square.  While we were there, the King's guard just happened to come through the square.  It was an impressive sight of men and women on horseback in full military regalia.  There was also a horse-drawn carriage in the procession.  Turns out the King was accepting the credentials of a few new Ambassadors to Spain and this is how they were traveling to the Royal Palace.  It was a pretty impressive sight!

Plaza Mayor

We continued to our next stop - the Cathedral de Almudena.  Another beautiful church, but this one had a definite Spanish flair as many of the windows were brightly colored and more modern than what you typically see in these old churches.  After walking through the Cathedral, we had planned on going to the Royal Palace.  However, the Palace was closed due to the ceremony with the Ambassadors.  We almost had a Clark Griswold moment, but luckily there was more to see and one more day in Madrid to try it again. 

We ended our sightseeing by taking in two more art museums - the Thyssen and the Sofia Reina.  More art with a more modern flair and lots of Picasso!

For dinner, we went to Julian de Tolosa and finally had a nice sit down meal.  The menu was sparse, but the steak with roasted red peppers were outstanding.  Of course, we had a good bottle of Spanish wine and ended the meal with a small drink of aguardiente.  In Colombia, this stuff is disgusting, but they sweeten it up here and sip on it as an after dinner drink, so it really wasn't that bad.