Madrid - July 24,2014 - Last Day and Final Blog Post

After handling the phone theft issues, Dave and I got back into touring Madrid. Most of the major attractions are in central Madrid and within walking distance of our hotel. The most important attraction is the huge Prado museum, which took most of yesterday to tour, just hitting the highlights. Unfortunately all of our pictures from yesterday were on the stolen "gypsy" iPhone, so nothing to post from that or from our extensive bicycle tour on the prior day. Today we returned to hiking around by foot, crisscrossing the city for closer looks at some of the sites visited briefly during the bike tour. 

City hall is located on Plaza Mayor - a very large square that was once the scene of bullfights and Inquisition trials and executions. 

The nearby Mercado San Miguel was originally built in the early 1900's, fell into disrepair, but was brought back to life in 2003. It's a beautiful iron and glass building. Instead of air conditioning it uses a misting system to keep patrons cool.

The market sells fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and seafood, and is full of tapas stalls. Tourist and locals gather around 4 in the afternoon to enjoy a beverage and tapas after work. 

This plate holds barnacles. We enjoyed these as a first course at our hotel in Finisterre.  Each barnacle has a tiny piece of meat. Very salty. A lot like picking crabs. 

The Gran Via is a major road in Madrid central. It was built in the early 20th century, so there are no really old buildings.

Looking west. 

Looking east.

The Royal Palace rivals Versailles in size and over-the-top ornamentation. It has 2000 rooms and was built in the early 18th century after the previous palace was destroyed by fire. Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother ruled here for a few years. 

These statues (108 in all) of previous kings of Spain were originally meant for the palace roof, but the king's mother had a dream that one fell on her during an earthquake.  So instead, they were placed throughout various rooms in the palace. Eventually, someone had the bright idea of placing them around Madrid, and even as far away as Burgos.

The Royal Palace from the outer courtyard. 

The ceiling fresco in the main entrance.  Most of the public rooms had large ceiling frescos.

The inner courtyard.

Unfortunately, we were not permitted to photograph inside.

Overlooking the former Royal hunting grounds that is now a public park 10 times bigger than Central Park in New York City. 

We took the Teleferrico (air tram) over and into the park. There really isn't much there.  Madrid is in a desert-like climate, so the green in the picture above is misleading. Once over the park, dry dust paths criss crossed the area.

As our trip comes to an end with tomorrow's return flight, we have one pressing question to answer soon. 

Does David's beard stay, or does it go?