Beautiful architecture in Madrid
On our second day we had a tour to see Toledo and Segovia. Unfortunately the tour company does not even wait until the scheduled time of departure and they left without us. The problem is that in most tours in Europe the tour companies come to pick you up from the hotel. This tour’s meeting point was near Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas and they just don’t wait at all for the customer. Thankfully Expedia helped us out by rescheduling our tour for the next day with no additional cost to us.
Breakfast
We decided to flip our schedules and go visit the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. On our walk to the museum we stopped by a café and had a nice breakfast with a cappuccino and a pastry each, it came out to around 5 euro. All of it was good and decent.
In the park
On our walk we stopped by Parque de El Retiro and it is a very nice and pleasant park, with some nice sculptures and architectural structures. The park even has an area where you can rent boats and sail around the pond. Right next to the northern entrance of the park is the Puerta de Alcalá, which is the triumphal arch in Madrid. It is a nice structure, a bit plainer and smaller than most, but if you are in the area its worth checking out.
The triumphal arch
We continued to the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and I must say the artwork and the care for the art pieces they have are very good, much much better than in Naples. I have to say they have a wonderful piece from Salvatore Dali, “Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening” and the museum displays it around the corner at the very end. I believe such a wonderful piece by Dali should be displayed with more pomp and circumstance, at least have its own wall. The art in this museum is much more modern, 19th and 20th century mostly. We really enjoyed our day in this museum, it is a must visit.
The Dali painting in question
We grabbed a quick bite at a local café, it was nothing special or disappointing, just average.
In the botanical garden
Afterwards we walked back to the Real Jardín Botánico. It is a very nice botanical garden and I’m positive it is fantastic in full bloom, we came in early spring so not all of the flowers were in bloom, but still plenty of flowers and greenery. They even had a fantastic showing of flowers in art, and it was a very unique artist. I even wanted to buy a piece!
The botanical garden was green in mid-March, not in full bloom yet
For dinner we went to Mercado de San Anton. It had a great selection of small shops that sold tapas sized food. I would recommend getting soft or hard drinks from the supermarket downstairs, it’s at least half the price. The food was very good, we even got home-made cake that they sold in one of the shops.
Our dinner and cost
Our day ended and we were fully exhausted so we went to the hotel and went to sleep. Next day we would need to be up very early for our trip!
Madrid: Day 3; Toledo and Segovia
More photos from our walk
This building is right outside of our hotel
On our walk to the museum
Some more beautiful buildings
A church with great architecture
The public park is well taken care of
The lake in the middle of the park
You can see the rental boats behind us.
Beautiful fountain in the park
In the botanical garden
I’m the monkey on his back 😉
In the botanical garden
The paintings in the botanical garden we loved
The paintings in the botanical garden we loved, part 2