Madrid: Tour of the Madrid and Palacio Royal

Photo by Mary Anne Jensen         

We arrived at the train station in Madrid and transferred to a bus that took us to the Mayorazo Hotel int the middle of the city.  After settling into our rooms, Meg and I decided to take a walk up town and find a place to eat.  We walked toward the Plaza Mayor and found a restaurant off one of the side streets.   We missed having a salads so we started our meal with a large green salad then Meg had a pasta dish and I had chicken.  It was great and the price was modest.  We walked around the side streets to avoid Calle Granvia which was noisy and bustling with fast moving people even in the evening on a Monday night.

Park commemorating Christopher Columbus

The next day we set off after breakfast for a tour of the city.  The bus drove us round the city tyo the large fountain called La Fuente La Cibeles past government buildings  such as the Palacio the Comunicaciones, the National Library, Puerta de Alcala.  We stopped at various parks and took pictures and enjoyed the beautiful weather in Spain!

Jean, Bill and JJ

Amy

Jean point out the hieroglyphics at the Christopher Columbus Park

Sue, Dotty, Tim, and Gene resting by the pool.
Photo by Mary Ann Jensen

Fountain in La Plaza de Cibeles from the bus

Fountain de la Plaza de Cibeles

The Fountain in the Plaza de Cibeles was constucted between the years 1777 and 1782 by

Ventura Rodriguez.  It is named after the Roman Goddess of Nature and the two lions symbolize prosperity and courage. The fountain stand in the square among the Palacio the Comunication as the post office building that is also the Postal and Telegraphic Museum. The Bank of Spain and the Army Building is also in this square.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza

We then stopped at the park commemorating Miguel Cervantes.

Carol poses in front of the Cervantes statue while a giant bird does a fly-by.

People all over the world are reading Don Quixote

We then circled around to the Palacio Real. In front of the Palace is the Plaza de Oriente, a beautiful square with an equestrian statue of Philips IV. The Royal Palace originally bore the same name as the square, Palacio Oriente, or East Palace.  Statues of kings and queens are all over the square. The intention was to put these statues on top of the palace but they were deemed too heavy, so they were placed on the square in front of the palace instead.

Statues of kings and queens

The beautiful Baroque Palace Real was waiting for our appointed time

We had time to explore the gardens and palace grounds before our appointed time to tour the Palace.

Loretta wants to find out if he is real!

Yoga anyone?

Some people will do anything for attention!

Jack and Rosemarie are ready to see the Palace Real.. Let's Go!

We entered the palace in two groups and our guide was really trying to make a mark with us doing his best to speak English.  You could see he really liked his job as he had a smile on his face and made lots of jokes engaging us with questions and comments.   He explained about the Palace.
The Royal Palace is the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family but it is only used for state ceremonies.  King Juan Carlos and the Royal Family live in a modest Palacio de la Zarzuela on the out skits of Madrid.  The Palace is owned by the state and public agency of Ministry  of the Presidency.  It is open to the public by appointment with a touring guide.  We had to wait for our appointed time before we went in.

It was built on the site of a 9th century fortress "Alcazar" that was built by Muhammad 1 of Cordoba. After the defeat of the Moors it was not used  by the Christian kings until Philip 11 moved his court to Madrid in 1561.  The old Alcazar burned down in 1734.  King PhillipV had a new palace built in the same place and the new palace was occupied by Charles 111 in 1764.
The Palace Royal is the largest palace in Europe by floor area and is notable for its art, interior decoration of the rooms, paintings by Caravaggio, Velasquez, Goya and huge frescoes by notable artist.  The building also houses collections of Royal Armory, Porcelain, Watches, Furniture, and Silverware.  I asked the guide if he knew about Potosi, Bolivia because I remember my grandfather having a large collection of silver plates like the ones in display cabinets.  His eyes lit up and said, "We have a saying that when a person is very rich, he is as rich as POTOSI!"  I had hear of this before and it was clear that they knew where it came from.

On the ground floor we entered the Royal Library.  Most of the books on the shelves were purchased by Charles 1V and Alfonso X11.  On display there is also a selection of the best medals from the Royal Collection. Among the important books found there the following books:   Book of Hours of Isabella 1 of Castile, a codex of the time of Alfonso x1 of Castile, a Bible of Dona Maria de Molina and Royal Feasts by Firinelli.  Also there were interesting maps made by cartographers as far back as Columbus' time.  The Archives of the Royal Palace has about twenty thousand dossiers from the decade of 1823-33  to the republic of 1931.   It also has Royal correspondence of the house of Burbon.

During the reign of Philip 11 the Royal pharmacy became an appendage of the royal family and ordered the supply of medicines, a role that continues today. The bottles were made in factories of La Granja de San Iidefonso and Buen Retiro.

Bottles of medicine in the Royal Pharmacy

The Royal Armory has some of the most important pieces of this art in Europe.  Part of the armory was lost during the Peninsular War and during the Spanish Civil Was.  It does still have the wonderful pieces of tournament armory made for Charles V and Phillip 11.  Among the most remarkable pieces is the armory and full tools that Emperor Charles V used in the Battle of Muhlberg. A famous equestrian portrait by Titian is displayed in the Museo del Prado

  We entered and faced the long staircase, a dread to some of us who were physically challenged.  He did point out that the stairs were made with only a two inch elevation to make the rise easy for the queen.  It made the rise easy for us as well!

We proceeded though various rooms with wonderful portraits of king and frescoes on walls.
Each room was distinctive in its own decorative design so much so that it would make an interior decorator jump with joy.  The dining room with the long table and beautiful chandelier was quite awesome to see.

Royal Dining Room

Another room was the porcelain room with fine porcelain from all over the world.

A small sample of porcelain

Other rooms had display of silver plates, watches, and Stradivarius violins and other string instruments made by the same company.

By now our guide was rushing from one room to the other, and we were barely able to keep up.
It was toward the end of the tour and he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. We had walked through the entire Palace and it was pretty much all we could handle too, so when he lead us out to the sunshine again, we were ready to go.