Off to Madrid for the second half of the visit to Spain. I found out that instead of taking three trains to get to to hotel there was an express airport bus with a stop just down the street. Even with the close proximity of the bus stop, it was pretty tough work taking luggage up Gran Via for about one kilometre.
There was still a few hours left in the day, so we set off down Gran Via towards the Royal Palace of Madrid. It's hard to judge, but it certainly seemed bigger and better than the London equivalent. It also had some nice gardens surrounding it and some kind of cathedral next door, which was just as good. Amir wanted to visit the Atletico Madrid stadium for another tour! so we headed off in that direction. This part of Madrid has a strange layout, sort of an upper level and a lower level, which are separated by a steep bank. The lower level also goes through a tunnel under Madrid and I suppose somewhere out the other side. Not something you see very often in town planning.
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| Plaza de Espana. |
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| Royal Palace of Madrid. |
Anyway, after passing by San Francisco el Grande Basilica we eventually found some staircase in order to get down to the lower level and on to the Vicente Calderon stadium. I needed a break for stadiums for a day, so just took some photos and headed back.
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| Estadio Vicente Calderon. |
I walked back down Calle Mayor which runs alongside Gran Via, with the Puerta del Sol square in the middle, which is an intersection point for a number of streets. I also had a look at Plaza Mayor, which is like Grand Place in Brussels but not quite as good. Lots of neat looking stores around this area of the city though - market, food, clothes, souvenirs etc. I even found a self serve frozen yoghurt store! The excitement didn't last long though, I came back later in the evening for some tasty yoghurt, only when I activated the machine it went crazy and I ended up with yoghurt all over my pants and shoes instead.
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| I think this is Almudena Cathedral. |
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| Plaza Mayor. |
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| Gran Via at night. |
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| City Hall at Plaza de Cibeles. |
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| Where Superman lives. |
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