Madrid. The last leg in my Spain itinerary. Bummer :(
Thanks to the AVE train service, I arrived in Madrid in less than 2 hours.
Madrid was indeed a walkable city. The metro stations weren't that too far apart. Here's a quick breakdown what I managed to cover during my 4D/3N stay
Day 1: Just like in the other cities, I spent the afternoon to get a feel of the city's layout and where things were. I must say I did cover a lot of grounds. I walked to and passed by these places: Cibeles Fountain and Cibeles Palace, Plaza de Colón, Puerta de Alcalá, Gran Via, Plaza de España , Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol. Ok, boleh balik dah (I can go home now). I'm kidding... as usual ;)
Day 2: I retraced back my steps to Palacio Real. After I was done with the palace visit, I walked back to Puerta del Sol to catch a metro to Puerta de Europa and Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Along the way to Puerta del Sol, I stopped at Mercat de San Miguel dan Plaza Mayor.
Day 3: Day trip to Toledo. This shall be covered in the next post.
Day 4: Travel day; flying off to London. But before I headed to the airport, I made a dash for a quick visit to Atocha and Parque del Buen Retiro, passing by Museo del Prado.
Let's move on to the specific landmarks/attractions that were mentioned above...
Plaza de Colón (Columbus Square).
Another monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus.
Plaza de Cibeles.
Here you'd find the Cibeles Palace (City Hall) and Cibeles Fountain.
Puerta de Alcalá (Alcalá Gate) in the Independence Square.
Fuente de Neptuno (Neptune Fountain)
The website Spain.info states "Neptune, God of the Sea, with a trident in one hand and a coiled snake in the other is standing on a chariot, drawn by two sea horses and surrounded by dolphins."
Plaza de España.
Wiki explains that "there's a sculture of Miguel de Cervantes, which overlooks bronze sculptures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza".
Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid).
Picture taking was not allowed inside the palace and the armory, which was a real bummer. The armory was my favorite of the two.
Mercat de San Miguel is a lovely little market. Smaller and not as crowded as Barcelona's Mercat La Boqueria, but looks more chique.
Plaza Mayor.
Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun) is one busy square. Here you could find the kilómetro cero plaque in front of the Post Office and Bear and the Madroño Tree statue.
Puerta de Europa (Gate of Europe).
I didn't stick around for too long because of the rain. According to Wiki, the towers were shot in a song sequence in Sivaji :D
Es stadiue Santiago Bernabeu.
I must say I'm not a big fan of soccer (football) or Real Madrid to that matter but it is still one of the popular landmarks here in Madrid. I did run by Camp Nou when I was in Barca :) The original plan was to walk there from Puerta de Europa because it was only a couple of Metro stops away, however the rain stopped me in my tracks.
Atocha.
The interior of the old train station houses a small tropical rainforest (I guess you may call it that) and a pond with terrapins. It was nothing much, but if you have time to kill at the train station you may hang around this area.
Parque del Buen Retiro.
A very large park, so I only managed to cover the Monument of King Alfonso XII before I had to checkout and head to the airport.
There are also lots of interesting statues and sculptures at the top of buildings, such as these...
If I had to decide between Barcelona and Madrid, I'd definitely choose the former. It seems more fun and spacious to me. Its close access to the Mediterranean Sea is a big plus. Madrid seemed more crowded, especially at Gran Via and Puerta del Sol. There are also several landmarks in Madrid that one couldn't get close to, like those on the roundabouts -- like Cibeles, Neptune, Colón -- or those on the buildings' rooftops.
Again, there should be more pictures in my Madrid album in Flickr.
Thanks to the AVE train service, I arrived in Madrid in less than 2 hours.
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| Córdoba a Madrid |
Madrid was indeed a walkable city. The metro stations weren't that too far apart. Here's a quick breakdown what I managed to cover during my 4D/3N stay
Day 1: Just like in the other cities, I spent the afternoon to get a feel of the city's layout and where things were. I must say I did cover a lot of grounds. I walked to and passed by these places: Cibeles Fountain and Cibeles Palace, Plaza de Colón, Puerta de Alcalá, Gran Via, Plaza de España , Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol. Ok, boleh balik dah (I can go home now). I'm kidding... as usual ;)
Day 2: I retraced back my steps to Palacio Real. After I was done with the palace visit, I walked back to Puerta del Sol to catch a metro to Puerta de Europa and Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Along the way to Puerta del Sol, I stopped at Mercat de San Miguel dan Plaza Mayor.
Day 3: Day trip to Toledo. This shall be covered in the next post.
Day 4: Travel day; flying off to London. But before I headed to the airport, I made a dash for a quick visit to Atocha and Parque del Buen Retiro, passing by Museo del Prado.
Let's move on to the specific landmarks/attractions that were mentioned above...
Plaza de Colón (Columbus Square).
Another monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus.
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| not too sure of its signifance |
Plaza de Cibeles.
Here you'd find the Cibeles Palace (City Hall) and Cibeles Fountain.
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| the City Hall |
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| Cibeles Fountain |
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| From a different angle |
Puerta de Alcalá (Alcalá Gate) in the Independence Square.
Fuente de Neptuno (Neptune Fountain)
The website Spain.info states "Neptune, God of the Sea, with a trident in one hand and a coiled snake in the other is standing on a chariot, drawn by two sea horses and surrounded by dolphins."
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| It's located in a roundabout |
Plaza de España.
Wiki explains that "there's a sculture of Miguel de Cervantes, which overlooks bronze sculptures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza".
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| Not spared from graffiti |
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| Plaza de España |
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| Don Quixote and Sancho Panza |
Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid).
Picture taking was not allowed inside the palace and the armory, which was a real bummer. The armory was my favorite of the two.
Mercat de San Miguel is a lovely little market. Smaller and not as crowded as Barcelona's Mercat La Boqueria, but looks more chique.
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| Olives |
Plaza Mayor.
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| painted façades |
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| bronze statue of King Philip III |
Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun) is one busy square. Here you could find the kilómetro cero plaque in front of the Post Office and Bear and the Madroño Tree statue.
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| The Bear and Madroño Tree |
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| King Charles III statue. Police presence was all over the city |
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| Post Office |
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| The Zero Kilometer plaque |
Puerta de Europa (Gate of Europe).
I didn't stick around for too long because of the rain. According to Wiki, the towers were shot in a song sequence in Sivaji :D
Es stadiue Santiago Bernabeu.
I must say I'm not a big fan of soccer (football) or Real Madrid to that matter but it is still one of the popular landmarks here in Madrid. I did run by Camp Nou when I was in Barca :) The original plan was to walk there from Puerta de Europa because it was only a couple of Metro stops away, however the rain stopped me in my tracks.
Atocha.
The interior of the old train station houses a small tropical rainforest (I guess you may call it that) and a pond with terrapins. It was nothing much, but if you have time to kill at the train station you may hang around this area.
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| A crowd looking at the terrapins |
Parque del Buen Retiro.
A very large park, so I only managed to cover the Monument of King Alfonso XII before I had to checkout and head to the airport.
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| Someone wasn't too keen to get some sun :) |
There are also lots of interesting statues and sculptures at the top of buildings, such as these...
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| near Sevilla metro station |
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| Ministry of Agriculture near Atocha |
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| near Sevilla metro station and Banco de España |
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| near HRC and Plaza de Colón |
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| On Gran Via |
If I had to decide between Barcelona and Madrid, I'd definitely choose the former. It seems more fun and spacious to me. Its close access to the Mediterranean Sea is a big plus. Madrid seemed more crowded, especially at Gran Via and Puerta del Sol. There are also several landmarks in Madrid that one couldn't get close to, like those on the roundabouts -- like Cibeles, Neptune, Colón -- or those on the buildings' rooftops.
Again, there should be more pictures in my Madrid album in Flickr.
wah blog ni patut dapat anugerah tourist guide terbaek!
ReplyDeleteweh apsal tak join Madrid Marathon since dah ada sana Zarin?
ceh kau ni. ada anugerah plak. :P :D
Deletemadrid marathon baru lepas ni 28/4. aku balik sini 2/4 hari tu. tu pun cuti tak de nak cuti lama2.
I must say I wasn't too enamoured with Madrid when I visited a few years back. It's a little, errrm, "atmospherically sterile"? It lacks the liveliness that I'd expect for a Spanish capital. You covered a lot of grounds though - it was trickier for me to do too much since I was there with my gramps, although I did make use of their siesta time to visit the museums: I love Reina Sofia museum!
ReplyDeletei totally agree with you Lil. i picked madrid because it has a more viable option for me to fly to london. might as well check it out, right? good thing i found out about toledo.
Deleteyeah, i heard abt Reina Sofia and actually passed by it when i was walking from atocha to prado. i love how the glass towers added a modern touch. unfortunately i didn't leave enough rooms for any museum visit.