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| Madrid's Royal Palace, from the Madrid Tourism website |
This is the fourth post in Our Camino Journey. Other entries include Discovery, Porto, Portuguese Stages, and Spanish Stages
To wrap up our Camino Journey and get us to a city to fly out of, we took a high-speed train to Madrid. In 3 hours we went 371 miles, compared to the previous 12 days in which we walked about 172. Our stop in Madrid was designed as a reward to ourselves for completing our Camino. It did feel rather strange since for more of our journey so far we had been walking 12-18 miles a day, having our coffee stops and afternoon lunch breaks in small bars along the Camino. Now we’re in a huge city with amazing architecture and incredible sites around every corner. Still managed 14k steps. Madrid is simply stunning.
On our first full day in Madrid, we took the Hop On/Off Bus Tour (I figured we probably could skip the walking LOL) and enjoyed a ride around about half the city just to see where we might want to explore more. We then hopped back in to get to Grand Via in search of a place for lunch, with our sites set in the Museum of Ham. Yep. But more walking and shopping and still ended up with almost 14k steps.
The highlight of the day was the Parque de el Retiro, an expansive park on the east edge of the old city. The park belonged to the Spanish monarchy until 1868, when it became a public park following the Glorious Revolution. The park is over 350 acres and has gardens, monuments, galleries, an artificial lake, and event-hosting venues. There is a very extensive rose garden, with roses from all over the world. So much history in every corner!
Our last day in Madrid we took the advice of our travel advisor and booked a tour of the Royal Palace. I usually say I don’t like tours that much, but every time we take one it’s always so interesting and you can learn so much more than just wandering around 
. Our first stop was Plata de Lavia, where there are three buildings from three different centuries. First, a Muslim building from the 15th century (Spain was once Muslim for almost 800 years, from 711 to 1492), then the Cisnetiz house from the 16th century, and lastly, the Old City Hall from the 17th century.The Royal Alcázar of Madrid was a fortress located at the site of today's Royal Palace of Madrid. It was at this time that the fortress was converted into a royal palace, and Madrid became the capital of the Spanish Empire. The first extension to the building was commissioned by King Charles I and completed in 1537. As famous for its artistic treasures as it is for its unusual architecture, it was the residence of the Spanish royal family and home of the court, until its destruction by fire during the reign of King Philip V on Christmas Eve 1734. A new palace was then built from scratch on the same site, with construction spanning the years 1738 to 1755. The palace has 1,450,000 sq ft of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms, making it the largest royal palace in Europe.
The first king to live in the palace was Charles III of Spain of Naples, and one of the first statues you see as you enter the palace is Charles III, dressed as a Roman. Pompeii was discovered when he was King of Napoli and he was fascinated with the Romans. He wanted visitors to admire all of the artwork. Many of the ceilings are done in fresco, and many Italian artists were working in Spain and Madrid, specifically on the palace. We saw the Hall of Columns, a Banquet room, with designs done by Raphael. The King's dressing room includes several clocks, including one of Kronos, the God of Time, that took 55 years to complete.
We toured the King's Bedroom, the Porcelain Room (look at the photos that appear to have vines on the wall, and the cherubs holding up the lights; that is all porcelain), the Silver collection, and the glasses and table services for each of the monarchies. One of the last rooms is the Throne room, which appears exactly the same as when the king lived here. The last King to live in the palace was Alfonso XIII, and after 1931 all royal property became public property.
We then walked across the courtyard to the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Royal of the Almudena (the door is very large and black), Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great (beautiful ceiling above the rotunda), and then on to the Puerta de Toledo, or the Toledo Gate ( inaugurated in 1827, it was the last monumental gate to be built in Madrid. This impressive granite construction began to be erected in 1812 on Joseph Bonaparte´s orders. A year later, after the withdrawal of the French army from Spain, work on the gate continued, and the Puerta de Toledo became the reception place for King Ferdinand VII, as reflected in one of the friezes.
Our Camino journey was coming to an end, and what a wonderful way to enjoy the beautiful country of Spain.
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