Palacio Real

Monday morning we enjoyed some pastries and made our way to the Palacio Real. Begun by King Felipe V, construction of this palace took 26 years, at which point King Carlos III was enthroned. The palace plaza and surrounding buildings are quite impressive. There are 2800 rooms, visitors are allowed in about 50. Photography is not allowed inside the Palace (although a few signs seemed to indicate that only *flash* photography wasn't allowed, so before our misunderstanding of signage was corrected, we captured a few photos, which I now share with you!)


















The palace overlooks west Madrid. Surrounding the palace are beautiful gardens. We enjoyed the Jardines Cabo Noval.












We then made our way to Plaza de Espana, with a bronze statues of Miguel de Cervantes, with his famous characters Don Quixote and sancho Panza at his feet. The graffiti behind the fountain evokes Spain's current economic crisis (although we saw more evidence of economic decline in Portugal). I leave you with another street scene and some graffiti that caught my eye. Tonight, we're watching the Spain-Croatia EuroCup match. Tomorrow, Lila and I leave Madrid, she'll fly to Atlanta, and I'm heading to Paris.
Adiós!