Madrid: Day Two

It's amazing what 12 hours of sleep will do for a person's well-being. After a wonderful night's rest and an unusual breakfast buffet, D and I headed off to the Museo del Prado to view the Spanish royalty's art collections from the 15th - 18th centuries. Several hours later, a very cultured D and I picked up lunch and then headed off to the Palacio Real. The Palacio Real was commissioned by Felipe V, but since he died before the palace was finished, it ended up being only 2,800 rooms - a quarter of its intended size. Bummer.  As you can tell from the pictures below, it still ended up a pretty decent sized castle.

D and I in front of the Palacio Real

In the 'guard' house in front of the Palacio Real.

Immediately across from the Palacio Real was the Catedral de Almudena (posted yesterday). Somehow D and I found the Catedral de Almudena and completely missed the Palacio Real. In fact, we also missed the front of the Catedral de Almudena that faces the Palacio Real - go figure!

The front of the Catedral de Almudena (and D's head).

From the Palacio Real we wandered down to the Muralla Arabe, the fortifications built by Madrid's early medieval Islamic rulers. The majority of it was torn down and replaced by a Christian wall.

In order of front to back: D, the Muralla Arabe, and the Catedral de Almudena. I think that might be the Christian wall in between the Muralla Arabe and the Catedral de Almudena, but I'm not sure.

Then it was time for a tasty dinner of suckling pig and off to the bullfight. 

Suckling pig - tasty!

I am not a fan of hurting animals, but the bullfight was definitely an event to see. The matadors are incredibly athletic and decked out in intricately embroidered and bedazzled outfits. And the bulls are terrifying. But don't leave in between matadors! They won't let you back into the amphitheater until the matador has killed the bull (poor bull!) and they are in the process of resetting/cleaning the field.

Matadors entering the arena at the beginning of the bullfight.

Look how close the matador gets to the bull! This particular matador got a standing ovation from the crowd complete with waving white handkerchiefs.

D and me at the bullfight. It was 9 pm and still daylight out!

So far, D and I have both happily managed to avoid terrible sunburns despite the amount of time spent outside. Hopefully, we can continue that trend as we go on a boat ride tomorrow morning and then head off to Barcelona.