![\"Plaza](\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/wAankTM.jpg\")
<\/a><\/br>Plaza del Callao on Rainy Morning<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
After we checked out of our hotel near Plaza del Callao, the first stop of the day was Plaza Mayor, which wasn’t very far and we reached there on foot.<\/p>\n <\/br>Rainy Street of Madrid<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Plaza de San Mart\u00edn<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Tower of Iglesia de San Gin\u00e9s de Arl\u00e9s<\/br>Church of San Gin\u00e9s<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Gate of Iglesia de San Gin\u00e9s de Arl\u00e9s<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Archway Leading to Plaza Mayor<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buildings around Plaza Mayor<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n This building was called Casa de la Panader\u00eda (Bakery House) and served municipal and cultural functions. <\/br>Statue of Philip III in Plaza Mayor<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Statue of Philip III in Plaza Mayor<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Statue of Philip III in Plaza Mayor<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buildings around Plaza Mayor<\/p><\/div> <\/br>San Miguel Market<\/br>It’s still before its opening time, so we walked on.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Stalls in San Miguel Market<\/p><\/div> <\/br>San Miguel Market<\/br>It’s still before its opening time, so we walked on.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Balcony Art<\/br>Gay, Straight and Lesbian.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buildings along Calle Mayor<\/br>They certainly got style.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Plaza de la Villa and Madrid City Hall<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Iglesia Catedral de las Fuerzas Armadas de Espa\u00f1a Facade<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Italian Cultural Institute in Madrid<\/br>Restored 17th-century palace housing the Italian cultural institute, hosting music & arts events.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buildings along Calle Mayor<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Our next stop of the day was Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena (what a long name…), the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid. <\/br>Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena Exterior<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Building in Pink by Madrid Royal Palace<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Royal Palace of Madrid Plaza<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Royal Palace of Madrid<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Plaza de Oriente<\/br>19th-century plaza with formal gardens surrounded by sculptures of past Spanish monarchs.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Dog Yard near Plaza de Oriente<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena Facade<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n The museum of Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena featured mosaic arts of Bible stories, collections of the Church, and exhibitions about its history, particularly of its consecration by Pope John Paul II in 1993. The museum offered free audio guide through its WiFi. <\/br>Royal Palace of Madrid from Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Sculpture of Apostles on Roof of Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Real Bas\u00edlica de San Francisco el Grande from Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Emir Mohamed Park<\/br>Next to the Muslim Walls of Madrid as probably the oldest building in the city.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>East Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Towers of Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena before Royal Palace of Madrid<\/p><\/div> <\/br>West Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Sculpture of Apostles on Roof of Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Real Bas\u00edlica de San Francisco el Grande among Buildings in South Madrid<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Spires of Central Madrid<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n The exit of the museum tour was inside the cathedral, so we got the chance to sit and relax and contemplate in its pews while admiring its beauty and magnificence. <\/br>Ceiling Decorated with Patterns<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Organ of Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Statue of Crucified Christ<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Altar at the Side of Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena Interior<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Sculptures in Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena Chapels<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Choir of Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Then there was the Royal Palace of Madrid. It would be a nice move to purchase its entrance ticket online, as there were actually two queues at the entrance, one for ticket-holders and one for non-ticket holders, although everyone was waiting in the latter line.<\/p>\n Royal Palace of Madrid was a store-your-bag-but-not-your-camera site, but it took us quite some time to find a working locker.<\/p>\n <\/br>Forest West of Royal Palace of Madrid<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Archway in Royal Palace of Madrid<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena from Royal Palace of Madrid<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n The Royal Palace of Madrid offered a Samsung phone as its audio guide (hope it won’t explode…) at a price tag of 3 Euro per use, which was essentially an Android app that comes with earphone rental. However, one could download the same app at Google’s Play Store at a price of 1.99 Euro. <\/br>Sculpture in Royal Palace of Madrid<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Doorway in Royal Palace of Madrid<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Ceiling Fresco and Internal Decorations<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Ceiling Fresco<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Entrance Staircase in Royal Palace of Madrid<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n No photos were allowed in the majority of rooms in Royal Palace of Madrid.<\/p>\n <\/br>Royal Palace of Madrid Inner Court<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Royal Palace of Madrid Inner Court<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Light Falling through Windows<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Royal Palace of Madrid Facade<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Plaza Ramales<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Felipe IV Monument before Royal Palace of Madrid<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n After that, we finished our lunch in a McDonald’s restaurant near Opera Madrid, as we were quite surprised that all the McDonald’s signs in Spain seemed all to be in green instead of the more commonly perceived seen red. <\/br>Orange Juice by McDonald’s<\/br>Oh, so they were offering this healthy option besides their Cokes?<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Opera Madrid<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Real Cinema – Teatro Cine<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Statue of Isabel II before Opera Madrid<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Madrid Metro Opera Station Entrance<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n It was 1430 in the afternoon when we finished lunch, and we were pretty much done with downtown Madrid. So we decided that our next stop would be El Retiro Park in Eastern Madrid. <\/p>\n <\/br>Train Entering Madrid Metro Opera Station<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Mural in Madrid Metro Retiro Station<\/br>It lightened up the whole commuter spirit.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Puerta de Alcal\u00e1<\/br>Gate of the former Walls of Philip IV, regarded as the first modern post-roman triumphal arch built in Europe.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Puerta de Alcal\u00e1<\/br>Gate of the former Walls of Philip IV, regarded as the first modern post-roman triumphal arch built in Europe.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Visitors to El Retiro Park were mostly local people hanging out, and quite to my surprise, black people selling selfie stick. <\/p>\n <\/br>Fountain Decorated with Turtle and Toad in El Retiro Park<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Estanque Grande del Retiro<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Trimmed Plants in El Retiro Park<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Alfonso XII Monument<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Fountain in El Retiro Park<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n One of the major attractions in El Retiro Park was Palacio de Cristal, which was built entirely of metal and glass in 1887 to exhibit flora and fauna from the Philippines, then a Spanish colonial possession.<\/p>\n <\/br>Palacio de Cristal Exterior<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Palacio de Cristal Exterior<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Palacio de Cristal Interior<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Palacio de Cristal Interior<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Palacio de Cristal Exterior<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Trees in El Retiro Park<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Statue of the Fallen Angel<\/p><\/div> <\/br>High Tree in El Retiro Park<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n I know it’s winter and it’s supposed to be cold, but I wasn’t expecting my phone’s battery to die out of the cold termperature that afternoon.<\/p>\n So after El Retiro Park and before heading for the airport for the evening flight to Marrakech, we decided to pay another visit to Museo Nacional del Prado (Since it offered free admission to students).<\/p>\n <\/br>A P\u00edo Baroja Monument<\/br>A Spanish writer and key novelists of the Generation of ’98.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment Building<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Madrid Atocha Railway Station Exterior<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Statue of Bartolom\u00e9 Esteban Murillo in Murillo Plaza<\/br>A Spanish Baroque painter.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Statue of Vel\u00e1zquez before Museo Nacional del Prado<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buildings along Calle Gran V\u00eda<\/br>Near our hotel.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n END<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last day of our three-day stay in Madrid before heading off for Marrakech. The plan of the day was to visit the attractions in the city, the two most important were Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2348"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2785,"href":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348\/revisions\/2785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe images in this post are hosted on Imgur. Email me should there be any display problems.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>
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\nIn the center of the Plaza was a statue of Philip III, during whose reign this plaza was built.<\/p>\n<\/a>
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\nAdmission to the cathedral was free, however, there was a separate admission to its museum and clock tower which started at 10am. However, by the time we arrived there, it was like 15 minutes early, so we waited out the time in the nearby Plaza de Oriente watching dog owners having fun with their dogs.<\/p>\n<\/a>
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\nOh, I shall mention that no photos were allowed inside the museum.<\/p>\n<\/a>
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\nCatedral de Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de la Almudena was a relatively modern cathedral compared with the other cathedrals we saw in the previous days (Toledo and Segovia), so featured one giant nave with the majority of seats, rather than scattered side chapels.<\/p>\n<\/a>
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\nAnd because that app needed WiFi to work, the Royal Palace of Madrid offered free WiFi to its audio guide phones, which others could also connect to.<\/p>\n<\/a>
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\n<\/a>Is it a tribute to the Muslims ancestors that once roamed this land?<\/del><\/p>\n<\/a>
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