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| Posting with a cute scuplture outside Madrid station |
Not a long train ride, just enough to take a nap. We reach Madrid, Capital of Spain... at 20:51.
Took a cab from Atocha Station to Hostal Commercial. Cab fare here is fairly average. You can download apps to get a cab easily. There are many apps used in Spain; Taxify, Cabify and Uber. However, you need a network to get it working. We usually use Taxify.
We had our accommodation with Hostal Commercial. I would say the location is good, as it is walk-able distance to many eateries. It located almost the center of this vibrant city. I would say this is more like a backpacker hotel, simple but they have almost whatever you need.
Settled down our accommodation, our first thing is always to fill up our tummy.
We are pampered with choices of restaurant around us, but they serve almost the same type of food. Our guts-feel tell us that "El Marques" should serve better food. LOL...
From top-left and clockwise:
Seafood Paella - Not too bad, at least better than the one with had in Valencia.
Grilled Fish - Nice and fresh.
Chicken Wing - A bit too oily...
We end our first night in Madrid early as there will be quite a few attractions to visit and our duration in Madrid is the shortest among our stay in Spain.
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Day 4:
Did not really follow the itinerary in order, but we manage to visit all the attractions, and more...
We visit San Miguel Market to have breakfast instead. From the exterior, it looks modern and new.
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Posting at the main entrance of San Miguel Market. Like-wise to other market, huge variety of food,
but this market's main focus is seafood.
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| Not too far from the main entrance, Queen stop at this stall and intend to try the seafood. Price is generally cheaper comparing to what we are having in my hometown. |
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A plate of Oyster that is so huge is only EUR 18, Bamboo Clam at EUR 10 and Scallops at EUR 14.
Gonna be high cholesterol today... LOL
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| You will find more delicious food further down, but we already 饱了. |
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| Left: Egg pancake that have some ingredient in it. We didn't try though. Right: Creative olive for olive lover. Not our dish... LOL |
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| Tried this... Delicious Paella |
Recommended: A "MUST-GO" attraction. We even went there for dinner on the same day.
After satisfying our tummy, we take a slow stroll to Plaza Mayor, which is less than 5 mins walk from the market. It is an open square surrounded by small stalls selling books, ancient coins and notes, and there are several street performers too. Look at the sky. Yes, we are caught in the rain.
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Actually I should not call it "accidentally", because I knew there are bubble tea shop in Spain, but our itinerary did not plan to visit the shop intentionally. There are several branches of WOWBLE! in Spain.
Look at that "Million Dollar" smile... LOL
Ranked attraction in Tripadvisor; Statue of the bear and the strawberry tree. It represents the coat of arms of Madrid.
Nice sculpture, but I never know that strawberry grow on tree. Isn't it suppose to be a plant?
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| Nice ancient building everywhere. |
About 12-15 mins walk along those beautiful ancient buildings, we finally reached Ayuntamiento de Madrid & Fuente de Cibeles.
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Ayuntamiento de Madrid is known as a City Hall. It house space for exhibition, restaurant and theater.
With a small fee, you will be able to go to the observation deck on the 8th floor.
Ticketing counter is close between 2pm - 3pm.
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| Interior of Ayuntamiento de Madrid (1st Floor) |
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Puerta de alcala, known as Triumphal arch. Every countries in Europe seems to have this. Remembering the first that we come across is in Paris. It is suppose to be an entrance to a town during ancient times. Appreciate the stone cravings and elegant sculptures.
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Decided to take a rest after few hours of walking... standing... walking...
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| Madrid Park, just located beside Puerta de alcala. There are a few water fountains, buildings, lake to be appreciate. |
First thing when we enter the park..... ---> pamper our leg by taking a rest in the first cafe we seen in the park.
Definitely have to spend some money in order to secure a space.
We seen people eating this in San Miguel Market, but nobody explain what it is. It looks like noodle-like dish with prawn, but as read in the English menu, it is BABY EEL. Decided to try.
Taste good... to be frank... Princess like it too...
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| Monument to Alfonso XII |
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Our legs still with us... Let's continue and cover tomorrow's itinerary... Royal Palace of Madrid
Ticket: EUR 11 for Adult, EUR 6 for Kid, EUR 2 for audio guide
Ticket: EUR 11 for Adult, EUR 6 for Kid, EUR 2 for audio guide
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| Royal Palace of Madrid... so grand on the exterior We are basically standing on the parade square. |
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| No photo taking allowed. So these are the only 2 photos taken inside the palace. |
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| Illustration of individual rooms in the palace... 太夸张了. |
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| Queen insist to have somebody to take photo for us, as wefie cannot see our family uniform... LOL |
Not only the palace is built on this land, there is a Catholic Cathedral within sight, named Catedral de la Almudrna.
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| Catedral de la Almudrna |
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| Interior of Catedral de la Almudrna |
Promised queen to watch the most beautiful sunset in Madrid, as recommended by some bloggers.
Here we go... Temple of Debod...
We are great on stamina... We cover almost 1.5 days of the itinerary...
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| Temple of Debod is an ancient Egyptian temple. It was demantled and rebuilt in a similiar design to the later Meroitic chapel on which the Temple of Dakka is based. We reach there about 8pm. Sunset will be around 8:50pm during summer. |
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| Wefie while we are waiting for sunset... |
Night view of Temple of Debod is fantastic too.
Have tried to get passer-by to take photo for 3 of us with the 3 structures, but the quality of the photo failed... No choice, but what we have are good enough.
Found another shop that is selling Tapioca Ball with Black Tea, "ZENZOO". It is operated by a Taiwanese couple. Thumb-up to them to bring the original taste to Europe. Princess compared the one we had this morning, this taste much better...
Day 5:
Since we had covered 2 days itinerary into 1, I have to squeeze something out to spend half a day in Madrid, before we head to Barcelona at 1530 hrs.
There are literally 3 options for us:
1) Cable car to enjoy the view. The cable car will bring us to Teleferico de Madrid. Something like an observation deck.
2) Madrid's Theme Park. Surprisingly that the Theme park only open at 12pm, but close at 10pm. So we will only have 2 hours in the Theme park.
3) Madrid Zoo. (Selected)
Ticket price at EUR 69.90 for family of 3
My first experience to the zoo when it is raining... LOL
Time's up !!! We gonna caught a train at 15:30, in order to reach Barcelona at 18:40.
We have a show to catch in Barcelona... What is that??? stay tune...
Yeah!!! Reach lo... so fast...
My first experience to the zoo when it is raining... LOL
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| Good weather indeed. drizzle... stop... drizzle... stop First experience on feeding peacock... LOL |
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| Quite standard type of show in the Zoo... Nothing to shout about, but watch it once in a while is also quite entertaining. |
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| Weird... Found Mickey's family in the Zoo... Ya, they belong to animal too... |
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| First experience on Flamingo feeding too... Especially under heavy rain... LOL |
Time's up !!! We gonna caught a train at 15:30, in order to reach Barcelona at 18:40.
We have a show to catch in Barcelona... What is that??? stay tune...
Yeah!!! Reach lo... so fast...
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