Off to discover Madrid Day 2 Friday 29. We walked towards Puerto del Sol, the small streets in the old part of town are interesting, full of bars and restaurants, we are really staying in the middle of the food centre. We stopped nearby for hot chocolate. Nearby were some interesting market stalls with great jewellery, continued our walk towards Gran Via, the very impressive road with beautiful apartment buildings and shops. We returned to the San Miguel Market for a drink and tapas and wandered around Plaza Mayor watching the buskers and enjoying the atmosphere, still very warm in the evenings.

Madrid Day 3 Saturday 30. We visited the Royal Palace (Palacio Real) this morning and we were very impressed, this is a must do in Madrid. The palace apartments were many and varied and ornate with a vast collection of clocks, art work and the upholstery and chandeliers – all amazing. In the Royal Armoury, there is a collection of armour with horses and fire arms that was extensive and also a collection of jars and herbs from the hospital in the Royal Pharmacy. Next door at the Cathedral of the Almudena, we wandered around inside - there was a service going on. Place is probably bigger than Notre Dame, although very similar in building style. We walked back to our apartment for lunch and siesta.

The afternoon was spent walking around the Botanical Gardens which is more like an enormous park with paved paths crisscrossing through for walkers, joggers and rollerbladers. There is a lake in the grounds where people hire boats and row around in circles, a lovely afternoon for visiting the park. We could hear noise that we thought was a rock concert but as we got closer found it was a gay parade. It was a bit like the Mardi-Gras thousands of people lined the streets and they had closed the streets from the archways of the Puerta de Alcala and the Gran Via. We couldn't believe the numbers it was so crowded.