We started the day off with a continental breakfast at our hotel, Hotel Mayorazgo, where they had all kinda of breakfast options: American and Spanish. You could have American scrambled eggs and toast with jam, and cereal, or Spanish tortilla, pan con tomate and jamón.
We then met downstairs to start our day off at 9:20am. It was nice being able to sleep in that much after such a tiring day yesterday. We then proceeded to our bus city tour of Madrid. Our guide was very knowledgable and even talking about la plaza de toros in Spanish! We also got to see the Royal Palace from the outside where it just so happened a ceremonial military march was going on for the new king of Spain (Felipe). Juan Carlos abdicated last week!
We then got a chance to visit the Reina Sofía Museum of modern art. It was there where we got to see in person the Guernica by Picasso and other works by Dalí and Miró. As Dalí and Miró were both from Cataluña, we'll see more of their works later in Barcelona.
Next, we had lunch with our group that consisted of lentil soup, lomo and patata.
To continue our day, we were then able to visit the lovely city of Toledo, about an hour south of Madrid that was a major inspiration for el Greco We were able to see "El entierro de señor Orgaz", his most famous painting.
Toledo was once the former capital of Spain and you can really see how Muslamic, Christian and Jewish religions were all able to live harmoniously. We visited the sinagogue that showed this. Here's a picture of us at a lookout point in Toledo!
After, we were able to have tapas, as recommended by Alberto, and live music by Tuna, a group of university students who play requested songs. All of this for a special dinner. Afterwards we went to the famous Chocolatería de San Ginés for typical Churros con chocolate. They weren't quite what we expected, but they were enjoyable nonetheless!
Finally, we ended the day with a real Flamenco show where we were able to shout things like "¡olé!" And "¡venga, guapa!" And "Eso es!" What an experience!
We had a crazy day but it was definitely worth it! Onto tomorrow!
~Señorita Beheler
Awesome view! It sounds like you are having a fantastic time. Thanks for updating your blog daily and especially for taking care of my girl <3
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