Sun-Ling was always in love with Madrid, John not so much. However, on this visit John took a liking to the lively yet peaceful Madrid city center. Most streets are vehicle restricted, or vehicle free. City buses are quiet, electric or gas, and sized to fit-the-street (see photo below). Young folks zip around on electric scooters but there are no roaring, polluting buses, and robotic lawn mowers are taking care of the Royal Lawn (see photo below). I'm guessing we'll be back.
Guess who's coming to Madrid this summer?
We are enjoying the fine selection of mushrooms in Spanish grocery stores.
The highlight of Wednesday was seeing this robot lawn mower cutting the lawn at the Royal Palace Gardens. First a photo, then a 25-second video.
We were lucky and happened to be in Madrid for nine-times-a-year "Solemn Changing of the Guard" at the Royal Palace that showcases uniforms from past eras, and horses.
Here's a 2-minute video, shot by Sun-Ling, that shows all the participants in the Solemn Changing.
The Royal Botanic Garden is adjacent to Atocha Station and close to our hotel. The tulips were attracting much attention.
We also liked the greenhouse and the exhibition at the onsite art gallery.
No visit to Madrid is complete without an early evening stroll to Puerto del Sol.
Our hotel was also near the Caixa Forum with its captivating design and Green Wall.
Stay tuned for our next post from the City Walls of Avila, Spain.
Sun-Ling and John have been traveling the earth since 2008 while blogging, eating vegetarian and vegan, and riding public transportation. We love uphill day hikes, 20th-century architecture, Roman ruins, all bodies of water, local markets, shopping for groceries, aqueducts, miradors, trip planning, blablacar, and more.
Search This Blog
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Most Recent Post
Philippines: Palawan
From Manila we flew to the island of Palawan, then another 5 hours of minivan to reach El Nido. The place reminded us of Halong Long Bay, Vi...
Most Popular Posts of Last 30 Days
-
Doorway decorations: at entry ways of many establishments and homes, there were greenery decorations, very Japanese looking. I'm inspir...
-
We arrived in Tokyo just 36 hours ago. It's the first stop of our next long trip that will take us to the Philippines, Borneo, New Zeala...
-
Last year, we rather enjoyed having little walks and looking at some lights. We returned to some sites and visited a few new places. I came ...
-
New Years are a big deal in these parts of the world and it is celebrated on the Lunar New Year. However, during the Meiji Restoration, in a...
-
We arrived in Manila on 1/8 in order to catch the Black Nazarene Festival on 1/9. Black Nazarene from the Quiapo Church is a much venerated ...
-
In addition to visiting major temples and shrines in the new year, people also make pilgrimages to multiple temples and shrines in a neighbo...
-
Another tradition in Tokyo is the royal family's New Year greeting that takes place 5 times during the day at the Imperial Palace on Jan...
1 comment:
Love the lawn mower! Afraid I'm in the "don't care for Madrid" camp, and I did make a return visit. Much prefer Lisbon.
Post a Comment