WE ENJOYED MADRID SPAIN
Madrid Spain is a great city for so many reasons. We enjoyed learning a little of the history, even the bad history such as The Spanish Inquisition of 1480 that lasted 300 years. We enjoyed the worlds 9th largest fine art museum (Museo de Prado) that features 90 Ruben's and a total 7600 pieces of fine art paintings with Goya, El Greco, Titian, Bosch as some of the highlights.
The buildings are amazing with the beautiful architecture that is impossible to find in the USA. There is a stunning park in the middle of the city (Buen Retiro Park) with a glass palace that was built in 1887 and is next to a wonderful pond that is filled with swimming turtles everywhere and a few black swans.
There is a much larger pond that you can rent paddle boats or sit beneath a large monument. We enjoyed watching so many young teens and adults wandering around the park catching the Pokemon Go characters. The teens were interacting with eachother, out in the sunshine, talking and overall very pleasant to be around. The only disturbance we saw was a man yelling at a peaceful group of 30ish teens who found some shade on some steps beside the monument. Apparently he disliked that they were enjoying time outdoors in the sunshine with their friends playing a game, and swapping tips. I caught quit a few Pokemon in that park and I enjoyed finding something in common with the Spanish teenage group. Pokemon tip - the Poke stops point out many lesser known landmarks in the area.
I was happy to find a great statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (Cervantes being born near Madrid). We also stumbled upon a restaurant that is the oldest continually run restaurant in the world - Sobrino de Botin est. 1725 (according to Guinness World book of records). The one odd thing we did see that we have actually seen in a few other cities - Burger King delivers food via motorscooter. We really enjoyed Madrid, such a beautiful city. Beth
