We spent our last day in Madrid with a visit to the Palacio Real, former home of the Spanish royalty. The thing is ridiculously huge and opulent. You can see why the Spanish Empire turned into a corrupt empty shell. Between the palaces and the cathedrals, they were spending all their pesos on the wrong stuff. They should have been upgrading their weapons, armada and army.
Even the weapons and suits of armor in the Royal Armory are engraved in ridiculous detail. They could have made 20 suits of armor with the man hours that went into engraving one metal suit for a horse.
The big cathedral by the palace has a parade of people carrying palm fronds and singing. In the plaza between the two monster buildings we hear two men playing good classical guitar and synthesizer. We buy their CD for a souvenir.
We wander though the middle of the city walking about five miles to see the Thyssen-Bornemisza art museum. This is near the El Prada and has lots of Picasso, Gauguin and Degas. A nice way to end.
Our dinner, on the sidewalk, lasts until midnight. We share an arugula salad, a bottle of wine, grilled chicken breast and flan.. In the morning we catch the train to Seville.
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