Spain Holidays

Day 6 of Spain Holidays 2010 - September 3, Friday – Madrid

7:36 The train arrived at the Chamartin station in Madrid on time. We refreshed ourselves at the station's well-maintained washrooms and had a solid, tasty breakfast at the bar (still at the station).

8:30 Now we needed to buy the «Tourist Transport Season Tickets» (Abono Transporte Turistico) – the most practical and cheapest way to travel around Madrid, valid for all kinds of public transport.  At the station's newsstand we bought 3-day passes for one zone as we knew we didn't have time to visit any farther zones and luckily all the biggest tourist attractions are located within Zona A. The tickets we bought were called «Abono Turistico 3 Dias». They cost €11.60 per person and were very small, about one-third of Barcelona's passes or passes we used in other cities all over the world. When we used them for the first time, their validity expiry date was printed on the reverse side. Later (already at home!) we realized that we were to write our passport numbers on the tickets, but we missed that (the tickets are personal and non-transferable), but no official or any «important person» ever asked to see our tickets during our stay in Madrid. Anyway, we found the tickets very useful and cheap; used them wildly on metro and buses to move quickly around Madrid. By the way, we just loved the metro system in Madrid – it was the best we've ever seen during our trips in Europe and North America. It was well-run, modern and the stations were conveniently located. Barcelona metro was also very good. Apparently Spain is the champion in the metro business… We didn't use buses in Madrid too much, but we didn't have any problems to use them.

Notes: 1/ It helped a lot that we did our research at home knowing that we would be using the public transportation extensively. Most of the websites on this subject are very good, English versions are available and the information provided is very useful – including the maps, schedules and the pricing. One of the best services is the one that calculates and proposes the best way (mode of transportation) to get from one place to the other (using addresses or name of an important building, i.e. station). This is a fantastic tool, great to use if your time is limited. For example, we learned at home, from the Internet, the best way to use to get from our hotel to The Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas – the most famous bullring in Madrid.

2/ As our time in Madrid was so limited, we had to prepare our schedules and itineraries very diligently, with up-to-the-minute accuracy. It was fun to prepare and even greater fun to enjoy execution of our plans. Everything played out perfectly. As you can see from this report, we saw almost everything important to be seen in Madrid! We did similar preparations for Barcelona, but we had a little more time to spend there, therefore we had more flexibility there.

9:10 Relatively easy walk/escalators from the train terminal to Chamartin metro station. Metro Line 10 from Chamartin to Gregorio Maranon (5 stops) and from there Metro Line 7 to Canal (2 stops). Short walk (about 10 minutes – we learned the details from the online travel planning tool) from the Canal metro station to the NH Arguelles Hotel.

Plaza de la Cibeles, Madrid

9:40 Reached the hotel, checked in, organized our rooms, took quick shower and got ready to explore Madrid.

11:45 Walked back to Canal and from there took metro Line 2 to Banco de Espanya (8 stops).

12:10 Calle de Alcala – Banco de Espanya – Plaza de la Cibeles – Palacio de Linares – Circulo de Bellas Artes – Teatro Lirico Nacional de la Zarzuela – Congreso de los Diputados.

12:50-14:10 Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (€8 per person); Hotel Ritz – Bolsa de Comercio.

14:30 Metro Line 2 from Banco de Espanya to Sevilla (1 stop). Walking around Old Madrid:

Calle de Alcala – Casino de Madrid (14:40) – Real Academia de Bellas Artes

Plaza de la Puerta del Sol, Madrid

Plaza de la Puerta del Sol (14:45)

Calle del Arenal/Calle de Preciados

Plaza/Iglesia de San Gines (15:00)

Plaza de las Descalzas/Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales (15:05)

Calle/Plaza Mayor (Estatua de Felipe III) (15:15). Resting a little bit.

Plaza Mayor, Madrid

Colegiata de San Isidro (15:50)

Calle de Toledo (bought snacks at DIA store – great prices!) (16:10). Mesons (traditional Spanish restaurants)

Calle de Segovia Viaduct (16:30)

San Francisco el Grande Basilica (16:35)

Catedral de la Almudena, Madrid

Calle de Bailen/Catedral de la Almudena (16:50)/Palacio Real (17:10)

Plaza de Oriente (17:20)/Teatro Real/Plaza de Isabel II (17:30)

17:35 Metro Line 2 from Opera to SOL (1 stop) and from there Line 1 to Anton Martin (2 stops). Nice walk along Calle de Moratin to Museo del Prado (at Paseo del Prado/Plaza de Murillo).

17:50 Joined quite a long line to get a free entry to Museo del Prado (available between 18:00 and 20:00, Tuesday to Saturday and 17:00-20:00 on Sundays)

18:00-19:45 Museo del Prado – one of the greatest art galleries in the world and we enjoyed it for free!

Museo del Prado, Madrid

19:50 Walk around Museo del Prado, along Calle de Felipe IV and Calle de la Academia: Hotel Ritz - Real Academia Espanyola – Iglesia de San Jeronimo el Real (20:05) – Cason del Buen Retiro – Parque del Retiro – Real Jardin Botanico (20:10).

20:15 CaixaForum

20:20 Dinner/supper at McDonald's.

20:45 Metro Line 1 from Atocha to Cuatro Caminos (9 stops) and from there Line 2 to Canal (1 stop), then short walk to the hotel.

Stan

RESOURCES:

Abono Transporte Turistico - http://www.metromadrid.es/en/viaja_en_metro/tarifas/abonos/contenido02.html
Madrid Metro - http://www.metromadrid.es/en/viaja_en_metro/
NH Arguelles Hotel, Madrid – http://www.nh-hotels.com/nh/en/hotels/spain/madrid/nh-arguelles.html
Plaza de la Cibeles - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_de_Cibeles
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza - http://www.museothyssen.org/en/thyssen/home
Plaza Mayor - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_Mayor,_Madrid
Catedral de la Almudena - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almudena_Cathedral
Palacio Real - http://www.patrimonionacional.es/Home/Palacios-Reales/Palacio-Real-de-Madrid.aspx
Museo del Prado - http://www.museodelprado.es/en/
Parque del Retiro («Park of the Pleasant Retreat») - The Jardines del Buen Retiro or simply El Retiro, is the largest park of the city of Madrid - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buen_Retiro_Park
CaixaForum - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CaixaForum_Madrid > Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file from vernissage.tv.