When we ate lunch (we ordered in Spanish and all that...very exciting) we also decided to get dessert. We got churros with chocolate sauce to dip them in! The churros were absolutely delicious!
After lunch, we wanted to go on a New Europe tour. This is the same tour company we had used in Paris and we had quite enjoyed our tour there. The best thing about New Europe is that their tours are free! The tour guides work on a tips-only basis, so we do pay something, but it's completely up to us how much we want to give them.
We found the Free Tour signs at the starting point and met our tour guide, Eddie. Eddie is from England and while he is very smart, he has a very strange sense of humor. I had a lot of fun on the Madrid tour, but some found it boring and too long. It was a bit long for my taste (supposed to be 3.5 hours and it ended up being 4.5...but we stopped and had food at one point) but I still really enjoyed hearing Madrid's story.
Eddie showed us the place where the Barefoot Nuns live. They never see anyone and no one ever sees them. Once they enter, they lose their contact with everyone. Tours do run through the convent daily, but only after the nuns retire to their rooms. When the bell rings, it means that all visitors must vacate the premises because the sisters will be reemerging from their chambers.
We also visited Madrid's opera house. The opera house was located very close to the hostel we were staying in. The Metro station we used was Opera, so we knew where we were, a rarity, especially for my terrible sense of direction.
Eddie also took us to the Royal Palace. We could not go in due to time restrictions, but it was beautiful to look at from the outside.
At one of our last stops in the first half of the tour, we went to Almudena Cathedral, which is adjacent to the palace. Construction on the cathedral was started in 1879 and not completed until 1993. The idea for the cathedral had been in the works since the 16th century, so this cathedral took a very long time to be finished.
After lunch, we wanted to go on a New Europe tour. This is the same tour company we had used in Paris and we had quite enjoyed our tour there. The best thing about New Europe is that their tours are free! The tour guides work on a tips-only basis, so we do pay something, but it's completely up to us how much we want to give them.
We found the Free Tour signs at the starting point and met our tour guide, Eddie. Eddie is from England and while he is very smart, he has a very strange sense of humor. I had a lot of fun on the Madrid tour, but some found it boring and too long. It was a bit long for my taste (supposed to be 3.5 hours and it ended up being 4.5...but we stopped and had food at one point) but I still really enjoyed hearing Madrid's story.
Eddie showed us the place where the Barefoot Nuns live. They never see anyone and no one ever sees them. Once they enter, they lose their contact with everyone. Tours do run through the convent daily, but only after the nuns retire to their rooms. When the bell rings, it means that all visitors must vacate the premises because the sisters will be reemerging from their chambers.
We also visited Madrid's opera house. The opera house was located very close to the hostel we were staying in. The Metro station we used was Opera, so we knew where we were, a rarity, especially for my terrible sense of direction.
Eddie also took us to the Royal Palace. We could not go in due to time restrictions, but it was beautiful to look at from the outside.
At one of our last stops in the first half of the tour, we went to Almudena Cathedral, which is adjacent to the palace. Construction on the cathedral was started in 1879 and not completed until 1993. The idea for the cathedral had been in the works since the 16th century, so this cathedral took a very long time to be finished.
1 comment:
The Almudena Cathedral is proof that great things are born in 1993.
~Katie
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