Today is our last full day in Madrid and 🇪🇸Spain. Tomorrow we start the long trek home via Helsinki.

First stop today is the Patrimonio Naticonal (The Royal Palace of Madrid). This Palace is the largest in Western Europe and one of the largest in the world. It is over 135,000 square metres and 3,418 rooms, and almost 2 million people go through the door every year, and I reckon about half of them are standing out queueing to get in today 😳. Hence, no palace for you.

In all seriousness it was disappointing that we couldn’t get into the Palace, by all accounts it’s pretty beautiful, but even with the fast track tickets there was still a really long wait. It is after all a bank holiday here in Madrid for Easter. We did know it was going to be tricky and thought we’d wing it, and of course could have stood for hours in a queue, or joined a tour but decided there were other parts of Madrid that we wanted to see.

Across the square from the Palace is the Catedral de la Amundena (Almudena Cathedral). On the Madrid walking tour Miguel had said that there were never queues into the Catedral (he was right we walked straight in ) because it was so young none of locals were interested in it. Based on this we thought what the hec let’s go in and see what this is all about. We were in for a shock, as it was stunning.

The Catedral has a long and slightly torturous past, the first plans were drawn up for it in 1879 and foundation stone laid in 1883. In 1885 the plans changed and donations were thin and so work all but stopped. The crypt was opened (hang tight we do see this) in 1911, with work continuing on the Catedral up until it as again suspended as a result of the Spanish Civil War, work resumed again in 1939 again with limited resources.

Work stopped and started again in 1950 until the Catedral was completed in 1993 and consecrated by Pope John Paul II the same year.

Given that today is Holy Thursday, it wasn’t surprising that there were sections of the Catedral that we couldn’t get into primarily because it appeared they were getting ready to telecast Mass. Regardless, what we saw was lovely and while the locals might not be too enamoured if I’m ever back in Madrid again I’d make sure to pay it another visit.

Next to the Catedral is the Crypt of La Almudena Catedral. It is Romanesque in style and has more than 400 columns. It has the same dimensions as the Catedral and is considered to be the largest crypt in Spain. Also very beautiful and you can enter with a small donation.

Our next stop is Temple of Debod an Egyptian temple dating back to the second century BC. The Temple was donated to Spain by the Egyptian government to save it from floods following the construction of the great Aswan Dam. It was transported to Madrid and rebuilt stone by stone, opening to the public in 1972.

There is a fabulous lookout up here near the Temple. As the weather is so fantastic there are lots of people around cycling, walking or just enjoying the sunshine, a little like us.

Madrid is another easy city to get around, with lots of wonderful things to see and really fantastic food, including tonight que rico !!!

We finished off our last night in Madrid catching the metro into town for chocolate and churros at Chocolateria San Gines (as recommended by Miguel). Originally built in 1890 as an inn and guesthouse, from 1894 it became the place to go where the preparation of the churros used the traditional technique called a hombre. Chocolateria San Gines holds the title of the oldest (and best) chocolate and churros place I’m guessing in the world (well Madrid anyway). We were absolutely determined to experience Chocolateria San Gines, and despite the big crowds (what on earth are all of these people doing out and about, it’s 9.00pm on Holy Thursday) joined a long queue waiting to be served.

These guys know what they are doing, I guess they have experience … and are so well organised that everything moves pretty quickly and you are in and out before you know it. We couldn’t finish our order even though it was absolutely delicious, it was an awesome experience I would recommend to everyone and a wonderful footnote for the end of our time in Spain.

There are lots of reasons that our time in Madrid was so good but one of the most important factors was the location of the hotel and the staff who looked after us so well. Where we were staying was in a good neighbourhood with lots of local restaurants and was close to the Anton Martin metro station, which was central enough to be two stops from Sol but without the real busyness of being right in the city centre.

We have loved Madrid it’s a wonderful place to visit and sadly there is so much that we didn’t see. I hope I get back to Madrid again to cross a few more must sees off the list, tomorrow we start our long trip home with just over 24 hours in Helsinki.