Royal Madrid

Football craze over here eh? Even the lamposts are shaped like footballs... That's the Royal Palace



Plaza Mayor by night. It's a huge gathering space for the Spaniards. Life starts after 9pm


The Royal Botanical Gardens. Lovely place with beautiful sculptures





Another Palacio de Cristal (Crystal Palace), this one used for an expo in the late 19th century.




And finally, the railway station with a rainforest in it

As you can see, I didn't take many pictures in Madrid city. Partly because of certain incident that dampened our mood and also because we found Madrid lacking in the excitement and glamour of the likes of Barcelona or Granada. Still, I managed to get some nice shots. Madrid is better known for its entertainment and night life, definitely shopping. There are other places that we visited as well. We spent a day at the Museo Nacional del Prado (Prado Museum), one of the biggest museums in the world. Many Renaissance and Classical works by famous Spanish artists such as Goya, El Greco, Velasquez, and Murillo. Shall spare you all the rest of the details.

Actually I think there's a lot to see in Madrid. It does have an interesting history and culture. Probably the history's not as romantic as Barcelona's or Granada's. It's a more developed place for commercial institutions and a city planned along the Gran Via. Anyway, we took a day trip to Toledo which is 1/2hour by train. Pictures shall be up later.

*I'm currently starting on a Live Project conducted by my university and the project I got is in...Florence! One week in Pisa/Florence/Tuscany. The best part is, the accomodation is paid for, just need to pay for our transport there! Geez, I'm getting excited about it. Luckily we didn't backpack to Florence earlier on.