Madrid (2022)
Inhalt/Content
Sightseeing and activities in the park
Monday was directly appointed to the sightseeing tour. To do this, we went straight to Retiro Park early in the morning. In the middle of the park is a small artificial lake called Estanque Grande de El Retiro. A very popular activity was renting a rowing boat and rowing across the lake, which of course we wanted to do. It was good that we were there when the boat rental opened because later more and more tourists showed up who also wanted a boat. At first, there might only have been five boats on the lake, but later they became almost impossible to count. We rented our boat for 45 minutes, but Nathalie was at the oars for about 40 minutes – almost the same experience as at the Hohenfelden reservoir. We rowed more or less all over the lake, but whenever we had a good view of the “Monumento Alfonso XII” (the monument directly on the lake), we tried to take a picture with ourselves in front of it (and many others couples did the same).
After the small boat tour, we walked around the park a bit. Here we noticed the many food stalls, mini restaurants, and showmen and -women. After I got ice cream, we headed to the city center, not without taking a few more typical photos at the lake beforehand. We were just tourists too.
The actual sightseeing tour began in the city center. Here we were first at the “Puerta de Alcala”, a kind of archway reminiscent of the Brandenburg Gate, the “Gran Vía”, which is one of the largest and most important shopping streets, the “Plaza de la Puerta del Sol”, which is a semicircular Place and focal point of many shopping streets, the “Plaza Mayor” which is the main square of Madrid and is surrounded by several ornate buildings, and the “Palacio Real” which is the palace of the quite rightly very controversial Spanish royal family. It is also interesting to mention here that we took a photo at the “Monumento Felipe IV”, which Nathalie had already taken there in 2011 when her parents gifted her a language trip to Madrid as a student to prepare for her high-school diploma (Abitur).
Finally, we drove to the “Estadio Santiago Bernabéu”, the Real Madrid football stadium, which was currently being renovated. Nevertheless, we were able to book a tour. As you can imagine, it wasn’t exactly cheap, but that’s normal for such a big football club. You could see into the large stadium from a so-called panorama terrace and the aisles were equipped with trophies and historical pictures of the team. In the end, there was an opportunity to take a photo with the current UEFA Champions League trophy, which was won by Real Madrid in the 2021/2022 season.
At the end of the day, Nathalie insisted on going to Retiro Park for a run and the calisthenics facility, while I whiled away the time at the Airbnb with videos. It took a while for Nathalie to come back because she got lost in the park and couldn’t find the right exit right away. In the evening we cooked quite simple spaghetti with tomato sauce ourselves.
