“I love this pool!”

Another delicious breakfast in Jeronimo the next morning.

After breakfast, I’m heading out for a bike tour for a couple of hours while Ellie chills in the room. She wouldn’t enjoy coming out when it’s already hot at 930 in the morning. To get to the meeting place, I walk down many narrow streets like this one.

And here I am. There’s only myself and a British couple on the tour this morning so it’ll be basically like a private tour.

Our first stop is in Plaza Santa Ana, where we see the Teatro Español on one end.

And on the other end, the ME Madrid Reina Victoria hotel, which apparently has an amazing rooftop terrace. In the square is a statue of Federico Garcia Lorca, a poet.

Right up in front of the hotel is a statue of a poet, Calderon.

Around the corner we stop at the Alley of the Cat, and hear a story about the two possible origins of the name. They’re too long to share here, but El Gato is trending these days, according to Ellie, so I take a photo of the sign.

The pedestrian street itself isn’t done justice by this photo. Maybe it would look better at night. Most of the buildings on either side were covered in beautiful ceramic tile murals.

Like this one.

We set off again heading towards the palace. I really should have taken a picture of it but didn’t think it would be nice at the time, but shortly after this shot, we heard a loud bang on a side street where our guide, Adrian’s tire had burst. Luckily we were steps away from another bike shop where he knew the owner and was able to borrow another bike to continue the tour without having to spend a lot of time on a repair.

We arrive at the side of the Royal Palace of Madrid. The first of many interesting sights is a statue of Felipe IV, which apparently was the first statue created of a horse up on only its back two legs.

We then go around to the front of the palace which already has people milling about the grounds and a big lineup in the hot sun. It’s the largest palace in Europe with over 3400 rooms.

Across the plaza is the Catedral de la Almudena. This cathedral is relatively new (late 1800s beginning, not completed until 1993) and Madrid does not have many cathedrals compared to other cities.

At the other end of the plaza is a view out over the greenscape of western Madrid.

Here’s a good reason to have a guide – little tidbits you otherwise wouldn’t know about. Adrian brings us across the street, down a side street and up a small hill where we get this great view with no one else around!

Next, we go over to Plaza de la Villa which holds the old town hall, which was the seat of the Mayor’s Office of Madrid from 1693 to 2007.

Also in the plaza is the oldest residential building in Madrid, dating from the 1400’s.

We cruise down the hill on Cava de San Miguel, a street that has always been full of taverns and pubs since the beginning.

On this street is Restaurante Botin, the oldest continously operating restaurant in the world (est 1725).

Around the corner is Plaza Mayor, the main square of Madrid. Unfortunately these women in the photo just kept going back and forth many times taking pictures of each other for Instagram in front of the statue of Felipe III.

Back into the pedestrian area so we have to walk the bikes for a bit.

Then we cruise leisurely down a long hill, passing our start point, to the CaixaForum, which is a building unsupported on this entire half!

The CaixaForum’s square also has this vertical garden.

Off down the middle of the boulevard in the center of Paseo del Prado.

We arrive at San Jerónimo el Real – a former monastery on which construction started in 1503.

I take a peek inside.

We’re back in Parque de el Retiro, where Ellie and I were yesterday. Still hot!

We stop at Fountain of the Fallen Angel which depicts Lucifer falling from heaven. It is apparently the only statue dedicated to the devil, and the top is at an elevation of 666 metres above sea level.

Around the corner is the Glass Palace, which was originally built as a greenhouse of sorts to house flora and fauna from the Philippines, but is now used as an art gallery. Unfortunately it is closed this summer and we couldn’t go in.

Around the corner is the pond in the middle of the park, where we stop to check out the view from the other side from yesterday. Surrounding the monument to Alfonso XII are 3 sirens on water’s edge.

Here’s the monument from the land side.

Back in town at the dry Cibeles Fountain we saw yesterday, behind which is the Cybele Palace that houses the Madrid City Council.

I really like these old Madrid street signs made of ceramic tile artwork.

We stop in front of this almost 200 year old pub and hear some of the history of the red doors – this means that in the old times, wine was available inside. And now these red doors and facades are a historical item, so they can be repainted only in the same colour!

We finish the tour which was great, we packed in so much in just a few hours. Time to get Ellie her promised McDonald’s lunch!

And then the pool for the afternoon. I’m working from the hotel room for the late afternoon and evening, so that’s almost it for fun today.

We take a break later for ice cream at the same place as yesterday. I try a different flavour. Ellie sticks with banana as she loved it.

A little later, I step out for dinner at this bar that was recommended on the tour for a Spain classic.

Bocadillo de calamares (Squid sandwich). Very simple. I enjoyed it!

At “lunchtime” we go back to the pool for sunset.

Another morning in Jeronimo for breakfast. Chilaquiles rojos for me. Very good.

A little walk around before it gets too hot. Down past the Church of the Holy Cross which was partially visible from the hotel.

More narrow streets. More graffiti in this area.

We arrive at Nomade Cafe which was recommended to me by my friend Andres, who is a coffee expert.

For an iced americano and a big cookie.

And then, back to the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Ellie is very happy, as we’ve booked a cabana today.

That comes with some bubbles for me…

And a pink drink for Ellie!

Really such a great spot up here.

Much later, we head down for ice cream again, but just for Ellie. She eats it in front of the Church of Saint Genesius.

We’re heading over towards the Royal Palace area in Golden Hour now.

Passing by the rear gardens.

Where I sneakily capture Ellie taking a selfie… haha

Further along, we pass by a historical building, the Royal Asturian Mines Company Building which is beside a great playground that even had mist sprayers on the equipment!

We’ve now arrived at our destination – the Temple of Debod. It is closed so we won’t go inside, and again, the fountains are off to conserve water, but it is still a nice place.

However, we’re here for the sunset views.

And so are a lot of others.

Our dinner stop tonight – where else again but pizza to keep someone happy.

We sit at the bar as it’s packed, and the pizza is made right in front of us.

A super nice surprise, they make Ellie her own little heart shaped pizza!

After that delicious dinner it’s time to head back to the room, so we take the metro back to Puerta del Sol and grab a photo on the Spanish kilometre zero marker.