Free Walking Tour of Madrid
www.freetour.com/madrid/madrid... /> Over the course of 2.5 hours we dvelved into the capital city‘s culture, secrets and main attractions. Madrid was for several centuries the capital of one of the largest empires in history.

We walked Puerta del Sol Square - Plaza Mayor - The Bakery House - Posada del Peine, The Oldest Restaurant in the World - Royal Theatre - Plaza de Oriente - Royal Palace - Almudena Cathedral - Attack against King Alfonso XIII - Plaza de la Villa Square - Remains of Santa Maria Church - San Miguel Market.

We visited:
Posada de Peine, the oldest hotel in Madrid from 1610.
Fundada antes de 1837 is an example of a store honoured with a city plaque in the pavement outside the store. The plaque represents the shop has been open and retailing for more than 100 years.
The Madrid clocks don't use roman IV instead use IIII, because IV is a pagan symbol.
We saw the oldest shoe shop which sells and makes Casa Hernanz shoes. People line up down the street to buy these shoes. The store is closed in the mornings.
Tatiana recommended El Madrono for the strawberry liqueur in chocolate cup for 2 Euro.
We went into the oldest restaurant in the world, Sobrino de Botin from 1725. It makes traditional pork dishes using a wood oven.
La Latina Cava Baja area is also great for traditional Spanish food.
The old Town Square has 15-19th century buildings around it. Very interesting spot. First established in 1571 during the Christian vs Ottoman Empire battles.
We went to the Royal Palace and both flags were flying indicating that the King is in residence. The Royal guards were also present. That is why we only saw a fraction of the Palace rooms yesterday. It took 110 years to build the Cathedral, finished in 1994. It was not allowed to be more opulent than the Palace.
The Statues of horses on hind legs (copies of paintings) created a balancing problem which was solved by Galileo Galilee. Hollow out the front of the horse and fill the back half with bronze.
The Opera House has 15 floors with 6 floors underground.
Queen Isabel II statue. She became the queen when she was 13 years old. She was famous for taking off her corset for meals. She loved food. She had 12 children but not all survived. Her husband was her cousin from her mother's and father's side. The Hapsburg chin is very noticeable in most of the royals and became more prominent over the generations. It even created eating problems for some.

A fabulous tour. I highly recommend this husband and wife company - OGOTOURS +34 660 594 952. It was a free tour. We gave Tatiana 15 Euro donation.

After the tour we went to eat Churros with hot chocolate at the recommended place - San Gines. The best churros place in Madrid. We had coffee and churros for 8,40 Euros.

El corte ingles department store is great for any needs. There are 5 stores next to each other. Desiguel fashion store in Gran Via has 5 levels of fashion. The top floor being the clearance items.

Prado Museum
The museum is free to visit from 6-8pm. We lined up about 5:45pm and were able to enter about 6:40pm. An amazing collection of paintings and sculptures. Its walls are lined with masterpieces from the Spanish, Italian and Flemish schools, including Velázquez’ Las Meninas and Goya’s Third of May, 1808. Its collection comprises 8,600 paintings and over 700 sculptures. The permanent collection includes Spanish paintings 1100-1910, Italian paintings 1300-1800, German paintings 1450-1800, British paintings 1750-1800, Sculptures mostly Italian 16-19th century, Flemish paintings 1430-1700, French paintings 1600-1800, Drawings and Prints including 500 from Goya, Decorative arts 16-18th century and The Church of San Jeronimo el Real contains religious paintings from 17th century.