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| The Royal Palace from the back side. It was a nice view for the King! |
Throughout most of the history of Spain it has been ruled by some type of monarchy. Being King or Queen had it's perks, but back in the old days it seemed as if somebody out there was always plotting to overthrow whoever was on the throne. Sometimes these coups would work, sometimes not, but they were generally messy situations.
From it's inception, back in the fifth century through 1930, Spain usually functioned quite well as a monarchy. In 1931 things started to change politically as more and more elections were won by candidates favoring ending the monarchy. This ultimately gave rise to what became a dictatorship under Francisco Franco. As Franco was losing power (and slowly dying) in 1975 he appointed Juan Carlos I as his successor, with the title of King. Carlos successfully led the transition from dictatorship to democracy. In 1981 there was a short lived attempted military coup that was quickly put down. The form of government is now considered a constitutional monarchy and operates much the same as England. There is still a royal family, but the power is in the hands of leaders elected to parliament which is overseen by a Prime Minister. In spite of some tough financial times a few years ago, Spain has been stable for close to fifty years now. Juan Carlos is still alive, but he gave up the title and cool perks that go along with being king to his son Felipe in 2014.
Today we had a chance to get a glimpse of the way it was back in the 1700 and 1800 hundreds when the Royal Family really got the Royal treatment. The Royal Palace of Madrid is about a mile and a half from our hotel so getting there was an easy walk. Construction on the palace began in 1735 and I'm not sure if it was by design or they just had trouble finding a place to stop. When they did finally finish they really had built quite a palace. It's listed as being 1,450,000 square feet in size and contains 2,800 rooms. Needless to say it's quite impressive from the outside and even more impressive inside. We have plenty of pictures from the outside but photos were not allowed inside the palace so you'll just have to take my word for it. The rooms were immaculately decorated. Many of them with silk tapestries from ceiling to floor (and the ceilings looked to be about 30 feet high). The dining room table which was set seemed to have seating for around 100 people. There were royal chairs in many rooms, a royal dressing room that was about the size of our house in Burleson and so much more. The royal family no longer lives in the palace. Actually, I read the annual budget for the monarchy is currently around 8 million euros per year, making it one of, if not the lowest, for any country with a king or queen. It’s still good to be king, just not as good. In addition to being open for visiting, special government functions such as state dinners and entertaining leaders from around the world are still held in the palace.
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| The Royal Palace (front view) |
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| Every royal palace has to have a royal garden |
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| The ceiling inside the entrance to the Royal Palace (pictures were allowed in this area) |
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| Main entrance into the royal palace |
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| View from the royal gardens |
Admission was around $15 per person for a combination ticket that included the palace as well as an interesting temporary exhibit on Spain's involvement in World War I. If you are planning on going I would suggest purchasing your tickets on line, otherwise you will probably find yourself standing in a long line. I'm not sure how the on line tickets actually work but I think there is a limited number of them sold per day. We bought ours this morning. Several time slots were shown as "sold out" while other time slots showed just a few remaining.
Next door to the Royal Palace is the Cathedral of Madrid, which is also known as the Cathedral de Santa Maria la Real de Almudena. I think I prefer the Cathedral of Madrid. As Cathedrals in Europe go it's fairly new, having recently celebrated it's 25th anniversary. Being a few centuries newer than most cathedrals it certainly had a more modern look while still maintaining the same attention to detail. Below are a few pictures from inside the cathedral:
We finished the day back in Parque Del Retiro enjoying people watching, as well as showing off our navigational skills by renting a rowboat for a peaceful paddle around the man made lake.
Also, I added one more picture at the end of the previous blog. I just wish the photographer would have been in it!
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| Rowing the lake |
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| We did go back! Lunch at Casa Mingo. Today we skipped the salad and added a bowl of Fabada (White Beans and Chorizo) |
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Memorial Day 2019
Never Forget!
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