Train ride

Jill: We had another action packed day yesterday! We began with a tour of Madrid's Royal Palace, the third largest such palace in Europe. Rick Steves describes the palace as "sumptuous" and I'd have to agree. Todd and I both marveled at the enormity of the rooms, the ornate wall coverings and upholsteries, rich drapery, and carpets while the kids were more enthralled with the armory. Davis loved to look at all the guns and swords and Emmy loved the suits of armor worn by the royalty AND their horses. It was a lot of fun!




Royal Palace



Royal Palace





Market near palace


We then packed up and headed to the train station. But first a couple of last thoughts about Madrid... First, everything we saw was within a 20 minute walking distance with the Prado on one side of town and the Royal Palace on the other. Our hotel was located in the middle which made it very easy to get around. Second, I think we lucked out on the weather. It was definitely hot but it was such a dry heat with a hazy cloud cover that made it bearable. We hear it'll be up to 45c in Sevilla, so we're bracing for that!

So, on to the train station! The kids felt a certain amount of trepidation before our trip but it couldn't have been easier. The train was very smooth, with great service, lunch and a movie, and we were arriving in Sevilla 2.5 hours later.



Madrid train station



Madrid train station



Waiting for our train



Our train



En route to Sevilla

We hopped in a cab and made our way to the Bario Santa Cruz to our rented apartment. The streets are unbelievably narrow, and it was amazing to watch the driver navigate his way to our place. I honestly don't know how they do it! Some of the streets are referred to as "kissing" streets because you could lean out the window from a building on one side and kiss someone leaning out of a window on the opposite side.




Exiting the taxi at our building

Out of all the accommodations we arranged, I was most nervous about this one, just worried about renting an apartment in the city I think, but it exceeded all our expectations. With wonderful views through many terraced windows it is only a block from the cathedral and has a pool on the roof! (Very spacious compared to our tiny hotel room too.)




The main living space



The corner terrace




Emmy snapping some photos




Going for a dip before dinner

Our neighborhood is super cute and we had a great dinner around the corner. We can't wait to get out and do some more exploring!






Happy 4th to everyone! We miss you!



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Location:Madrid & Sevilla