Wednesday 14th February 2018
Today we were meeting up with Ray’s son Glenn, his wife Lynsey and the grandchildren Zac and Jake for lunch in Madrid as they were spending a few days there during the boys school half term break.
The grandchildren, who are football crazy, had already been on a pre-booked tour of the Bernabéu Stadium, the home of Real Madrid and we had made arrangements to meet them outside the Royal Palace of Madrid.
Again we took the train from Aranjuez to Madrid, but this time to the station Sol, as the Palace was only a 10 minute walk away from here.
We paid the same price for our train tickets as we had when we went to Atocha and were extremely lucky to find a parking spot just outside the station on the main road today.
The 50 minute journey went smoothly and luckily Aranjuez was the start of the journey for this train, as by the time we had got to about the 3rd station it was full!
We made our way through the extremely busy streets towards the Palace. There was a heavy police presence, which is quite common nowadays, but we had forgotten that Real Madrid was playing PSG Paris Saint-Germain tonight.
Whilst we waited outside the Palace, we were entertained by the changing of the guard, which was a nice surprise. Apparently it only takes place on Wednesdays from 11.00 to 14.00. It happens every 30 minutes in front of Plaza de Oriente.
Also if you’re lucky enough to be in Madrid on the first Wednesday of the month at 12.00 you might get the opportunity to see the Solemn Changing of the Guard, which includes 100 guards and 100 horses!
Glenn, Lynsey and the boys met us after their visit to the Palace and we took a bus to Calle de la Victoria 9, 28012, to the restaurant Taberna Alhambra arriving around 13.00.
The adults all enjoyed the menu del dia at a reasonable price of €13 including drink, beer, desert or coffee.
1st plato – 3 Gambones au plancha &1 Paella Marinera
2nd plato – 1 Arroz con bogavante & 3 entrecot au lomo a la parrilla
Postre – Tiramisu, 2 tarta de queso, pie de manzana
The kids had albondigas con tomate (meatballs with tomato sauce) and croquetas (cheese and meat croquettes), as there was no children’s menu. Although the portion sizes were huge, at a cost of €19 plus the cost of their drinks, it would make more sense for them to have the menu del dia too for €13.
By the time we left the restaurant it was bursting at the seams and there was a huge queue waiting for tables, so we had definitely timed our run to perfection.
After a brief kick around for the boys with the football in the Plaza Santa Ana, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the station and home.