Madrid's city buildings

Madrid's city buildings are gorgeous. I really enjoyed the architecture of this city.

Look at those entrances!!

The next three photos were all taken on Gran Via - the main road of the city... and where my hotel was located!

Well, I've never seen THREE palaces within on plaza... but this is the case in Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid. Amazing. The palace shown in the photo below is the most impressive of the three (in my opinion)... and, funny enough, this building apparently started out as the postal service's headquarters! This palace is Cybele Palace but used to be known as The Palace of Communications (Comunicaciones) until 2011.

A view back towards Gran Via (as I am heading to Retiro Park)... and Linares Palace can be seen on the left (...this plaza's second palace of three... crazy).

arriving in MADRID, SPAIN

After the MAIS Conference in Seville, I took the lovely Ave train to Madrid. (Seriously, the train was beautiful and I wish there could be that much room and cleanliness on planes!)

The trip to Madrid was actually the main reason I even went to the conference in Seville. I was going to meet with the Librarian at the American School of Madrid and spend a day with her at school, learning about a new (well, for me - new) resource: LibGuides.

I arrived to the hostel early afternoon and was happy to find that, like the website said, it was right on the main street of the city - Gran Via. After dropping my things in the room, I went for a walk... my goal was to find the palace and the cathedral - thankfully, the walk was successful!

The Plaza de Espana was the first major 'site' I saw beyond Gran Via's shops and restaurants.

The main monument within the plaza is of Miguel de Cervantes - a novelist, poet, and playwright, alive during the mid-1500's to early 1600's. 

I walked through the Sabotini Gardens on my way to the palace and cathedral.

Below is the view of the palace from these gardens (...probably considered the 'back' of the palace):

Sunday Palace Posing:

The front of the Royal Palace / Il Palacio Real de Madrid

The cathedral is just to the left when looking at the photo below. I was there on a Sunday and it was a city holiday... something big was going on with the flower donations ahead...

The top of the Almudena Cathedral (which sits facing the royal palace):