On our last full day in Madrid we paid a visit to the famous Royal Palace. It used to be the residence of the Spanish royal family but is now only used for State ceremonies like hosting world leaders.
The palace has 3,418 rooms and is definitely as impressive as the palace at Versailles. One very nice difference is that they limit the number of visitors by time slot. So while you are shuffling through dozens of rooms like you do at Versailles, there isn’t that crush of people.
When you enter the palace look up (you can’t help but look up to be honest). Built in 1760.
Gasp worthy. Here are the grand staircases leading up to the rooms that help with understanding the scale of the entrance.
The rooms themselves were also much more impressive than Versailles. Unfortunately they frown on taking pictures so I was only able to sneak a few.
This is the porcelain room. It is covered floor to ceiling in porcelain plates. So gorgeous!
Here is the dining room where state dinners are still held.
There is also a royal chapel in the palace with more gorgeous frescoed ceilings with gold leaf.
Of course no palace is complete without royal thrones!
The palace even has a music room that contains several Stradivarius instruments, including this violin.
Just not something you see everday!
Before we knew it, we were done. Such a worthwhile stop in Madrid. Big tip: buy your timed tickets in advance online. Those that don’t have tickets can stand in a mondo line waiting for scraps but it could take hours if you haven’t already bought yours. Also don’t wait – they sell out!
