DAY 3

We met this morning at 8:30 this morning at CSA. From there, we took a small bus to El Palacio Real. This palace had been used in the past, and is even used now. Many the government affairs and international gatherings take place here. El Palacio Real is not where the current king Juan Carlos lives. He resides in a more modest palace on the outskirts of Madrid called El Palacio de la Zarzuela. The palace was built on the site of a former alcazar that burned down in 1734. It took 26 years to complete. A visitor to the palace today gets to see 50 of its 2800 rooms. After this, we passed by a few people on the sidewalk who were wearing costumes of either Don Quixote or a man without it head!! On the way we also saw the Royal gardens. We then visited La Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena. It was beautiful and captured Catholic Spain well. Due to construction, we had rather limited access.