DAY 22 - Olé! It's a big, tiring, culture-filled day, but worth it in the end.

After my introduction to Madrid the day before, now it was time to really go for it. I wanted to take on the major things that one must see in Madrid - or, at least, the stuff that I think seems quite important. After a light breakfast, I set off at around 10.30am.

My first stop was the place that I'm sure you're already familiar with: Las Ventas. I knew they only did tours in the morning, so I headed there first, and sure enough, I got on the 11am tour. This statue is outside the stadium.





Here's the entrance to the stadium.











A closer look at the poster on the right. The first bullfight in this stadium, I think.










A very important bullfighter.








On the way in, through the concourses.








Woo. Here it is. It's a shame I couldn't be here on Sunday to see the real deal, but this'll have to do.







The third biggest in the world, apparently.








You can fit 24,000.








Ooh, now onto the field itself.








Toro! Toro!








And this is where they run around, I think. I don't know.








Finally, horses stay here. There was a museum, too. All in all a charming place to see, even if bulls get killed all the time.







Next up, the Museo de América, about, well, you know. Not the States, obviously. Before it, this is the Arco de la Victoria.










And here's a dirty-looking pool leading up to it.








No pics in or around the building (it was an okayish museum, but all in Spanish) but this thing... no, I don't know.










Okay, one pic. Like any good museum, it has this little area in the middle.







I then went off to the Royal Theatre. Don't know if you can have a tour or anything, so I just took this picture.







From there it's a short walk to the palace.








That's not it, that's the back of the theatre (I think).








There's some gardens in front, and behind too.








Big palace.








Around the gardens in front.








Charming.








Did you have to ask? No, I couldn't be bothered.








This is next to the palace. Not sure what it is...








Anyway, moving on... here's the, um, something, when you get off at the Banco de Espana stop.







And a fountain nearby.








Another fountain... this is on the Paseo del Prado.








Horrible photo of the Thyssen museum, the first of three museums I'd visit. Not bad, but nothing special.







On the way to museum number two.








This is the Prado museum, which is big, and I had difficulty finding the entrance. It's not exactly the Louvre, but pretty big.







Finally, the third museum, the Reina Sofia, is in this square.








There it is.








And that's... oh, just read it.








The Reina Sofia's claim to fame is Guernica, which has a room to itself, with two cameras and two people guarding it. Plus an exclusion zone on the floor.






It has a terrace, with some weird stuff.








And this. Hmm.








You get a good view from the glass elevators, too. I think it was the biggest, and probably the one I preferred, but it's full of modern art stuff, so take your pick.






After all this museum stuff I was exhausted, so I just went back to the hostel and rested. I've almost run out of stuff to do in Madrid, as crazy as it sounds. We'll just see what happens in the final chapters.