Day 3: Prado

We decided to visit The Prado Museum on Tuesday. We woke up and had breakfast at a little cafe between our hotel and the Prado. Each of our orange juices was $8! And actually not that tasty, although they were made with fresh oranges. We walked to the Prado, and spent about 6 hours looking at the art, mainly paintings. No pictures are allowed. There were many great pieces by great masters. The Prado's map lists where all of the masterpieces are, and we made sure to see them. But, by the end of our visit, we were overwhelmed with art, our feet hurt from constant walking and standing, and we were ready for a break!

But first, we decided to visit the Egyptian temple. As we exited the Prado, we noticed that storm clouds were brewing:
Here is a long view of the temple, whose official name is Temple de Debod. This is an actual Egyptian temple that was disassembled due to flooding, and relocated here to thank Spain for its help saving other monuments.
After our visit to the temple, we sat outside, relaxing.
We walked back to the hotel (the only time during our trip that we returned during the day) for a siesta. We were exhausted from staying up later than normal and physically exerting ourselves (walking and standing) basically the entire day.

Upon exiting our hotel around 9 pm for dinner, the rain was coming down heavily. It is that reason that I left the camera at home -- I didn't want to risk damage. We decided to eat at a restaurant close to the hotel, and had several to choose from. We were looking at the menu posted outside Zara, a Cuban Restaurant whose owner had come over to Madrid 30 years ago, when the owner's husband came outside and ushered us in. That sealed our decision as to where to eat! The food, as always, was delicious.

As a bonus, during dinner, the rain stopped! We walked to a little cafe and had an after-dinner dessert and hot chocolate. We returned to our hotel to sleep around 11:30 which is late for us, but still early for Madrid night life.