Our first day in Madrid and we chose to visit the Sabatini Gardens next to the Royal Palace which was only a few minutes walk from our apartment. Unfortunately, the main formal gardens were closed for renovation! We were able to visit the larger and less formal gardens to the west of the palace and these were still pleasant. Unfortunately – again – we were not allowed to eat our sandwiches there so we had to nip over the road to the much smaller Cuesta de la Vega Garden for our lunch.
After the gardens we decided to visit the adjoining Royal Collection Gallery which opened a few years ago. The collection was extensive and well displayed with reasonably clear labels in English but the building seemed to have been poorly laid out with a confusing flow for visitors.
For example, after X-raying my backpack, the operative said that it was too large and that I would have to leave it in the cloak room. This turned out to be before the security check so I had to go back out, deposit my bag and then come back in again. Why the operative didn’t simply observe the bag when I arrived and ask me to put it in the cloakroom straight away I have no idea. A similar issue occurred when we wanted to go to the cafe. In this case Mum and Sophia were directed back into the exhibition one way and I – who was a little bit behind – was sent another way!
