Our last day in Madrid - Spain Day 4

Sunday, May 23rd, was our last full day in Madrid and our feet were already so tired from all the walking we'd been doing.  I had no idea how I was going to make it anther week in Barcelona.  We decided to take the day easy and just casually stroll the streets of Madrid and try to rest our feet some. 

Originally we had planned to be in Malaga on this day but Malaga is a much smaller city and almost everything is closed on Sunday.  It turns out that a lot of things are closed on Sunday in Madrid as well.  We were going to try to see some of the famous art museums such as the Prado and Reina Sofia but that didn't work out because they were closed early or entirely on Sundays.  We did visit the Plaza de Espana.  It is located at the end of the Gran Via and this was the first time we ventured this direction on the Gran Via.  I'm we decided to go that way.

The statue in the middle of the Plaza de Espana

We walked around to a couple different places that we wanted to see up close before we move on to another city.  We went to see the Fountain of Cybele at the Plaze de Cibeles which is located in the center of one of Madrid's busiest intersections.  The fountain is the city's most famous landmark and it depicts the goddess of nature and abundance riding her chariot, hauled by a pair of prancing lions.

We took pictures of churches and buildings that we thought had amazing architecture and we knew we'd never see in Arizona.  Here are some examples of the beauty of Madrid.

Lastly we wanted to take pictures that are symbols of the city of Madrid.  One is the of the bear and tree and the other is the elephant on its trunk in front of the Caixa Forum.

We had to make an early night of it because we had to pack our stuff and get ready for our trip to Malaga the next day.  Madrid was so beautiful and fun and we were sad to pack our bags.  Tomorrow I'll post about mom's birthday in Malaga.