Will this flight never end?

Finally, after twenty-eight hours since leaving Tullamarine, and twenty-four of those in the air, we arrived at Madrid. A two-hour stopover in Singapore, which we must have known about but simply forgot once we'd booked the flights nine months ago, plus a delay of thirty-minutes leaving Dubai because four passengers didn't turn up, and a further thirty minutes lost over Saudi Arabia for some reason not fully explained by the Captain, made for the longest trip we've ever taken. To say we were knackered upon arrival is very much an understatement. After locating the metro rail from the airport we finally arrived at our hotel on the Gran Via, one of Madrid's major roads.

This is the Gran Via, one of Madrid's main roads and where our hotel is located.

Although we didn't get to our hotel until pretty late in the day, we decided to go on a walking tour in the immediate vicinity of our accommodation. Without knowing it, we actually covered a fair bit of the tourist sites, including the Royal Palace, Almudena's Cathedral, Jardine of Sabatini and Puerta del Sol, where all the roads in Madrid start and everyone celebrates Spain's major events.

One side of the Royal Palace. This beautiful pond is in the Jardine de Sabatini

What we've noticed on our first morning here is that the working day is a little different to back home. For example, many of the shops don't actually open until 10.00 am, but they stay open until very late into the night. Even some of the major tourist attractions, like the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace) operate until 8.00 pm. I guess this reflects the pretty harsh Spanish summer and harks back to the days when much of Spain used to take an afternoon siesta and not come back to life until well into the evening.

This is the Royal Palace, Palacia Real, where the Kings of Spain lived for hundreds of years. Very popular with tourists.

The architecture of many of Madrid's buildings is typically Spanish. 

There are lots of meeting areas where people congregate, and usually a couple of restaurants and bars. Madrid is very much 'plein air', as the French would say.

Today, it's off to Madrid's botanic gardens (get some ideas for back home) and a few more of the must-sees. The weather looks like being typical for this time of the year, sunny and warm. So far, we really like Madrid; it's a great blend of traditional and modern metropolis with lots to see and do. So, I guess I'd better get off the laptop and start seeing it.