Rebajas!

Sounds like a swear word and is if you pay the credit card!

After doing our accumulated laundry this morning we took the metro into Sol, the city centre, and as we came up from the underground we were met with the sight of thousands of shoppers around the Puerta del Sol and everywhere in shop windows there were signs saying Rebajas and some including -50 or -30 indicating that the shop had a sale and some items were reduced 50%!

I recall on our last trip I blogged that the world was on sale and it seems that the sale continues - there were numerous similar sales in the 🇬🇧.

Madrid central area is very pleasant, hundreds of shops, numerous plaza (squares) and of course many thousands of people - the main plaza is a Plaza Mayor, being a very large square surrounded by multi-storeyed buildings at the foot of most are cafes or bars

There is obviously going to be some activity in the square sometime this week as scaffolding is going up to create a stage.

Adjacent to the Plaza is the Mercado de San Miguel which we thought would be a fruit and vegetable market but turns out to be a rather upmarket food hall with all sorts of food and drinks available - the food on display played havoc with ones taste buds!

Further down Calle Mayor there are two significant buildings - Catedral de La Almudena and the Palacio Real.

The building of the Cathedral commenced in 1879 but was not completed until 1993!

Along with numerous others we sat on the steps of the Cathedral facing the palace - this was a well earned rest as the Cathedral provided shade from the burning sun.

We are not selfie people but if you want a photo together the easiest way is to take the selfie so we did with the Palace in the background 

An amble back towards Sol, more time spent 👀 into shops, a refreshing salad in Plaza Mayor for dinner, a metro trip back to Retiro and 8 hours after leaving the hotel two weary individuals took some refuge in their air-conditioned room - another satisfying day completed👍🏼