A few months ago, during my spring break in March, I was presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity. I was offered a chance to visit the capital of Spain, Madrid. Sadly, I won’t be able to talk about my entire visit to Madrid in the limited length of this essay, so I decided to talk abut my favorite part of visiting the capital city, my tour of the Royal Palace in Madrid.
Located in the central portion of Madrid on the Calle de Bailen, the Royal Palace of Madrid, or Palacio Real as it is called in Spanish, was constructed on the order of King Philip V of Spain between 1738 and 1755. It is a massive building containing 2800 rooms and a total of 1,450,00 square feet of floor space.
â–º QUARTER FINALIST 2012 TEEN TRAVEL WRITING SCHOLARSHIP
The very first part of the Palace that I saw was the front plaza. The area was decorated with ornate lampposts and from one side of the plaza I was able to look out over the western part of the city from the hill top that the palace stood on.
In the very back of the plaza was the entrance to the interior of the palace. The space above the entrance was lined with roman style columns that supported a small balcony, and on the ledge of the roof were multiple statues of various men and women. I had never seen such detail in architecture before and it was an amazing sight to behold. The inside was even more spectacular.
In the very front was a large set of stairs that led up to the inner rooms. In front of the stairs was a statue of King Philip dressed in Roman armor. It was really interesting. At the top of the stairs was a small balcony decorated with a banner displaying the Spanish coat of arms.
One of my favorite rooms was the throne room. It was decorated with all over with carpet and curtains colored deep red with gold colored trimming. Next to the two thrones were four gold colored lion statues two on each side. Next to the lions were black statues of different Roman gods and goddesses. The other rooms of the palace were no less amazing.
Another one of the rooms that caught my eye was the Porcelain room. In there, the entirety of the wall is covered by porcelain decorations and sculptures that were screwed onto the wall. If desired, one could unscrew all of the porcelain from the walls an place it in another room with the exact same dimensions! A very unique feature in my opinion.
Another interesting feature is that the king who ordered the palace built had a peculiar interest in clocks. In almost all of he rooms, I saw different style clocks in various shaped and sizes. My favorite was a clock that was found in the kings ante chamber, and was shaped like a statue of the roman god Chronos holding up a large sphere above his head.
Out of all the vacations I had taken, my vacation to Madrid, Spain was by far the best. I enjoyed everything about it, but my favorite part was my tour of the royal palace in Madrid.
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My vacation to Spain in general was one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done. The culture was rich and the archetecture was far more ornate than anything I've ever seen in the United States. I will defenately go back there some day if I am fortunate enough.
My vacation to Spain in general was one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done. The culture was rich and the archetecture was far more ornate than anything I've ever seen in the United States. I will defenately go back there some day if I am fortunate enough.