Free!

Three museums and one palace for 0 €.


The first museum we visited was Reina Sofia, or officially Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. The building was Madrid's first hospital, but it works well as a museum.  

The Calder mobile in the courtyard was moving a bit, which surprised me.

There were plenty of people, but it did not feel crowded.

On the second day we visited The Tyssen, or El Museo de arte Thyssen-Bornemisza. The line was long, but it also did not feel overly crowded once we were inside.

In the old part of the museum with a model of the expansion.

Photography was allowed and I started to photograph paintings I liked, but it was like going to an enormous all-you-can-eat buffet and taking a little bite of everything. It was too much.

Before I finished I was stuffed.  But I couldn't stop! I wanted everything. I might have enjoyed the museum more over the course of a few days, or maybe living in Madrid and getting a membership.

Another long line (all around the plaza), this one to get into the royal palace.We were lucky to get in before the doors closed.

Royal Palace of Madrid

A. noticed this keyhole as we walked in.

We learned our lesson for the last free museum, The Prado, and got there before the free hours began. It is much better to be near the front of a very long line!

They do NOT allow photography, but even if they did I would not have been able to get such nice shots as you can see in this video.

It would be insulting to say we got our money's worth, but I think we did enjoy the museums more since they were free.  We felt like we could see only what we wanted and stay only as long as we cared to.