When I have a “big oh” birthday, I go climb a volcano, when my sibling does, we go for high-end brunch. Not that I am going to complain, at all – I get to tag along. The day, however, could have started better. We left 30 minutes behind schedule, then we ran into a traffic jam in the highway and finally, when we reached Madrid, we could not access the parking lot we had planned because not all the street closures had been published on the town hall’s website. We managed to find a different place to drop off the car, fortunately, but none of us was really wearing walking shoes…

Everything got better when we reached The Palace Hotel, officially The Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Madrid, colloquially El Palace. This five-star hotel was established in 1912. It is both a Spanish Cultural Asset (BIC) and part of the Unesco Heritage Site Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a landscape of Arts and Sciences. The Palace is recognised as the first luxury hotel built in Spain, erected as an early 20^th response to the new ways of travelling and King Alfonso XIII’s efforts to modernise Spain, which had previously been considered an “exotic and a bit dangerous” country to travel. The building was designed by architect Leon Eduard Ferrés i Puig in the Beaux-Arts style, one of the multiple “neo” fads from the 19^th century, drawing from French Neoclassicism, Renaissance and Baroque whilst at the same time using new building materials – reinforced concrete, iron, steel and glass (another grand example of this style is the Casino in Monte-Carlo).

Historically, The Palace Hotel has hosted national and international names of renown – Spanish artists such as Picasso, Dalí and Lorca, composers like Igor Stravinsky and Richard Strauss, scientist Marie Curie, and showbiz personalities including Josephine Baker, Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner. Today, El Palace is part of one of the Marriott brands, and after an integral renovation between 2023 and 2025, it comprises 470 rooms and 51 suites across 6,000 square metres on six floors. It is also home to several gastronomic spots: a high-end Chinese restaurant (China Taste by El Bund), a cocktail bar (27 Club) and a flexible restaurant and bar – La Cúpula, so called because it sits in a rotunda underneath the iconic stained glass dome (cúpula in Spanish) and skylight that has become the “heart of the hotel”.

There are also several works of art scattered around the hotel, and just past the lobby, I almost walked into one I was not expecting at all – “The Palace Dino”, El Dino del Palace, a sculpture by Lázaro Rosa-Violán depicting… a spinosaurid dinosaur. The piece is a scaled-down marble skeleton of an outdated interpretation of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus (Cretaceous period) with a thick tail and a bony crest. I say “outdated” because Spinosaurus was discovered in the early 1910s and for a while, it was described as bipedal theropod. Two skeletons were recovered in Egypt but kept in Nazi Germany and destroyed during WWI, so nobody could study them further. Later, in the 21^st century, a proposed neotype was unearthed, this time in Morocco. Subsequent discoveries hinted that the animal was actually both quadrupedal and semi aquatic. In 2005, a Spanish spinosaurid was discovered in La Rioja area and named Riojavenatrix lacustris (Lake huntress from La Rioja) – I may have worked on a fossilised piece of bone of this animal in Loarre. I was really surprised to find any dinosaur connection in such a place, but I have exactly zero problems with it.

simplified skeleton of a dinosaur with a sort-of-sail

Dinosaur hype aside, every Sunday afternoon between 13:30 and 16:30, La Cúpula offers an event called Opera & brunch, with a self-service buffet and professional opera singers popping up to delight the attendees with several arias by famous maestros. The crowd was extremely diverse – from middle-aged couples to families with children to solo-diners. When I grow up, I want to be like the lady sitting on her own at the next table, whom both waiters and singers stopped to greet and welcome.

Bar in the centre of a rotunda, covered by a skylight

For now, however, I don’t think I can afford the price tag, which might be steep for some pockets – but as I said, milestone birthday. We had chosen the Deluxe Opera & Brunch, which is 125 € per person. There is a more expensive option which includes a lot more alcohol. Despite its given name, the affair is not really a brunch, but a full-blown lunch.

Waiters serve sparkling wine (cava) and water, and they focus more on the wine than the water, which is slightly inconvenient for a non-alcohol-drinker like myself. Food is organised in a buffet-corner, divided in three spaces. The first one is the “self-service area”: artisan cheeses, Iberian sausages – including a hand-cut ham leg (100% acorn-fed Iberian breed) – baked goods, seafood and raw bar, with lobster and oysters, salad bar and a “hot buffet” with roasted suckling pig and side dishes of potatoes, peppers and chickpeas. In another area stood the live cooking stations, manned by people serving the food: roasted sea bass, beef Wellington and a rice station (paella); an egg station was advertised, but it was not there – hence not a brunch: no option of eggs Benedict. Finally, there was a desserts table with mini cakes, pies, tartelettes, verrines, chocolates, and macarons. I learnt the names of so many desserts that day…

Lady cutting a cured pork leg, and several stations of a buffet, including cooked meat, seafood and oysters

Cold meats and cheese, salad, and dessert stations in a buffet

The music program included a pianist, a soprano and a tenor, and we had a little sheet of paper with the setlist:
Non ti scordar di me (Don’t forget me) by Ernesto de Curtis (1935).
Ebben? Ne andrò lontana (Well, then? I’ll go far away) from La Wally by Alfredo Catalani (1892).
Musica Proibita (Forbidden Music) by Stanislao Gastaldon (1881).
Io son l’umile ancella (I am the humble servant of the creative spirit) from Adriana Lecouvreur by Francesco Cilea (1902).
Eri tu (It’s you) from Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi (1859).
Il bacio (The Kiss) by Luigi Arditi (1860).
Mattinata (Morning) by Ruggero Leoncavallo (1904).
Die lustige Witwe Waltz (Waltz of the Merry Widow) by Franz Lehár (1861).
Amapola (Poppy) by Joseph Lacalle (1920).
O sole mio (Oh my sunshine) by Eduardo Di Capua (1989).
Granada by Agustín Lara (1932).
Nessun dorma (Let no one sleep) from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini (1926).
Brindisi (Toast or Driking Song) from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi (1853).

Man playing a grand piano

Tenor and soprano singing The Toast from La Traviatta. The soprano is saluting the camera with her glass

The singers and the pianist were excellent. The only complaint I could have is that we were seated right behind the piano, and the artists were on the other side, so their voices did not carry that well, but once the soprano came to sing to us and that was great. I moved at some point so I could hear them better, too (and take pictures). The food was abundant and quite good – I even tried an oyster for the first time. Truth be told, I would have liked to taste a bit of each dish – everything looked delicious – but there was just too much! The sitting and bar area looked beautiful, and there was even a bit of a Chinese New Year decoration (since China Taste is doing a special menu to celebrate). I particularly loved the skylight dome above the bar.

Skylight with a hanging lamp

It was a great event that we could have complemented with something else nearby – the Naval Museum, or the Palace of Cibeles. However, my parents had been so stressed by the drive that they did not want to stay over. Besides, we had eaten a lot. The most reasonable course of events was heading home for a food coma, after deciding that maybe – just maybe – Sunday mornings were not the best to drive around Madrid.

21st July: The housefront

This Saturday/Sunday getaway was a birthday present, and I have to admit that I was super excited about it – the main part of the present was a hotel night in Madrid and tickets to watch the (British) Royal Ballet in the Spanish Royal theatre, the Teatro Real. And I mean stall tickets, I was over the moon.

The day started at the Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where there was an exhibition about yokai, the Yumoto Koichi Collection (Miyoshi, Hiroshima). It was called Yokai: Iconografía de lo Fantástico (Iconography of the fantastical), and it was rather interesting. It holds a collection of different items related to mythological creatures of Japan, yokai [妖怪] – there are scrolls, woodprints, games, pottery, even clothes and accessories. This was an interesting exhibition, and having seen it would later save me a trip to Miyoshi, allowing me to discover Takehara instead.

Rolls of paper, kimojo jacket and blookwood painting, showing different scenes and beings from Japanese mythology

After the exhibition, we went to the Green Tea Sushi Bar & Cocktail Room, which turned out to have the most overpriced mediocre sushi ever. The place was ridiculously expensive but fortunately we had booked with a special 50% discount, which made it bearable. However, fair is fair, and the tataki was delicious, and the chocolate coulant turned out to be amazing.

Lunch. Sushi boat, sald, tuna tataki, edamame, and an ice cream scoop

The hotel was in the right smack of Madrid, a short walk away from the “royal theatre” Teatro Real and we had tickets for 17:00 – to watch Swan Lake performed by British The Royal Ballet. Before sitting down we took a small exploration walk through the different rooms, including the ball room. I really loved the whole building and in particular the blue room and the ball room.

Royal theatre snippets - the main hall, the stage, the stands. Most curtains are a rich burgundy colour.

Swan Lake happens to be my favourite ballet – I love Tchaikovsky in general, though the stars have always aligned against me watching Sleeping Beauty. In Swan Lake, the evil sorcerer Rothbart turns maidens into a swan during the day, and they turn back to women at night as long as they are near the enchanted lake. The ballet officially opens with Prince Siegfried celebrating his birthday. He receives a crossbow as present, and he is later told by his mother that he needs to choose a bride the next night. As he becomes upset his friend suggest going hunting. In the forest, Siegfried becomes separated from the group and meets Odette, one of the swans. She explains of her predicament, and they eventually fall in love, and Siegfried invites her to the ball in which he needs to choose his bride. The next night, however, Rothbart sends Odette’s magical doppelgänger, to whom Siegfried swears love. Witnessing this in swan-form breaks Odette’s heart. As he realises his mistake, Siegfried makes it back to the lake.

The ending of the ballet changes. Sometimes it is a happy one when the spell is broken. The original ending has both Siegfried and Odette dying together to break the spell. Another alternative is that only Odette dies, but Siegfried manages to kill Rothbart and break the spell – this was the one that the Royal ballet played, and it managed to make me a puddle of happy goo. As Siegfried raises Odette’s inert body over his head, I shuddered all over. It was magnificent.

Snapshot of the credits, Showing Akane Takada as Odette and Odile, William Bracewell as Prince Siegfried, and Thomas Whitehead as Rothbart

The cast after the play taking their bows.

After the performance was over, we had dinner in the Plaza Mayor and then walked towards Puerta del Sol, then back went to the hotel to catch some sleep.

Square Plaza del Sol lit by night

22nd July: The backhouse

On Sunday we went back to the Teatro Real because we had booked one of the visits they offer, the technical one. During this visit you walk through the inner areas of the theatre, and even more interestingly, the upper area.

We saw the main hall, and afterwards we went first onto the backstage, then the backstage, and finally onto the stage where the Swan Lake props still stood, so that was really cool. The visit finished climbing up to the upper area of the theatre to see the views and the theatrical rigging system.

Empty royal theatre, showing the stalls from the stage, the backstage, and the view of the cathedral and the royal palace from the upper windows.