On the road (3) A (hopefully) sunny September road trip to Spain COMPLETED - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Tuesday 7 September part five: exploring the Royal Palace
Then it was into the palace proper to pick up our tour. Our guide was wonderful and kept us in each room just long enough to tell us about all the salient things that we were seeing in there. We had headsets, so that we didnt have to be right next to her to easily hear her and I found that really useful, especially as I was content to sometimes hang back at the entrances to the various rooms, carefully looking at every detail laid out in front of us and there was so much to take in. Sadly, there are strictly no photos in here, so I cant share with you the wonder of the rooms we saw.
Some of the highlights were the imposing main staircase you enter and leave through, the throne room, complete with two golden thrones and two lions guarding them. Our guide told us that these lions pre-date the palace, as they came from the castle that was originally on this site. They were made in Rome in 1651 and this really did give you an impression of power. Apparently, the Royal family still meet people here today, although the thrones are strictly ceremonial only and they are on their feet whenever they meet people.
The Gala Dining Room was another that stuck in my mind. This saw three originally separate rooms brought together to create one long room that can have a table that will seat up to 140 people. There are two chairs that are slightly taller than all the others at the centre of the room and those are for the King and Queen. The visiting head of state will always seat with them as well, as the tradition is that the most important people sit at the centre of the table.
There are three rooms, where the kings originally took dinner, lunch and breakfast and you see them in that order. Surprisingly, its the breakfast room that is the most spectacular of the three, which has now been named after its creator to become the Gasparini Room. Its decorated with flowers all over it, including the ceiling and is unlike anything Ive seen before in a palace.
The same can be said for the Porcelain Room, which is completely decorated with porcelain, manufactured by the Royal factory. Sadly, that no longer exists, but it was fascinating to see that so much came from Royal factories, as pretty much all the tapestries here also came from a Royal factory as well and that one is still working today.
Once our tour was done, we handed back our headsets and headed back into the square. We were both absolutely shattered and in desperate need of sitting down, so we decided to get some food here. On the way, we headed to the far side of the palace to get some photos of the view below, which was lovely.
As we were in the vicinity, we also opted to have a look at the Royal Armoury, which is a self guided tour. Again, sadly no photos were allowed in here, but wow, the collection of arms you see in here on two separate floors was quite breathtaking. It reminded me of the Tower of London, although I think this collection is probably bigger, which amazed me.
About to drop, we headed for the building we had entered through and headed upstairs to get something to eat in their cafe. The elevator up there was a bit jerky and my goodness, that messed with my head for a few minutes after. I went for the fettuccine with mushrooms, which was lovely. Mark pointed at something and established that it was pork in a sauce, so opted for that.
We sat there for quite some time after wed finished eating, just recovering and getting our strength up for the upcoming Segway tour. Eventually we headed out through the gift shop, getting a fridge magnet there.
Then it was outside, where we decided to go and have a look at the Cathedrale de la Almudena. This is one of perhaps the newest cathedrals in the world, as the plans for it only got the go ahead in 1879, but it wasnt actually finished until the 1980s. Even then, it wasnt opened by the Pope until 1993. : The second you enter it, you can see that makes it immediately different. Sure, you can see the lines that youd expect in any church, but the colours inside are a lot more clear cut and it looks a lot more modern than most churches you visit.
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Sadly, there are strictly no photos in here, so I cant share with you the wonder of the rooms we saw. 
I went for the fettuccine with mushrooms, which was lovely. Mark pointed at something and established that it was pork in a sauce, so opted for that. 
: The second you enter it, you can see that makes it immediately different. Sure, you can see the lines that youd expect in any church, but the colours inside are a lot more clear cut and it looks a lot more modern than most churches you visit. 
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