City tour through Habsburg and Bourbon Madrid, then the legendary late lunch.
The Palacio Real is the largest functioning royal palace in Western Europe by floor area — about 3,400 rooms. It was built after the old Habsburg Alcázar burned to the ground on Christmas Eve 1734; Felipe V, the first Bourbon king, decided his new home should never burn again, so it went up almost entirely in stone and brick. The royal family doesn't actually live there — it's for state ceremonies.
Talking point for Havana: Across the plaza sits the Almudena Cathedral, and here's the oddity — Madrid was Spain's capital for over 400 years without a cathedral. The Almudena wasn't finished until 1993, when Pope John Paul II consecrated it. So Spain's most important city got its cathedral roughly the same year as the first text message.
This grand arcaded square was completed in 1619 under Felipe III — whose bronze statue rides in the center. For three centuries it was the beating heart of Madrid: markets, bullfights, royal coronations, soccer-mad crowds — and, less cheerfully, public trials and executions during the Inquisition. It has burned down and been rebuilt three times. Today it's all café terraces and street artists.
Talking point: Look for the Casa de la Panadería, the building with the painted frescoes — it was once the city's main bakery, and bread prices were literally regulated from there.
The Mercado de San Miguel is a beautiful iron-and-glass market hall from 1916, reborn in 2009 as a gourmet tapas paradise — good for a snack, but save room. Puerta del Sol is the symbolic center of Spain: embedded in the pavement is "Kilómetro Cero," the point from which every Spanish highway is measured. It's also where the whole country eats twelve grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve. Gran Vía, the "Spanish Broadway," was carved through the old city a century ago and is Madrid's theater-and-shopping spine.
Talking point for Havana: The famous Tío Pepe sign and the bear-and-strawberry-tree statue (El Oso y el Madroño) at Sol are the city's selfie magnets — the bear is on Madrid's coat of arms.
This is the headline meal of the trip. Botín, founded in 1725, holds the Guinness World Record as the oldest restaurant in continuous operation on the planet — three centuries on the same site off Plaza Mayor, with a wood-fired oven that, by legend, hasn't been allowed to go cold since the day it was lit. The wine cellar is even older, dating to the 1500s.
What to order: the cochinillo asado (roast suckling pig, skin cracking like glass) and the cordero asado (roast lamb) are why people make the pilgrimage. Start with the Castilian garlic soup (sopa de ajo) and pour a half-bottle of Rioja Alta.
Talking points the table will love: Hemingway gave Botín the closing scene of The Sun Also Rises — "We lunched up-stairs at Botín's. It is one of the best restaurants in the world." And the lore says a teenage Francisco de Goya washed dishes here before he became Spain's greatest painter. (Historians argue about it; the Botín family swears by it.)
The American-born Pope Leo XIV is in the middle of a six-day visit to Spain (June 6–12), the first papal trip to the country in 15 years. Today, June 8, is his Madrid day: a morning address to lawmakers in the Congress of Deputies — the first time a pope has ever spoken in the Spanish Parliament — followed by an evening tribute to Our Lady of Almudena at the cathedral and a huge gathering with the Madrid diocese at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. Translation for the family: the city will be buzzing, and the area around your morning tour (Almudena, Royal Palace) may be busy. Euronews · overview
Portugal was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the next two years — a notable diplomatic win for the country you started this trip in. A small nation punching above its weight on the world stage; a fitting bookend after a week that began in Lisbon. The Portugal News
On the lighter side — Portugal's national team beat Chile 2–1 in a friendly over the weekend, with a 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo still leading the line ahead of the 2026 World Cup. If you spot Portugal or Spain shirts around Madrid this week, that's why. Público
Dinner-table material: here's what Madrid is actually arguing about this week.
Order beats chaos, argues Almeida's team. The plan bans scattered tourist flats inside ordinary residential buildings in the historic center and only allows them in fully non-residential buildings — so families don't end up living next to a rotating door of rolling suitcases and 3 a.m. check-ins. The delegate's office notes that most of the problem flats trace back to an earlier 2019 plan from the left, and says Reside finally requires a suitability certificate for every unit. The pitch: regulate the activity, protect residents, and stop the Wild West.
They've rebranded it the "Plan Expulsa" (the "eviction plan"). Más Madrid points out the Centro district has already lost over 4,500 residents and warns the rule lets entire central buildings flip to tourist use, pricing out locals. The PSOE claims up to 78% of the historic center could be converted. Neighborhood associations fear the pressure simply spills into working-class districts like Tetuán, Vallecas, and Carabanchel. The charge: this dresses up displacement as regulation. eldiario.es
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Puerto Rico
What the island's own outlets are reporting this week.