Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, Madrid

It’s a tough ticket to score, but I was glad to go on our fourth time in Madrid. Guided visits only. I was drawn to the art donated by the ladies, but you got only two minutes free time in the art gallery. Not out of the way, so no problem for a day of sightseeing. Ornate marble baroque interiors.

I thought it was worthwhile even though I ended up on a Spanish-language tour in 2016. However, I wished very much that I had read Rick's description of the place 2 or 3 times rather than only once.

The ticketing procedure at the time of my visit was extremely inconvenient. There was no set time for the English tour, no guarantee there would be a tour on a specific day, and no assurance there would be even one open spot on any tour offered. You simply had to show up and ask. I speculate that they take phone bookings from tour companies and schedule an English tour only when they have a group coming in. Depending on the size of the group, there may or may not be walk-up slots available. On the day of my visit, the English tour began not terribly long after the the sight opened for the day (I think 30 or 45 minutes), so your only chance was to show up before opening time and line up, then wait your turn and ask. At that point there should be a schedule posted for the day's tours. The reception people did not speak English in 2016.

In my case, showing up 5 minutes after opening made me too late. The guy in front of me in line got the last ticket (maybe the only walk-up ticket) for that day's single English tour.

I haven't checked the website recently to see whether the procedures have changed.