Madrid for The Solo Traveller: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

Formal gardens below the Royal Palace, quiet at the end of the day; a good place to find your bearings with the palace as a map.

The last two hours are free; queue from about 17:15, then choose three rooms and ignore the rest.

Croquetas and cod at the zinc counter, standing, with a caña; no reservation, no menu to read, and nobody notices a person eating alone.

Be inside the Retiro gates early, with the joggers and the dog-walkers, and walk the ring to the Crystal Palace before the crowds arrive.

Guernica at its quietest, in room 206, before the groups arrive at noon; the museum reopens its doors at ten.

A seat at the counter of a butcher-shop dining room; order three or four plates, watch the pass, and talk to the cooks.

The flea market at opening, when the stallholders are still setting up and the alleys are walkable; buy nothing until the second lap.

Seven centuries of painting in one walk; start on the top floor and take the lift down as the rooms fill.

Jamón bocadillos at the bar of a ham-themed chain; a counter, a sandwich and a caña for almost nothing.

Terraced gardens beside the Prado, open from ten; the glasshouses are warm and the benches are in the sun.

A vertical garden on one wall and a gallery in an old power station; the exhibitions change, and the café is quiet before noon.

Gambas al ajillo at the counter of a 1906 shrimp house; one plate, one glass, and the airport trains from Atocha.