An astonishing confection

I'm speaking of San Antonio de los Alemanes (the Church of St. Anthony of the Germans), and no, it's really not worth going into why it was put at the disposal of the German members of the royal court (every succeeding day I feel like I held my own while jousting with Andres) ― it's just that it is shaped like a Cadbury egg and is covered from floor to ceiling with trompe l'oeil flourishes and frescoes like the kind I saw when I rode my bike to San Sigismondo around this time seven years ago. So it has an elliptical floor plan that was unknown here at the time and has an immersive quality that resonates with the drumbeats of the 17th century (wow, what a precious sentence!). Wall paintings by Francisco Ricci and Juan Carreno de Miranda show scenes from St. Anthony of Padua's life (definitely not a German.)

The effect is strange, energetic, almost absurd.

Admission is 2 euros. It's on the tiny Camino de la Puebla at No. 22, and from the outside, like the egg that shares its shape, it offers little clue to what lies inside.