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Rodrigo's Concierto with Nature
The composer captured the tranquility, the quiet melody and rhythm of the royal garden in his music. What's Cheap?
When Westerners go RTW, their $, € or £ will go a long way in Asian countries. Not so with Asians (with the exception of the Japanese, maybe) on holiday with their hard-earned savings in local currency. In our case, we easily spend quadruple or more over what we would otherwise pay back home. Like a canned soda costs 4x what it costs from home. So it ain't easy to take off from my "nest" in Madrid without budgeting for it. Since transport and hotels take the lion's share of expenses, I lined up a few day trips from Madrid. Out in the morning or noon, back to my "nest" before the sun sets at 8 or 9pm. Have you heard the Concierto de Aranjuez? Composed by a man named Juan Rodrigo. Blind for nearly all his life. Yet he captured the "rhythm" and "quiet melody" of the royal gardens in the royal estate. Aranjuez' Freson Con Nata
You can still take the "Strawberry Train" to get here. Just be sure not to eat the famous dessert in cages "with a palace view". It will cost you! Rodrigo played the piano. Yet he composed this world-famous Concierto for a guitar solo. The symphony can lull you into a trance especially if you've had a long anxiety-laden day. Not so in my case as I easily found the Cercanias Ticket Booth at the Atocha Renfe Metro Station. The return trip to Aranjuez costs only €7.60 with trains leaving every half hour. The train ride was over even before I finished a chapter in my book. A half hour ride, then a 10 minute walk from the Aranjuez Train Station to the Palacio Real. There is a tiny "chiquitren" costing €5 that takes you around the historic sites within the town as well as around the gardens and royal hunting grounds. Trust me, lovely as it is, you wouldn't want to explore the hunting grounds on foot! Check out this link for details and more photos. Not in many must-visit lists. Makes me wonder. This is the birthplace of Miguel Cervantes and the town offers so much history and culture. Plus it's great visiting university towns where young men and women man the tourism bureaus, The Resident Storks of Alcala de Henares
They fly from nest to nest, from spire to spire, from rooftop to rooftop. Undisturbed. souvenir shops and work part-time in many cafes and shops. A one-way ticket costing only €3.20 can be purchased in any of the vending machines in the Atocha Renfe Station's Cercanias area. To be sure, you can line up to buy the ticket from the Cercanias ticket booth.
Once there, you have a variety of things to do. From the Train Station, you turn right at the "primera Calle" and walk for 10 minutes towards Plaza Cervantes. Here in the Plaza, you can either find a bench and sit all afternoon just watching a community of storks flying from one spire to the next, minding their many nests on many rooftops. Oh yes, we have resident storks here in Alcala de Henares. Must be fans of the great Miguel de Cervantes! Btw, don't miss visiting Casa Cervantes where the great novelist lived. And it's FREE! The Casa is right along Calle Mayor off Plaza Cervantes. A lovely street lined with columns and brick buildings adorned with flower boxes. This is also a good place to dine al fresco. You can have the Menu del Dia or Plato Combinado for as Don Quixote and Pancho
The great Miguel Cervantes lived here! low as €6-8, inclusive of Bebida (drink) and postre (dessert). Not bad. Or bring a sandwich to eat in any of the parks and plazas all around town.
Truly, Alcala de Henares is worth a visit. Want another day trip for less than €10? Toledo is one such favorite day trip out of Madrid. Been there years ago. This time around, I took the half-hour bus ride to Toledo. You can take the train too, if you like. But I chose to take the metro to Plaza Elliptica then strolled towards the Estacion de Autobus, picked up a ticket from the tiny Alsa ticket booth and hopped on the bus. In Toledo's bus station, take Bus #5 for Plaza Zocodover. This is the exact same place where you also take the same bus #5 back to the bus station to catch your bus back for Madrid. Easy. If you want it even easier without breaking into a sweat, take the green "Zocotren" that weaves around this heritage town in and out of 2 gates to the walled city and across the bridge from where you get a panoramic view of El Greco's Toledo.....immortalized El Escorial
Not just another royal palace. Monarchs lived and were buried here. in many El Greco paintings.
El Escorial and Valle de Los Caidos
Train or bus? Either way, it won't cost you more than €10. But the hitch is the ONLY bus to Valle de Los Caidos from El Escorial leaves at 3pm, back by 5:30pm. So plan your departure time from Moncloa Station. At best, you only need 2 hours.... At most 3 hours in the royal palace cum burial grounds of royalty. There isn't much else to do in El Escorial Valle de Los Caidos
Franco is buried here in this memorial for those who died during the Civil War. As many as 20,000 prisoners worked on this memorial just a short bus ride from Escorial. town outside of the Palace. But be sure to make that very short bus trip to
Valle de Los Caidos . You're there in less than 10 minutes and this memorial built upon Franco's orders provide a stark contrast to
El Escorial .
So there you go. Day trips from Madrid. Each for under €10. For the next blog, let's have that list for day trips for under €25.
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The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas
So much more to visit!
I only journeyed to El Escorial from this collection, so might need a return visit to Madrid to see the rest of these destinations. This is a very informative blog, am looking forward to your next list of suggestions.