Madrid - Day 1

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Geo: 40.4157, -3.7101

Today I started out looking for Plaza Mayor, I knew they had walking tours starting from there which I wanted to get in on. However first I had to find somewhere for breakfast. As I walked around the corner to Calle Mayor I realised this was not going to be an issue. Cafes everywhere. I got a ham & cheese toastie and a coffee for €2.20. Methinks spain is going to be cheap. I also picked up a tourist guide book but I think I paid to much for it, well maybe Spain is not that cheap.

I found Plaza Mayor, much easier than I expected. The map the hotel gave me is huge and the second I saw it I knew I am going to get lost in this town. However the tourist office had a user friendly version, phew! The next tour didn't start until midday so I decided to go for a walk, there is a park not far away and the day was beautiful and sunny. On the way to the park I walked past the cathedral which looks grand but a little haphazard, there appeared to be two different types of stone. I found out later it was actually built in three different stages so I was not imagining it.

The park was actually a series of parks. Streets still run through it but instead of blocks of buildings there is all this green space. It was quite nice but the day had not really het up enough to enjoy the outdoors. I returned to Plaza Mayor for a coffee and wait for my tour. The sun was much stronger here, maybe it was all the stone and concrete surfaces, or maybe it was he lack of shade, but sitting in the sunshine, with a coffee and watching the world go by is not a bad way to kill an hour.

The walking tour consisted of myself, an Irish guy and the tour guide. It was really quite good. The guide spent some time explaining the history of Madrid. It was originally set up as a defensive point for the Moors. These were arabic people, which I didn't know they had ever settled in Europe. So much for my appreciation of history. So the christians went to war with the moors and took over their fort and the moors ran away to the next hill where they set up shop. Over time three neighbourhoods grew up around each other, the moors, the christians and the jews. This was all good until the time of Queen Isobel, who was a devout catholic. At that time Rome set up the inquisition, so Izzy followed suit and set up the Spanish inquisition. Now it was illegal to be anything but a Christian so the moors and the jews had two options, convert or leave. Only if they left, they were not allowed to take any of their possessions with them. Great choice!

Many of the buildings around here have moorish designs, as it was the moors who had the architectural knowledge. Much of the old neighbourhoods were destroyed by the inquisition and later developments of the city but there are still some buildings around which have a very middle-eastern appearance to them. There is a specific spanish word for these buildings, I cant remember what it is now but it involves rolling the tongue and it means, a building for the christians, built by the moors. It is worth noting that it was only in Madrid that the destruction of the moorish and jewish buildings happened. In other parts of the country, these buildings were repurposed to the christian faith.

After the tour and a spot of lunch I headed to the Royal palace. Built by the first Bourbon King of spain. Thats Bourbon as in the french aristocrats not bourbon the drink. The first kings of spain were the Hapsburg kings from Holland, when the direct line of Hapsburg's died out, some weird connection was made to the House of Bourbon. The throne went to Phillip V who had grown up in Versaille. He came from this pretty french palace to a dreary castle/fort built by the moors in Madrid. Funnily enough during his reign the castle burned down, so he decided to build a new palace. It is very beautiful and very french. Three stories tall the lower floor was used for the civil service, the middle floor contained the royal apartments and the upper floor was for servants. The palace is not used by the royal family anymore, apart from state functions, so the royal apartments are now open to the public. It was very grandiose and beautiful.

After the palace I made my way back towards my hotel. The plan being to walk as far as my feet would carry me and then stop at a bar for some vino and just chill the rest of the afternoon. I made it to within two or three blocks of my hotel and decided that was near enough. There was a nice little bar with tables and chairs outside that looked very inviting. At the tables next to me were a couple of locals and three tourists like me who were chatting about Spain, England, travelling etc. they invited me to join them. I sat with them for the rest of the evening and made some new friends. It was quite funny, I didn't speak a word of Spanish and the lady next to me didn't speak english. So the others were translating for us. The conversations switched from Spanish to english all evening. Even though she and I couldn't communicate with each other we got along great. Viva Madrid!

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