I flew in late on Saturday night, and thanks to my careful preplanning it was easy enough to take the metro from the airport to the station nearest my hostel. I was briefly diverted by the fact that I misread the address when I made the map, but I soon put myself straight and found the place. I was in a room with three girls from Taiwan and another girl that I never saw, and after a quick check of the internet it was time for bed.
Saturday began with breakfast - bread and juice - before I picked up a map and began looking for the places that my Asturian friend, Armando, had recommended I see. I started with the Egyptian temple near my hostel. It's an actual temple from...Nubia, I believe, that was transplated to Madrid. Many of the temples from Aswan were relocated to countries that helped preserve them when the enlargening of the Aswan Dam meant the temples would be flooded - Holland, Spain, Italy and so on. I then decided to keep walking further south to where I could see the Palacio Real, or Royal Palace.
The Palacio was quite cool. I paid the discount rate to see el Armario Real y las Salones Oficiales - that's the Royal Armoury and the Official Rooms for you Anglophone plebs back home. Now, my avid readers will remember that during my last (and first) encounter with suits of armour at a chateau in the Loire, I discovered that not only am I scared of mannequins but also of suits of armour. Well, unfortunately for me, the Armoury is largely comprised of mannequins wearing armour. And plastic horses wearing armour (but they weren't as scary). I, however, managed to keep my irrational (though very scary) fears in check to enjoy the various styles of defending and attacking in Spain over the years, and gained a new appreciation for the Belgariad in doing so. The armour was definitely more interesting, though - Kiri, I saw real codpieces. They were very amusing and I thought of you.
The official rooms were interesting, though a bit repetitive - seen one fancified palace, seen them all, really. Then I headed to the Catedral de la Almudena next door - love cathedrals. It wasn't as pretty as the churches in Italy, but it was grander, and the design was much more elegant. I headed up to Canal metro to pick up a theatre ticket for that night, and then took refuge in a nearby cafe to read for a while until the show opened. I went to see 'Memorias de un caballo andaluz: una espactaculare ecuestre' (Memories of an Anadlucian horse: an equestrian spectacular) which was good and quite quintessentially Spanish - lots of flamenco, toreadors, dancing and a very pretty white dancing horsey.
Today's plan was to cover most of the other sites that Armando had recommended to me. Late morning I took the metro again down to Sol, from where I explored la Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor. There was nothing particularly exciting about either one for me, but the street performers deserve a mention - I was particularly amused by the 'headless' men wandering around Plaza Mayor. A hat and a pair of sunnies sit above the neck of a shirt, apparently headless. My favourite was the sailor, naturally.
Next stop was Calle Gran Via, basically 'Main Street'. I walked up from Puerta del Sol and began walking east, admiring all the tall elegant buildings along the way. After a basic utilitarian lunch stop, I continued on my way to the Puerta de Alcala, which I eventually found in the Plaza Independencia. It was much more like what I'd expected of the Puerta del Sol - one of the original gates, or 'puertas', in the wall that used to surround the city before it was pulled down to expand the city. It was the biggest I've seen, bigger than Italy or France.
The final location on my list was a bit further to walk, but the metro was impractical, so a long, slow walk it was. I thus ended up in the Parque de Madrid. It was lovely, and huge. In the middle there's a big artificial lake with a massive monument on the other side. You can even hire boats and paddle around. I kept going further south, wandering through the hedges and enjoying the peace and quiet while talking to the pigeons and non-magpies (because they're not really magpies, they're just confused). I eventually found my target - El Angel Caido, the fallen angel sculpture atop the fountain.
Having walked a considerable way, I then felt justified in taking the metro back to the centre of the city, where I picked up another theatre ticket for tomorrow night. After a brief stop to watch some guys feed the sparrows, I continued my nice, slow walk home. Early bed for me tonight!
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| The exterior of the Cathedral |
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| The Palacio Real from the courtyard |
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| El Templo de Debod |
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| For Kirily. In the supermarket |
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| The lake in Madrid Park |
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| El Angel Caido |
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| Madrid Park |
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