Part 56: ¡Hola, Madrid! Dec 26, 2012

I have wanted to go to Spain ever since I did a project on Cataluña in 11^th grade Spanish.  Ten years later, I was off!  I called a taxi at 5 am and it didn’t come.  So I recalled a taxi at 5:20 am and ended up with a wet spot on my bum from the leaky water bottle the driver had in the seat before I sat down.  I hoped this was not a sign of things to come, and luckily, there were no other complications. 

I got to Madrid and dropped my bag off at my hostel and headed out to see the sights.  I was there just in time to see the changing of the guard at the royal palace.  Apparently, if you are lucky enough to be there on the first Wednesday of the month this little show involves 400 guards and 100 horses.  However, I was there on the last Wednesday of December and only witnessed the scaled down 27 guards, 6 horses version.  Still, they had a fife. 

From there, I walked up the road to Plaza Mayor, Madrid’s most famous square.  The design of the Plaza was ordered by King Philip II in 1576.  It was more in the suburbs of Madrid at that time and was supposed to replace an old market.  However, it wasn’t actually built until 1617 by Philip III.  After a few fires (per the usual), the current look is from 1790.  The Plaza has served as a market, a bull fighting ring, and an Inquisition execution site.   A few days later I took a free walking tour where the guide described the butcher shop as being right next to the executioner’s block.  Lovely. 

I headed down Calle Mayor towards Puerta Del Sol.  This plaza is on the “must see” lists for Madrid, but I wasn’t that impressed.  It is certainly busy, and it has the famous bear and tree statue, but mostly, I found it to be crowded and not that spectacular.  It was originally the site of the Sun Gate through Madrid’s old city walls, which is what its name is derived from.  Now it has the zero kilometer point for measurement on Spain’s roads and the President of Madrid’s office, which, in spite of it not being an office for the country’s government, is still the most popular spot for political protests to take place.  It is also the place to celebrate New Year’s Eve while you eat your 12 grapes. 

I moved on through the streets of Madrid, passing a Dunkin’ Coffee (which is apparently how Dunkin’ Donuts has branded itself in Europe.  It doesn’t even make sense.  You can’t dunk coffee.  You can dunk donuts into coffee.  Plus, it’s not like they don’t sell donuts) and several old buildings before winding my way back toward Plaza Mayor and the Mercado de San Miguel.  The Mercado is housed in a unique glass and iron building from 1916, however the inside is newly redone and full of food.  Lots of food.  Desserts, dried fruit, fresh fruit, chocolate, empanadas, paella, freshly made potato chips, fish, and other tapas.  I ate my way through there two days in a row for lunch. 

I then walked down towards the Santa María la Real de La Almudena cathedral.  It was originally planned in the Gothic revival architecture style and construction began in 1870.  However, construction stopped during the Spanish Civil War and did not pick back up again until 1950 when plans were revised for a baroque exterior to match the nearby royal palace.  It was completed in 1993 and the inside is very modern.   

The next thing on the list was a visit to a 2,000 year old Egyptian Temple.   The Temple Debod was a gift from the Egyptian government to Spain as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for Spain’s help in rescuing the Temples of Nubia from being flooded by a dam project in the 1960’s.  I got to the park and discovered that the temple is free to visit, but didn’t open for another hour so I decided to visit the nearby train station to buy my overnight train ticket to Barcelona that I could not reserve online. 

Have you ever been trying to walk somewhere and you can see the building, but you can’t find the door?  That is how I felt while trying to find the front of the Principe Pio train station.  I could have hit it with a rock, but there was a giant wall and then a construction site blocking my way.  I finally got inside and went to the Renfe office, only to discover the guy didn’t speak English and apparently wasn’t interested in listening to my Spanish, even though I’m pretty sure he knew exactly what I said.  Some people. 

A man that was actually helpful but worked in a different part of the station told me Senor. Unhelpful would be replaced by someone else in about 30 minutes, so I walked over to visit the giant Campo del Moro Gardens.  The park is so named because in 1109 Ali Ben Yusuf supposedly made camp here while trying to recapture Madrid and Alcazar Fortress from the Christian powers.  It was opened to the public in 1978 and offers a great view of the royal palace on the hill. 

I went back to the train station and finally got my ticket from a very nice employee with enough English to fill in the gaps in my Spanish.  I then headed back up the hill to the temple and waited in line to get in.  Inside I saw hieroglyphics and carvings and a museum about how the temples of Nubia were saved by a joint effort between UNESCO and several countries. 

From there, I walked down the road to the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande.  I really only visited this church because it was getting late and it was one of the only things still open, but I’m so glad I went.  I’ve been in a lot of churches over the last year or so.  It’s just part of what you do in Europe.  Most of them blend together and don’t really stand out in my mind.  This one, however, was a jaw dropper. 

It was built in 1760 by King Carlos III and is amazing due to the round sanctuary complete with a dome that is 108 feet in diameter (larger than the dome in St. Paul’s in London, according to the internet).  What makes this dome so amazing though is that it covers the entire seating area and it is low to the ground.  In most churches the dome is so far above you that 108 feet across doesn’t look that big.  However, if it starts about 3 stories up, it looks really big.  Plus, it’s painted with bright colors and lined with gold leaf.  It is honestly one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever visited.  The chapels around the edges also have amazing paintings, one by Goya, and house the remains of lots of historically famous dead people. 

After I left, I walked up back up the road towards Plaza Mayor.  I popped into another church just long enough to look at the amazing wood carvings on all the walls before completing my trip back to the Plaza to take a picture of it at night.  After that I headed back to my hostel to sleep, but ended up playing beer pong with people from India, Brazil, China, Mexico, and Venezuela, all of whom were nice enough to not make me drink the beer myself since I hate the way it tastes.