This past week in Spain has been rainy and windy and kind of chilly. But Saturday the 10th the weather was better. The sun actually came out and there were times when it felt kind of warm. So we ventured out for our first real walking tour of Madrid.
We got a copy of lonely planet's Spain book from Uncle Kim and Aunt Shannon--thank you much!! So we looked in that book and found this recommended walking tour. We first took the metro to the historic part of Madrid. Glenn was really excited to take the 'underground train'!
The beginning of our tour started at the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol, which means Gate of the Sun.
This is the official center point of Spain!
Glenn liked watching the pigeons and chasing them. He kept trying to catch them, but they of course would fly away. He did send one flying and it almost hit a couple. We had a good laugh about it with them! Those birds sure are all over!
This statue of Carlos III, Rey de Espana, or King of Spain, was in this plaza.
The book also recommended that we find a statue of a bear nuzzling a strawberry tree...but we missed that part of the description when we were there, so we didn't find it. We'll have to go back again and find that statue. It is the official symbol of the city, after all!
Next we walked down one of the calles, or streets nearby. We stopped for a late lunch at Cafe & Te.
We order the cuatros quesos pizza...Yum!
...and a ham and cheese panini. And that wasn't so good. The ham wasn't cooked all the way-I think it was kind of like bacon, but definitely not as good. And there was a strange sort of sauce on it too. We didn't really like it, so we were glad we had ordered the pizza.
What meal would be complete without making a funny face with your food, right? ;)
After lunch we kept walking down the calle...don't these just look European to you?
And we found the Iglesia de San Ginés. It is one of Madrid's oldest churches--it has been there since the 14th century!! We weren't able to go inside because they only open for Mass.
We continued on until we reached Plaza Mayor.
It is large and beautiful and full of people!
They of course had all kinds of entertainment there--fun characters for the kids...
...people hiding under things to scare passersby...
...and a man making giant bubbles!!
He even made one over Glenn! Glenn loved the bubbles!
We then walked through the small, but quaint Plaza de la Villa.
It is surrounded on three sides by 'wonderfully preserved examples of 17th-century Madrid-style baroque architecture'.
We liked the plants surrounding the statue in the center.
We walked along cobbled streets and up to Iglesia de San Pedro El Viejo.
It's incredible to me how many churches and buildings like this are just tucked away in these little streets. We had been walking and then wham! it's right there in front of you!
Across the street was the biblioteca and Glenn wanted to say hi to the statue there.
We walked on a hill overlooking part of the city and took pictures of the views.
From here we walked down to the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Almudena.
This cathedral is actually pretty new. A cathedral had first been proposed to be there back in 1518, but it wasn't started until the 1880's. And it actually wasn't finished until 1992. So it's new and bright and clean and modern. The stained-glass windows were interesting, being modern. It's not really what I would expect in a large cathedral like this in Europe, but that's okay. We did like these carvings on the door and side.
This is the side of the cathedral that faces the Palacio Real, or Royal Palace.
Across the street from there was the Plaza de Oriente. It had aspirations of becoming the Spanish Versailles, but it never got that grand. It is nice with marble statues all through the gardens. But the best part for Glenn was the nearby playground! He was so excited to see something that was for him!
On our way we went through the gardens on one side of the palace. We got this lovely view.
And last but not least, and one that we will have to go to again when we can go inside, was the Templo de Debod.
As you can read, this temple was donated to Spain by Egypt. Who knew you could donate and move entire temples to other places? Amazing!
This was the sunset we watched as we sat by the temple.
We soon found a metro and took it home. We enjoyed our walk and are looking forward to seeing more in Madrid!
2 comments:
Yes, it looks very European! I'm glad you have written down names and described things to help you remember what you saw. Those bubbles were huge! And I loved those purple flowers! Can't wait to see you over there! It may not be until September, though, as I still haven't got my papers sent in for my passport - I need my dad to sign my photo and a couple of other things. I will try to get down there Wednesday and then get it all in the mail then...
Glenn looks so much older! You must have done a lot of walking! Europe seems like a giant outdoor museum to me; so many wonderful old buildings and artwork to treasure. I hope you guys enjoy your time there!
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