Our first tour started at 9:00 and was a three hour tour of the city. We boarded the bus with about 10 other people and started on our way.
Madrid is a city of 2 million with an additional million people living in the suburbs. It gets over 9 million visitors a year. Natives of Madrid describe its climate as 9 months of winter and three months of hell. We were fortunate we had three days of heaven!
A view of just a portion of Casa de Campo one of the many parks in the city of Madrid. It was formerly a royal hunting estate. It is four and a quarter acres with an artifical lake. The zoo and an amusement park are all located here.
The Manzanares River which flows through the park is obviously not too high this time of year.
Puerto de Toledo city gate. At one time Toledo was the capital of Spain - that is before 1561when King Phillip II (Felipe II) moved the Capital to Madrid which was then just a village.
Puerta de Allcaia stands at Plaza de la Independencia. The original which stood nearby was built in 1599 as a welcome gesture to dona Margarita de Austria, who was the wife of King Felipe III. When Carlos III came to the throne of Spain 1 and 1/2 centuries later, he entered Madrid in great style on December 9, 1759. He was not at all pleased with this city gate, thinking it quite unsuitable for an important royal appeaqrance.
He demanded that a much more flamboyant gate should be built. In 1764 the original Puerta de Alcaia was demolished. The work on the new gate was completed in 1769.
The Puerta de Alcaia stands in the east of the city. It is in the middle of Calle de Alcaia, one of the oldest streets in Madrid and which runs from the Puerta del Sol in the city center outwards to the town of Alcaia de Henares.
This gate is one of the symbols of Madrid.
We made a stop at the Plaza de Toros - the bullfighting ring in Madrid and the third largest bullfighting ring in the world behind Plaza de Toros Mexico in Mexico City and Plaza de Toros in Venezuaela. It can seat 25,000 people.
Sculptures of matadors are around the outside of the bullring. This statue is of Luuis Miquel Gonzalez Lucas who was an international clebrity in his day. Better known for his showmanship than skills he was married to the actress Luci Bose and listed as his friends such celebrities as Ava Gardner, Pablo Picasso, Orson Wells and Ernest Hemingway.
This monument provides a tribute to Sir Alexander Fleming and was unveiled in 1964. The inscription reads"To Dr. Fleming with the gratitude of bullfighters'; their lives were in less danger because of his discovery (penicillin)".
From the bullfighting ring to the Real Madrid football stadium capacity of 81,000 persons. We didn't make a stop - just drove on by.
Here's our guide helping us cross this very busy street so we can get to the Hard Rock Cafe for a "potty" stop and a free drink.
Sharon elected to have a non free coffee.
And I had a non free water with a free lemon.
I have no idea what this monument is. Tried to find some pictures on the web which mached but no luck!
We were let off in front of the Prado Museum and met our guide Anna who spent an hour and half with us concentrating on the painting of Spanish artists, Goya, Velazquez, El Greco and Ruebens. It was wonderful listening to someone explain the art masterpieces. The hour and half went by very quickly.
There is so much to see in this museum but I for one can't spend an enormous amount of time in a museum. Better to do it in short visits, many times and its wonderful to have a guide!
The Prado gets its name from the district where it is located formerly an area of market gardens known as "prado" or meadow. The building was originally to be the a museum of Natural Science. Today it has a collection of over 8000 paintings which only around 2000 can be displayed at any one time. It has more paintings in storage than most museums have on their walls.
This is the first and last picture taken in the museum. NO photo's are allowed.
Just steps from the Prado are the Botanical Gardens so we decided that would be our next stop.
the Royal Botanical Garden is an 19 acre botanical garden located at Murillo Square in front of the Prado Museum. The garden was founded in 1755, by King Ferdniand VI, and installed in the Orchard of Migas Calientes on the banks of the Manzanares River. It contained more than 2000 plants.
In 1774 King Charles III ordered the garden moved to its current location with a mission to not only exhibit plants, but also teach botany,promote expeditions for the discovery of new species and classify them.
Today the garden is divided into three major outdoor sections and two greenhouses. The total collections incllude about 30,000 plants and flowers and 1,500 trees. It also contains a substanial herbarium which has over one million herbal sheets ,some from the eighteenth century.
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The gardens were lovely even with just a few things in bloom. The gardners were all out getting things cleaned up. I'm sure its absolutely beautiful in summer.
After our walk in the garden we decided it was definitely time to stop and have a lunch someplace outside. We found this little place in a lovely plaza area.
I had grilled salmon with wasabi sauce and grilled potatoes. Soooo good!
On our way back to the hotel we did a little window shopping and than some serious shopping. We found this shop which featured only things made in Spain. I fell in love with some Lladro pieces but refrained from purchasing one. Both Sharon and I did however purchase a small item that would fit in our suitcases.
The bags make it look like we bought something big. Inside all that wrapping are rings! We should have explained we didn't all those trappings!
We walked up Alcala back to the Plaza del Sol and had a little rest before going out on the Tapa's tour.
It's a beautiful street. Beautiful architecture and beautiful spirng flowers around the fountains and on the boulevards.
This is one of the times we relaxed at the coffee shop outside our hotel. Such fun on a beautiful spring day!
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