If I Were Going...: Madrid

Let me give you a quick overview of Madrid ...

The area has been occupied since prehistoric times, but was first mentioned in the mid-9th century during the Muslim (Moor) occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, when Muhammad I of Córdoba constructed a fortress to protect the area from Christian invasions and to serve as a base for Muslim sorties. The Moors named the area after the nearby Manzanares, which they called al-Majrīṭ (Arabic: source of water). From this came the name Majerit, later spelled Madrid.

The Moors ruled Madrid until it was conquered in 1085 by the Christian King Alfonso VI in what is called the Reconquista. Madrid became a city in 1188. The Plaza Mayor, the main public square, was built under the auspice of John II in the 13th century.

Plaza Mayor on a rainy night

In 1329, King Fernando V assembled The Court of Madrid for the first time. In 1494, Muslims and Jews were expelled and many historic non-Christian buildings disappeared.

Later, Madrid was ceded to King Leon V of Armenia, who was then dethroned by the Sultan of Babylonia. The city was destroyed by fire during the reign of Enrique II and rebuilt by his grandson Enrique III, who reincorporated Madrid under the Crown of Castile.

The death of Enrique VI created a succession dispute within the Castile kingdom. In 1474, Isabella and her husband Ferdinand overcame the other faction and, in so doing, unified the houses of Castile and Aragon to set the stage for modern-day Spain.

Felipe II moved the Imperial Court to Madrid in 1561, establishing Madrid as the kingdom's capital, except for 1601-1606 when Felipe III installed his court in Valladolid.

Madrid enjoyed significant changes during the 18th century, when city gates, bridges and new buildings gave it a new appearance. The Royal Palace was constructed on the site of the ruins of the Alcazar (palace), which had been destroyed by fire in 1734.

The Royal Palace

In 1807, French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal. But, in 1808, France turned on Spain, its ally until then, sparking the Peninsular War (the Spanish War of Independence), which lasted until Napoleon was defeated in 1814.

Madrid was one of the most heavily affected cities of the bloody Spanish Civil War from 1936–1939, which established General Francisco Franco as dictator. He reinstituted the monarchy shortly before his death in 1975. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 confirmed Madrid as capital city of Spain.

Getting Around

MadridCity hop-on/hop-off bus

So, where did we go in Madrid? I will cover the places by location rather than as a timeline because we zig-zagged around a bit and went to some places multiple times. We bought a two-day pass for the MadridCity hop-on/hop-off bus. It's a way to get a city overview and then you can use it as a taxi to get the places you want to go.

We like to sit on the top, which is alternately too cold, too sunny or perfect. But you get a great view.

In Madrid, the stops are hard to find (sharing signs with city buses, hiding signs from sidewalk view, having no signs and the buses can be crowded. Plus, traffic is crazy, making travel times long. But, still a good plan if you need rest your feet.

Plaza Mayor
So, where did we visit on our two days (I mentioned in my previous blog that we had tapas in the Plaza Mayor). Later, we were able to see it in the daylight. It's under construction, so many of the walls are shrouded in drapes, but you can still see the lovely painted frescoes.

Pretty decorations

Madrid’s central plaza, Plaza Mayor measures 423’ × 308’, has nine entrances and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings bedecked 237 balconies.

Striking

Its origins go back to 1577, when Philip II developed a plan to remodel the busy and chaotic area of the old Plaza del Arrabal. Construction did not begin until Philip III's reign and the main porticos were completed in 1619.

The Plaza Mayor as it looks today is the work of the architect Juan de Villanueva, who managed reconstruction in 1790 after a series of fires. Giambologna's equestrian statue of Philip III dates to 1616, but it was not placed in the center of the square until 1848.

The Prado Museum

The Museum is busy

The Museo del Prado features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century. The collection comprises 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints and 8,200 drawings, in addition to a large number of historic documents. One of the most visited museums in the world, it has the best collection of artworks by Goya, Velázquez, El Greco, Rubens, Titian, Hieronymus Bosch, José de Ribera and Patinir. It's exciting to see famous paintings that you've seen for years in textbooks -- but photography is not allowed.

Las Meninas by Velázquez

Interestingly, green Monk Parakeets (which fly very fast and are, therefore, hard to photograph) live around the museum. I caught one just as our bus was pulling way.

Monk Parakeet

Botanical Gardens

Next door to the museum is the Madrid Botanical Gardens, which were founded in 1755 by King Ferdinand VI in a different location.

Nice place for a stroll

In 1774, King Charles III moved the gardens to their current location, with design by architects Francesco Sabatini and Juan de Villanueva.

The garden (which we just strolled briefly through), which has three tiers, opened in 1781 to exhibit plants, teach botany and promote expeditions for the discovery of new plant species and class in 1794. The Spanish War of Independence in 1808 caused the garden to be abandoned, but, in 1857, it was revived with a new greenhouse and refurbishment of the upper terrace.

Gorgeous flowers

Between 1880 and 1890 the garden suffered heavy losses, first losing 4.9 acres to the Ministry of Agriculture in 1882, then losing 564 trees in 1886 to a cyclone.

Since 1939 the garden has been dependent on the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and in 1942 was declared Artistic Garden. In 1974, after decades of neglect, the garden was closed to the public for restoration work to its original plan.

It reopened in 1981. Today's garden is divided into seven major outdoor sections and five greenhouses.

Total collections include about 90,000 plants and flowers, and 1,500 trees. The herbarium is the largest in Spain, and has now has over a million specimens.

Catedral Almundena
Santa María la Real de La Almudena is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid.

Santa María la Real de La Almudena

When the capital of Spain was transferred from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, the seat of the Church in Spain remained in Toledo and the new capital had no cathedral. Plans to build a cathedral in Madrid dedicated to the Virgin of Almudena were discussed as early as the 16th century but, even though Spain built more than 40 cities in the new world during that century and plenty of cathedrals, the cost of expanding and keeping the Empire came first and the construction of Madrid's cathedral was postponed.

The cathedral is built on the site of a medieval mosque that was destroyed in 1083 when Alfonso VI reconquered Madrid.

Francisco de Cubas, the Marquis of Cubas, designed and directed the construction in a Gothic revival style.

The tower

Construction ceased completely during the Spanish Civil War, and the project was abandoned until 1950, when the original plans were adapted to a baroque exterior to match the grey and white façade of the Palacio Real, which stands directly opposite. The cathedral was not completed until 1993, when it was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.

Cathedral details

The Neo-Gothic interior is an interesting mix of modern and ancient-looking design.

Interior; Photo: Scott Stevens

It features an ornate altar ...

The altar has a gold- and silver-clad virgin and child

Statues ...

Beautiful works of art

Frescoes and stained glass windows ...

Bright colors

An ornate ceiling ...

Left, barrel ceiling; Middle, cupola; Left, a funky panorama of the ceiling

A pipe organ ...

A beautiful instrument

Multiple chapels ...

Each chapel has its own "look"

And magnificent bronze doors ...

Left, the door; Right, door detail

Palacio Real (Royal Palace)

Across the plaza is the Palacio Real.

There I am!

With 3,418 rooms, the Palacio Real is Madrid's largest building and the largest royal palace in Western Europe. The 1,450,000 sq. ft. palace was built to accommodate the court of Felipe V, a total of more than 3,000 courtiers, on the site of the old Alcázar, the Moorish castle originally constructed in the 10th century and destroyed by fire in 1734.

The facade

Although the official Madrid residence of the Spanish royal family, the Palacio Real is used only for state ceremonies. King Felipe VI and the royal family reside in the more modest Palacio de la Zarzuela on the outskirts of Madrid. The Palacio Real contains furniture, tapestries, paintings and ceramics as well as works of art and frescos.

Such detail

Photography is not allowed inside, but the entry hall gives a hint of the lavishness of the several rooms included in the tour. The embellishments (including a room with porcelain covering the walls and the ceiling) is quite impressive. Plus, you get to see the actual thrones, crown and scepter of the royal family.

The Palacio Real offers a beautiful view of Madrid

It is surrounded by the beautiful Sabatini and Campo del Moro parks.

Sabatini Park

Next door, the Plaza de Oriente, which takes its name from its location to the east of the palace, contains several sculptures of Spanish monarchs.

Look at that face

Templo de Debod
Templo de Debod (Temple of Debod) is an ancient Egyptian temple that was dismantled and rebuilt in Madrid as a result of the construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1960 and the consequent threat posed by its reservoir to numerous monuments and archeological sites, As a gesture of gratitude toward Spain, which helped save the temples of Abu Simbel, the Egyptian state donated the Templo de Debod to Spain in 1968.

I wasn't able to go in because it was closed

The temple was built originally 9.3 miles south of Aswan in southern Egypt very close to the first cataract of the Nile and to the great religious center dedicated to the goddess Isis, in Philae. In the early 2nd century BC, Adikhalamani (Tabriqo), the Kushite king of Meroë, started its construction by building a small single room chapel dedicated to the god Amun. It was built and decorated on a similar design to the later Meroitic chapel on which the Temple of Dakka is based.

A very different look

Later, during the reigns of Ptolemy VI, Ptolemy VIII and Ptolemy XII of the Ptolemaic dynasty, it was extended on all four sides to form a small temple, 39 X 49 ft., which was dedicated to Isis of Philae. The Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius completed its decorations.

The temple is in the Parque del Oeste, which also offers a lovely view of the Palacio Real and Catedral Almudena.

Parque del Oeste offers a view of the Palacio Real and Catedral Almudena

Parque del Buen Retiro

One of the largest parks in Madrid, the "Park of the Pleasant Retreat" belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th century, when it became a public park. The 350-acre park features sculpture, monuments, galleries and a lake.

Great gates

It was built in 1505, during Isabella I’s reign, as a royal retreat in the new Jeronimos monastery. When King Philip II moved the Spanish court to Madrid, he had the Retiro enlarged and added formal avenues of trees. The gardens were extended in the 1620s, when Gaspar de Guzmán gave the king several nearby tracts of land where he wanted to build a royal house superior to villas Roman nobles had built in the outskirts of Rome during the previous century.

In the garden

In the 1630s, more buildings and a park were added. Philip V built a parterre, the only French-style garden in the complex. Charles III beautified the perimeter, replacing the old walls with wrought-iron railings. An astronomical observatory was built during the reign of Charles IV. Most of the palace was destroyed during the Peninsular War (1807-1814). During the reign of Queen Isabella II, shade and fruit trees were planted and additional were areas were landscaped. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Monument to Alfonso XII of Spain was erected next to the pond.