Tuesday March 17 was cloudy and cool in Madrid. The temperature was 6C in the morning and only rose to about 14C. Fortunately, it only rained for a few minutes at noon. We took a very entertaining "free tour" of Madrid with our favourite company Sandemans New Europe tours. The tour guide, Edward, was born in Northern Ireland, but has lived in Madrid for the past 18 years (he is in his late 20s).
We met in Plaza Mayor and Edward told us some of the history of Madrid. Our tour was focussed on the older, western half of Madrid, known as the Austrian part. It was here that the Habsburg rulers' influence was the greatest.
In 1561, Philip (Felip) II moved the capital of Spain from Toledo to Madrid. His son Philip III rides the horse in Plaza Mayor. Edward said the Plaza Mayor used to house a large bakery and butcher in the 16th century and was also used for bullfights and executions during the Inquisition. The last execution in the Plaza was in 1760. It was a very smelly and unsanitary square back in the day. It was not until 1759, that the dumping of chamber pots into the streets was banned. Edward also had amusing story about how the statue itself smelled. In 1931, when anarchists bombed the statue, lots of dead bird carcasses were found, having flown into the horse's mouth and then died. The mouth was later sealed when the statue was rebuilt.
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| Philip III on horse in Plaza Mayor
We walked around the corner and stopped at Las Cuevas de Luis Candelas, which is now a restaurant. The caves were where a notorious thief, Luis Candelas, hid his money in the early 19th century (he was executed in 1837).
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| Las Cuevas de Luis Candelas |
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| Certificate from Guinness Book of World Records |
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| Edward, our guide, in front of restaurant |
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| Outside of restaurant- one of the specialties is roast suckling pig
We stopped at a wall with Madrid's motto: "Fui Sobre Aqua Edificada mis muros de fuego son"
(I was built on water and my walls are made of fire).
"Fui sobre aqua edificada mis muros de fuego son"
We had to look way up to the top of another building to see a bear trying to get berries from a strawberry tree. This symbol is found on the coat of arms and flag of the city.
Bear hugging tree
We stopped in Plaza del la Cruz Verde (Green Cross). The Green Cross had been a symbol of the Spanish Inquisition. There were remains of a Church that had also been the local headquarters of the Inquisition. At his point, Edward gave us 2000 years of Spain's history, choosing people from the tour to act out the various kings and their foibles. In a nutshell- the Romans were early settlers dating back over 2000 years; the Visigoths followed for about 300 years. In 711, the Moors of North Africa captured central and southern Spain calling the territory Al-Andalus. They were rulers for 700 years until La Reconquista by the Catholic monarchs. In 1492, the last Moorish stronghold Granada fell to Ferdinand II and Isabella I. They only had two daughters, no sons. They married their daughter Joanna to Philip I (1527-1598) (known as Philip the Handsome). He was the first member of the Habsburgs to become King of Spain in 1556.
Charles I (1500-1558) son of Philip I, followed as King of Spain from 1516-1556. He was religious and the Inquisition was in full flight during his reign. His son, Philip II (1527-98) was King of Spain from 1556 -98. His reign was the peak of the Habsburg kings of Spain. He captured the Philippines (named after him) and the Spanish Empire was at its height. He married a Portuguese cousin and thus also became a ruler of Portugal and Brazil. Philip III (1578-1621) was a lazy King according to our guide. He ruled Spain from 1598-1621 and was responsible for the expulsion of the Moriscos, the descendants of Muslims who had converted to Christianity.
Philip IV (1605-1665) was King of Spain from 1621-1665. He is remembered for his patronage of the arts, including Diego Velazquez. However, the empire was already in decline. Charles II (1661-1700) was the last Habsburg ruler of Spain from 1665-1700. He had extensive physical and intellectual disabilities. He died in 1700 without a heir. In his will he named Philip (1683-1746), his grand nephew and grandson of King Louis XIV, from the house of Bourbon in France, as heir. Philip's ascension to the crown led to the 14 year war of the Spanish Succession. He ruled as Philip V (with a brief interlude) from 1700-1746.
Our guide then gave us a brief history of the Inquisition, also explaining that Spanish people always had two surnames- their mothers and fathers. This enabled officials to be able to trace bloodlines quickly.
The Segovia bridge was very close to our apartment. It was rebuilt in 1934 and now had glass protective walls to prevent suicides.
Segovia Bridge
We stopped to look at the back of the Almudena Cathedral. It was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993. Plans to build a cathedral were discussed as early as the 16th century but due largely to the cost of expanding the Empire and wars, the groundbreaking did not take place until 1883. The Cathedral was built on the site of a medieval mosque. The construction halted during the Spanish Civil War, and was only resumed in the 1950s. It was not completed until 1993. The Cathedral sits behind a Moor wall and also a Star of David mosaic. Our guide pointed out that the three religions had peacefully co-existed for many years, prior to the Inquisition.
Cathedral behind Moorish walls and Star of David
Other side of the Cathedral
We next stopped at the Royal Palace (Palacio Real). Philip V wanted a palace to rival Versailles. Construction began in 1738 and Philip's son Carlos III moved into the 2000 plus room complex in 1764. No monarch has lived there since 1931. Our guide told us there used to be statues of the Kings of Spain on the top of the building, but they were too heavy, and sometimes fell. They were replaced by statues of flowers.
There were a number of statues of Romans in a nearby park.
Our guide told us about the construction of the monument (see below) to Philip III. Apparently, he wanted the horse in his statue to be on two legs. This proved to be a very difficult construction. After two false starts, when the statue broke at the horse's ankles, Galileo was consulted and ultimately the legs were filled with bronze, while the front part of the horse was hollow. This worked.
Edward finished his recounting of Spanish history, taking us through two fascist regimes, two constitutional monarchies and one Republic in the 20th century. In 1923, there was a coup that brought a right wing regime to Spain. In 1931, the Second Republic ( there had been a first Republic in 1873) brought in some very liberal legislation, including voting rights for women and a separation of church and state. In July 1936, General Franco led a coup that started the Spanish Civil War, which lasted until 1939. Franco ruled until his death in 1975. Our guide pointed out that the Franco regime was supported by the West, as it was anti-communist during the Cold War. Edward also stated that there still remains a "gentleman's agreement" not to talk about the Civil War and the atrocities committed during those years.
Philip III on his horse
Our last stop was the Teatro Real ( Royal Theatre). It opened in 1850 during the rule of Queen Isabella II. It is apparently one of the finest acoustic settings for opera. It also hosts ballet.
One side of the Teatro Real
Other side with statue of Isabella II
After our tour, we went back to check the schedule of what was on at the Teatro. We bought tickets to see the Hamburg Ballet do Death in Venice on Wednesday March 18. Should be a real treat. As we were a bit chilled, we stopped back at the apartment for some lunch and to get another layer of clothes. 
Very short and old door to our apartment
We then meandered to the eastern part of the city. We passed a number of beautiful buildings on one of the main drags.   
Palacio de Communicacions
Cervantes Institute
We decided to save our big museum visits for our last two days, as rain has been forecast. We went to see a wonderful photography exhibit at Fundacion Mapfre. It featured two floors of photos by Garry Winograd (1928-1984). Many of the photos had not been developed during his lifetime, but were curated from his negatives. He died suddenly of cancer at 56. It was a great show- his photos of New York City in the 50s to early 70s were wonderful. The exhibit was free.  We also went around the corner to another free exhibit at another gallery space of the Fundacion Mapfre. It featured academic paintings from the Salon de Paris, loaned by the Musee D'Orsay. Not really to our taste, but there were some wonderful portraits and landscapes interspersed by a lot of nudes and angels. 
We walked back to the apartment on the Gran Via, one of the grand old avenues of Madrid. While there were a number of empty stores, the buildings were quite grand.
On Gran Via
We went for some pre-dinner tapas at Mercado San Miguel. The place is addictive. We had a lovely octopus tapa, another cod with honey, a glass of vermouth that came with some olives and a vegetable paella tapa. We also bought some rosemary almonds to take back to the apartment. We finished with two coffees.
Alano with cod and octopus tapas
These fish tapas looked awesome
 
Vegetable paella
Alano also had a yogurt at a stall that featured chupitos de Yogur (yogourt shots) in delicious sounding flavours (just 1.50 euro a shot).
Yogourt shots- kiwi, mango and mixed berry
We headed back to the apartment to rest up and pause before having a light chicken dinner with a glass of rioja. It is now Wednesday March 18 and it is raining.
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