Spain & Portugal 2023

September 2023
A 13-day adventure by Moosecorn Read more
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  • 13days
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  • 8videos
  • 10.7kmiles
  • 9.8kmiles
  • Day 3

    Walking in Madrid

    September 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    》Starting off with a Starbucks

    》Casa Cisneros at Plaza de la Villa

    In the heart of “Madrid de los Austrias” (Madrid of the Hapsburgs) there is a pretty and charming square called Plaza de la Villa which is home to a statue in honour of Álvaro de Bazán (19th Century). Alongside the square is Casa de la Villa House, designed by Juan Gómez de Mora in the 17th Century and formerly used as a prison. The large exterior balcony and doorways are outstanding. Next to it stands Casa de Cisneros House, a 16th century palace rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century. Inside, the Tapestry Room is a highlight, with an impressive collection of extraordinary quality.

    》Monumento de Victoria Eugenia y Alfonso XIII

    This monument stands in tribute to the victim of a bomb intended for Queen Victoria Eugenia and King Alfonso XIII on the occasion of their wedding parade. Instead, the bomb exploded into a crowd that were watching the royal carriage
    (May 31, 1906)
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  • Day 3

    Catedral de Santa María

    September 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    》Catedral de 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 for 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 overseas during that century, plenty of cathedrals and fortresses, the cost of expanding and keeping the Empire came first and the construction of Madrid's cathedral was postponed.

    The building was designed by Francisco de Cubas. The original plan had been to create a parochial church. The foundation stone was laid in 1883, but when Pope Leo XIII granted a bull in 1885 for the creation of the Madrid-Alcalá bishopric, the plans for the church were changed to that of a Gothic revival cathedral.

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

    Construction was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, and the site lay abandoned until 1950, when Fernando Chueca Goitia [es] adapted the plans of de Cubas to a baroque exterior to match the grey and white façade of the Palacio Real that stands directly opposite.

    The cathedral was completed in 1993, when it was consecrated by Pope John Paul II. Its patron saints are Santa María la Real de la Almudena and Saint Isidro Labrador.

    On 22 May 2004, the marriage of King Felipe VI, then crown prince, to Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano took place at at the cathedral.
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  • Day 3

    Catedral de Santa María

    September 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    》The Neo-Gothic interior is uniquely modern, with chapels and statues of contemporary artists, in heterogeneous styles, from historical revivals to "pop-art" decor. The Blessed Sacrament Chapel features mosaics by Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik. The icons in the apse were painted by Kiko Argüello, artist and founder of the Neocatechumenal Way.

    The Neo-Romanesque crypt houses a 16th-century image of the Virgen de la Almudena. Nearby along the Calle Mayor, excavations have unearthed remains of Moorish and medieval city walls.
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  • Day 3

    Palacio Real de Madrid

    September 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    》Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid)

    Madrid's largest building and possibly its most beautiful is located next to the equally beautiful Plaza de Oriente square.

    It may come as a surpirse to learn that Madrid's Royal Palace is the largest royal palace in Western Europe. It was built on the site of the old Alcázar, the Moorish castle destroyed by fire in 1734, but the site has been occupied since the 10th century by the Moors, who having named the city's Manzanares river al-Magrit ("source of water"), referred to the area as Mayrit which became Magerit, then Madrid. The old city walls around this area may still be seen.

    The palace was initially designed by Filippo Juvarra to accommodate the court of Felipe V, a total of more than 3000 courtiers. Juan Bautista Sacchetti initiated the building project in 1737 and Francisco Sabatini and Ventura Rodríguez terminated the works. It is surrounded by the beautiful Sabatini and Campo del Moro parks.

    The palace has 1,450,000 sq ft of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is filled with furniture, tapestries, paintings and ceramics as well as other important works of art and frescos by Tiépolo. Velázquez, Goya, Giordano and Mengs are all represented here amongst the dozens of valuable tapestries and paintings, making the palace one of Europe's most important museums.

    》Sabatini Garden

    These Classical-style gardens were built in the 1930s on the site of the former stables. Located in front of the north façade of the Royal Palace, the gardens, whose construction began during the Second Republic, were completed after the Civil War.

    Their architectural and ornamental styling as an extension of the Royal Palace were enhanced on account of the exhibition of several sculptures that were originally planned to decorate the cornice of the palace. Their geometric design and fortunate location make them some of the most beautiful gardens in Madrid de los Austrias (Hapsburg Madrid).
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  • Day 3

    Plaza de Oriente

    September 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    》Plaza de Oriente

    Designed in 1844 by the architect Narciso Pascual Colomer under the orders of King José I who demolished the medieval houses in the area, the plaza has numerous gardens and an excellent sculpture display.

    In the centre of the square can be found one of the main sculptures, a bronze equestrian statue of Felipe IV, which was the first in the world to stand on its two hind legs. To achieve this, the sculptor (who also used the portraits of the king painted by Velázquez), received aid from Galileo. 

    This is one of a sculpture collection which also includes twenty Spanish kings in limestone which were initially created as decoration for the Royal Palace, but in the end, were kept on display in the Plaza de Oriente.

    The central gardens, designed in 1941, are arranged in the form of a grid, making an attractive ornamental garden with floral gardens, hedges and cypress trees. And in the exterior part of the square can be found two leafy gardens, the Cabo Noval gardens and the Lepanto gardens.
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  • Day 3

    Templo de Debod

    September 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    》Templo de Debod

    This is an Egyptian temple dating back to the 2nd century BC, transported to Madrid’s Cuartel de la Montaña Park. The temple was donated to Spain by the Egyptian government to save it from floods following the construction of the great Aswan Dam.

    Works on the temple began at the beginning of the 2nd century BC at the orders of the Meroë King Adijalamani, who built a chapel dedicated to the god Amun and the goddess Isis. This chapel was decorated with high reliefs. Subsequent kings of the Ptolemaic dynasty built new rooms around the original core, thereby enlarging the temple. After Egypt was annexed by the Roman Empire, the emperors Augustus and Tiberius – and possibly Hadrian, too – finished off the construction and decoration of the building.

    In the 6th century AD, following Nubia’s conversion to Christianity, the temple was sealed off and abandoned. In the 20th century, owing to the construction of the dam, the Egyptian government gave the temple as a gift to the city of Madrid and it was transported and rebuilt stone by stone in its current location. It was opened to the public in 1972. The reconstruction in Madrid kept the building’s original orientation; that is to say, from East to West. To help visitors understand the meaning of this magnificent location, its decorative motifs and its history, scale models and videos can be seen and audiovisual material is projected on the walls.

    The temple and its gardens are located on the site where the Cuartel de la Montaña stood, the military building constructed between 1860 and 1863 on what was known as Mount Príncipe Pío, where Napoleon’s French troops shot the rebels of the uprising of 2 May 1808, a scene that was portrayed in the famous painting by Goya The Third of May 1808 or The Execution.  A century later, it was also the scene of the military uprising in July 1936, which would lead to the Spanish Civil War.  During the conflict, the barracks was practically destroyed and it was later demolished.
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  • Day 3

    Walking in Madrid

    September 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    》Part of the surrounding wall of the historic San Gil Barracks which was discovered during the redevelopment of the Plaza de España in central Madrid. It was moved to the surface as part of the renovated Plaza in 2021.

    》Statue of Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz

    1651-1695 , a self-taught scholar and poet of the Baroque school, and Hieronymite nun of New Spain Statue was dedicated in 1981 by the people of Mexico to the people of Madrid

    》Church of Saint Theresa and Saint Joseph

    The Church of Santa Teresa and San José is an eclectic church built between 1916 and 1928. When the convents burned down in 1931, it suffered serious damage. Finally, at the end of the Civil War, the building had to be completely restored following the fire that destroyed a large part of the church during the conflict. Today, the convent and the church belong to the order of the Barefoot Carmelites.

    》Casa Gallardo (The House of Gallardo)

    Projected by Federico Arias Rey, it is one of the relatively few modernista buildings preserved in Madrid. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1997. It is located in calle de Ferraz 2, near the plaza de España.

    》Monumento Cervantes

    In the centre of the Plaza de España of Madrid we discover one of the most important monuments of Miguel de Cervantes of the City.  A monument full of symbolism that remind us to the most important writer of the Spanish and International Literature around the world.

    The most well known literary work of Cervantes is the one that can be found at the front part of the statue “The history of the valorous and wittie Knight-Errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha ” (1606-1616) or “Don Quixote”
    Therefore, at the front of the monument we find to The most well known knights in the Spanish History! Don Quixote of the Mancha and his most fellow squir! Sancho Panza!

    And in the same way the novel spread around the World, The atmosphere created by the monument spreads all along the square by the olive trees…They are not typicall trees from Madrid, but they are the typical trees of the Mancha, the territory where Don Quijote celebrated its always crazy battles as errant knight and so the trees that inspired Cervantes to write his novel.

    》Monumento a los Caídos en el Cuartel de la Montaña

    A monument that was unveiled in 1972 is the work of Joaquin Vaquero Turcios. The image created represents a fallen defender of the mountain barracks, attacked during the bitter and bloody Spanish Civil Wall ,in an area of outstandingly beautiful architecture and peaceful park area's it's hard to believe the horrors that unfolded here and this striking image is a reminder of this sad chapter in the rich history of not just this beautiful city but of this magnificent country.

    》Puerta del Sol (meaning The Sun's Gate in English)

    One of the most renowned central squares in Madrid. The plaza was built in different stages. During the fifteenth century, La Puerta del Sol was originally one of the gates of the city wall and three centuries later, mid-eighteenth century, the Casa de Correos was established, today the headquarters of the Presidencia de la Comunidad.

    Finally, between 1857 and 1862, the architects Lucio del Valle, Juan Rivera and José Morer gave it its definitive form. During the twentieth century, the fountain was placed in the centre of the square and part of it was pedestrianised.

    The statue of the Bourbon King Carlos III It was placed at the center of the square as a gesture of Madrid’s appreciation for the improvements he commissioned for the city.
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  • Day 3

    Casa Botín

    September 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    》Casa Botín

    Founded in 1725, is the oldest restaurant in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records and a benchmark of Madrid’s best traditional cuisine.

    Forbes magazine gave the House third place in the list of the world’s top 10 classic restaurants, together with its two specialties, the delicious suckling pig and lamb roasted in the Castilian style.

    》Sangria
    》Grilled filet mignon with potatoes
    》Tarta Botín (cream layer cake)
    》Copa Mascarpone Con Mango (mascarpone cheese, ice cream & mango cream)
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