Last day in Madrid wrap-up

On November 10, 2021 By Sue KarskiIn Madrid, SpainLeave a comment

To finish the post for Day 8 of our trip I wanted to comment on the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial first.

Philip II used this Royal Site for his family pantheon. The building was completed in 1584. It is built in granite and divided into three areas. The central area is the Kings’ Courtyard. There is a tower at each of its four corners measuring 180 feet high, each crowned by a metal sphere. The church is laid out in the shape of a Greek cross and the funerary monuments to Charles V and Philip II can be seen in the main chapel.
El Escorial was both a Spanish royal palace and a monastery, although Philip II is the only monarch who ever lived in the main building. Established with a community of Hieronymite monks, it has become a monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine. It was also a boarding school: the Real Colegio de Alfonso XII.
The first thing one sees upon arriving at El Escorial is the main, west façade, which has three doors: the middle one leads to the Courtyard of the Kings and the side ones lead to a school and to a monastery. Above the center door is a niche where the image of Saint Lawrence has been placed. The Courtyard of the Kings owes its name to the statues of the Kings of Judah that adorn the façade of the Basilica, located at the east end of the courtyard. Steps of red marble lead to the large, public chapel, past the narthex, with is one of the highlights of the basilica. The basilica has a floor in the shape of a Greek cross and an enormous dome, inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, above the crossing.
Under the royal chapel of the Basilica is the Royal Pantheon crypt. This is the place of burial for the kings of Spain. It is an octagonal Baroque mausoleum made of marble where all of the Spanish monarchs since Charles I have been buried, with the exception of Philip V, Ferdinand VI, and Amadeus of Savoy. The remains of Juan de Borbon, father of King Juan Carlos I of Spain, also rest in this pantheon despite the fact that he never became king himself. The enclosure is presided over by an altar of veined marble, and the sarcophagi are bronze and marble. There is also the Pantheon of the Princes, where the bodies of the queens who did not have a crowned succession and the princes and princesses were laid to rest. This part was built in the nineteenth century.

Situated next to the main altar of the Basilica, the residence of King Philip II consists of a series of austerely decorated rooms. It features a window from which the king could observe mass from his bed when incapacitated by the gout that afflicted him.

There is a Hall of Battles – Fresco paintings here depict the most important Spanish military victories. These include a medieval victory over the Moors, as well as several of Philip’s campaigns against the French.

So who was Saint Lorenzo? We would know him as Saint Lawrence.
Lawrence encountered the future Pope Sixtus II, who was of Greek origin and one of the most famous and highly esteemed teachers. Eventually, both left Spain for Rome. When Sixtus became the Pope in 257, he ordained Lawrence as a deacon, and though Lawrence was still young appointed him first among the seven deacons who served in the Catholic church. He is therefore called “archdeacon of Rome”, a position of great trust that included the care of the treasury and riches of the Church and the distribution of alms to the indigent.

St Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, notes that Roman authorities had established a norm according to which all Christians who had been denounced must be executed and their goods confiscated by the Imperial treasury. At the beginning of August 258, the Emperor Valerian issued an edict that all bishops, priests, and deacons should immediately be put to death. Pope Sixtus II was captured on 6 August 258, at the cemetery of St Callixtus while celebrating the liturgy and executed forthwith.

After the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence turn over the riches of the Church. St Ambrose is the earliest source for the narrative that Lawrence asked for three days to gather the wealth. He worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the indigent as possible, so as to prevent its being seized by the prefect. As deacon in Rome, Lawrence was responsible for the material goods of the Church and the distribution of alms to the poor. Ambrose of Milan relates that when the treasures of the Church were demanded of Lawrence by the prefect of Rome, he brought forward the poor, to whom he had distributed the treasure as alms. “Behold in these poor persons the treasures which I promised to show you; to which I will add pearls and precious stones, those widows and consecrated virgins, which are the Church’s crown.” The prefect was so angry that he had a great gridiron prepared with hot coals beneath it, and had Lawrence placed on it, hence Lawrence’s association with the gridiron. After the martyr had suffered pain for a long time, the legend concludes, he cheerfully declared: “I’m well done on this side. Turn me over!”

On 10 August, Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, and therefore, the ranking Church official, suffered a martyr’s death.
This is the reason that throughout the site you will see a grill. Looking at the picture above you will notice the grills above the door and the statue of San Lorenzo holding a grill.

After we returned from this morning trip, we had a quick lunch and a sort rest (30 min) and back out to meet up with Juanjo our tour director for and afternoon walk in Old Town. You can not drive in the old town, but we did take the bus to there to start our walk.

The line wrapping around the building – all going for lotto tickets at Dona Manolita.

The department store getting ready for Christmas

Bronze equestrian statue of Charles III of Spain (1716–1788).

The Statue of the bear and strawberry tree is a sculpture from the second half of the 20th century, located in Madrid. It represents the coat of arms of Madrid and is found on the east side of the Puerta del Sol.

Puerta del Sol is considered to be the *geographical center of Spain*. It is a many block square in Madrid

Discover *Tío Pepe* Sign in Madrid, *Spain*: For decades, Puerta del Sol has been illuminated by a giant, guitar-wielding bottle of sherry.

Altitude marker in Puerta del Sol – Madrid above sealevel

Plaque to those who lost their lives to COVID 19

Plaque to those who lost their lives fighting Napoleon

Gloria said we had to continue our scientific experiment to find out how the different areas of Spain do in the hot chocolate and churro taste test. It is still on going. Hope to find one in Granada.

Dressed up for – The Lady of Almudema (Virgen de la Almudena) is a Spanish regional public holiday in the city of Madrid on November 9th.

More people dressed up for the Festival.

Restaurante Botín, a cozy eatery in Madrid, Spain, was founded in 1725 and holds the Guinness World Record for being the world’s oldest restaurant.

The flowers from the people for the The Lady of Almudema – at the Almudena Cathedral

The Almudena Cathedral and the flower display off in the distance at dusk.

And now I can say I finished yesterday’s adventure. But now it is too late to post today’s as it is almost tomorrow. So I will be running a day behind, sorry to say.

Buenas noches.

Side trip to Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial

On November 9, 2021 By Sue KarskiIn Madrid, Spain1 Comment

This morning we hopped onto our bus and took a trip about 1 hour north of the city of Madrid to the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. It is a historical residence of the King of Spain about 28 miles northwest of the Madrid. Built between 1563 and 1584 by order of King Philip II (who reigned 1556–1598), El Escorial is the largest Renaissance building in the world. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, pantheon, library, museum, university, school, and hospital. It also houses the remains of the royal families not just the king and queen.
Unfortunately, all I can show you is a couple of images from outside the building as no photographs are allowed inside.

Not sure what I am seeing but little glowing lights all around the chimney.

I have a bunch to write about this UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the walk we had in the afternoon to the old town of Madrid, but, we have a very early wake-up call, so I am going to have to post more on today’s activities in a day or two. We are off to Toledo and Granada tomorrow and it will be a long day on the bus.
Later, I need to finish packing and get to bed.

City Tour of Madrid

On November 8, 2021November 8, 2021 By Sue KarskiIn Madrid, SpainLeave a comment

Buenos Dias. A beautiful day in Madrid with the sun shining nary a cloud in the sky and temperature a balmy 62. We hopped onto our Grand Circle bus with our driver Victor from Portugal, our Tour Director Juanjo and our local guide.
Our first stop was the Temple of 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.

The temple is supposed to be surrounded by a pool of water, but dry now.

On the site where the Temple of Debod now sits, the Mountain Barracks (Cuartel de la Montaña) once stood.

It is the place where the French troops of Napoleon’s army shot the rebels of the 1808 uprising. The barracks began to be built in 1860. The cost of the work was about 20 million reales (unit of currency for Spain after the 14th century), quite high for the time, which were largely financed with the funds obtained by the State after the civil and ecclesiastical confiscation of 1858-1863. It was a solid brick and granite building, with a quadrangular floor plan and two courtyards, with the capacity to house a garrison of 2,600 to 3,000 infantrymen, engineers and a lighting group. The Barracks was built in what were then the suburbs of Madrid, constituting the first point of the military road that, starting at the beginning of Bailén Street, passed in front of the Royal Palace and the decline of Segovia Street, ending in the Vistillas de San Francisco and barracks of the same name, which were never built. Its relevance, however, comes from its role in the 1936 military uprising in Madrid.

These military barracks were built in 1863. They were notorious for being the place where the July 1936 military uprising against the Second Spanish Republic began in Madrid. The siege of Madrid was a two and a half year siege of the Republican controlled Spanish capital city of Madrid by the Nationalist armies under General Francisco Franco, during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. The city, besieged from October 1936, fell to the Nationalist armies on 28 March 1939. The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 saw the most intense fighting in and around the city when the Nationalists made their most determined attempt to take the Republican capital. After the Spanish Civil War, they were left in ruin and later demolished.

At the steps leading up to the temple is the Monument to the Fallen in the Mountain Barracks (Monumento a los Caídos en el Cuartel de la Montaña). It’s dedicated to those killed during the uprising and depicts a mutilated man in the center of a wall shaped like sandbags. The monument was unveiled the same day as the temple.

Monument to the Fallen of Mountain Barracks – the Italian Cypress are used around cemeteries.

The Torre de Madrid (Tower of Madrid) is one of the tallest buildings in Madrid. It measures 465 ft. in height, has 36 floors and was constructed between 1954 and 1957. The tower was conceived to be the tallest concrete building in the world at the time of its completion and was the highest building in Madrid. The lead architects also envisioned that the building would house 500 stores, spacious galleries, a hotel, and even a cinema. The tower was equipped with twelve elevators of the fastest model of the time, permitting users to travel 11 feet per second.

As we head back to the bus, we see this –

Remember I posted a photo we took last night, but I didn’t know what it meant.
The main characters of Las Meninas, Diego Velázquez’s masterpiece that hangs in the Prado Museum, have wandered off the canvas and into central Madrid. A new art installation has seen 80 sculptures are placed in iconic spots around the Spanish capital. The artwork, dubbed Meninas Madrid Gallery, is the brainchild of Spanish sculptor Antonio Azzato, who designed the sculpture and recruited a group of artists, fashion designers and singers to help decorate the Meninas, which he delivered to them white, like a blank canvas. ‘Each artist applied their technique, so each Menina is a unique, one-off artwork,’ Azzato told Spanish daily paper El País.

Monument to Jaume Ferran, in the space historically occupied since the 17th century by the Fountain of the Afflicted.

he original source, also called source San Joaquin. It was replaced in 1952 by the one that has since been part of the monumental complex dedicated to the Spanish doctor and bacteriologist Jaume Ferran i Clua. The new fountain was promoted by the mayor of the Duke of Sesto and the Marquis of Alcanices within the process of urbanization of the new neighborhood created around the Liria palace.

Plaza de Espana – Monument to Miguel de Cervantes

The Monument to Miguel de Cervantes is an instance of public art. Erected on the center of the Plaza de Espana, it is dedicated to Miguel de Cervantes, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language. The monument incorporates a stone monolith with several statues (including Cervantes’) and a detached bronze sculptural group representing Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

Royal Palace and the Cathedral on the hill

a view of the streets we were driving around

Market – colorful with many stalls inside

The real Basilica of St Francis the Great is a Roman Catholic Church. The main façade faces the Plaza of San Francisco, at the intersection of Bailén, the Gran Vía de San Francisco, and the Carrera de San Francisco. It forms part of the convent of Jesús y María of the Francisco order. The convent was founded in the 13th century at the site of a chapel.

The building was erected on the plot previously occupied by a primitive Franciscan convent (according to tradition founded by the very same Francis of Assisi in 1217), demolished on the occasion upon orders by Charles III, who sought to build a new convent from scratch. It was designed in a Neoclassic style in the second half of the 18th century.

Almudena Cathedral (Santa María la Real de La Almudena) is a Catholic church. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid. The cathedral was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993.

Christmas tree outside of the Royal Palace

Statues of former kings (of Spanish territories) not Spain

looking through an archway at the Royal Palace

The Royal Palace of Madrid is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies. The palace has 1,450,000 sq ft of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the largest functioning royal palace and the largest by floor area in Europe

King Felipe VI and the royal family do not reside in the palace, choosing instead the significantly more modest Palace of Zarzuela on the outskirts of Madrid.

The palace is on the site of a 9th-century Moorish Alcazar, near the town of Magerit, constructed as an outpost by Muhammed I of Cordoba and inherited after 1036 by the independent Moorish Taifa of Toledi. After Madrid fell to King Alfonso VI of Castile in 1083, the edifice was only rarely used by the kings of Castile. In 1329, King Alfonso XI of Castile convened the Cortes of Madrid for the first time. King Felipe II moved his court to Madrid in 1561.

The Castilian Alcazar built in the 16th century was burned down in December 1734, King Felipe V ordered a new palace built on the same site. King Carlos III first occupied the new palace in 1764.

The last monarch who lived continuously in the palace was King Alfonso XIII, although Manuel Azana, president of the Second Republic, also inhabited it, making him the last head of state to do so. During that period the palace was known as “Palacio Nacional”.

Children with flowers prepared for the Festival of the Almudena – tomorrow

This triumphal archway, located between the districts of La Latina and Embajadores, was erected to commemorate the arrival of King Ferdinand VII ‘El Deseado’ in Madrid. It replaced other previous gateways built in the vicinity from the 16th century onwards, although its direct precedent is an archway that Joseph Bonaparte, the French king imposed by his brother Napoleon, commissioned between 1811 and 1812, although it was never actually built.
This Neo-Roman archway is built from granite and Colmenar stone, and was completed in 1827. It is composed of three arches, two square ones on either side, and a rounded arch in the middle, flanked by half columns with ionic capitals in the central arch and ionic pilasters in the other two. Originally, there were two buildings at the sides, which were demolished at the start of the 20th Century, which had served as an architectural union with Madrid’s city walls.
On the side facing the Manzanares River, a group of sculptures were installed above the central arch. These sculptures represent the power of the Spanish monarchy on both hemispheres. Also on this side, in the upper part of the other two arches, several military trophies were placed. Finally, on the opposite side of the monument, two angels support the emblem of the City of Madrid.
In 1996, was declared a BIC Heritage Site in the category of Monuments.

La Casa Encendida, the social and cultural center of the Fundación Obra Social y Monte de Piedad de Madrid, showcases the most avant-garde exhibitions along with all types of artistic expression, as well as classes and workshops on environmental and community issues. The cultural schedule includes scenic arts, movies, exhibitions, and other examples of contemporary work.

Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (“Queen Sofia National Museum Art Centre”) is Spain’s national museum of 20th century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1990, and is named for Queen Sofia. It is located in Madrid, near the Atocha train and metro stations, at the southern end of the so-called Golden Triangle of Art (located along the Paseo del Prado and also comprising the Museo del Prado and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza).

The museum is mainly dedicated to Spanish art. Highlights of the museum include excellent collections of Spain’s two greatest 20th-century masters, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. The most famous masterpiece in the museum is Picasso’s 1937 painting Guernica. Along with its extensive collection, the museum offers a mixture of national and international temporary exhibitions in its many galleries, making it one of the world’s largest museums for modern and contemporary art.

The Fountain of Cybele is a neoclassical fountain. It lies on the center of the Plaza de Cibeles. The sculptural group in its center represents Cybele, a Phrygian earth and fertility deity. It has become one of the icons of the city. KYBELE (Cybele) was the ancient Phrygian Mother of the Gods, a primal nature goddess worshipped with orgiastic rites in the mountains of central and western Anatolia (It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey). The Greeks identified her with their own mother of the gods–the Titaness Rhea.

Department store getting ready for the holidays

Located on the Paseo de la Castellana, next to the fountain of San Juan de la Cruz, you will find this sculpture, which was part of a collection of sculptures by Fernando Botero exhibited temporarily in the Paseo de Recoletos in the year 1994.

The Telefónica Foundation bought the last in a series of three identical casts of the sculpture “La Mano”, which it then loaned to the city of Madrid for public exhibition. It is made from 110 lbs of bronze.

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football (soccer to us) club based in Madrid. Founded on 6 March 1902 as Madrid Football Club,

The dolphin fountain in the República del Ecuador square. Six dolphins grouped in pairs, are leaping into the air or about to dive into the water.

The “Alcalá Gate” soon became one of Madrid’s symbols and it is one of the most well-known monuments. It is now classified as a National Monument.
It is a Neo-classical granite monument in the Plaza de la Independencia square. It stands near the city center and several meters away from the main entrance to the Buen Retiro Park. The square is bisected by Alcalá Street, although the street itself doesn’t cross through the monument.
King Charles III ordered it to be built in the city wall, which marked the eastern boundary.
The granite gate is 64 ft tall and is elegant and well-proportioned. With three large archways and two smaller rectangular passageways. The façade features a number of decorative elements with groups of sculptures, capitals, reliefs and masks, among others. Each of the archways is decorated with a lion’s head. The construction of the gate took 9 years, it was finally completed in 1778.
The Gate was a real door, ie a door of one wall still standing well into the nineteenth century. And was erected as a triumphal arch to celebrate the arrival of the King Charles III in the city of Madrid.
One curious piece of information about this Gate: It has some statues on top, representing four cardinal virtues: Prudence, Justice, Temperance (or Restraint) and Fortitude (or Courage)

In this ornate fountain is an eighteenth-century sculpture of Neptune, the god of the sea holding a trident while riding on a carriage pulled by two creatures with a horse-shaped upper-half and a fish serpentine-tail.

The statue dedicated to Christopher Columbus was built between 1881 and 1885 to celebrate the marriage of King Alfonso XII and lady María de las Mercedes de Orleáns. It is made of white marble.

Julia is the name of a 12-meter high sculpture of a girl with eyes closed eyes by Jaume Plensa, which on Thursday was unveiled on a pedestal in Madrid’s Colón square.
Plensa designed the sculpture specifically to replace the sculpture of Columbus, who the square is named after, which used to be in the same spot.
“Tenderness and silence”

And then our bus took us by this balcony wave.

Gloria and I returned to the hotel for a rest and to grab just a bit of lunch.

Oh, and I had to order the seafood soup.

Did I say a bit? Geez and we have a dinner to go to in 4 hours.

It is time to head back to the hotel. Time for me to finish the blog and head off to bed.

Barcelona to Madrid

On November 7, 2021November 7, 2021 By Sue KarskiIn Madrid, Spain4 Comments

Our pre-trip is done, and we said our goodbyes to Judy. She was a wonderful host.

A quick flight now to Madrid –

We are laughing because we both noticed the same things that are different in our rooms from Barcelona. There is a thermostat, the toilet paper roll is positioned in a actual usable spot without having to do a yoga pose, and there is Kleenex. May seem like little things but they are not.

We had our first meeting with the whole group – of 20. There are 2 from Tampa, 1 from Clearwater, 1 from St Pete, plus myself so Florida is definitely represented here. Even though there are people from California – they are up north and not in southern CA. So Gloria is on her own. We also found out that the other couple doing the post trip canceled, so Gloria and I are going to be having a private tour.

After the meeting Juanjo, our Trip Director, took us on a walk around the building and down the street, When he reached the end of his walk and was going to head back to the hotel, we decided to break off along with a new friend from St Pete, and we walked up to the theater district – their Broadway. Lion King, Ghost, Tina were playing. Big colorful marquees – I just didn’t bring the camera so you are going to have to take my word on it. I didn’t mention it was all up hill. We found a lovely Italian restaurant and we all had a delightful dinner of mussels, mushrooms, shrimp, and black and white pasta.

We then decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel. At least some of it was down hill. Only 5 miles walking today.
Tomorrow we start with a tour of Madrid by bus.

Pictures provided by Gloria as my camera was packed.

Forgot to add – we saw this on our way back – not sure what it means.