Wed 19 Apr
Today we took a "free" walking tour of Madrid with 9 other tourists and led by Abel. This tour showed us some of the history of Madrid, explaining its settlement by the Moors of North Africa, the retaking of this part of Spain by the Visigoths and the Spanish Inquisition. ("Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition" - joke for Monty Python fans.)
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Most of the street signs in Madrid have illustrations - a tradition dating back to times when most people
were illiterate but could identify the streets from the pictures. San Jeronimo (St Jerome) is famous
for having pulled a thorn from a lion's paw. |
Abel accompanied his walk with stories about the city, the royal family and historical figures. We finished the tour overlooking the Palacio Réal and the Cathedral do la Almudena - both huge buildings but cordoned off today because of tight security around an official reception at the royal palace. Note: the king and queen don't live in the royal palace, they live in a smaller palace further out of the city. The tour lasted over two and a half hours and was well worth the tip we gave Abel as his payment.
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| The oldest restaurant in the world - with Guinness Book of Records certificate |
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Part of the wall built around the original Moorish city
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| Entrance to the Royal Palace |
Found a small kebab shop for a very late lunch- very tasty.
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