The next capital, Madrid

Madrid makes no sense.

That's what my human was told by two differnt people. On of them her BlaBlaCar driver with whom she went to the capital.

Yes, that's right, I wasn't invited to come. But considering that the city is kinda smack bam in the middle of the country and we would have had to drive there and then back to continue our trip along the coast, and the fact that traffic in Spanish cities is no fun, especially the roundabouts, I wasn't taking it too personal.

Also the fact that I could stay where I was, at Javier's family home, nicely covered and shaded, influenced the decision. 

The second person to say that Madrid makes no sense was a tour guide. And he should know, right?

A fortress was built in the 9th Century where Madrid is today as an outpost to Toledo, 70km to the South, by Emir Muhammad I. The idea was to use this strategic point to protect Toledo from Christian invasion and also as a starting point for Muslim offensives.

The next few Centuries were turbulent, being conquered and re-conquered by a number of people, armies, religious leaders and so on. 

Until King Philip II decided to settle his court in Madrid in 1561, making it the political center of the monarchy and capital city of Spain.

All this and much more she learned on a guided walking tour, leading past some of the city's famous landmarks such as the Cathedral and the Royal Palace, of course. 

The Royal palace with over 3000 rooms and no one actually living there

The Cathedral of Madrid

Plaza Real is the city's central square

One place they stopped at, was a convent in which live only a handful of nuns, but those are of the especially pious kind. They vow to never leave the convent and have no interaction with outsiders. For the rest of their lives, of course. Each to their own, right? What they do, though, is to bake cookies and sell them. You ring a bell, get looked over by camera and then the door opens. You enter a darkish room with a small revolving door set into a wall. A voice comes over a speaker and asks you what exactly you would like and after choosing from the list on the wall, those goods get passed through to you via that door and you pay the same way. One way to do business.

They also walked past this curious house. In the 16th Century a law said that if you lived in an easily dividable house, you had to allow half of it to be used by members of the court, who would come and go, depending on where the king was doing business at any given time. So they started setting windows and doors in weird places, so as not to be "easily divided". This is one of only three such houses left in the city today.

Of course a visit to the local market was also on the agenda

The world's oldest restaurant in continuous operation, "Restaurante Botín, opened in1725. Goya worked here as a dishwasher while studying.

Don't you hate people taking photos of their food? This one is ok, though. It's a vegan hamburger with all the goods (including vacon and cheese). And it was very tasty!

Probably the most beautiful place in the city is "Parque de Retiro", at least for my human. It's a very large park, right behind the "Museo de Prado". It's got a large lake, this cool glass building and just a lot of trees to provide shade and a bit of a relief from the 36 degrees heat. 

There is another large park, one of the largest urban parks in a city in the world, actually. The area used to be the hunting grounds for the Royals and nobles in the 16th Century. 

You can use a cable car from the edge of the city to get to the center of the park. It takes about 15 minutes and affords a good view over the city and the park. There are sporting grounds of all sorts, an amusement park and also a large lake you can take boats out on. 

Carmelos first ride in a cale car

The entry to the Prado is currently 15€, but every day from 6pm to 8pm you can enter for free. You still have to order a ticket in advance and it goes without saying that these are especially sought after. But my human, being the German that she is, had planned this out and had organized the entry beforehand.

After all these museums she has visited in Belgium and France, the Prado held only little fascination for her. Of course she has no idea about art, either, so she is hard to impress. But there were a few pieces which she really liked. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos, so I can't show you any of the paintings.

El Prado, at least from the outside

One day my human and Carmelo took a train to Toledo, which was the most important city in the area, long before Madrid became the capital. The train only takes half an hour but it puts you into another time altogether. The city was first mentioned in a roman scripture from around 50 BC, it's seriously old. 

The city was the seat of a powerful archdiocese for much of it's history, which is reflected in the high number of churches and convents still present today. For this reason it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. You can get a visitor band for 10€ at the tourist information center, which gives you access to all the important sights.

View and flower of Toledo, El Greco style

The Greek painter El Greco used to live in Toledo from 1577 until his death in 1614. Here he painted some of his most famous works, including "View and plan of Toledo". A house, which was wrongly thought of as one he used to live in, was converted into a museum. And since she was there already, and it was free to enter, she looked at yet another museum. And she even enjoyed some of his work. Although the fame of this one really is beyond her:

View and plan of Toledo

And because there was still some time before their train would leave, they went to another museum, "El museo de Santa Fe". This is a small museum for modern art and has some very interesting pieces in it. Yes, I'm actually serious. Here, look:

My favorite, "Jesus Christ arriving in New York"

Don't know the title of this one, but I suggest "A vegans nightmare"

Just a woman taking off her skin

The next morning my human had her weekly Spanish class with her tutor and after that they made their way to the meeting point with another driver who would get them back to Valencia. My human was very much looking forward to getting back to me, driving me, after not doing so for a week, and sleeping in her own bed. The hostel she stayed at in Madrid was nice enough, but the mattress...

When they arrived back at Javier's place, we filled up water and half an hour later were on the road towards Altea, a small coastal town a bit further south.