Week 170 · Plan A to Plan E · Royal Palace · Plaza Mayor · Toledo & The Moops
Toledo &
I didn't realise that the UK had both Good Friday and Easter Monday as official holidays until after I had booked the prior week back to the USA. So I thought I ended up with a 4-day weekend and planned to meet a friend who was living in Madrid and drive over to Lisbon. That was Plan A — ended up with Plan E as we both had work commitments and it was a quick 2 days to Madrid and Toledo.
Lodging ended up a bit dodgy as one of my AirBnB nights the person completely dropped the ball and I had to rebook at a hotel late Saturday night — claims he had a friend who was supposed to handle everything but didn't. That was a first for me. AirBnB has been great otherwise. It was also nice to get travel tips from my kids — that was great too.
As I was getting on the train, I saw a Facebook post from friends travelling nearby so was able to meet up with them late back in Madrid after I dealt with the AirBnB debacle. They were just finishing a week with a bunch of 8th graders on a school trip — pretty exhausted group.
My new friend Pako — he was a good AirBnB host on Friday. Mrs Pako was not as friendly and made sure I was out by 10am.
Andy and I had a really good steakhouse — it was sit at the bar or wait an hour. We sat at the bar. Smallest seat ever.
Met up with my friend (from Bechtel and Samsung) on Sunday and he was the tour guide — we hit all the highlights of Madrid walking from plaza to plaza. Spectacular weather and we were surprised we were able to see the Royal Palace on Easter. Walked about 20 miles over the weekend and back to rainy England first thing Monday.
Madrid became Spain's capital in 1561 when King Philip II moved his court there from Toledo — which had been the capital of the Visigothic kingdom and then a centre of Moorish, Jewish, and Christian coexistence for centuries. The Royal Palace of Madrid (Palacio Real) is the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family and the largest royal palace in Western Europe by floor area, with 3,418 rooms. It was built between 1738 and 1764 on the site of a former Moorish castle. The palace is open to the public; the Royal Family does not actually live there, using instead the smaller Zarzuela Palace outside the city. Plaza Mayor — the main square — was completed in 1619 under Philip III and served as a public market, bullring, and site of Inquisition trials for over 200 years. The Paseo del Prado boulevard connects the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, and the Reina Sofía — three of Europe's finest art museums within walking distance of each other.
Saturday I spent most of the day in Toledo — a short train ride outside of town. Very nice and a beautiful day. A strategic city on a hill with a river surrounding it on 3 sides. Much of the architecture of the city dates to the time when the Moops occupied Spain and the Moorish influences still exist today. Historians still debate whether it is the Moops or the Moors but the card says Moops.
"Much of the architecture dates to the time when the Moops occupied Spain. Historians still debate whether it is the Moops or the Moors — but the card says Moops."