We headed to Plaza Mayor to meet up with some others for the tour, and when we got there, we had a nice opportunity to chat with some other people who were staying in our hostel as well as other hostels in the area (this is where we met our friends from Kansas).
The tour started off in the Plaza, and right away I knew this wasn't going to be your average walking tour. Let me explain:
Our tour guide stopped us at the Plaza's statue, and said that there was a story that for years, the plaza had a very weird, disgusting smell. Nobody could figure out what it was, until one day the city's people got angry at the figure in this statue so they started throwing stones at the monument. One stone pierced the horse's belly, and then a stream of dead sparrows came pouring out!
Apparently, there was an opening in the horses mouth that was big enough to let sparrows inside, but they couldn't get back out afterwards and were trapped! Years and years worth of dead sparrows were stuck inside until the horse's belly ruptured. After this incident, the horse's mouth was sealed up, and now the plaza smells just fine.
As I said, not your average walking tour, but so much more interesting! (Sorry for those of you who are now green in the face.)
We also saw a restaurant named after the "Spanish Robin Hood", Luis Candelas. Apparently, he robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, but also was a lot um... more promiscuous than your average Robin Hood. There is a long story of exile and romance, but in the end, he was killed for his illegal acts. He is still a celebrated figure in Spanish history though.
Next we learned about the Oldest Restaurant in the world. Botin has been under the same ownership since 1725! There was a certificate from Guinness World Records to legitimize the fact, as well as a picture of Earnest Hemmingway. Apparently when he lived in Madrid, he would often frequent this restaurant - cool!
Our tour was great - lots of intrigue, morbid stories, and cursing from our Scottish guide. I'm not sure how an older crowd would have reacted to the tour, but we thought it was just dandy! This is a picture of "Straw Plaza". I won't go into detail, but apparently the word for "straw" in Spanish translates into a bad word, so this plaza is famous for being good for more than straw (think El Cajon Blvd).
The tour wasn't all silly, though. We learned a lot about Madrid's gory and gruesome past, such as about the Spanish Inquisition (something I either never learned or never paid attention to in high school), which I found shocking and fascinating to hear about. This is a picture of a plaza (Plaza de la Cruz Verde) where the cavalry would assemble before going out to fight the non-Christians.
Next up, the highest bridge in Madrid! Pretty, but with a very sad history. Because of its height, it used to be the #1 "jumping" spot in the city. The government has since then taken many measures to prevent that (such as adding plexiglass walls), but it was an interesting insight to the city that I don't I would have gotten otherwise.
Right near the bridge was a Moorish-designed cathedral (and that's our tourguide in the bottom right corner!). The architecture was so beautiful that it was sad to think about the Moors being driven out of town for their beliefs. There was also the old Moorish wall of the city, where we heard the tale of "El Gato".
El Gato was a fellow who boasted of being nimble enough to climb anything, just like a cat. When the Spanish army was trying to get over the Moorish wall without any success, they called upon El Gato, who promptly crawled over the wall and helped the rest of the army get in. He was so cocky that he changed his last name to Gato, and to this day there is a family-line with the last name "Gato". Another celebrated Spanish figure.
We also learned about the symbol of Madrid. This is the Oso and Madrana (a kind of berry). We had been seeing it all over Madrid, but didn't know what it meant. It's sort of the city's mascot, and although I can't remember the story right now, I think it's about how two groups united (the bear and the tree both representing different groups).
More stories:
This church contains a very interesting relic - a stuffed alligator. The story goes that there was a small child about to be eaten by an alligator, so her mother prayed and God sent a tree to fall on the alligator and squish it. The child was saved! And the alligator's body remains as evidence of the miracle. I'm so bummed that I didn't get to go inside...
We also saw monuments to some of Madrid's famous people. The first picture is that of a famous Spanish bull-fighter. A very controversial sport, bull-fighting still occurs in Spain, but we weren't there during the correct season for it to be very popular. The second picture is a monument to Diego Velazquez, the famous Spanish painter who painted Las Meninas. He had a very tragic death, and to this day his body hasn't been found (which means he hasn't gotten his remains buried in a church, as would have happened otherwise). This memorial is what he has instead.
When the tour ended and we thanked our tourguide, we went with a few of the girls we met on the tour to get churros con chocolate, a traditional Spanish dessert. The churros tasted AMAZING dipped in the thick, gooey chocolate, and I think it made for a very well-balanced lunch.
The best part, though, was getting to swap travel stories with the girls who we were eating with. For an hour and a half, we heard stories of eurorail passes and lost luggage, working in Borneo for two years and the woes of not having peanut butter and Vegemite (one of the girls was Australian). I loved getting to share such a great moment with them, and to me it really symbolized what travel was all about - brief moments with strangers turn into lasting memories of friends; constant friendly hellos and heartaching goodbyes; and the sense of adventure and openness to new experiences abound.
We finally said goodbye and vowed to become facebook friends (which we are), and then my travel companions and I headed towards our next adventure in Madrid: Park de Retriro.
No comments:
Post a Comment