8.11.2008 - 15.11.2008 Wondering around Madrid - Visit to El Retiro

One nice and relaxing tour in Madrid is to visit El Retiro (Jardines del Retiro de Madrid), which is an enormous park of 118 hectares that was once owned and enjoyed just by the royalty. Nowadays this park is a really great spot, where one can spent and entire day, especially in summer. It is a Central Park of Madrid, very pleasant, also in November, with the cold, one can enjoy its beauty.

Fuente de los Galapagos - Galapagos fountin

The Galapagos fountin in the Park was constructed in 1832 to celebrate the birth of the queen Isabel II.

The statue seen at the end of this nice lagoon, situated in the Park, is the Monument to Alfonso XII, that the queen Maria Cristina had ordered to do in honor of her deceased husband. This nice lagoon can be seen also by boat, that you can rent there. Apart from countless Statues and Monuments dedicated to the kings of Spain and also Queens, as is the Galapagos fountin, there are also nice Palaces in the Park. One of them is the Velazquez Palace (Palacio de Velazquez).

Palacio de Velazquez

The Velazquez Palace was built between 1881 and 1883 as a central pavilion of the National Exhibition of of Mining, Metallurgical Arts, Ceramics, Glassware and Mineral Waters, which were celebrated in Madrid between May and November, 1883.

I was particularly fascinated by the painting of the pavilion, as you can see in the picture below.

Another really spectacular Palace in the Park is Crystal Palace (Palacio de Cristal). Really awsome, as you can see from the picture below.

Palacio de Cristal

In front of the Crystal Palace there is a wonderful fountain and trees in the warm red autumn colours, really awsome. The red trees are growing in the water. A pretty awsome view.

fountain n front of the Crystal Palace

Another amazing, but almost night view of the Crystal Palace.

Palacio de Cristal

The Crystal Palace was built in the 1887, it served as a pavilion to lodge exotic plants brought for the purpose of the General Exhibition of the Philippines, which was celebrated in that year in Madrid.

This park is amazing, and my guide, my brother-in-law was so gentle to accompany me to this wonderful place and told me a lot about its history and the monuments. A really must see place without a doubt.

8.11.2008 - 16.11.2008 On my way to Peru - Wondering around Madrid

My travel to Peru started at the Italian railway station in Gorizia, where I took the train to Milan, and once in Milan another train to the Malpensa airport. Fortunately that day Italians didn't decide to strike, which is often the case, and getting somewhere is difficult, especially in Milan. But my luck I could get to the airport in time and there took the plane to Madrid.
Madrid's airport Barajas is good connected with the city, taking the metro. When I stepped out of the Terminal one, my new family was already waiting for me, my future mother and brother-in-law. It was nice to see them both there waiting for me, and to meet them finally. It was a very emotional moment. From there we took the metro to get to the apartment. I spent with them a wonderful one week, it was short to know my new family well, but good to have the possibility to know them at last, after my fiance spoke so much about them. They were both very kind with me, and took time to take me around.

With my mum-in-law we went to the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, where it is situated the statue of the bear and the tree ( "El Oso y El Madroño"), which is the symbol of Madrid. Apart from the bear, there are other two symbols of Madrid, namely PUERTA DE ALCALA is a kind of Arch of Triumph erected by Sicilian artist Francesco Sabatini in the XVIII century, and the fountain CIBELES, a Phrygian Goddess representing the fertility.

Puerta de Alcala - the second symbol of Madrid

In the Square of Puerta del Sol there is also the so called kilometer zero ("kilometro cero"), situated near the street, where is this nice building in the photo, just the opposite where the statue with the bear is situated.
In lot of countries kilometer zero is the geographic location from which start the streets, and from which one can measure the distances. It is usually situated in the center of the square. This is of course not the center of Spain, but just the place where streets start, as I was told by my mum-in-law.

kilometro cero in the Puerta del Sol Square

This inscription is not so easy to find, one must look down and where is a group of people standing in the circle and looking down, saying wooow and taking photos. Well, one must be practical :)).
The day I wondered around with my mum-in-law there were celebrations in the Plaza Mayor. They were doing folkloric Spanish dances and the Square was full with people. That day, the 9 of November, they celebrate the patron saint of Madrid, the Virgin Almudena. People get out in the streets, they put on the vests once used. It is really interesting to see olders with their vests of old days dancing in the streets with such a passion.
The streets that day were crowded. On the net you will read that the celebration take place in the Plaza de la Almudena, where is situated the Almudena Cathedral.



On the left is an image taken by night, of the Almudena Cathedral, situated near the Royal Palace. It take 100 years to construct this magnificent Cathedral, that Carlos V proposed to built in 1883. The Cathedral was finally consecrated in the 1993 by the Pope John Paul.