Tuesday morning was already our fourth day in Madrid, and it felt like the trip was flying by already. I was up and at em’ bright and early, and headed downstairs to grab some breakfast before the day started with a lecture at 9:45. We met up in the lobby and walked a few minutes over together to the meeting place at Spaces – Las Cortes, a shared office workspace right by El Palacio de Las Cortes. This was the first of two lectures that would take place both Tuesday and Wednesday. Both lectures focused on the history of Madrid, with this one focusing on Spain’s history further in the past, discussing the Reconquista of Spain by the Spanish Christian Kingdoms from the Muslim Moorish Kingdoms. We learned how Madrid became Spain’s capital city, taking the title from Toledo, where we’d visited just the day before, through a decree by King Philip III, after his father had moved the royal court from Toledo to Spain a generation prior.
After the lecture a few others and I had to go grab our metro cards. These cards, so generously covered by API, were different than the regular multicards usually obtained from the machines on the Metro, and offered unlimited subway rides for the whole month, even if we were only there for a week. Not knowing that these cards would be provided, had bought a 10-ride pass the night we arrived, but the 7 remaining rides I had on that one came in handy when classmates inevitably lost their own cards. There was a photo portion for the card, which took me by surprise. You may be able to see that much in my expression in the photo (you’re welcome to see that below). But, now all of us were set up to ride the metro for the rest of the week!
Next we went scavenger hunting. A group of us set out to cross some items off of our scavenger hunt list, and my brand shiny new metro card was put to use. We headed out from Estacion Sevilla on the 2 line (though I preferred to call it the red line) before switching to the 5 (the green line) headed towards our destination, El Mercado de la Paz. I don’t know if we hit the lunch rush or what, but the place was remarkably busy for a Tuesday. A couple members of our group got some empanadas from a booth, and we looked for some Manchego from a stand, but to no avail. We decided to try and make it over to Parque el Retiro before we had to reconvene with the whole class later that day. Though cloudy, the park was still beautiful. The ornate fountains and stunning architecture and landscaping were really fascinating to see.
The time was now to meet up with the whole class for Professor Z’s heralded walking tour of Madrid. Starting from El Puerta del Sol, we made our way from Kilometre Zero, the very geographical center of Spain, up towards Gran Via, learning fun facts about the iconic Tio Pepe sign and Madrid’s experience with the world’s oldest profession. Some lessons in history were present as well. As we made our way through Gran Via, Professor Z pointed out bullet holes in the buildings from the Nationalist’s siege of Madrid during the Civil War. Parts of the tour would give us a visual aid for the lecture we went on to have on Wednesday morning. As the sun sank lower in the sky, we walked through Malasaña, a really beautiful neighborhood filled with thrift stores, coffee shops, and bars. Definitely my kinda place. We made our way towards El Plaza de España and saw the monument to Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quijote de la Mancha. Though I never read the book in high school like some others, I’ve actually picked it up since getting home after being inspired by this trip (though admittedly I’m pretty wrapped up reading Game of Thrones currently so its slow progress). From La Plaza de España we made our way just a few blocks northeast towards el Parque de la Montaña, to see one of the very few memorials dedicated to the Spanish Civil War. The monument contains no plaque and paints no narrative one direction or the other. We ended the tour at the Templo of Debod, which I learned is only one of several Egyptian temples outside of Egypt. Funnily enough, on the plane ride home I watched Ocean’s 8, which features a scene with one of the other temples located in New York’s very own Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is something I would not have taken note of before. Our group disbanded while the sunset overlooking the Royal Palace and el Casa de Campo faded to blue. The walking tour was actually one of my favorite activities from the trip. Nothing is better, in my opinion, than physically being someplace while you are learning about it. You get to see and learn so many minute details that you would have no other way of knowing about, and it gives you a whole different perspective on the history. I hope to revisit Madrid in the near future and I hope to explore every neighborhood in as much detail as we did Malasaña. Who knows, maybe the last two rides remaining on my metro card will even still be valid!
Editor’s Note: I invite you to view the blog posts by Cam and Michael, who both also wrote about this day, to see some better pictures of where we went. I didn’t take many documentarian photographs, however, you are welcome to view some videos I took (see above) to see some snippets from this day of the trip.
