After a few busy days, today was set to be an easier one. Our plan was to walk around the central area of Madrid, gazing at impressive edifices and wandering through some of the large plazas. The temperatures so far have been surprisingly low so we kitted ourselves out in the warmest gear we had (which wasn't much), topping it off with our Gore-Tex rain jackets. The sun was out but it was only 5 degrees when we stepped outside at 9am. Brrr.
We meandered our way to the Egyptian Templo de Debod which opened at 10am. It is a 2200 year old temple which has been faithfully transplanted, stone by stone, from Nubia. It was dismantled prior to the valley being flooded by the filling of the Aswan Dam. Spain had offered aid to Egypt after an appeal to save the temples, and in compensation Egypt gifted Spain the temple. We weren't expecting a queue but it was already 30-deep when arrived. The temple is very small and only 6 or so are allowed in at a time.
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| Egyptian Temple of Debod |
Many of the original hieroglyphics are still visible inside the structure. The temple was added to by two Roman emperors between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. It was well worth the 40 minute wait to get in and added interesting variety to the art and culture we have experienced during the last few days.
It was still a very cold day when we exited the temple at 11.30am but the centre of the city was full of people enjoying a festive atmosphere. We happened to have struck the day of the Madrid marathon, half-marathon and 10km run. There were an unbelievable 21,000 participants, and just about everyone seemed to have a supporter on deck to cheer them on. It made for a very lively (and loud) scene, with the run courses bisecting many of the main plazas and following major roads which were closed to traffic.
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| Royal Palace |
We looped around the edges of crowds, managing to view the Royal Palace and its grounds, Plaza Major and a few other plazas, plus wandered along some of the main shopping streets. It was fun to be amongst the buzz. The buildings were quite monumental in scale and impressive in both size and style.
Our random route took us to the pretty Mercado San Miguel just on lunchtime. We have been there before, and were keen to revisit the range of food stalls on offer. It is a very popular place for people to select a variety of small servings from various stalls and then sit down and eat at shared tables, or at a bar with a beer. Unsurprisingly, it was super busy and we sampled half a dozen small tapas on toast. Most of them included cod and they were delicious. Only by 1pm was it warm enough to take our rain jackets off. We still felt the need to pop into a cafe for a coffee to warm up though, or, in the case of John, a beer did the trick. We bought some rolls at a nearby supermarket so we could make our own simple dinner.
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| Mercado San Miguel |
It's been an interesting time observing the Spanish as we've wandered about during the last few days. Everyone has been helpful and friendly and life feels fairly laid-back. Breakfast is typically taken around 10am and consists of a glass of orange juice, a coffee and a ham and cheese-filled croissant or bread roll. Cafes fill up from this time. From midday-ish, many are snacking on a pastry and enjoying a mid-sized beer. This morphs into lunch, often not started until 2-3pm, with more beer to accompany it. From 5pm the tapas bars are humming, with a small number of small servings washed down with beer or wine. The tapas bars are full until the restaurants start cranking up around 9pm. Socialising with family and friends is clearly a very popular exercise. All-in-all, I suspect the hospitality industry is pretty safe from any economic downturn.
