Editor’s note: it has been a lot of years now since I visited Madrid in the early days of The Royal Tour. (Click here to read my guide from back then.) I loved it, and my visit to Toledo while there. Funny enough, I tried to also see El Escorial, but did a poor job of planning, arriving on a day it was closed. So this article by Jackie brings back some amazing memories, and a taunt of sorts as well. For more of her writing, click here to visit her index page.

My husband and I booked a roughly two-week Spain and Portugal tour starting in Madrid.  Since we had never been to Madrid, we decided to go two days early to explore the city.  Due to a change in our tour, this turned into four days early.  We spent time in the city as well as some trips outside the city both on our own and with the tour group.

Madrid is a beautiful city with many parks, statues/street art, attractive buildings, plazas, museums, and pedestrian streets.  Because we both love parks and our hotel was close to both a large park (Parque del Retiro) and a botanical garden (Real Jardin Botanica) we spent time at both of them.

Parque del Retiro (meaning Retreat Park) is a 350-acre park that is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is free to the public.  It was originally built as a retreat for the royal family in the 1500s and transferred from the Royal family to the City Council of Madrid in 1868. At that time, it was opened to the public.  It has many walkways, formal gardens, fountains, statues, memorials, and a couple of ponds.

The larger pond, simply called Retiro Pond, was built in the 1600s to serve as the water supply for the gardens and the palace which was there at the time.  The pond is rectangular, roughly 300 by 400 feet and currently has rowboats for rent.  On one side of the pond is a monument to King Alfonso XII, who died in 1885 at the age of 27.  He was an extremely popular king, known as the peacemaker for ending a period of instability and putting the country on a good financial footing. 

Also in Retiro Park is the gorgeous Palacio de Cristal (Glass or Crystal Palace).  It is made of glass and cast iron and was originally built as a greenhouse.  It is now owned by the Reina Sofia Museum and used for temporary exhibits, but was unfortunately closed for renovations when we were there.

Across the street from Retiro Park and next to the Prado Museum is the Royal Botanical Garden.   It is part of the same UNESCO World Heritage site as Retiro Park.  The botanical garden was founded by order of King Fernando VI in 1755 and moved to its present location by order of King Carlos III in 1781.  It currently houses more than 5,000 species of plants from around the world in its 20 acres.  The garden contains a pond, greenhouses, a pavilion for art exhibits, and many different formal and more informal displays of trees and plants, including edible and ornamental areas.  Since it was very hot in Madrid when we were there in August, leisurely walking along under the trees was great!  Also of note, on Sunday the street between our hotel and the Royal Botanical Garden did not allow cars in one direction, allowing people to peacefully stroll along the street. 

We took two sightseeing tours of Madrid – one hop on/hop off bus and then a sightseeing tour with our Gate 1 tour.  We saw many squares, statues, and beautiful buildings, including my favorite, the Communications Palace (which now is the home of the Madrid City Council), Plaza Mayor (with its statue of King Philip III), and the outside of the Royal Palace.  We also went on a guided tour of the Prado Museum, including a small portion of its paintings by famous Spanish artists.  There is so much to see!

El Escorial and Valley of the Fallen

We took one half day trip outside Madrid by ourselves with Julia Travel to the San Lorenzo de El Escorial monastery and the Valley of the Fallen.  El Escorial was built in the late 1500s, with the church completed in 1582, the monastery, palace, and college in 1584, and the library in 1593.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The outside is rather imposing.

The inside is spectacularly beautiful.  Of note are the many gorgeous frescoes that one sees as one walks down the hallways, goes up the stairs, or looks at the ceiling of the basilica.  We also saw rooms with the burial vaults of many of the kings and queens of the last five centuries, and parts of the palace. 

My favorite room was the library, with its amazing frescoes in arches from the two side walls.  The frescoes depict the various subjects of the books that are at their base on both sides (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, music, geometry, astrology/astronomy).  At the ends of the room are theology and philosophy. 

Valley of the Fallen is only a short drive from El Escorial.  It was built from 1940 – 1958 under orders from the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco to commemorate the people, primarily from his party (the Nationalists), who died in the Spanish Civil War.  33,000 or more victims of the Civil War are buried at Valley of the Fallen out of 500,000 or more who died.  Some Republicans were among the people buried here, but apparently at least some of them without permission from their families.   Franco himself was buried here in 1975 and exhumed in 2019, to remove any honor to him because of all the deaths he caused.  

The monument consists of a 500-foot-tall cross (the tallest in the world), which is visible from miles away, and an underground basilica.  Even the basilica is controversial because it is actually bigger than St. Peter’s in the Vatican, so a portion of the entryway was partitioned off and not consecrated as part of the basilica.  Many convicts (including Republican prisoners) were used to build the site – a type of slave labor, but supposedly could reduce their sentences.

I was extremely disappointed in the Valley of the Fallen since it appears to be just a large church with no mention of the terrible civil war.  In addition, our guide said that only Republicans who were Catholic could be buried.  If you combine that with Franco’s inappropriate burial there, the convict labor, and a not very beautiful church, there is not much incentive to go there!

Toledo

We went on a half day tour to Toledo with Gate 1 (an optional tour that was not part of the main itinerary).  Toledo is about an hour from Madrid and sits on a bend of the Tagus River.  Toledo dates back to Roman times and had vibrant Jewish, Muslim, and Christian residents, until the Jews and Muslims were expelled (Jews in 1492, Muslims in 1502).  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our walking tour took us down narrow roads and past the beautiful cathedral.  We went into the Church of St. Tome to see El Greco’s “The Burial of Count Orgaz”.  This painting is considered one of El Greco’s best and includes portraits of some of the nobles of the time in addition to Count Orgaz.  As in some of El Greco’s other paintings, he has a self-portrait in the picture (as well a portrait of his son). 

We also went into the Synagogue of Santa Maria La Blanca, which was built in the late 12th or early 13th century.  It is considered the oldest synagogue building in Europe, although it was converted into a church in the early 15th century. The beautiful synagogue shows some Moorish architectural features and now hosts a cross.  The three cultures got along peacefully for years, but now, as in other places in Spain, while there is a Jewish quarter of Toledo, there are no Jews left. 

Segovia

Segovia is another beautiful town that is about an hour from Madrid and is another UNESCO World Heritage site.  We went with our Gate 1 group on our way from Madrid to Salamanca.  On the outskirts of Segovia is the beautiful Alcazar de Segovia, a 12th century castle.  If it reminds you of the sleeping beauty castle, that makes sense, because supposedly it is one of the castles which was used to design the Disney version.

But Segovia’s most famous landmark is the amazing Roman aqueduct, which was likely built in the first century CE.  This is the symbol of Segovia and is stunning.  There is no mortar nor metal reinforcements, and has double arch structures (as one can see below) and single arch structures at other places when it is closer to ground level.  The water travels on the top level. Parts of it have been rebuilt, but it was in use until 1973!

During our time in Segovia we did a walking tour through the Jewish quarter (again there are no Jews present now and the synagogue was unfortunately not open that day) and to the Plaza Mayor, where we saw the beautiful Cathedral. 

If you have a chance to go to Madrid for several days or a week, I hope you will venture to some of the amazing UNESCO World Heritage sites inside (Retiro Park and Royal Botanical Gardens) and outside the city (El Escorial, Toledo, Segovia).  We definitely enjoyed them all! 

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