We had another Spanish morning but managed to walk almost 10 miles around the city! We headed east toward the Prado Museum and Botanical Gardens. We passed the Cervantes statue and Neptune’s fountain on the way.
Because of time constraints and not enough knowledge about Spanish artists we chose not to go in the Prado, as there was a huge line to get tickets.
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid is an 8 hectares botanical garden in Madrid. We were disappointed that not many flowers were blooming, but we covered a good portion of it!
We noticed a few areas were the trees and benches were covered with these green, knitted blankets and shawls. It is a project called social knitting. The knitters use mainly green yarns and it is to bring awareness to a disease called Myasthenia gravis. Myasthenia gravisis a long-term neuromuscular disease that leads to varying degrees of skeletal muscle weakness.
The hydrangea was different that ones we see at home and some of the lilies were almost as tall as me.
After the gardens, we headed west, back toward the palace to find the Templo de Debod. We passed many shops setting up special decorations for a celebration of Madrid that starts tomorrow and lasts for a week.
We needed to stop for churros and chocolate, because the guide books say it is a treat not to be missed in Madrid.
We shared an order of 4 churros which are similar to the ones we have in Colorado, and the chocolate was served hot and had the consistency of a cooked pudding before it cools. You dip the churro in the chocolate and enjoy! They were the yummy pick-me-up we needed.
Along the was we passed many interesting buildings and churches. Wendy and I went inside the Parraquia de Santa Cruz to see what all the people were looking at. The inside of the church was beautiful. Most of the people were in line to stop at one of the icons, perhaps for a special blessing from the saint.
We finally made it to the Templo de Debod which is an ancient 25 century old Egyptian temple that was dismantled and rebuilt in Madrid, Spain. The shrine was originally erected 15 kilometers south of Aswan in Upper Egypt. In 1960, due to the construction of the Great Dam of Aswan and the consequent threat posed to several monuments and archeological sites, UNESCO made an international call to save this rich historical legacy. As a sign of gratitude for the help provided by Spain in saving the temples of Abu Simbel, the Egyptian state donated the temple of Debod to Spain in 1968. The temple was rebuilt in one of Spain's most beautiful parks, the West Park, which is near the Palacio Real.
We journeyed back to our apartment and again, saw plenty of beautiful buildings.
Wendy had to say adios to her new friend before we leave for Colorado in the morning.
After a tapas dinner, Tobey and I stopped in the Bingo Hall just around the corner from our apartment to see what it looked like. We had to have our passports for identification! It looked much different than our bingo halls. There were several rooms with electronic slot machines and then a large room for bingo. They play with 90 numbers and it looked like there were several “free spaces” on each card. We didn’t stay to play, we just wanted to look.
Tomorrow will be an early morning because we have a 30 minute cab ride to the airport and an 8:30 am flight. Buenas noches!
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