Wandering around central Madrid, and some more photo matching!

We had two goals on Wednesday. The first was to see the special changing of the guard ceremony at Madrid's Royal Palace that only takes place on the first Wednesday of the month. And the second was to match up a couple of my dad's photos from when he was here in October of 1954.

We only got one goal accomplished.

We bought a Madrid "Multicard" transit pass. Not the tourist pass. We thought the tourist pass was going to be too expensive for our needs. So we bought the one that you simply reload as necessary. the ten trip price is the best deal, and they have a special on through the end of June. So, €2.50 for the card, and €6.10 for the 10 trips that are useable on the bus or subway. Pretty cheap really!

We bought the card, and hopped on the number 1 metro line for the ride to the central Sol station.

Being the first Wednesday of the month, we were looking forward to seeing the special changing of the guard that entails over 400 people and 100 horses. It was supposed to start right at 12 noon, so we headed directly there.

But first, Ruth had to touch the bear and strawberry tree sculpture.

In recent years tourists and visitors have taken up the habit of touching the bear's tail or heel, repeating the gesture that is performed in similar sculptures around the world with the thought that doing so brings good luck. However, there are no historical references to it being a typical Madrilenian tradition. This gesture causes the bear's tail and heel to discolor, which encourages other tourists to repeat the gesture thinking it is something that is done in a traditional way.

Sol Plaza.

The Madrid Cathedral.

The Royal Palace.

So, this big courtyard in front of the Royal Palace is where the changing of the guard takes place. I took this photo through a closed gate. There were a lot of people lined up to go inside, and a lot of people crowded along the barrier. But 12 noon came and went and nothing happened. 

I checked online to see if we got it wrong. Nope. Every site said it happens at 12 noon on the first Wednesday of the month. However, I did find one site that had been updated April 27th that said the next show was June 11th. Now, June 11th is a Wednesday, but it's obviously not the first Wednesday.

We asked a couple of different official looking people, and they just shrugged their shoulders. One said he thought they did it last week. So who knows. Anyhow, we were a little disappointed by that.

On to the next goal. Some photo matching.

Long time readers know that my father did two trips to Europe, one in 1954, and one in 1957. He took a lot of photographs, which Ruth has scanned and uploaded to our laptops. When we find ourselves in an area where he had been, we like to see if we can stand in exactly the same spot and take exactly the same photograph that my dad took many years ago. For reasons we'll never know, there are only three photos from Madrid.

The quality of his photos wasn't great!

71 years later!

We do believe that we stood in exactly the same spot. It's the only place where we could exactly line up the statue to the background of the palace. The difference is lens focal length makes it difficult to replicate exactly.

The Royal Palace.

Mounted policeman.

Another view of the Madrid Cathedral.

View of the mountains from behind the cathedral.

View looking southwest from the cathedral.

There are some beautiful relief doors at the cathedral!

Amazing!

Also amazing was the entrance to the cathedral was free. We refuse to pay an admission fee to enter a church, however we don't mind giving a small donation when it is requested in lieu of charging an entrance fee. In this case, they specifically requested €1 per person, however it was voluntary.

Inside Madrid Cathedral.

Notice the same bear and strawberry tree.

A 13th century coffin. Said to be the oldest "furniture" in Madrid.

Some interesting wood carvings.

This statue was also carved of wood, in the 1600's.

The crypt below the Cathedral.

Another view of the Cathedral from outside.

We decided to take a walk down to the Moorish Garden park in behind the palace and cathedral. We noticed that hardly anybody goes down there, likely because it's a bit of a climb to get back up.

This is the Chalecito de la Reina, built in 1898.

Doesn't look like it's used for anything now though, and the interior looked like it was in the middle of renovations. It was all locked up.

As I said, hardly anybody around!

Looking back down from the top.

This is an old Islamic/Muslim wall that dates from the 9th century.

Unfortunately, these interesting buildings were closed to the public.

This is the original market building in the center.

It was restored and is now a bunch of expensive tapas food stalls.

Lots of fancy looking, and pricey tapas.

Interesting seafood.

The place was packed! No shortage of tourist money here!

Scenery along the way.

Plaza Mayor.

The next photo matchup was on Gran Via, one of the busy wide shopping streets. We actually had a hard time finding it because there are so many similar buildings.

There are quite a few of these types of guys trying to earn a living.

Interesting building.

There is a lot of interesting architecture!

You can now get a Tim Horton's coffee in Madrid!

So, here is my dad's photo from 1954...

As I said, it's not very good quality.

I'm still not sure we were standing in exactly the right place. 

But there was so much traffic and people that it was tough to get the shot!

Downtown Madrid.

That was enough wandering around. We took the subway back to the apartment and relaxed. Even with taking the subway both ways, we still did 18,000 steps.

The weather was great yesterday, but today not so great. Supposed to be cloudy with showers pretty much all day (I already see people walking the street outside with umbrellas open), and a high of 15C (60F). I need to buy some kind of walking shoes, so I guess we'll go out and do some shopping.

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