Another great train ride finds us arriving into Madrid at about lunchtime (not lunchtime for the Spanish, lunchtime for us )😂.

Madrid is the largest city in Spain with an estimated 6,751,000 people living here. Occupied since prehistoric times, the population way back when twas primarily Iberian and then Roman. Interestingly Madrid was not mentioned in any historical way until the 10th century, and when it was an established and existing castle/ fort was already in place. The site of this castle/fort – this is the site of the existing Royal Palace.

What I know so far is that in 865 Muhammad I ordered the construction of a small palace and a citadel. The Moors had control until 1083 when Alfonso VI arrived, he ordered the existing mosque in the forts walls be “purified” and consecrated as a Catholic Church.

We are doing a walking tour tomorrow so I’m sure that I’ll come away from that with lots of information about this city, I can’t wait.

After checking into our hotel a stretch of the legs was in order and so we made our way to the Parque de El Retiro which is about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. It’s huge at about 125 hectares with 15,000 trees, with lots of windy paths, monuments, fountains and gardens along the way. Just gorgeous to walk through, you can buy an ice cream and let the day pass you by.

It’s lovely today the sun is out and there are a few people walking through the park.

On our way back to the hotel Steve and I walked past the Botanic Gardens and came across a little pedestrian street that was lined with book stalls. This Cuesta de Moyana book fair (as it is referred) is open everyday of the week and dates back to 1925. The stalls are run by the children and grandchildren of the fairs founders, there are 30 stalls. We didn’t stop, because if we had I’d probably still be there 😀, if I only had a spare couple of hours.

A lovely dinner at a local place for pizza, beer and rose. Here’s to a good nights sleep, we are looking forward to a full day tomorrow here in Madrid.