Any visitor to Madrid will know that there are more than enough things to occupy your time without putting one foot outside of the city. Even so, I decided to escape the capital for a day and take the train to Segovia, a city of just over 50,000 people and about a hundred kilometres (62 miles) north of Madrid.
There are two ways to travel by rail between the two. The first (and most popular) is by high-speed train from Madrid Chamartin to Segovia Guiomar, and the other is by regional train from Madrid Atocha to Segovia Estacion. I opted for the slower regional train, not because it was cheaper, but because the stations at both ends of the journey were more convenient, and although the journey took more than two hours (as opposed to just half an hour), I was able to enjoy taking in views of the Castilian countryside as well.
Today’s gallery is focused on Spain’s capital city and the European Union’s second largest metropolis. I visited Madrid in 2007, and although I knew it wouldn’t be my favourite Spanish city, it was better than I expected. Consequently, with so many photographs still to sort, and so many other places I want to write about, I thought my time would be best spent producing a gallery of some of the places that I saw in Madrid, rather than write an in-depth series of posts – but that could still happen later if I ever get the chance
If I had any hope of achieving all what I wanted to do today I needed to be up nice and early – so I woke up 1½ hours late. Not a great start, but at least it was a nice sunny Sunday morning to wake up to when my eyes did finally open.
After a quick breakfast I wandered down the Rambla to the Bethlehem Church before crossing the road and into the Gothic Quarter, or Barri Gòtic as it’s called here. Unlike yesterday, it was lovely and peaceful as I ventured deeper into the barrio where I stumbled across some remnants of the old Roman City wall in the Carrer de la Palla.
Before I get going, I think it’s worth mentioning the fact that, unlike Manuel in Fawlty Towers, I’m not from Barcelona, and therefore this series of posts about the city is based purely on my experience over a long weekend back in the spring of 2006. Consequently, I won’t be going into too much detail about its history etc (which can easily be found elsewhere), but instead I’ll just talk about some of the places I visited and what I encountered.
Quiero Saber – The Gipsy Kings
Ask anyone to name the most famous street in Barcelona and you can bet the majority would say The Rambla, but in actual fact the street has several parts to it which is why I’m calling it, like many others do, Las Ramblas. That’s the Spanish way of spelling it, but as we’re in Catalonia, we should really be referring to it as Les Rambles, but whatever you want to call it, this was my base for 3 nights, and is why I’m beginning right here.
Until the beginning of the 18th century Las Ramblas was just a path that followed the course of an old stream just outside the city walls, but today it consists of 5 different Ramblas that make up a largely pedestrianized tree-lined avenue that runs for about ¾ mile between the Plaça de Catalunya in the north to the Christopher Columbus Monument and port in the south.
