Last Sunday The guides you need organized an outstanding walking tour: Politics in Barrio de los Austrias. Barrio de los Austrias (Habsburg’s Neighborhood) is the oldest part of Madrid that we have reached to conserve, therefore, it’s common to go on a walking tour around this area. Nevertheless, our idea was to show another vision of the place. The reason is simpler than it seems: This is the place where the royalty, nobility and the emerging gentry used to live when Madrid began to become important.
There are politics wherever you look: 3 examples
The Royale Palace
And we’re afraid that that’s a fact: Everywhere you look, you’ve got politics. For example: Do you think it’s a coincidence that the Royal Palace is so big? Of course it’s not. The Palace is one of the best reflections of the late absolutism. Let’s take a look on our common past with France. Queen Anne of France (you will remember her because she’s the Queen of the Three Musketeers) was Phillip IV of Spain’s sister. Queen Anne was Louis XIV’s mother. Phillip IV had a son, Charles II, who was unable to do so -if you know what I mean-, so had no children at all. He and Louis the XIV were cousins.
The Royal Palace
Time went by and when Charles II of Spain died, Louis the XIV of France had grandsons already. One of them took the crown of Spain: Phillip V. However, he didn’t really like Madrid (no, we don’t understand that either), so he stayed for 34 years desiring the old Alcázar would burn. Finally, we don’t really know how, the old Alcázar suddenly burnt down. It’s a mystery how that could happen (well, you know… “a mystery”). Anyway, Phillip V used that chance to get his own Palace in quite a French way, majestic and magnificent, the place where the King of Spain belongs. To sum up, the Royal Palace is a demonstration of power, the sign that the King could do as he pleased.
Emir Mohammed I’s Gardens
We’re sure that you know that a bunch of apes have recently arrived to our institutions. We can’t explain how, it’s a strange phenomenon. Anyway, there they are. We can take some conclusions from their politics. For example, they can’t process certain facts: LGTB people do exist and they deserve our respect; there are different religions in the world, they all deserve our tolerance and they all provide certain wisdom, so we can learn;inmigrants will make a better place out of this, as they have done all along our history.
Madrid was founded by Muslim people in the IX Century. Its goal was to defend Toledo from the christian army who was coming from the Kingdoms in the North. Toledo was one of the city of the three cultures, where Christians, Muslims and Jewish used to live in peace. So, when we tell them this, they get mad. As a company, we’re proud of being part of a multicultural and diverse society that makes us better everyday.
Plaza de la Villa (City’s square)
Plaza de la Villa
This is a very interesting place in many ways. One of them is that we can see Castille’s architectonical evolution since the XV Century on. By the way, “Castille” (Castilla in Spanish) is the geographic region where Madrid is placed. In that XIV Century, the International Relations between Spain and Flanders were pretty good, so the future Joanna I of Castille got married with the Count of Flanders himself: the future Phillip I. Every single time we speak about the Renaissance we think about Italy. It’s normal, don’t you worry. Anyway, there are as many renaissances as regions in Europe: if you want to compare, take a look on a Shakespeare’s Elizabethan sonnets and then compare with a sonnet made by someone from Italy or Spain. You are going to see that the very structure is different.
There’s a sort of a Renaissance’s lack in Spain. Well, we were thinking about other things, America, spices… And at the time of doing a proper renaissance, we copied others. But instead of copying Italy, we copied the Flemish renaissance. That’s why the Castille’s architecture during the XV, XVI and even XVII Centuries could be “strange”. And that’s why Phillip II bought that amazing and huge Bosch’s collection, that we can still enjoy at the Prado Museum. So, that is politics too, International Relations, to be precise.
So, that is politics too, to be precise, International Relations.
Have you got an idea? Tell us!
Maybe you’re coming to Madrid and you want to do something special, maybe a walking tour, but with something special in the middle. We would love to provide that service. Do you fancy a walking tour + tapas? That’s as usual as fine, but: What about a walking tour + the tapas that they used to eat in Madrid one thousand years ago? We know the best place for that. If you want to join to one of our themed tours, stay tuned. And if you want to go on a “special” walking tour, write an e-mail to: hello@theguidesyouneed.com and we’ll help to do so.
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