My long weekend in Madrid - Day 2 (afternoon and evening) - Strolling around the city up to Parque de la Montaña and the Temple of Debod - The 19th of February 2016

We decided to walk back to Sol via Santa Engracia street having briefly stopped at Chamberi square prior to having walked along Hortaleza where we stopped at various shops.

It was quite hot, which didn't help us in any way as it added to the fact that we were wearing fairly warm clothes already.

We then headed towards the Convent of las Descalzas Reales which can't be visited unless you join a guided visit. We were unfortunately told that all of those guided visits in both Spanish and English were complete, which meant we would have to go back the following day.

Amidst a few brief shopping stops and a slightly longer one to have something to eat all we seemed to want to do was  to continue walking. Because neither of us had ever heard of or visited the Debod Temple  we veered left and headed towards the Almudena Cathedral, the Royal Palace and the Sabatini Gardens, which didn't look too far from Parque de la Montaña where we intended to visit it.

As we walked along Bailén we could see Plaza de España on our right and Museo Cerralbo on our left though we  proceeded towards the gateways of Debod we could see in the distance.

The ancient Egyptian Temple was impressive to look at and more so with its reflexions on the water of the rectangular pond that stretches along its gateways. Its construction is said to have been initiated in the 2nd century BC though later extended during the reigns of Ptolemy VI, Ptolemy VIII and Ptolemy XII.

Because of the construction of the Aswan High Dam and the threat posed by its reservoir and following a UNESCO appeal to save the rich historical legacy as a sign of gratitude for the help provided by Spain in saving the Abu Simbel temples the Egyptian State donated the Temple of Debod to Spain.

Rebuilt in the Parque del Oeste, though reassembled in a slightly different order the outstanding gateways stand proudly whilst overlooking the city and the Royal Palace of Madrid on their left-hand side.

 

We strolled around for a while but it started getting a bit cool so we climbed down going towards Plaza de España to get on the metro and head back to Maravillas.

 

 

It had been a rather tiring day but we felt particularly happy as we sat around the table with Carmen and her mother, who once more had prepared us a very tasty dinner.