Madrid - Day Five

My penultimate day in beautiful Madrid was full on. I started at the Plaza de España and walked to the nearby Parque del Oeste, where Miguel Cervantes, the celebrated Spanish 17th century novelist, is honoured with a wonderful bronze statue of Don Quijote on horseback holding his trusty lance with the faithful Sancho Panza on his donkey beside him  and not a windmill in sight. From the park I continued on to the Templo de Debod. This remarkable 4th century BC Egyptian temple was saved from the rising waters of Lake Nasser when the Asswan High Dam was built in 1968, transferred to Spain and rebuilt block by block. There were wonderful reliefs on the ancient walls such as Octavius Augustus sacrificing animals to the goddess Isis and Ptolemy X11 burning incense to the god Amur who had the head of a ram. I then made my way to Madrid's Teleférico for a fabulous 11 minute ride up in the clouds to the Casa del Campo where its Mirador or Viewing Point gives superb panoramic vistas of Madrid. My next stop was the Retiro Park to see its marble monuments such as the one Queen Maria Cristina had erected in 1887 to honour King Alfonso X11. It is in the form of a semi-circular pantheon encircled by rampant bronze lions. There was also the magnificent Palacio de Cristal. a superb metal and glass structure built in 1887 as a winter garden for exotic flowers. Now it is used by the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia for temporary exhibitions. Today they had transformed it into an Arabian tent complete with Persian style carpets and pillows for people to lounge on. I finished the day with a walk along the Gran Via for some window shopping. Tonight I'll head up to the lively Chueca area to see what's happening there and tomorrow I take an early flight to Lisbon to experience more Iberian culture Portuguese style.