Realizing that my time in Spain is already half over reminded me that it’s about time for another update on my life here! So, here is a list of all the places in the Communidad de Madrid that I’ve explored so far (as of March 9, 2021):
Places in Manzanares el Real
El Embalse de Santillana
The reservoir at the south end of town has a lovely walking path that provides breathtaking views of the town at large.
I’ve enjoyed sunset walks, afternoon bikerides, and lunchtime picnics on the shore. The embalse is home to beautiful wildlife, ginormous storks and adorable ducks among them.
Sadly, swimming is not allowed because the reservoir is a supply of drinking water.
El Rodaje
A short walk from my house is a nature park called El Rodaje, which is just a tiny fraction of the Parque Nacional Sierra de Guadarrama that makes up the northern border of Manzanares.
The kids enjoy climbing the many rocks and I had to overcome a fear of falling to join them at the top.
I’ve even done a bit of casual mountain climbing, as the trails are pretty easy to follow and the views are more than worth it.
La Pedriza
Speaking of La Sierra de Guadarrama, the part of the national park accesible by Manzanares is called La Pedriza. It’s miles of hiking trails, mountains, and rivers. It’s the place that remind me most of New England.
I’ve been dying to get back to hiking once the weather gets consistently nice enough to. But I don’t know how long the snow will stay in the mountains even as it gets warmer in town!
Castles Old and “New”
Manzanares is home to two castles, one of which is considered one of the best preserved castles in all of Madrid. The other is in ruins.
El Castillo Nuevo (The New Castle) isn’t actually new at all. It was constructed in the 15th century, but it’s new in comparison to el Castillo Antiguo that was even older before it fell.
Word is that the stones of the old castle were used to build the new one, which would explain why the old castle looks like it’s been chopped cleanly at the foundation.
Above is the Castillo Nuevo, also known as the Castillo de los Mendoza because it was built for the Mendoza family. Below is the Castillo Antiguo, of which only the foundation remains. Grass grows in and around the ruins and it’s mostly used as a park now, while the new castle is home to a museum and historical recreations.
Places in the city of Madrid
Puerta del Sol and Gran Vía
They say that all roads in Spain lead to Puerta del Sol. It’s “Kilometer Zero”, the very center of the country. It’s a bustling area full of shopping and restaurants. It’s also home to the famous Bear and Strawberry Tree statue that represents Madrid.
I was able to visit Sol at Christmas time, when they’ve decorated with enormous trees that light up all over the city.
Gran Vía (not pictured because apparently I was too busy shopping to snap a photo!) is one of the most well known areas for high-end shopping in Madrid. The stores are in gorgeous multistory former-mansions. My favorite is Pull&Bear, but I love the deals at Primark too.
The Royal Palace
There aren’t many photos allowed of the inside of the Royal Palace, probably because the Spanish Royal Family still lives there at least part of the year.
Every room is intricately and lavishly decorated with grandeur to rival the Newport Mansions (which is the only place I’ve been to in America that even comes close).
Aside from the beautiful ceiling murals that I would’ve gladly broken my neck to stare at all day, my favorite part was the dining room that housed a bigger table than I’ve ever seen in person. It was set to host 50 people, but the museum attendant told us it could be extended to host 100 at a time.
Templo de Debod
Sadly Debod is one of the places I was too busy experiencing to remember to take a picture of. The temple itself an Egyptian temple donated to Spain and transported to Madrid. It sits in the middle of a park.
This photo is me enjoying the park on one of the many beautiful fall days we had this year.
The park also has an amazing overlook of the city, including a glimpse of the Royal Palace.
Madrid Río
The river that flows through Manzanares makes its way through Madrid. Along its banks is the area known as Madrid Río.
There is a lot of park area and bridges around the river, with shopping and food nearby.
It proved a wonderful place to enjoy warm weather while the city’s parks were closed due to the rise in coronavirus numbers. (As of March 9, they are open again)
Places in the Comunidad de Madrid
As the country fights the spread of the coronavirus, many of the autonomous communities close their borders to non-essential travel, Madrid among them. This means that I cannot visit places outside of the Madrid area, but there are plenty of places to visit within the Communidad.
San Lorenzo de El Escorial
El Escorial is one of the day trips I have taken. It is home to a huge monastery, which is a place that the King of Spain once lived in, historically.
It’s so big, it took nearly all day just to complete the tour of the church, living quarters, royal library, and finally the tombs that hold the remains of many royal relatives. Sadly, pictures weren’t allowed inside many of the areas.
This trip was also our first glimpse of snow, both in the surrounding mountains and in the slight flurries we experienced while we visited. Little did we know we would experience the snow of the century just a month later!
Alcalá de Henares
Spring came into bloom when I visited Alcalá, the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, the famous Spanish author who wrote the stories of Don Quixote de La Mancha. Cherry blossom trees line the main street, but luckily my mask protected me from my allergies.
Alcalá is a beautiful area of Madrid with a university and an adorable plaza. I was even able to climb a bell tower to get a bird’s eye view.
The weather has been so nice lately, I even got some cherry gelato after lunch!
Places in Europe (Bonus!)
Due to the “Snow of the Century” (winterstorm Filomena), I was stranded in transit to Spain for five days on my way back from Christmas break. I shuffled from airport to airport, hotel to hotel, until the airport in Madrid was finally able to let flights land again. Overall, it was not the most fun part of my trip. But the silver lining is that I was able to at least explore a little bit more of Europe while I’m here, something I probably won’t be able to do much more of with the current situation.
Zurich, Switzerland
I mostly stayed in the airport during my brief stay in Switzerland. To be honest, I had a flight take me to Zurich from Frankfurt, Germany and spent a good 12 hours thinking I wasn’t leaving Germany at all. Then, right as the wheels of the plane touched down, I remembered that Zurich is in Switzerland and Munich is in Germany. I received a shock when I entered the airport to find that Switzerland mostly uses the swiss franc, and not the euro for their currency.
Frankfurt, Germany
I was able to get out of the airport and explore Frankfurt during one of my many layovers. It’s a quaint town, but unfortunately many of the tourist attractions were closed due to the coronavirus.
I was still able to walk around and see a lot of beautiful architecture, the Cathedral, the Eiserner stag footbridge, and Romerburg square.
It almost made the pain of being stuck in the airport worth it. Almost.
This is only the halfway point. I’m not done exploring yet…
Demi DiCarlo 
This was sooo good. I Give it 5 Stars, no 5 snowflakes ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️ due to greatest snowstorm on record. Great photos along with a great narration. Enjoyed it. Wanting more!!!
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Me ha encantado el resumen de tus excursiones, Demi. Gracias por compartir. Espero que puedas visitar aún muchos más sitios. Me gustaría invitarte a visitar el País Vasco antes de que tengas que regresar, si lo permiten. Yo estaré allí posiblemente en mayo, pues mañana por fin me voy a vacunar y los vuelos son baratos para ese mes. Que sigas disfrutando de tus excursiones. Qué suerte tienes que el tiempo es bueno allí. Aquí apenas está empezando a subir de 0 grados (centígrados) algunos días. Los últimos tres meses no han sido bastante brutales en cuanto a la temperatura. Estoy en bajísima forma física, pues este invierno no he ido al gimnasio ni nada por eso del Covid. Hasta pronto.
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