I say it more as a joke that every square has its horse or horseman because there is a famous meeting place in the capital of the country where I was born that everyone calls where the horse is.
You can say Let's meet near the horse and the meeting place is clear - we talk about Republic Square.
Well, in the Spanish capital, Madrid, maybe you would get lost as there are several horses...
Let's see the first example.
Between the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Royal Theatre, there is a little square/park with statues (whom I used to talk to in some of my previous posts, a long time ago) and magnolia trees. In the middle of that little square, we can see the equestrian monument to Philip IV.
If you would agree to meet your friends "where the horse is", this would be one of the options to go. There are many monuments and emblematic buildings that you can find here, like the Cathedral of Santa María la Real de la Almudena. If you catch the sunset from this place, you are lucky. But even if you come at the moment when the sun has already set, you can appreciate its beauty with a blue canvas in the background.
You can walk a bit further and surround the building of the Royal Theatre, choose to use the subway or explore this part of the city by foot, greet the monument of Isabel II and find your umbrella.
Correct! That is what we did yesterday evening, find our umbrellas as the sky decided to pour on Madrid all the raindrops it contained. At first, it was just a drizzle...
In those conditions, you can also spot a street vendor of roasted chestnuts and buy one portion of this treat. Especially if you like them and you met (not where the first horse) some friends, Hive friends, who have never tried chestnuts.
I was so happy to explain to them about this tasty goody... that chestnuts ripen in the autumn and are roasted in the streets during the winter.
Our friends felt the benefits of having some roasted chestnuts yesterday evening - they were tasty and warmed up their hands.
But I had to do a little demonstration on how to peel chestnuts and reach the edible part...
Something like before and after. 😂
*
The process of crushing the cortex of the roasted chestnut.
*
*
Chestnut ready to be consumed.
*
Oh, but I have to get back to the topic of horses. Yes.
So, the next horseman that could be a good place to meet with some friends is located in the Plaza Mayor.
However, great confusion could come from the name of the person who was riding this horse... He was also a Philip. 😳
Here, in Plaza Mayor, we talk about the Statue of Philip III.
We were fortunate, I tell you. I didn't have to meet my friends at any of the "Philip with the horse" monuments and get lost, since we stayed at the same hotel and came downtown together to walk. We were also lucky to bring an umbrella, as here in Puerta del Sol, while we were in front of the Equestrian Statue of Carlos III the rain became much more intense.
That intense that we had to run and find a place to hide, to have a drink and eat something. That is how we found this little but full bar, Taberna Melibea. It had a great ambience.
We had just some simple dishes that we shared (croquettes and potatoes) but it was excellent to warm up and talk with @jesuslnrs and @jhoxiris.
They both are beautiful, honest and lovely people... we indeed had a good vibe and a lot of fun.
*
I got this photo from Mr Jesuslnrs 😇
*The rain didn't stop so we had to think about the best option to get back to the hotel. Uber.
We waited for our vehicle for at least 15 minutes on the street (maybe we had to sing in the rain 😁) as there was a nice traffic jam in the centre of Madrid. Once in the car, we were calmer until we didn't realize that the driver was not really sure how to find the hotel 😳.
We will blame the rain and these blurred views... Anyway, we arrived safely at our destination and warmed up, dried our clothes and continued the Hive meeting in the hotel lobby.
For today we had plans but all failed. The rain didn't stop so we stayed for the whole time in the hotel, chitchatting, having coffee, exchanging some little gifts and getting ready to leave the capital and this pleasant little Hive meetup that happened.
I hope that Jesús and Jhoxiris had a good time with us and liked the whole tour in Spain.
And the weather! 😜
*
Driving in the rain for a few hours...
*
