I been to Toledo, Salamanca, Segovia and El Escorial. I not interest in the Valley of the Fallen unless someone can give me a reason for it.

My interests are in architecture, art and history with passion for photography.

So what else should I visit and would be idea to photographed.

Bill

I would make a trip to Avila. The walled city is fascinating and you can even walk around all or most of it. There is another lovely cathedral and medieval town. It's in the same direction as the Valley of the Fallen, in case you change your mind. (You can see the Valle de los Caidos from the highway on the way to Avila)

When are you going again? Have a great trip!

Siguenza and Cuenca! Very different but both are wonderful and a photographer's dream!

Hi friends

following the idea of Puna, I will transcribe any excursions you can do from Madrid, “The Village and Court”. In these places full of history and legends you can see the essence of the old Kingdom of Castile.

Alcalá de Henares was the birthplace of such important figures as Miguel de Cervantes, the Archpriest of Hita, Queen Catherine of Aragon (wife of Henry VIII of England), Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation Ferdinand I of Habsburg and place of adoption of Cardinal Cisneros, Regent to the throne of Castile until the arrival of Emperor Charles V of Habsburg.

The oldest archaeological finds date back to Neolithic times. In the first century, The Romans founded the city of Complutum, name of which derived the adjective "Complutense", which was burned during the invasion of the Vandals.

The small Visigoth town was conquered by the Arabs in the eighth century, when they invaded the peninsula. They built a castle and named the city Nahr Al-Kalam (castle on the river), whence its present name.

In 1118, the bishop of Toledo, Bernardo de Seridac, recaptured the city, becoming part of the Lordship of this diocese.

The great period of splendor of Alcalá starts in the late fifteenth century. In 1495, Cardinal Cisneros, confessor of Isabella the Catholic, was named Archbishop of Toledo and in 1499 decided to found the University. From that time on urban renewal that creates a true "university town" and is populated College Alcalá Child (up to 40 in the seventeenth century), convents and churches; corresponded both schools under religious orders (Jesuits, Dominicans, Augustinians, etc.) as well as secular foundations.

In 1813, during the War of Independence, was an important feat of arms: the guerrilla John Martin stubbornly rejected an entire division of the French army. As a reminder of the fact there is a bust of him in The Merced Square. In this century began the decline of the city caused by the relocation of the University of Madrid and the subsequent closure of College and convents.

Because of its proximity to Madrid many industries have been established, but still retains an interesting old town, revitalized by the turn of the University in 1977.

Monuments

“The Medieval Walls”. In the Muslim period only preserves the remains of the watchtower and pieces of wall. In 1118 the Archbishop of Toledo, Bernard of Sedirac, won the Plazato (Large Square) the Muslims and then starts building a new walled city which once had 22 towers in the fourteenth century about the Archbishop's Palace. Next to one end of the enclosure is the Madrid’s Gate, rebuilt in 1788 by Cardinal Lorenzanic.

“The Cloister of Saint Bernard”. It is one of nine cloistered monasteries that remain in Alcalá de Henares and perhaps most important from the artistic point of view. Founded in 1618 by Cardinal Bernard de Sandoval, Archbishop of Toledo for nuns of the Cistercian Order the main facade, in brick, is of great austerity broken only by the three stone doorway sand the niche that is on the central and saves an image of the saint. This simplicity gives way to a surprise inside elliptical, covered by a great oval dome also considered the largest in Spain. Around six chapels are available, four of them also elliptical and two rectangular, decorated with works of Italian Angelo Nardi, court painter to Philip III. Instead of altar, the church contains a curious canopy "a French Quarter" or, what is, willing to officiate four masses simultaneously behind of the choirseparate’s gates us from the closure.

There is a museum in the cloister with carvings, paintings and furniture of great interest.

“The Archbishop's Palace”. In the thirteenth century began its construction as the residence of the archbishops and be complete in the sixteenth, sometimes also served as accommodation for the royal family. In him were the Infanta Catherine of Aragon, thenwife of Henry VIII of England and the Emperor Ferdinand of Germany, son of Joan "The Mad". In 1486, the palace took place in the first meeting between Isabella, The Catholic and Christopher Columbus.

In his first season remains the Tower of Tenorio, today houses the diocesan library, being able to visit during business hours. In the sixteenth century by order of Archbishop of Tavera, the set was transformed into a palace, whose main facade, designed by Alonso of Covarrubias, the only thing left standing after the devastating fire that wiped out all the interiors in 1939.

“The Cisnerianian University (The Saint Ildelfons’ College). In 1499, Cardinal Cisneros, Archbishop of Toledo and confessor of Isabella I of Castile ("The Catholic"), founded the University of Alcalá de Henares and she manages to attract intellectuals such as Antonio of Nebrija, father of the first grammar of Spanish. Also from here, typography imposes Complutense Cisneros, whose greatest exponent was the "Polyglot Bible" written in Hebrew, Latin, Greek and Aramaic.

The former University consisted of a hall, Saint Ildefons, and a set of smaller colleges dependent. On the old brick, Rodriger Gil of Ontañón made in 1553, the magnificent main facade can be seen today. It is a masterpiece of architecture and sculpture of the Spanish Plateresco, made of stone golden Tamajón (Guadalajara). It distributed windows, mythological figures, religious sculptures, badges, medallions, columns, pinnacles and gargoyles, and the great shield of the Emperor Charles V.

Inside we found three courtyards: the Santo Thomas of Villanueva, the philosophers and of Continuum or Courtyard Trilingual. The de Villanueva Herrera style and finished building in the middle of XVII century, consists of three floors on which runs a frieze topped with a balustrade and pinnacles. Both in their facades as well which is located in the middle of the courtyard, the carvings are repeated with the arms of Cisneros and swans figures that represent the similarity of names (Cisneros-swans).

The Philosophers Playground was renovated several times, is now a beautiful garden that once housed various university departments, from which you access the Trilingual courtyard, old school, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, Practically preserved in its original condition. It is of Renaissance design with Ionic columns supporting the arches on which frame the windows, including Ionic pilasters and Corinthian.

The auditorium was the oldest Aula Magna of the University and present scenario where every year, on April 23, the Kings of Spain delivered the Cervantes Prize in Literature. The hall, built in 1520, is covered with an impressive coffered ceiling and walls are decorated with plasterwork (platerescas). This had to do in Latin, its review of doctoral students of the Golden Age for this class came as students or teachers, names such as Francisco of Quevedo, Lope of Vega, Tirso of Molina, Calderón of the Barca, Antonio of Nebrija , Saint John of the Cross, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint José of Calasanz and Saint Thomas of Villanueva.

“The Saint Ildefons’ Chapel”, of 1510, is the oldest building in this set. Here, as in the auditorium, highlights the coffered ceiling and plaster walls. Walking around the perimeter of the chapel is the cord Franciscan order that he Cardinal Cisneros belong. And here also is his tomb, carved in Carrara marble by Domenico Fancelli and Bartolomé Ordoñez, but their remains do not rest on it, but in the canon-Cathedral.

Cisnerianian University is currently hosting the Chancellor, and can do daily tours.

“The Cervantes’ Square”. Since the middle Ages, “The Market Square”, today “Cervantes”, was the heart of the city. Here fairs, bullfights and festivals. Currently retains an arcaded area that correspond to the part of the city belong to the Council, it’s the old Corral of Plays of the Shoemakers (XVII), recently restored and converted into the Cervantes’ Theatre.

The opposing party, without arcades, was owned by the University. In the former College Convent of Dying, the seventeenth century, is located the Town Hall, which preserves a copy of the Polyglot Bible.

In the center of the square stands a bronze statue of Miguel de Cervantes, the work of Pedro Nicoli (XIX) and the old bandstand.

“The Chapel of the Magistrate (Oidor)”. At the southern end of the Cervantes’ Square stood the parish of St. Mary Maggiore, converted in the early fifteenth century family vault by Peter Díaz of Toledo, Judge of King John II of Castile. Destroyed during the Civil War, today it remains only the bell tower and several chapels, including the Magistrate, decorated with Mudejar style plasterwork. Inside, which is accessed through a large wrought iron gate at the time, the battery is preserved as it was named Michael of Cervantes. Currently used as an exhibition.

“The Antezana’s Hospital”. It is located on Main Street next to the birthplace of de Cervantes. Founded in 1483 by the marriage of nobles Louis Guzman and Elizabeth Altezana free care to poor patients is the oldest health institution in Spain that has worked and continues to operate without interruption until today.

It worked as a bleeder surgeon Rodriger of Cervantes, author of Don Quixote’s father.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola also lived and worked in this hospital, as a cook during his student days in Alcalá de Henares.

The house has a nice and simple medieval Castilian patio style.

“The Cervantes House-Museum”. Built in the sixteenth century and restored in 1956, recreates the house of a bourgeois family from the time when Cervantes was born (1547). It consists of a two-story arcaded courtyard where you can access the various rooms decorated with furniture, ceramics, paintings and original prints.

In addition to the normal units of any dwelling, you can see the release of Rodriger Cervantes, father of the writer, who served as surgeon in the next bleeder Antenaza’s Hospital.

There are also editions of Cervantinians, Spanish and foreign of "Don Quixote".

Ok - Losaustrias just put me to shame because all i did was leave a few words -

So now you get a bit more info:
Cuenca:
Founded by the Moors as a fortress soon after their arrival on the Iberian Peninsula in the eighth century; Cuenca sits on the spine of a rocky ridge between the stunningly dramatic gorges carved by the Huécar and the Júcar rivers. An UNESCO World Heritage Site, Cuenca is an enchanted place and almost beyond description. One of the most photographed places in the world, Cuenca is recognized immediately by its hanging houses and famous suspension bridge across the gorge.

There’s a lot to see in Cuenca once you finally manage to put your camera down for a moment. Cuenca’s cathedral is a blend of Gothic-Anglo-Norman construction and the only one of its kind in Spain. Old Cuenca, with its medieval streets, begins beside the Cathedral next to the San Antón Bridge in the Plaza Mayor.

It is here that the pedestrian lanes meander and sometimes tunnel through the centuries-old structures clinging to the hillsides. The most iconic of these buildings are the Casas Colgadas — the “Hanging Houses” perched dramatically over the Huécar gorge — once noble residences and today home to the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español and the centerpiece of the city’s thriving art scene.

Siguenza:
Visiting the town of Siguenza (about 90 miles northeast of Madrid) is akin to traveling back in time to the Middle Ages. Located on the left bank of Río Henares, the town’s history can be traced back to 195 B.C. when Segontia, as it was known, was a Celtiberian base during the conflict with Rome.

The castle, cathedral, the Alcazar remains and Plaza Mayor are must sees but just wandering the narrow streets, camera or sketch pad in hand, is unbeatable. The town is nestled at the foot of the hill and castle – now converted to a parador and a romantic, self-indulgent and affordable place to stay. This is definitely one of those times when spoiling yourself is in order!

Medieval train to Siguenza - runs during the visitor season but not often so check Renfre schedule! And book early -seels out fast.

Hi Puna

Don't worry. My only intention is disseminating the history and Spanish culture. I found your idea very good and I thought to put information not included in the guides. So people like you who like Spain when you can travel to my country you have interesting data that otherwise you wouldn'd have. It's always good to have a native to guide you. Tomorrow I have the intention to speak about Hita, a medieval town of great importance during the "Castillian Mesta" and seat of an archiepiscopate, what do you think?

Losaustrias,

I didn't mean for you to be offended or to apologize - what I meant is I was lazy by throwing out two suggestions and not explaining why.

I always enjoy your posts because I learn something new with each one. You do a magnificent job of sharing your wonderful Spain with all of us. Besides, history and its effect on our world today has always fascinated me.

Keep on educating us

plenty of good long explanations here ::)
I just throw one more I recently talk about it in my blog as used to go there a lot as a child;
Buitrago del Lozoya, for short here is the tourist webpage
http://turismo.buitrago.org/

WOW!

The information I got back from you all was far more than what I was expecting. Who says to visit Trip Advisor for the best travel information have not visited MM's website. I orginally hesitated to post my question as I thought it was trivial or I was being lazy not to spend a few hours to find the answers on my own. Lucky I changed my mind and posted it.

Thank you all for answering my question along with the history lesson and background. I will be visiting at least two of the suggestions early October of this year.

Christmas came early this year.

Bill

Billlllll !!!!!! Go to Valle de los Caídos !! Not to respect Franco but to respect those that died creating it ( under duress) . It's an amazing place in an amazing setting . Very spectacular . Make sure you take ID as they'll ask for that . Just a hop from there is El Escorial where you can get great food and there are some nice bars . I'm completely anti-Franco but you HAVE to visit this place . I visited Lenin's body on display in Red Square ( Moscow ) .. No interest in Lenin's views at all , but it's a part of world history right now ! They've kept open the death camps in Auschwitz , Dachau etc..so that you "understand" the history and the suffering . Franco was a ruthless dictator BUT he's undeniably entrenched in Spanish history , and Valle de los Caídos , despite being his mausoleum , is also part of Spain's history . I was blown away by it , yet my heart was with the innocents that died constructing it and certainly not Franco .

I agree with Steve, it is pretty impressive. The one and only time I went, I was with friends who knew a Guardia Civil. He and his family lived in the nearby forest. We had a lovely meal with them and then he took us inside for a tour. We got to go behind the domed ceiling over Franco's grave where you are able to see the mountain. It was really a memorable visit.

I agree with Steve's semtiments and reasons - but the abject horror of Dachau, etc. is very much what you feel at Valle de los Caídos also.

Once was enough!

Hi friends

Today I would like you to explain an ideal place for a day trip from Madrid: the village of Hita.

The village of Hita is located in the province of Guadalajara to 28.7 km from its capital, in the shire of the Barren plateau region also called the Black Villages and famous for the quality of their honey.

Hita is at a distance of about 85.9 km Madrid, and reached through the N-II to the town of Torija at kilometer 77. Once I get there the GU-190 road to Burgo’s Tower then the GU-144 to the same Hita.

Hita’s Hill, natural watchtower was used by the Romans as a checkpoint on the road from Mérida to Saragossa. Under Moor rule was known as population Fita, term of Latin origin that means a fixed place and outstanding.

In 1085 the Castilian King Alfons VI reconquered lands. Before this event happen and cited the village appears in the “Poema del Mio Cid (The Poem of my Lord)” and the “The Legend of the Seven Lara’s Princes (La Legenda de los Siete Infantes de Lara)”, demonstrating its importance for early Castilla.

After the reconquest continue to live in Hita Christians, Jews and Muslims. The Jewish population grows to the fourteenth century the village's economic control, based mainly on wine production. Perhaps this fact the King Peter I, The Cruel, created a center for collecting taxes in the Castle of Hita by the Jewish Samuel Levi. From that moment onward, Hita became an important hub of economic exchange between the Northern Plateau and the Southern Plateau, with an obligatory stop on the "Castilian Mesta".

The Mesta also called “Honored Council of the Mesta (Honrado Concejo de la Mesta)” was a powerful of sheep association of holders in the medieval Kingdom Of Castile. The sheep were trasushumant, migrating from the pastures of Extremadura and Andalusia to Castile, Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia and back according to the season.

The no-mans-land (up to 100 km across) between Christian Spain and Moorish Spain was too insecure for arable farming and was only exploited by shepherds. When the land was reconquered by the Spanish, farmers began to settle and disputes with pastoralists were common. The Mesta can be regarded as the first, and most powerful, agricultural union in medieval Europe. The exportation of “Merino Wool” enriched the Mesta members (nobility and church orders) who had acquired ranches during the process of “Reconquest (Reconquista)”. The Kings of Castile conceded many privileges to the Mesta. Even today, herds of sheep may be transported by rail, but the perhaps prehistoric “traditional royal rights-of-ways for sheep (Cañadas Reales)” are legally protected “forever” from occupation and barring. Some Madrid streets are still part of the “Cañada” system, and there are groups that organize sheep transportation across the modern city as a reminder of ancient rights and cultures.

In this century John Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita, type one of the masterpieces of medieval literature: “The Book of Good Love”. Another fact of great significance is the arrival of the Mendoza family Álava as new Lords of Hita.
The Marquis of Santillana, Íñigo López of Mendoza, becomes the fifteenth century in a powerful noble poet and great lover of the arts. As Lord of Hita rebuilt the castle around 1430 and strengthens the population. A late fifteenth century, coinciding with the expulsion of the Jews and the arrival of the Catholic Monarchs, began the decline of Hita.

The Spanish Civil War leads to the destruction of the town, being the front line throughout the race. In 1965 the remains of the old town were declared a Historical Site.

Very little remains of its glorious past in Hita, as being the area from the front lineduring the Spanish Civil War, was almost demolished. Retains some medieval wall paintings commissioned by the Marquis of Santillana, and “The St Mary’s Gate”, which although rebuilt is a nice example of military architecture of the fifteenth century.

Upon entering the gate of “The St Mary’s Gate”, we are in the main square from where the steep streets that will lead, among typical houses, to the ruins of the Church of “Saint Peter” where they were, in the sixteenth century, the tombs of most of the gentlemen of Hita. The tombstones were moved to the “Church of Saint John”, but still remains at the “Altar of Ferdinand of Mendoza, governor the strength of Hita in the fifteenth century.
Continuing uphill, we arrived at “The Church of Saint John Gothic-Mudejar”. The most interesting thing about it is the sixteenth-century coffered ceiling of one of its chapels. To visit should contact City Hall at telephone 949 85 27 63.
Near “Burgo’s Tower” and within the city of Hita are the remains of the Monastery of Sopetrán of Visigothic origin. First founded in the year 611 by King Gondemar and rebuilt four other times. The fifth and final was in 1372 when the archbishop of Toledo gave place to the Order of St. Benedict. From that time the Benedictines receivedfavors and gifts from kings and nobles, getting a splendor that lasted until the nineteenth century that due to the confiscation of Mendizabal, the monastery went to public auction.
There remain only the columns and arches in what was a splendid “Renaissance Cloister”.

During the year the village of Hita held numerous festivities. One of the most beautiful is the Medieval Festival which is held the first or second Saturday in July, but its date can be variable. During these festivities, are made theater related to "The Book of Good Love of the Archpriest of Hita, tournaments along the walls, traditional music ... that with the fact that people are dressed in period costume and the characters appear like prehistoric botargas to make that whoever attends it creates transported the late Middle Ages.

Another of the biggest festivities is rooted in Hita is it “Patron Saint's Day Festivity”: last weekend in May, in honor of the “Uphill Virgen (Virgen de la Cuesta)”. During these days there are processions and festivals. The Saturday morning held a meeting poetic ruins of Saint Peter, attended by a score of poets, from amateurs to prestigious, to recite his poems.

Ok. I am convince I go to Valle de los Caídos.

My travel plans was to spend six days in Madrid. But with these really great suggestions along with the history, I think I might lose a day for Barcelona and add one day more for Madrid to insure I have the time to do them.

Bill

Bill, I can just imagine the photos you will be able to take while at the Valle de los Caídos. I totally agree with Steve's take on the structure and the feeling you get when you are there. I was last there as a twenty-something year old, and it is still a haunting place for me.

Esperanza

I going to have to brush up on my history of Spanish Civil War before I go.

Also I think any time on this coming trip every time I pass by a church's bell tower I will be look out for flying sheep.

I still remember reading that in Tim Parfitt's A Load of Bull. I think I will read it again!

Bill

Bill, have you read The New Spaniards, by John Hooper? I think it is a must-read, if you are interested in the Civil War and in Contemporary Spain.
Have a great trip!!

Valle de los Caidos is good for a historical and human perspective of Spain. Hurry up they want to take Franco's body out of there Lol!!!

Someone posted a question on Trip Advisor wondering if Valle de los Caidos is open as it has been closed due to restoration.

Is this true?

Maybe it is closed as pedmar said as they might be taking Franco's body out.

Bill

Tim Parfitt's A Load of Bull and Driving Over Lemons- both laugh aloud books

how about Cercadillas, Navacerrado, and some hills arou nd Los Cotos easilly accessible by Suburban buses 685 and 691 or Cercanias Line C9?

FYI

Last week on Trip Advisor someone said that Valle de los Caídos is now reopen to the public.

"The Valle de los Caídos reopened on June 1st.

Tuesday to Sunday (in summertime) from 10am to 6.30pm. Monday closed. Ticket: € 5. Wednesday: free admission day. The cafetería still remains closed."

So this is back on my list of things to do for my Madrid October visit. If anyone goes between now and before I go in October please let me know how your visit was.

no it reopen from june ;yes. There is a movement out to close it but it seems was left with the old govt.

Bill , I went there with MM , a Madrileno and his Danish friend on a rainy and , when we got upto the mountains , icey day . It was fabulous . Unmissable for all that travel into Madrid . But take your pasport or ID card . The gates are manned by Government guys that check who you are .

Yup. We reported that here about a year ago.

Saludos, MadridMan