July 7th - Our last full day in Europe...Madrid!

After a boxed breakfast...it was boxed because we were leaving too early for the hotel's breakfast...we took off on probably our longest coach ride - about 4 hours - to Madrid! 

We stopped at the Cortijo Castanar, a typical spanish farmhouse located close to Toledo.  Oh my!  El Castanar is massive...600,000 acres of land! What is there?

The house of "Las Casas Rojas" was the original main house of the property.  It is from the 19th century.  Now it is a hunting lodge because the family now lives in the palace.  This is also where we ate our lunch!

 The Chapel of El Castanar which was built in the 17th century!  This is a Catholic Church that still has mass offered every week. 

 

 We were loaded into two cattle trailers and taken on a tour of the farm.  We saw the rings where they ....I don't know if they are trained...or tested... to see if they will be bulls for the bullfighting.  It was pretty amazing! 

 The big bulls of "La Ganaderia" or the herd of "El conde de Mayaloe" which was created in the early 19th century.

 Vineyards - They have about 40 acres of red wine vineyards which they use to make a wine they call "El Castanar".  To get the best quality, they irrigate them with pure water from the mountains.

 

 

Olive trees - that are about 200 years old!  From these, they make olive oil, cornicabra variety.  The south of Spain produces MORE olive oil, but the best oil in the world is from here, in the center of Spain. 

Oak trees - at least 300 year old trees!  The oaks used to be cut because the wood was expensive, but the owners of this property didn't...now it's one of the most incredible oak forests of the region. 

The mountains of El Castanar are beautiful.  They are full of big and small game.  There is deer, wild boar, muflon, sheep, fallow deer, roe deer, rabbit, pidgeons....

 The rings where they train or test the bulls for bullfighting....

 The Palace of El Castanar was built in 1905. 

They have different styles of horses - arabic and spanish.  They are mainly used to move the cows and bulls from place to another...and to ride where cars cannot go...

Iberic Pigs - or 'cerdos ibericos', which is a special brand of pigs.  El Castanar produces the famous 'Jamon Iberico".  The fruit of the oak, which they eat, gives them a special flavor when the 'jamon' is tasted.  They have about 2000 pigs.

After our tour, a delicious lunch was served in the hunting lodge...

From El Castanar, we continued on into Madrid and the Prado Museum!  There, we were divided into 3 groups...with 2 spanish students leading each group through the Prado to see a few of the highlights.  We weren't there long at all...and then we were off, still with the spanish students, on a walk around Madrid.  It was hot...very hot...and with the heat radiating off the stone walkways...and the stone buildings...it was HOT!  We ended at Plaza Mayor where we took a group photo...and then were turned loose for about an hour and a half for some free time. 

 Waiting for our spanish students to join us...

 Our 3 groups!

 

Off on our city walk...

 This was an area called the 'writer's quarters' or something like that.  There are quotes in the walkway through this part of the city.

 This is the exact center of the city of Madrid!

 Plaza de Espana

 It had been a red shirt day!  That made it so much easier to keep up in the museum...and during the city walk.  As you can see, the red shirts stand out!

Next stop: Hard Rock Cafe, Madrid!  The Hard Rock Cafes are always a popular stop.  Hamburgers and french fries...a little reminder of American food...it's always a favorite.  This was also our last dinner together...so it was a bit bittersweet. 

Heading back to the coach, we stopped and saw the palace where the president lives...and then headed to our last hotel.  After getting settled in our rooms, we assembled outside by the pool (this was 10:15 pm.) and had our last meeting together...talking about what tomorrow would look like...talking about what an incredible adventure we had all been on together... and already starting the hugs and goodbyes.  Matt was staying behind...staying for a few extra days in Madrid with a family friend who was picking him up early tomorrow morning. Email addresses and phone numbers were exchanged... and then it was time for our last bed checks!

Wow!  What an incredible journey this has been!