Plaza Mayor, Casa Botin's and a walk through "old Madrid"

After a delightful catch-up nap, we ventured out to walk through "Old Madrid". So we took a cab to Plaza Mayor, where we started our tour.

The Plaza Mayor was built during the Hapsburg period and is a central plaza in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is located only a few blocks away from another famous plaza, the Puerta del Sol. The Plaza Mayor is rectangular in shape, measuring 129 by 94 meters, and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 balconies facing the Plaza. It has a total of nine entrance ways. The Casa de la Panadería, serving municipal and cultural functions, dominates the Plaza Mayor.

The origins of the Plaza go back to 1589 when Philip II of Spain asked Juan de Herrera, a renowned Renaissance architect, to discuss a plan to remodel the busy and chaotic area of the old Plaza del Arrabal. Juan de Herrera was the architect who designed the first project in 1581 to remodel the old Plaza del Arrabal but construction didn't start until 1617, during Philip III's reign. The king asked Juan Gomez de Mora to continue with the project, and he finished the porticoes in 1619. Nevertheless, the Plaza Mayor as we know it today is the work of the architect Juan de Villanueva who was entrusted with its reconstruction in 1790 after a spate of big fires. Giambologna's equestrian statue of Philip III dates to 1616, but it was not placed in the center of the square until 1848. If you look around today you can still see the blood on the walls from some of the bull fights held in earlier years.

After a walk through the "Plaza", we headed down Cava de San Miguel -- the road that runs by the "caves" below the Plaza. These were the catacombs that were used after hangings had taken place in the Plaza over 400 years ago -- the "Caves" have since been turned into quaint "bars" and "mesonas" -- tapas restaurants -- with a variety of themes - Mesonas de la Guitar, Mesonas de Champignon (The Mushroom); Mesonas Jamon (The Ham). These colorful tapas bars dot both sides of the street as it winds it way downward to our lunch destination -- Casa Botin.