Austrias Madrid Tour

MADRID

Austrias

The Austrias moved from Toledo to Madrid in the 15th century transforming the Arab village into a Catholic royal capital with palaces and monasteries; setting the stage to one of the most powerful dynasties the world has ever seen — and today you can go back to the Siglo de Oro for a day when Madrid was being ruled by the Habsburgs

Time period: 1561-1701

Movie/book: El Dorado (2000)/Don Quijote by Miguel de Cervantes

Soundtrack: Spanish Guitars (Vihuela)/Camarón de la Isla’s music

Fashion: red and black outfit, linen tunic plus a wide brim hat

Budget:

Robles Amarillos: Madrid Medieval; Digital, 2015

Nicolas De Fer: The City of Madrid; published in Paris, 1705

This tour would take you through the streets of: Opera, the oldest neighborhood in the city where you can find many medieval buildings still standing today; and Sol, the neighborhood where the Habsburg built public squares and monasteries. The area is characterized by: stone buildings with mansard roofs, narrow steep streets, and hidden churches. Due to a series of unfortunate events Carlos V (or Charles I of Spain) became the most powerful man of the world creating an empire that included the medieval cities of: Amsterdam, Milan, Barcelona, Toledo, Viena, Florence, Budapest plus today Germany and Switzerland. He never stablished a capital and would travel from one kingdom to the other but when he died he split all the territories into 2 groups for his 2 sons. The wholly Roman Empire (Germany/Switzerland) went to Ferdinand; and Aragon, Castilla, Portugal, Sicily, Naples, the Duchy of Milan and the provinces of the Netherlands went to Philip II. He finished conquering the Mexicas, Incas and the Philippines, starting what we now know as the Spanish Empire and its Golden Age of international trade that would changed the diet of the world. Felipe Segundo commissioned the construction of El Escorial (the biggest renaissance building in the world) and moved the court to Madrid, turning it from being an Al-Andaluz village into a royal Catholic capital. In order to join all the territories and integrate the recently conquered population of Andalusia it was necessary to create a national identity which had 4 pillars: catholic religion, castellan language, Florentine art, and the colonial economy (use cheap labor or slaves for agricultural/mining operations under a monopoly to later sell these goods in the colonial capitals or the port of Sevilla). In literature: Cervantes’ novels, Lope de Vega’s comedies, and Calderón de la Barca plays popularized the castellano (Spanish language). In painting the Siglo de Oro started with Luis de Morales emotional paintings; then goes through the dramatic and colorful Greco; ending with the realism of Diego Velazquez and Francisco de Zurbarán. From the “Spanish Netherlands” artworks by the mystical Hieronymus Bosch and the voluptuous Peter Paul Rubens came to adorned the Habsburgs’ palaces (today the exhibition halls of el Prado). Meanwhile on the streets a new culture was emerging el flamenco, which combines dance moves and musical instruments from: the Romani people, the Sephardic Jews and the oppressed Arab-Andalusian. In the viceroyalties the mestizaje was taking place giving us above all the Spanish, Mexican and Peruvian cuisine. Tomatoes, potatoes and chocolate were the new ingredients in Habsburg Europe while sugar cane, cattle and dairy in Latin America. Because of inbreeding the Habsburgs run out of heir; Charles the II was to sterile (and ugly) to have kids, so when he died the Spanish War of Succession took place putting an end to the Spanish branch of the House of Austria. The tour suggest visiting three small medieval museums in morning; tapas, sangria and a monastery in the afternoon; and dinner plus a flamenco show at night.