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Sandemans new Madrid free tour review

Joyce Belfort

Here is my Sandemans new Madrid free tour review. This is a tips only tour! So technically, it is free. Tips is the guide’s only income, so be nice! With that being said, you name the price for these tour. My guide was Sabastián.

 

Similar to the Inquisition Tour, the meeting point was at Plaza Mayor. I tried to take this tour the day before, but it was totally full. I highly recommend that you book online before hand to avoid being turn away like me 🙁

 

Firstly, there are a lot of tours with similar names that meet at the Plaza Mayor, so watch out for the umbrella colour 😉

New Madrid Free Tour’s meeting point: red umbrella
Another Madrid free tour (madridapie.com)

This was a trivia and history jam packed tour. I will only list out the bits that interested me the most 😉 My tour guide for the day was Sebastián. Review of how he was as a guide is at the end of the post.

 

Here are my list of highlights:

Restaurante Botín located at 17 Calle Cuchilleros. The world’s oldest restaurant 1725. This restaurant still operates with 18th century firewood oven. I am just totally impressed that this restaurant just kept going! From the name, you can tell that the founder was French, right?
El Pasadizo del Panecillo, Madrid. This tiny alley used to be the only place where people could get married legally in Madrid
Behind these doors… secret cookies baked by cloistered nuns 😉 Won’t see the nuns’ face at all (turn table operation). The whole purchase is quite the experience… You have to purchase a minimum of 1/2 kg, price starts from 7eur. *this is a Monastery of Corpus Christi operation
Buzz to enter to the secret cookies place 😉 open between 9h30 – 13h00 and 16h30 – 18h30
Sabestián explained the history of Muslim in Spain at Parque de Emir Mohamed shortly before the coffee break. He showed us the ruins of Muslim Wall of Madrid. Part of the wall is preserved on Cuesta de la Vega; it is next to Cathedral de Almudena. The ruins didn’t look particularly impressive, but it is considered the founding part of Madrid.

The coffee break took place inside a bakery. Coffee, hot chocolate and tons of yummy lookin goodies…

Up on a small hill to get to this photogenic spot – Cathedral de Almudena 😀 *muddy ground alert*

The amount of incest / inbreed that went on with the Spanish royal family (House of Habsburg) was INSANE! Why did people ever think that it was a good idea to breed with family members (11 blood marriages within 200 years)? Totally not superior blood at all. Habsburg Jaw and a galore of diseases >_< This piece of history was totally diabolical.

King Charles V of Spain… Mr inbreed deluxe. **I don’t own this picture**  Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Habsburg-Jaw-And-Other-Royal-Inbreeding-Deformities-and-Disorders

After this “captivating” story about the battle to the throne and inbreeding LOL, it was the end to the tour. The final tour point was Plaza de Oriente near the métro stop Opera.

 

This is an experience sharing post. I am not associated with Sandemans or new europetours.eu in anyway. Each tour is led by a different tour guide, you can find out the name of the tour guide ahead of time by contacting Sandmans.

 

Duration

2hrs 30min

 

Where to book?

http://www.neweuropetours.eu/Madrid/en/sandemans-tours/tour-view/Free-Tour-of-Madrid

 

Meeting point

Plaza Mayo, Madrid

 

Finish point

 

Plaza de Oriente.

 

Tour guide

Sebastián (8th March 2018).

He was an articulate, fast pace speaker. He told dark history with lighthearted humour and was excellent at engaging his audience. Example, he invited guest to role play for some of the stories that he was telling.

 

Closing point: Yes, I do recommend this tour. And yes, I was an idiot to not book ahead of time and wasted one of my morning.

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