Reading that Madrid was recently in the run for hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, I couldn’t help but to think back twelve years ago to my honeymoon. My wife Elizabeth and I spent the whole month of October in Spain, and sometimes I think I’ll never have a more beautiful or special time in my life. It’s not that I haven’t experienced great joy and beauty since or prior to that, our time there simply was incomparably magical.
We were only going to stay in Madrid for three days, however, it was so incredibly beautiful and there was so much to do and see that we extended our stay in one of the Madrid best hotels and remained there for a week. It is not only the capital of Spain, but also the largest of its cities, and I can’t remember now why we didn’t think we would need more time there in the first place. Oh, of course, Elizabeth wanted to spend the bulk of our time in the Spanish countryside and stay at some of the rustic bed and breakfasts and just get a brief tour of the major cities. My perspective was to spend as much time in the city as possible and tour the country as we passed through. As it turned out, the honeymoon was a combination of both our interests.
Madrid, though, was absolutely incredible. I loved sipping coffee in a café in one of the historic neighborhoods. Madrid is greatly rich in political and social historic relevance, and sitting there in that small café on a rainy Tuesday with a piece of lit candle at our table was amazingly romantic. I wanted that afternoon to last forever. Another great moment occurred when we visited the Teatro Real, or Royal Theatre, which was a restored opera house from 1850. It sits across from the Royal Palace, which was the official home of the queen during its construction and opening. Among other great composers and famous personalities, Giuseppe Verdi is known to have attended the premiere of his new opera La forza del destino.