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Every Sunday morning the traditional Madrid Rastro
or flea market is set up on Ribera de Curtidores and in the area
between the Ronda de Toledo and the streets Calle de Embajadores and
Calle de Toledo. This is perhaps the best time to visit the area. In
this flea market you can buy, sell, exchange, haggle and find
absolutely everything, from clothes to old books, coins, works of art,
antiquities and so on ad infinitum.
Very
close to the Plaza de la Cebada we find the Plaza del Humilladero and
the Cava Alta and the Cava Baja, the heart and soul of the tapa
environment and open-air cafes. The Cavas are what remains of the wall
and moat that defended Madrid several centuries ago.
Carrying
on along La Cava we pass the Puerta Cerrada. At the meeting point of a
maze of streets stand the remains of a gate built in the wall on the
orders, so some historians claim, of Mohamed I.
Back
at the Plaza del Humilladero we find the Iglesia de San Andrés, a fine
example of Baroque architecture with a great vault decorated with rich
reliefs resting on columns with gilded capitals.
From the Puerta de Moros there is an impressive view of the Basílica de San Francisco el Grande, topped with a great 33-metre diameter dome covering the main chapel and six surrounding chapels.
Behind the Iglesia de San Andrés is the Plaza de la Paja, a traditional meeting point for Madrid
residents until the construction of the Plaza Mayor. Time was when this
square contained the Palacio de los Lasso de Castilla, residence of the
Catholic Monarchs. But we can still see the Capilla del Obispo, a
chapel with Madrids only Renaissance altarpiece, the work of Francisco Giralte.
Alongside,
the Iglesia de San Pedro el Viejo, with a particularly interesting
tower, is one of the few examples of Madrid Mudejar. And to wind up
this brief religious itinerary, the Basílica de San Miguel, a Baroque
building which replaced the earlier Iglesia de los Santos Justos y
Pastor, built in a Romanesque style in the twelfth century.
Lastly, the Catedral de San Isidro, crammed in between the buildings of the street, is easily recognised from the two identical towers of its portal. San Isidro served as the citys makeshift cathedral until La Almudena was made; it contains the Arca de San Isidro with the remains of the citys patron saint.
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