“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise, fear and surprise; two chief weapons, fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency! Er, among our chief weapons are: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and near fanatical devotion to the Pope! Um, I'll come in again...”
― Monty Python
Our last leg, and a new country for Episode IX. We will be here for about a week. We are finally out of the desert and the heat of the summer in the Southern Hemisphere. It is cloudy today in Madrid with the temperatures in the 50’s.
Despite the cooler weather, the cobblestone streets around where we are staying were packed with tourists. As we had lunch today, our first since leaving the UAE we found it a little jarring going from Africa, to the Middle East, and finally old world Europe in such a short span of time. The food, the surroundings, the people were all completely different and it took awhile to adjust.
Certainly the food helps. This is a gastronomical paradise. There are hundreds of charming cafes, Tapa bars, and markets everywhere at all kinds of price points. Despite the cool weather, the Spaniards were doing what they excel at, enjoying a leisurely lunch and a beer or wine at an outdoor cafe.
This place had one of the longest lines. It is for a fried calamari sandwich which is a local signature street food.
And who could not love a country who offers a warm cup of European chocolate to dip a churro into as an after dinner treat? Warm, rich, not to sweet, pure joy.
This old city is full of history, which of course I plan to savor every morsel of it. It didn’t take long to bump into some on our first walk this afternoon.
This is Plaza Mayor right beside our Air BnB. The large statue in the center is Phillip III, a Hapsburg, who was the son of Phillip II the founder of Madrid. This was a former marketplace that was transformed in the 17th century to the city’s open air theatre.
I did not expect to run right into the Spanish Inquisition here.
A little background. Back in 711 AD, the Iberian Peninsula, present day Spain and Portugal, was ruled by the Goths. (Not those odd kids in High School). They were a Christian tribe. Muslims from Africa (Moors) invaded the peninsula to wipe out the Goths. They did not succeed.
Over the next 800 years or so, the Christians would battle the Moors to try to drive them out, "The Reconquista”, and eventually, by 1492, they were successful. The new rulers were a power couple named Ferdinand and Isabella - yes the same two who sent Columbus on his voyage to America.
Ferdinand and Isabella were both very Catholic and they wanted to ‘cleanse’ the new land of people (Moors, Jews, Protestants, etc) who were not of the ‘true faith’. They were enthusiastically supported by Sextus IV, the Pope. Thus, the Spanish Inquisition was born and would terrorize this area for hundreds of years. On the surface it was supposed to create a pure religious society, but in reality it was a weapon to control populations and clear out those that did not look like you.
So what does any of that have to do with this Square?. If you look at the base of this post in the square you will see an engraving. It was here that many victims of the Inquisition were paraded in front of jeering mobs and tortured to death for not being Catholic. In the long history of the Inquisition around 100,000 people were tried and it is believed around 5-6 thousand died gruesomely.
Many of those that perished did so right here in this square. The same square we had lunch in.
Today, it is filled with tourists and cafes. Amazing to think about what happened on these very old cobblestones.
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