Post by Sophia
As a kid I had the priviledge to invest the 1st many years of my daily life in Madrid and review in an outdated standard school operate my nuns since the early 1900s. That college which 5 minutes walking distance to the Royal Palace in Madrid, right in the city middle is still up and running quite a lot in the exact same way from decades. During the lunch break, we utilized to tell every other ghost tales that created the 2-hour break considerably far more bearable.
From all these tales, I don’t forget in particular a day when a single of the teachers arrived and sat down with a group of approximately ten women, telling us how the college used to be a hospital in war occasions and the used to hide from bomb attacks on solution tunnels proper underneath the school. Apparently people tunnels served not only as refuge from air raids in the course of the Spanish Civil War but also served as an enourmous gallery that connected important places inside of the Outdated Town, for instance, the Plaza Mayor, the Palace, the City Hall, the Hospital, and so forth.
The network of interconnected landmarks allowed some priviledge folks with information of its existence to move freely with out the dread of getting caught, and far more importantly, move people and products undetected. Naturally, I did cuestion many occasions the veracity of this tale, as it seemed to my really uncommon that this story was in simple fact not of public domain, but simply a unusual comment from a nun that typically never walked out of the boundaries of the college-convent creating.
To my shock, this story came out to be absolutely accurate. Madrid was named following the arabic phrase ‘Madjrit’ which indicates ‘place in which there are tunnels’. Consequently the solution tunnels that interconnect the whole town centre of Madrid ended up true and existed ahead of the muslim occupation, all around the 11th century. The islamic legacy was specially wealthy in terms of understanding of drinking water distribution and supply. It is thougt that the tunnels had been in truth made to retain a permanent reservoir of water, saving it away from the sun and consequently eluding evaporation.
As the arab ocupation exactly where forced out of Madrid and finally out of Spain, their techniques in which left in disuse and numerous people just forgot about its existence, until diffult occasions, in specific the Civil War stroke the city. The citizens of Madrid refer to their town as a Gruyere cheese, because of its a lot of wholes beneath the surface, and appears like there could be a lot more than at first assumed.
When the metropolis is hosted large profile meetings and activities these as official visits from foreing prime ministers, safety is clearly substantial not only on the visible metropolis but also in Madrid underground tunnels. But there are numerous other cities with the identical solution tunnels, for instance Lyon, Paris, Seville or Rome, just to name a few. Some spots have organized visits to the hidden tunnels this kind of as the Vatican, other will never be noticed by the public, other folks will only be visited if you discuss with the locals and do some investigation. Staying at privately owned apartments is a good way to interact with locals, regardless of whether you want to locate apartments in Madrid, rentals in Paris, houses in Seville, or getaway rentals in Rome, there will be a concealed tunnel underneath waiting for you to discover.
About the Author
Freelance Travel Journalist