Plaza De Espana

I was bored yesterday afternoon and had a few hours until dinner. It was really nice out so I decided to take a walk and see what I would find. I walked along the river, but in the opposite direction that I usually walk in and found my way to Plaza De Espana! I had been meaning to find it so  I was very excited about it. The Plaza was built in 1929 for the Iberio-American Exposition where they re-designed Parque Maria Luisa (originally the palace gardens but turned into a public park in 1893). Anyway, the plaza also is a hot spot for films apparently! And he made appearances in Star Wars Episodes I and II, The Dictator, and Night and Day. It was also really cool that you can rent a row boat and paddle around the mini river. The river was supposed to be a full circle, but they ran out of funds when they were building it so they had to make it only the semi-circle! there are also 4 bridges that connect over the river, each one uniquely decorated to represent the 4 ancient kingdoms in Spain (Castille, Aragon, Navarre, and Leon). I just thought it was so pretty!

I absent mindedly asked a guy with a camera if he would take my picture and turns out he is a professional and was about to start a shoot for engagement pictures! Either way, he made this picture look really cool!

There are 52 benches lining the building, each uniquely decorated to represent the provinces of Spain over time.

The detailing was so impressive, they wanted the fair to seem "fun," so they made sure it had a lot of color- they definitely hit that one on the head.

Apparently there is a museum inside, and I will have to check that out another day, but for right now, I can just take in how cool the architecture is! again, they used muedjar influences to showcase Spanish history for the fair.