isiting Spain today, you
could stay overnight in many of these castles and pretend you were a
king or queen of lovely Spain. These castles made into hotels are called
"paradores," and a visit to one of them is great fun.

Because Castile is in the very heart of Spain, the capital, Madrid, is
located there. Madrid is a lively, bustling, modern city of more than
1-1/2 million people. It is the highest capital in Europe, being almost
half a mile above sea level in the center of the great mesa or tableland
of Castile. Madrid is not a very old city compared with such ancient
cities as Avila, but it has an old section built around the Plaza
Mayor--the main square--where steps lead down into winding, narrow
streets with arches and covered sidewalks. The larger part of Madrid is
a modern city with wide boulevards lined with trees, where people can
sit at sidewalk terrace cafes sipping coffee or wine or lemonade and
watching other people streaming by.

Sometimes it seems that everybody in Madrid lives outdoors all the time,
because there are always so many people on the streets all day and all
night. Meals are served very late--lunch is at 2 o'clock or later, and
dinner not until about 10. Concerts, plays and movies don't start until
11 o'clock at night, or even midnight. Even very young children and
babies stay up late with their parents, to visit with friends at a
sidewalk cafe or to go to a movie. Only in the middle of the day, when
it is hot, everybody goes indoors for a long nap. This is called a
"siesta," and during siesta time the streets of Madrid and all other
Spanish cities are deserted. Shops and offices are closed. There is
almost no traffic on the streets and boulevards. From 1 to 5 every
afternoon, a stranger in Spain might think that a great calamity had
happened and made Spain a land of sleeping princes and princesses.

After siesta, the streets wake to an even more bustling life than
before. Offices and stores open again to serve their customers until 7
or 8 o'clock at night. The sidewalk cafes and restaurants become busier
than ever. Every chair is taken, and the conversation goes on at such a
fast rate that unless you understood Spanish very well, you could be
lost in the rushing sound of it.

Spain has other proud cities besides Madrid. Two, whose history goes way
back to the days of the Moors, are Granada and Toledo.

[Illustration]

Granada is the city in Andalusia which the Moors loved most and held