Temple of Debod

Calle Ferraz, 1, 28008 Madrid, Spain

I spent an afternoon walking around the site of Templo de Debod, located in the heart of downtown Madrid. The solid stone structures were donated to Spain by Egypt in 1971, for the country’s help with extracting artifacts in Nubia. When I arrived early in the day, the sun was high in the sky, not the best for photographs, so I stayed until around 4:30. When the sun was lower in the sky, the reflections and highlighting of the leaves in the water perfectly captured the place. You can see more photos on my website.

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Templo de Debod

I spent an afternoon walking around the site of Templo de Debod, located in the heart of downtown Madrid. The solid stone structures were donated to Spain by Egypt in 1971, for the country’s help with extracting artifacts in Nubia. When I arrived early in the day, the sun was high in the sky, not the best for photographs, so I stayed until around 4:30. When the sun was lower in the sky, the reflections and highlighting of the leaves in the water perfectly captured the place. You can see more photos on my website.

Pétanque

After spending a day at Templo de Debod near downtown Madrid, I came across a lively bunch of people sweeping the leaves from what appeared to be a small sporting field. Out of curiosity, I stood by and patiently awaited commencement of whatever game it was they were planning to play. Within a couple of minutes, they started tossing small metal balls, similar in size to a baseball, from one side of the rectangular field to another, trying to get as close as possible to a smaller green ball, which appeared to be their target. They were laughing and taunting each other, obviously a tight-knit group of friends who had played this game together several times in the past. I asked their permission to photograph the game—they were fairly annoyed at my presence, but reluctantly agreed. I captured a few shots, then made my way to the train station.

Beautiful Walk in the Park...

The Temple of Debod is an ancient Egyptian temple which was rebuilt in one of Madrid’s parks, the Parque del Oeste, near the Royal Palace of Madrid, and opened to the public in 1972.

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