Artistic B&B - Bed & Breakfast - Madrid

Next october 30th. five thousand sheep will go through the centre of Madrid as part of the 18th. Migration Festival, which will celebrate on this occasion the Day of the Forests and its compatibility with sheepherding.

The sheep will arrive on Friday evening to the Covatilla Hill in Casa de Campo of Madrid, where they will spend the weekend. On Saturday there will be a shepherd dog exhibition and another one of sheep shearing probably on the Lake side at Casa de Campo.

The route through the centre of Madrid will start on Sunday at 10 AM. The sheep herd will start from Casa de Campo, going through Cuesta de la Vega up to Bailén street. Around 10.30 AM, they will enter the Mayor street up to Plaza de la Villa.

At 11 AM the sheep will arrive at Puerta del Sol, and continue through Alcalá street until Plaza de Cibeles, where they plan to arrive at 12 AM. At that pint, some of the sheep will go back through the same way that they came until Almudena's cathedral and the Royal Palace.

At that point, at 1 PM there will be several performances of regional groups that will represent the music and dances typical from the different migration regions of Spain.

For those staying with us at Artistic B&B, Puerta del Sol and Plaza de Cibeles are the closes point where you can see the sheep herd. And it's a good time for starting the day, relaxed after having a lavish breakfast wih us!

A little bit of history

The history of herds migration starts with in 1273 when Alfonso X of Castile founded and granted privileges to the Mesta, a guild of migratory shepherds, to move freely with their herds, but respecting five forbidden things: breads, vineyards, orchards, pastures and meadows. The shepherds had to pay a tribute to the crown of five sheep by each thousand each time they went trough the royal mountain passes. This became the most important and regular income of the Spanish crown, because during centuries an amount of between 3 and 5 millons of sheep went from the mountains of the nort to the valleys of the south.

Until the first half of the 20th. century it was still frequent to see the sheep herds passing by Alcalá street in spring and autumn!

Source: La Vanguardia.com