Geocaching in Madrid!

After the excitement from visiting the remains of the Expo in Sevilla, I was encouraged to check out if Madrid had any hidden mysteries. While I didn’t find any old structures similar to those in Sevilla, I did discover Geocaching. For those unfamiliar with it, Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. People navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. The thrill of geocaching comes from the thrill of embarking on an adventure to find something that someone has hidden, just for you to find it. Most of the time, these geocaches contain a logbook for adventurers to leave their mark, but some contain gifts and takeaways as a badge.

Now back to Madrid. I found a website that facilitates Geocaching and found a few geocaches hidden around where I live in Madrid. I decided to go check it out. I was given the coordinates of an initial clue that would reveal the location of the container. The clue was a sign in front of the Royal Palace. I needed to take the dates from the sign and decode the coordinates.

The cache was at the coordinates: N 40º 24. (B+1) (C) (A) , W 003º 42. (C-1) (B) (B–A-1). The text on the sign said “El 2 De Mayo De 1808. The date the French, under Napoleon, invaded and conquered Madrid. I was also given a second hint: In the hole of a wall covered in stone. Using the new coordinates and the clue I found a stone wall opposite the palace. What happened next is below:

This hunt was definitely fun. I didn’t find the cache at first, but it was exciting to go on the adventure to find it. I might even consider leaving my own cache before this trip is up for others to find.