He also began a series of long trips which provided material for much of his future writing. In June 1830 he traveled to Spain, which he explored at a leisurely pace, spending many hours in the Prado Museum in Madrid, attending bullfights, and studying Moorish architecture in Córdoba and Seville. He was in Spain in July 1830, when the government of Charles X of France was overthrown and replaced by the rule of Louis Philippe I. Fascinated by Spain, he decided not to return to France immediately, but to continue his journey. In October 1830 he met a Spanish aristocrat, the future Count of Montijo, who shared many of his literary and historical interests and political views. He visited the Count and met his wife, the Countess of Montijo, and their young daughter, Eugénie, then four years old, who in 1853 was to become the Empress Eugénie, the wife of Emperor Napoleon III.