Visiting
• The Plaza Mayor (See photo above.) This square has been the scene for lots of different activities over the years – market, bullring, burning of heretics during the Spanish Inquisition, executions. These days there’s a stamp and coin market on Sunday mornings and there are always lots of painters and artists – particularly caricature artists. Underneath the arches of the square, there are ancient shops selling material, nuns’ habits etc – testament to its old commercial roots.
• Plaza de la Villa Home to the city’s town hall and one of the most beautiful places on the Hapsburg Madrid tourist route.
• Puerta del Sol The nerve centre of Madrid and a common meeting place for its residents; it is also one of the main shopping areas and Kilometre Zero – so called because all distance from and to Madrid are measured from here.
• Madrid’s symbols: The statue of the bear and the strawberry tree in the Puerta del Sol (Madrid’s coat of arms); La Puerta de Alcalá and Cibeles fountain (traditionally this is where Real Madrid celebrates its footballing victories).
• The Royal Palace Previously the Royals’ home but these days used for diplomatic purposes, as a museum and for international meetings.
• The Retiro Park (Parque del Retiro) In the centre of the city and very popular on Sundays, particularly with joggers, skaters or people simply looking to relax by wandering round its paths or rowing on its lake. This park used to belong to the monarchy and was used as a royal enclosure.
• Torres Kio, in the Plaza Castilla. These are towers built from glass and metal and are 27 floors high. They are one of the most impressive entrances into Madrid.
Trying
• Tapear Going from bar to bar and having something small to eat in each - particularly in the Plaza Mayor and the neighbouring streets in the Cava Baja, where there’s lots of mesones (underground, traditional bars) where people (mostly tourists these days!) to have tortilla, ham, cheese, chorizo and sangría.
• Breakfast of chocolate con churros (hot chocolate with sweet deep-fried batter in the shape of horseshoes)in one of the cafes. The chocolatería San Ginés, between the Puerta del Sol and the Plaza de Ópera, next to the disco Joy Eslava is probably the best known of these.
• Round and about the Plaza Mayor there’s lots of places selling a bocadillo de calamares (fried squid sandwich), usually washed down by a small beer known as a caña.
• In the Lavapiés district there’s lots of ethnic restaurants, recently grown up
• A performance at the opera in the Royal Theatre and during the interval having a glass of cava and a canapé on the top floor of the building called “El Paraíso” from where you have the best view of the Royal Palace and the Plaza de Oriente.
• The 12 grapes at midnight on New Year’s Eve in the Puerta del Sol. This is where many madrileños congregate to welcome in the New Year and the chimes are broadcast to the whole of Spain from here. Nearly 40 million Spaniards wait anxiously for the big clock in the Puerta del Sol to start striking the 12 chimes so they can eat a grape as each chime is heard (best to buy small ones!)
People watching
• Madrid is famous for its nightlife at any time of year. Night clubs, bars, discos make up the cosmopolitan and alternative feel to Madrid la Nuit! The most popular areas at night are: the Plaza Santa Ana (near the Puerta del Sol, where there’s lost of bars specialising in beer (cervecerías), restaurants, nightclubs that stay open very very late); Malasaña (the birthplace of a movement known as the movida madrileña of the 80’s when Madrid led the way in a post Franco assertion of all kinds of freedom. It is still an alternative area with a lot of places offering a staple rock music); Chueca (a very lively and cosmopolitan atmosphere. In the 90’s the gay community moved in here, doing up houses and opening businesses. Its gay and lesbian fiestas are well known); Alonso Martínez (an area with an eclectic mix of typical bars and pubs); Moncloa-Argüelles (a young, studenty area next to the university). In the summer open air terraces open up, especially along the Paseo de la Castellana. People sit here for ages until the early hours of the morning, watching the world go by and trying to keep cool.
• The Prado Museum has one of the best art collections in the world and has specific rooms for world-renowned painters, such as Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, etc.
• The Plaza Mayor on a Sunday is interesting for the painters, caricaturists, antique dealers, stamp collectors etc who meet there.
• The biggest open air market in Europe is the Rastro and it takes place on a Sunday morning in a central area of Madrid in the streets around the Plaza de Cascorro. A visit here is a pleasant way to see an old part of Madrid in a relaxed atmosphere. As with most flea markets, you need to keep an eye on your money.
• A bullfight in the Plaza de las Ventas, preferably on a Sunday afternoon. If you get fed up of (or distressed by) the spectacle in the ring, watch the other spectators. The regulars bring a pillow to sit on (you’ll understand why after half an hour or so!) and according to the exploits of the people taking part, they throw clothes, food, flowers...!
• See a Real Madrid football match in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. Easier said than done if Real Madrid happen to be playing Barcelona at home – tickets have usually sold out well in advance and change hands at extraordinary prices. There are also guided tours around the stadium, which take you onto the pitch, the special boxes and the trophy room.
• The haute couture fashion shops on the Calle Serrano, Calle Velázquez and the Barrio Salamanca neighbourhood. The shop windows show the latest designs of the world-renowned Spanish designers such as Adolfo Domínguez, Purificación García, Ágata Ruiz de la Prada, Vitorio y Luchino, etc.
• The Gran Vía on a Sunday afternoon when people are meeting up to go to one of the many cinemas in this area of Madrid. Cinema-going is very popular in Spain and the film industry is generally alive and well. At current levels, Spain is producing about 4 times as many films as the UK and many more people go the cinema in Spain than in the UK.
• In some ways Madrid has managed to keep the feeling of being an important capital city, but comprised of a number of small villages! This is particularly true of the following areas and their surroundings: the Plaza de las Comendadoras, Plaza de Malasaña, Lavapiés and Latina. It is in these areas where you can enjoy and experience some of the main festivities of Madrid:
- La Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos (The procession of the Three Wise Men) late afternoon on the 5th January. The procession moves along the Paseo Castellana, Gran Vía, Puerta del Sol. It’s a custom that happens all over Spain, but in Madrid it’s very special.
- San Isidro, the Patron Saint of Madrid, whose Saint’s Day is celebrated on the 15th May (the Bullfighting Festival takes place over this time and there are lots of rock and jazz concerts, theatre, craft fairs etc.
- La fiesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, on the 2nd May with street parties and celebrations all over Madrid
- La virgen de la Paloma, on the 15th August when the men get dressed up in their traditional costumes chulapos and the women wear a Manila shawl. The traditional dance at this fiesta is the chotis (not very energetic!) and it is celebrated particularly in the old, traditonal parts of Madrid, such as Latina, Lavapiés and las Vistillas.
- During September the Autumn Festival takes place (a mixture of theatre and other performing arts) and the Fiesta del Pilar is on the 12th October together with a procession up the Paseo de la Castellana celebrating the Día de la Hispanidad (Day of Spanishness)
- In November there is an international jazz festival Fiesta Internacional de Jazz.
- In December the city is full of exhibitions depicting the Nativity scene and shops and stalls selling cribs and Christmas trees. There are lots of stalls selling all the traditional Christmas paraphernalia in the Plaza Mayor. |
