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Offering
hotel and self-catering apartment reservations in
fascinating
Madrid, Spain
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TOUR OPTION: Cooking Class in Madrid (Avant-Garde Cuisine) |
 Cooking
Class in Madrid (Avant-Garde Cuisine)
If you are interested
in learning how to prepare Spanish Avant Garde dishes but you do not have
too much time to dedicate to it, consider a morning in the kitchen, followed
by a three course lunch in Madrid…more... |
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Some
of the Major City Attractions of Madrid, capital of Spain:
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View
photo gallery of Madrid
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El Rastro is the
most popular open air flea market in Madrid (Spain). It is held every Sunday
morning and is located along Plaza de Cascorro and Ribera de Curtidores,
between Toledo and Embajadores streets. The term "rastro" (Spanish
for trail) was coined in the 16th century, when a slaughterhouse stood
near the area. The slaughtered animals were dragged (arrastrados) from
it to the nearby tanning houses (curtidores), leaving a blood trail (or
rastro). A great variety of products (first and second hand) can
be found at the Rastro, usually grouped by areas. A number of antique shops
in the Rastro area are also open on Sunday. |
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Glorieta de Bilbao is
a star shaped roundabout located in Madrid, Spain; named after the city
of Bilbao. The roundabout is famous for being a cross of famous streets:
Fuencarral (one of the most famous shopping streets in Madrid), Carranza,
Luchana and Sagasta. Glorieta de Bilbao is also between two of the most
historical districts of Madrid: Centro and Chamberí. History of
the Glorieta is totally linked with the construction of Chamberí
district in the XIXth century, when it was one of the most important meeting
points for the madrileños. Nowadays is an important place in the
Madrid's nightlife, close to Malasaña and Tribunal areas. One of
the most historical cafes of Madrid, the Café Comercial, is located
in the number 7 of the Glorieta. The most notable building of Glorieta
de Bilbao is Ocaso Building. Its Metro de Madrid station is called Bilbao
and is served by lines 1 and 4. |
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Gran Vía (literally
"Great Way") is an ornate and upscale shopping street located in Madrid,
Spain. It leads from Plaza de Cibeles to Plaza de España. The lively
street is one of the city's most important shopping areas, with a large
number of hotels and large movie theaters; it is also noted for the grand
architecture prevalent among many of its buildings. |
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El Parque de Atracciones
de Madrid is a fun fair, situated in the Casa de Campo, Madrid.
The fair has a number of exciting and thrilling rides. |
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The Parque del Buen Retiro
named by Madrid's king (Park of the Pleasant Retreat) is a large
and popular, 1.4 km² (350 acre) park in Madrid city center, not far
from the Prado Museum. Once outside the city, Madrid now entirely surrounds
the park. The park was originally the site of a royal palace built
in 1632 under the reign King Philip IV. Most of the palace was destroyed
during the Napoleonic Wars, leaving a space that was eventually opened
to the public in 1868. The few remaining buildings of the palace now house
museum collections. Within the park is the Estanque del Retiro, a
large artificial lake. Next to the lake is the Mausoleum of Alfonso XII,
featuring a semicircular colonnade and a statue of Alfonso on horseback
on a tall pedestal. Around it there are many puppet shows greatly enjoyed
by the children there. There are all manner of street performers and fortune
tellers. Row boats can be rented to paddle about the Estanque. |
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The Palacio Real de Madrid
(Royal Palace of Madrid), also called Palacio de Oriente (Palace of
Orient) is the official residence of the King of Spain, located in Madrid.
King Juan Carlos and the royal family do not actually reside in this palace,
instead choosing the smaller Palacio de la Zarzuela, on the outskirts of
Madrid. However, the Palacio Real de Madrid is still used for state occasions.
The palace is owned by the Spanish state and administered by the Patrimonio
Nacional agency. |
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The Plaza de Cibeles
is
an attractive square featuring a beautiful sculpture and fountains that
have been adopted as a symbol for the city of Madrid, Spain. The
fountain of Cibeles is found in the part of Madrid commonly called the
Paseo de Recoletos. It depicts the goddess Cibeles (Cybele), the Phrygian
goddess of fertility, who is seen sitting on a chariot and being pulled
by two lions. On one side of the fountain of Cibeles, the Paseo de Recoletos
starts, heading north to join up with the Paseo de la Castellana. On the
other side, the Paseo del Prado begins and heads off south, towards the
fountain of Neptune, in the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo, and on
until Atocha. |
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The Plaza Mayor is
a central plaza in the city of Madrid, Spain. The Plaza Mayor is only a
few blocks away from another famous plaza, the Puerta del Sol. The Plaza
Mayor is rectangular in shape it, 129 by 94 meters, and is surrounded by
three-floored residential buildings with 237 balconies. It has a total
of nine entranceways. The Plaza Mayor was built during the Austrian period.
The Casa de la Panadería, serving municipal and cultural functions,
dominates the Plaza Mayor and it is the best around. |
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The Puerta de Alcalá
("Alcalá Gate") is a monument in the Plaza de la Independencia
("Independence Square") in Madrid, Spain, very close to the city centre
and several meters away from the main entrance to the Parque del Buen Retiro.
The square is bisected by Alcalá street, although the street itself
doesn't cross through the monument, and it is the origin of the Alfonso
XII, Serrano and Olózaga streets. Its name originates from the old
path from Madrid to the nearby town of Alcalá de Henares (Puerta
de Alcalá means "Alcalá's Gate in Spanish). |
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The Puerta de Europa
("Gate of Europe") towers are two twin office buildings in Madrid.
They were built in 1996 by the Kuwait Investments Office (hence their initial
name "Torres KIO") and designed by the American architects Philip Johnson
and John Burgee. Each building is 115 m tall with an inclination of 15º.
They are located near the Chamartín railway station - on the sides
of the Plaza Castilla bus station, north from the Paseo de la Castellana
and near the Cuatro Torres skyscraper park. After the Torres KIO
fraud case, KIO had to sell the buildings are now owned by Cajamadrid and
Realia. In the 1995 Satanic comedy film The Day of the Beast, the
buildings are said to be shaped as a diabolical signature and the place
of birth of the Anti-Christ on Christmas Day of 1995. |
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The Puerta del Sol (Spanish
for "Sun Gate") is one of the most well known and busiest places in
Madrid. This is the centre (Km 0) of the radial network of Spanish roads.
The square also contains the famous clock whose bells mark the traditional
eating of the Twelve Grapes and the beginning of a new year. The New Year's
celebration has been broadcast live on TV since 31 December 1962.
The Puerta del Sol originated as one of the gates in the city wall that
surrounded Madrid in the 15th century. Outside the wall, medieval suburbs
began to grow around the Christian Wall of the 12th century. The name of
the gate came from the rising sun which decorated the entry, since the
gate was oriented to the east. |
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The Santiago Bernabéu
is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. It is the home of Real Madrid.
Work on the grounds started on October 27, 1944. Originally called Estadio
Chamartín after Madrid's previous stadium, it was inaugurated in
December 1947. Real Madrid officially adopted the present name, Estadio
Santiago Bernabéu, on January 4, 1955 in honor of the club president
Santiago Bernabéu. The capacity has changed frequently, peaking
at 120,000 after a 1953 expansion. Since then there have been a number
of reductions due to modernisations (the last standing places went away
in 1998/99 in response to UEFA regulations which forbids standing at matches
in the UEFA competition), countered to some extent by expansions. The last
change was an increase of about five thousand to a capacity of 80,354,
effected in 2003. A plan to add a retractable roof has been announced. |
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The Teatro Real (literally
Royal
Theater) or simply The Real (as it is known colloquialy), is an opera
house located in Madrid, Spain. It was inaugurated on 19 November 1850,
with Donizetti's La Favorite and is one of the world's finest stage and
acoustic settings for opera. It is one of the world's most famous opera
houses, comparable to many in Europe and elsewhere. The construction
of the Real was ordered by the Queen Isabel II, hence its name, the Real
(royal in Spanish). The Teatro Real is located just in front of the Palacio
Real, the official residence of the Kings of Spain. |
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The Temple of Debod is
an ancient Egyptian temple which has been rebuilt in Madrid, Spain.
The temple was built in southern Egypt, very close to the first cataract
of the Nile and to the great religious center dedicated to the goddess
Isis, in Philae. In the early 2nd century BC, Adikhalamani [Tabriqo], king
of the country of Meroë, started its construction by building a small
chapel dedicated to the gods Amon and Isis. Afterwards, different kings
of the Ptolemaic dynasty added new chambers around the original nucleus. |
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Torre España (literally
Spain Tower) is a 231-meters steel-and-concrete television tower located
in Madrid, Spain. National terrestrial television channels RTVE, Telecinco
and Antena 3, as well as the autonomic channel Telemadrid, along with a
few radio stations, broadcast from this tower. The tower was built
in 1982, conmemorating the FIFA World Cup celebrated in Spain that year.
The building was administered by RTVE until the year 1989, when control
over radio and television emissions in Spanish territory was given to Retevisión.
It is not open for tourists. The Torre España tower is generally
known in Madrid as the "Pirulí", given the similarity between the
tower and a lollipop ("Pirulí" is a Spanish word for lollipop, although
Chupa Chups as a generalization is also widely used). |
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The Vicente Calderón
Stadium (Spanish: Estadio Vicente Calderón) in Madrid,
Spain, is the home stadium of Atlético Madrid football club. It
is located in the heart of Madrid by the banks of the River Manzanares.
The stadium was originally called Estadio Manzanares, but was later changed
to Vicente Calderón after the famous Atlético club president.
The Vicente Calderón Stadium regularly holds international matches
of the Spanish national team. It has a capacity of 55,005 and was given
the UEFA 5 star stadium rating in 2003. |
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Other nearby towns are popular
as day trips from Madrid, including Toledo, Segovia, Ávila, Aranjuez,
Alcalá de Henares, the monastery and palace complex of El
Escorial, the former summer home of the royal family at Aranjuez,
El Atazar Dam, and Chinchón. |
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