Detail of the Ceiling Frescos in El Escorial Palace, Madrid, Spain
Traffic at Night, Gran Via, Madrid, Spain
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FEATURED 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...
Some of the Major City Attractions of Madrid, capital of Spain:
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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. More
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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Latest update:  May 7, 2007

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