Puerta del Sol and other Madrid, Spain Things to Do Tips

Puerta del Sol (the gate to the sun), or better: simply called Sol, is the heart of Madrid. Its an overcrowded place of people hurrying to their work, the shops or just are there to meet up with their friends. Its a popular place of meeting. Its also at night the ultimate nightlife spot connecting the Plaza Santa Anna area to the La Latina barro and on the other direction thereyou walk into Chueca (a long walk though...) The plaza has the form of a half moon and in the middle of it there is a statue of Carlos the third on a horse. on the other side iof the street you find the ministery of foreighn affairs, the hughe red building with the big clock. This is the place where the madrelenes at new years eve gather to count down the minutes into the new year as they eat 12 grapes with their champaign enabling them to do 12 wishes for the upcoming year. In front of the building you can find the Zero-kilometer sign on the pavement. It symbolizes the idea that Madrid is the ultimate centre of the spanish trafficroadsystem, all the roads and highways in spain are measured in distance from this point in Madrid, that is, this sign on the pavement. On the other side of the road again, you fin next to the Court Ingless the symbol of Madrid: a statue of a bear reaching for the strawberries in the tree.

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Address: The "center" of Madrid

Plaza Mayor (main square) dated from the 17 th century and has been the scenery of many important madrelenian happenings in history such as inquisition processes in that century or executions of politicians. Ithas been build by architect Mora and it contains 4 sides: the most striking part of the plaza is the Casa Panaderia (bakers house) which has beautifull decorations on its walls, the other 3 parts of buildings nowadays consist of residents and restaurants. ijn the middle of the squire there is a statue of Phillip the 3 th on a horse. Beautifull is the porchway of arcades underneath the 3 sides of buildings along the square, and the wooden brightly coloured framework around the shops in the corridor aux arcades. The plaza has for big gates, the arco Cuchilleros leads to some traditional bistros next to the plaza mayor. On sundays there is an antique market on the square.

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Address: Main square of Madrid
Directions: Metro Sol & Opera

Near Sol, yoou find plaza de Santa Ana, mostly known as a hot spot in nightlife Madrid. This square is called after the monastery which was originally situated at this place but got teared down in order to make space to build this square. Its originally a square connected to the artists like poets Lorca and de la Barca. At the square you find the Teatro Espanol so its obvious that the plaza and art are closely connected. The Victoria Queen hotel is another striking landmark at the square as well as the German Beerhouse, which is always overcrowded especailly by youth and students. The taberna Viva Madrid is also near the square and is one of the more popular tabernas in town. Nightlife is pretty flourishing around the plaza, near to the plaza there are many streets with dozens of pubs. its a great place to go out, yet its a bit touristic and cliche, chueca is way more interesting but if you visit madrid for the firts time its definetely a must see.

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Thos little square is having a very intimate atmosphere. There are very old buildings surrounding this plaza such as the Torre de los Lujanos, a gotic/ mudejar style building which has served as a prison. You can slos see the casa Cisneros, which is connected by a foodbridge to the townhall, a building designed by the same architect who build plaza mayor.

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defenitely my favourite! As in the 1850's Madrid devellopped to become a big city it was necessarily to expand. Modernite archtects of Spain got the dedication to experiment with city planning acording to their Fench neighboars in Paris. (the Hausmanization project that teared down the whole inner city in favour of grand avanues) So the Gran Via became into being. Gran via had just like ijn Paris, to be the symbol of a modernit? Madrid. Allthough the plans for Gran Via were already send to the Ayuntamiento as early as 1860, the Gran Via project got its approval by the city coucil in the beginning of the 20 th century. The gran via consisting 3 parts: the street between Plaza Espana to Callao, (which is of lest interrest) the Plza Callao, and the Calle de Alca, which contains some very beuatifull pieces of Modernity architecture. Nowadays Gran via is a crowded avanue with shops restaurants and offices. Its the main road of the town connecting Plaza Espana to Plaza de Cibelis.

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Address: One of the busiest and more touristic

Gran via has many shops, thaeters, cinemas and restaurants. Walking down Gran Via you see some outstanding piecesof Modernity architecture. the following ones should not be missed. 1. Edificio al Estrella (on eof the first buldings build as ecclectisism with a touch of neo-classism) 2. La gran Pena (in it is a men-club situated, Franco also wanted to become a member of the club which was a cause for much exitemen) 3. Museo Chicot. (art-deco building now huosing a cocktail bar, very poular amongst celebrities like Sinatra and Dali) 4. Edifificio Grassy ( named after the jewelry shop situated at ground floor, specialized in watches. this builkding is one of the most strking ones. it also contains a museum that exibites very rare watches that have belonged to royalties all over Europe). 5. Telefonica (my favourite oin. its a building in 30's Manhattan style, the tower is 80 meters high and its a striking feature of Madrid. It contains nowadays exibitions and there is a permanent exibition on artefacts dealing with telecommunications.)

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Address: One of the busiest and more touristic

The plaza del Callao, just in the middle of Gran Via can me called the wallhalla of cinema life in Madrid. the cinema's you d find there are the Art deco Cine Caloa, Rex and Capitoil. There are more but thesae ones are amongst the popular ones, serving art-house movies upto mass public hollywood ones. In the Capitol building the hughe capitol cinema is situated, depicting it films in hughe billboards at the outsiede. This art-deco building stems from the 1930's and is the striking feature of Calloa

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Address: One of the busiest and more touristic

Making 4 items out of Gran Via means that i really like this place. The street is magnifant and you get pain in your neck when looking all the time up to the tops of the buildings. Espacuially at night you should walk Gran Via the buidlings are lighted up and it feels like a fary tale walking along them. Just stroll aloing the street and experience its atmosphere, the people walking by and the night lights...its wonderfull!

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Address: One of the busiest and more touristic

Wow what an original name for a square! Yet compared to the plaza underthe same name in Barcalone, the Madrid one is much more of interest. its The ultimate place of meeting up,. its popular amongst Madrelenes and its always overcrowded. The plaza is dominated by the somewaht stalinsitic bulding skyscraper Edificio Espanol, which anyway, by its ues of conctete and metal is kindof looking cute. Next to it on the other side of the street, the Torre de Madrid is making its appeareance. Look at it standing there that conctete Monster which has been the hughest concrete building in the wold for decades. On the square you will find a fountain. In summer a good fridge to put in your cheap beer as bought in the supermarket an a relief for your feets as you can drop them into the cold water after a long walk through Gran Via. In the middle of the square you ll find a statue of the famous writer Cervantes who wrote the tales of Don Quichot meant as a satire on spanish nobelty.

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Having seen too many Royal Palaces along European cities before i defenitely thought in 1996 that i dont have to see the Spanish one cuz i thought it de be the same like all the others. But iut wasnt as i found out this year. Its phantastic!!! And make sure you do the free tour in staedof paying etrance fee! All the other days you have to pay for the ticket execpt on wedenessday, then you get in free allthough without tour by guide. Its open on wednessday from 11 am till 6 pm. see also: www.patrimonionacional.es. The Royal palace is build as a manifest to impress: its hughe, its sparking, its expressing wealthy. It has some 2800 rooms and from the court it gives wonderfull views over Madrid outskirts. (wonderfull? mmmhhh why did Carlos III then went to move to the Zarzuela Palce outside Madrid centre?) Nowadays the palaceis still used for official State affairs. Like the signining of the European Union contract.

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Address: Former King's Residence