"Dos meses en Madrid 2002" Madrid by Christina1881

Madrid Travel Guide: 5,306 reviews and 10,727 photos

2002: FIRST TIME IN MADRID

I had the pleasure of living almost two months with a Spanish family in the north of Madrid last year, where I was showed part of the Spanish lifestyle from them, but from where I also got to see the fantastic capital of Spain and a lot of the things that this city has to offer!

It was my first time in Spain ever - and I was (from my first second there) taken by the Spanish lifestyle...

I had been planing to go for months - had been looking forward to it for so long - and then I remember when I was finally in the airport of Madrid that I realized that everyone spoke in Spanish... Of course they spoke in Spanish you might think - so do I know - but that day - that second it was like a bolt from the blue - out of nowhere the thought just came to me "they all speak Spanish"!

Now - everytime I go to Spain - when I have just landed and Im waiting for my luggage I think of my first time arriving in Spain - and everytime I stand still for a couple of seconds - just to check if they still speak Spanish


Did you know? about Madrid

- That Madrid wasn't made capital of Spain untill 1606, when King Felipe III (who was born in Madrid) made the city capital of the country.

- 1606 was also a year where "Don Quijote" - by Miguel Cervantes - had become a very wellknown book. The book had been published the year before in the street of Atocha.

- Madrid covers an area of 531km2 and have more than 4 million inhabitants.

- Madrid is 646 meters above sea level.

- Plaza Mayor was built by Felipe III in 1619. It was used to bullfighting and other celebrations.

- Between Madrid and Malaga (on Costa del Sol) there is 511km

- Between Madrid and Santander (on the north coast) there is 393km

- That makes Spain about 904km long

- From Pontevedra (on the northwest coast) to Barcelona (northeast coast) there is about 1129km

- The shortes way from Copenhagen (Denmark) to Madrid (Spain) is 2392km (and from Copenhagen to Granada (Andalucia) it is 2807km - which is good to know since my boyfriend is there and I'm here... ;-))

- On Puerta del Sols southern side you kan see a small plaquie marking "Km 0", from where distances along the country's highways are measured.

- The Palacio de Cristal, in Parque del Buen Retiro, was built in 1887 as a winter garden for exotic flowers.

You can find out more about Madrid cheking out the links below:

www.munimadrid.es

www.aboutmadrid.com

www.softguides.com

  • Last visit to Madrid: Jul 2006
  • Intro Updated Aug 3, 2006
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Reviews (9)

Comments (5)

  • Jerelis's Profile Photo
    Nov 10, 2009 at 2:19 AM

    Nice page about a place I still want to vistit. Thanx for sharing!

  • spgood301's Profile Photo
    Aug 12, 2006 at 7:37 PM

    Hi Christina, Madrid is such a wonderful city. Hope I get the chance to go back one day. Thanks for bringing me back for a few minutes :-)

  • rexvaughan's Profile Photo
    Aug 18, 2004 at 8:08 AM

    I loved Madrid too and your page is nice. Hope you have a great birthday, Christina and many happy travels ahead.

  • lomi's Profile Photo
    Jul 22, 2003 at 8:54 AM

    On the metro a bunch of teenagers got on behind us.As the doors closed the kids got off! with my husband's wallet - passport, credit cards, licence, the lot. We went to the police so that we could get to our destination without any documents.

  • Beach_dog's Profile Photo
    Jul 6, 2003 at 10:00 AM

    Nice Madrid tips Christina, I hope to see more of your Spanish pages soon :0)

Christina1881

“All glory comes from daring to begin”

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