Madrid

Madrid is in the center of Spain, it stands away from the coast and therefore less popular with tourists than other Spanish cities. In the capital we were planning to visit the largest royal palace in Europe, but due to some events it was closed, so we just walked around.

Actually, the palace is the main attraction. But there are many other nice places. We lived on the main street Gran Via, so started our route from there. The first interesting building is Metropolis. Its height is 45 meters and in 1910 it was the tallest building in Madrid.




Nearby is a building Círculo de Bellas Artes. If you are interested, there is an observation deck there ("mirador"), entrance 3 euro, open from 11-00 to 14-00 and from 17-00 to 21-00.

Next we went to the beautiful area of ​​Plaza de Cibeles, where stands luxurious palace Palacio de Cibeles. Before it was a post office and now it is the town hall. It also has an observation deck, which is open from 11-00 to 14-00 and 16-00 to 19-00, costs 2 euro.




In 2 minutes from the square there is gate of Alcala (La Puerta de Alcalá), which are located on Independence Square. The gate built in 1778 was one of the five main gates of the city.


Near the gate is the entrance to the Retiro Park. If we do not take into account the wonderful park in Valencia, it is the best city park in Spain.








In 1887 two palaces for exhibitions were built in the park. Brick palace is not interesting, but the crystal palace is just gorgeous. There are even rocking chairs inside!






From the park we went for a walk into the old town. Passed by the Prado Museum, where is always a lot of people. Nearby is the entrance to the Botanical Garden, where usually paly cats.












Madrid has two main squares. First, Puerta del Sol, is not particularly interesting during the day, but beautiful at night. It is primarily used as a central hub of public transport interchange. Also here stands the symbol of Madrid - bear and the strawberry tree.






Second one Plaza Mayor is a typical Spanish square. Earlier it was used for bullfighting and now you can find here different interesting characters.






Next we went to the royal palace to find out that it was closed for visiting today. Opposite the palace is the Almudena Cathedral. The observation deck on it is open from 10:00 until 14:30.

Next we went to the Temple of Debod. Along the way, visited the Plaza de España, where stands a few high-rise buildings. Madrid Tower (142 m) until 1967 was the tallest building in Europe.


Temple of Debod was presented to Spain by the Egyptian authorities in 1968 in gratitude for their help in saving the temples of Abu Simbel from flooding during the construction of the Aswan Dam.


Here is also an observation deck with views of the Royal Palace.


This concludes our walking tour around Madrid.


Useful links:
Maps on the city, metro, bus lines and others in PDF can be downloaded here.
http://ctm-madrid.es - public transport
http://www.metromadrid.es - metro
http://www.movelia.es - buses
https://www.museodelprado.es - Prado museum
http://www.rjb.csic.es/jardinbotanico/jardin/ - royal botanical garden
http://www.patrimonionacional.es/ - royal palace

Getting to Madrid

Madrid Airport is 13 km from the city center. Downtown is better to reach on the buses "24 horas expres", they run often, buy tickets from the driver, stops are the following: O'Donell, Cibeles and Atocha (central railway station). A taxi to the center costs 30 euros. Madrid is connected by high-speed railway lines to many cities: Barcelona (2:30), Valencia (1:30), Malaga (2:30), Seville (2:20) and so on. We drove from Barcelona by train, it is much more convenient then car or aircraft.