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DISCOVER MADRID

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. Madrid is one of Spain's most popular destinations and is renowned for its large quantity of cultural attractions. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political center of Spain.

The city is located on the river Manzanares both in the centre of the country and Community of Madrid (which comprises the city of Madrid, its subsequent conurbation and extended suburbs and villages); this commununity is bordered by the autonomous communities of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha.

As the capital, Madrid is a city of cultural and political importance. It is also a major European economic centre, and its international airport at Barajas is the largest in Spain. Due to its economic output, standard of living, and market size, Madrid is considered the major financial center of the Iberian Peninsula; it hosts the head offices of the vast majority of the major Spanish companies, as well as the headquarters of three of the world's 100 largest companies (Telefónica, Repsol-YPF, Endesa).

While Madrid possesses a modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighborhoods and streets. Its landmarks include the huge Royal Palace of Madrid; the Teatro Real (Royal theatre) with its restored 1850 Opera House; the Buen Retiro park, founded in 1631; the imposing 19th-century National Library building (founded in 1712) containing some of Spain's historical archives.

There is an archaeological museum of international reputation; and three superb art museums: Prado Museum, which hosts one of the finest art collections in the world, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, a museum of modern art, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, housed in the renovated Villahermosa Palace.

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WEATHER IN MADRID

The region of Madrid has a temperate Mediterranean climate with cool winters with temperatures that sometimes drop below 0 oC (32 oF). There are about 2 to 3 snowfalls each year. Summer tends to be hot with temperatures that consistently surpass 30oC (86oF) in July and that can often reach 40oC (104oF). Due to Madrid's high altitude and dry climate, nightly temperatures tend to be cooler, leading to a lower average in the summer months. These extremes give rise to the saying Nueve meses de invierno, tres meses de infierno (nine months of winter, three months of hell).

Precipitation levels are low, but precipitation can be observed throughout the year. Summer and winter are the driest seasons, with most rainfall occurring in the autumn and spring.

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PARKS AND GREEN SPACES IN MADRID

Madrid is full of green spaces and parkland, in central Madrid the largest park is Parque del Retiro, spreading out to the north-east of Atocha Railway station, which receives the high- speed AVE trains from the south and east as well as Cordoba and Seville.

Parque del Retiro, formerly the grounds of the palace built for Felipe IV, is Madrid’s most popular park. Its large lake in the middle once staged mini naval battles to amuse royalty, these days the more tranquil pastime of pleasure boating is popular. Inspired by London’s crystal palace, the palacio de cristal can be found at the south-eastern end of the park.

In the Retiro Park is also the Forest of the Departed (Spanish Bosque de los Ausentes), a memorial monument to commemorate the 191 victims of the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks.

Atocha Railway Station is not only the city’s first and most central station but also home to a distinctive indoor garden with 4,000 square meters of tropical plants. Atocha station has become a hothouse destination in itself for plant lovers, with more than 500 species of plant life and ponds with turtle and goldfish in, as well as shops and cafes. It's a nice place to visit on a cold or wet day with its even temperature of 24 degrees Celsius, or even on a scorching summer day as a retreat from the heat.

Casa de Campo is an enormous rural parkland to the west of the city, the largest of all Madrid’s green areas. It’s home to a fairground, zoo and an outdoor municipal pool, to enjoy a bird’s eye view of the park and city take a cable car trip above the tree tops.

The Botanic Garden or Real Jardin Botanico was an 18th century creation by Carlos III, it was used as a base for the plant species being collected across the globe. There is an important research facility that started life as a base to develop herbal remedies and to house the species collected from the new-world trips, today it is dedicated to maintaining Europe’s ecosystem.

The pioneering ecological theme park Faunia, is a natural history museum and zoo combined, aimed at being fun and educational for children. It comprises eight eco-systems from tropical rain forests to polar regions, and contains over 1,500 animals, some of which roam freely

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GALLERIES OF MADRID

Madrid is considered one of the top European destinations concerning art museums. Best known is the Golden Triangle of Art, located along the Paseo del Prado and comprising three museums.

The most famous one is the Prado Museum, the most popular Golden Triangle of Art member known for such highlights as Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas and Francisco de Goya's La maja vestida and La maja desnuda. The other two museums are the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum, established from a mixed private collection, and the Reina Sofia Museum. This is where Pablo Picasso's Guernica hangs, after returning to Spain from New York more than two decades ago.

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NIGHTLIFE OF MADRID

Madrid is notable for its nightlife and night clubs. On weekends, Madrilenian youth are famous for dancing all night long, stopping only to have some chocolate con churros at dawn, go home, take a shower, shave (or not), and go to work. What is also popular is the practice of meeting in parks or streets with friends and drinking alcohol together (this is called 'botellón', from 'botella', bottle), but in recent years, drinking in the street is punished with a fine and now young madrileños drink together all around the city instead of in more well known places. Many places host bands.

Nightlife and young cultural awakening flourished after the death of Franco, especially during the 80s while Madrid's mayor Enrique Tierno Galván was in office. This new movement was called la movida and it initially gathered around Plaza del Dos de Mayo (Malasaña area). Some of the most popular night destinations include the neighbourhoods of: Bilbao, Tribunal, Alonso Martinez or Moncloa, together with Puerta del Sol area (including Opera and Gran Via, both adjacent to the popular square) and Huertas (barrio de Las Letras), destinations which are also filled with tourists day and night.

The gay district of Chueca has also become a hot spot in the Madrilenian night life, not only for gay people but also for straight people looking for fun in their crowded clubs and popular discos.

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SPORTS IN MADRID

Madrid is home to Real Madrid, which plays in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Its supporters are referred to as vikingos, vikings, or, more commonly, merengues, meringues. Its hometown rival, Atlético Madrid, is also well supported in the city, and its supporters are called los sufridores, the sufferers. The players are referred to as colchoneros, mattresses, in reference to the teams red & white jerseys having been determined by mattress material being the cheapest at the time of the club's formation.

Madrid's contribution to the sport is further noticed by the fact that it hosted the 1982 FIFA World Cup final. Along with Barcelona, Glasgow, Lisbon and Istanbul, Madrid is one of five cities in Europe to contain two UEFA 5-star stadia: Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu and Atlético Madrid's Vicente Calderón both meet the criteria.

The city is also host to two basketball teams in the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB league), and the Circuito Permanente Del Jarama, a motorsport race circuit which formerly hosted the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix.

Historically, the city serves as the last stage of the Vuelta a España cyclist classic in the same way as Paris does in the Tour de France.

Skiing is possible in the nearby mountains of the Sierra de Guadarrama, where the ski resorts of Valdesqui and Navacerrada are located.

The city bid for hosting the 1972 and 2012 Summer Olympics, which were lost to Munich and London respectively. Nevertheless, Madrid is currently bidding to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

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BULLFIGHTING IN MADRID

Madrid hosts the largest Plaza de Toros (bullring) in Spain, Las Ventas, established in 1929. Las Ventas is considered by many to be the world center of bullfighting and has a seating capacity of almost 25,000. Madrid's bullfighting season begins in March and ends in October.

Bullfights are held every day during the festivities of San Isidro (Madrid's patron saint) from the middle of March to the middle of June, and every Sunday, and public holiday, the rest of the season. The style of the plaza is Neomudéjar. Las Ventas also hosts music concerts and other events outside of the bullfighting season.

From Wikipedia.org, the Free Encyclopedia

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