Things To Do In Madrid

Madrid is Spain’s headiest city, seemingly designed to delight tourists with its fascinating museums, restful parks, cozy cafés and ebullient nightlife. Though the city covers a vast area, there are so many good places to visit, with its main attractions situated in the centre, which are all easily accessible on foot. The city is compact and easy to navigate. Most of the sights of interest are to be found downtown between the Royal Palace (Palacio Real) and Retiro Park (Parque del Retiro).

Royal Palace

Has been the home of the Spanish royal family since the 1560s, and although it’s no longer used as a residence, the palace has been kept intact since it last functioned as a home to the king. It still remains a popular tourist attraction, with its architecture and gardens such as the Jardines del Moro and Sabattini gardens being a major draw card. The entire palace is not open to the public, but guests can take a stroll around and visit its more important and opulent rooms. There are also some excellent frescos inside the palace and paintings by Goya, Rubens, El Greco, Juan de Flandes and Caravaggio among others. Recharge your batteries with a rest in a shady corner of the neighbouring palace park, or take a trip to the vast Retiro Park to relax or go boating on the lake.

Suns Gate (Puerta de Sol):

This is the square in the very heart of Madrid. Its adjacent buildings consist of many shopping establishments and ever-changing restaurants. The square, often infused with street music, remains active well into the night and early morning, as the bars and dance clubs often only start at 01:00.

The Rastro

This is situated between the Plaza de Cascorro, La Latina and the street of Embajadores is Madrid’s most famous flea market. The Rastro is open on Saturdays and Sundays, and anything antique or second-hand can be bought here. The astute buyer can pick up anything from a good painting, a Gothic statue or a piece of period furniture to a household utensil, card collection or a bullfighter’s suit.

Bullfighting

The most popular activity on Sunday afternoons is the bullfight, held in the Plaza Monumental de las Ventas. The season begins in early spring and goes on until mid-autumn, but bullfights call for good weather and are subsequently cancelled when the weather is bad. The bullfighters taverns in the Calle de la Victoria, Espoz y Mina, Cruz Núñez de Arce and the other picturesque little streets in San Ricardo, Cáiz, del Pozo and Alvarez Gato are a must visit, if there is a bullfight or not.

Art museums

The Prado and Reina Sofia art museums contain some of the world’s best-known paintings, with works by Rembrandt, Reubens, Brueghel and El Greco in the former and some of the best displays of Picasso, Dali and Miro in the latter. The Prado is in an 18th century building designed by Juan de Villanueva, and the Reina Sofía offers a wide variety of temporary exhibitions covering diverse modern artistic disciplines such as painting, sculpture, video, photography and film. The Prado and Reina Sofia are considered as two of the most important art galleries in the world.

Royal Theater (Teatro Real)

Ordered to be built by Queen Isabel II and located just in front of the Royal Palace, the Royal Theater is one of the world’s most famous opera houses. The period from 1850 to 1925 were its most unsuccessful years, when it was closed due to the damage the construction of the Metro system inflicted on the building. The theater reopened in 1966 as a concert theater until the 1990s, when it was remodeled to host opera again. The Royal Theater’s orchestra is the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid and the theater has a museum and offers tours, even on days when there’s no event.

Temple of Debod (Templo de Debod)

Temple of Debod (Templo de Debod)This is a rebuilt ancient Egyptian temple that was originally built in southern Egypt. In 1960, UNESCO made an international call to save it and as a sign of gratitude for the help provided by Spain in saving the temples of Abu Simbel, Egypt donated the temple to Spain in 1968.

Rebuilt on the site of a former army barracks near the Campo de Moro and Parque del Oeste, the temple was opened to the public in 1972. It’s one of the few works of ancient Egyptian architecture which can be seen outside Egypt and the only one of its kind in Spain

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