Evening in Madrid

  

 

The sky in Madrid changing color over the train station as the evening comes to an end.

Parque del Retiro

      

One of the most popular attractions in Madrid, established in 1630! The Park is huge and is decorated with beautiful gardens, ponds, trails, and a crystal palace (green house).  One of the largest features of the park is the monument to Alfonso XII located in the center of the park, besides a large pond. The Museo de Prado, a famous art museum, is located on the outskirts of the park. The park is a very relaxing place to spend the day. It’s large enough to spend almost an entire afternoon without getting bored. Definitely one of the greatest sights to see in Madrid!

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caña de chocolate

 

A very delicious Spanish Pastry 🙂 Yum

Plaza Mayor

 

Plaza in the city center built in 1590 to provide a main market where trade could be regulated in the heart of Madrid.

Statue of the Bear and Madroño

 

A statue of the Madrid Coat of Arms in the Puerta del Sol. Built in 1967, depicting a bear eating the fruit from the Madroño tree.

Puerta del Sol

  

Puerta del Sol (The Door of the Sun) is the central square in Madrid. The square was originally part of the wall that surrounded Madrid in the 15th century. In the middle of the square lies Kilometer Zero, the center of all the Spanish roads and designated as the center of Spain. The oldest and most famous building in Puerta del Sol is the Casa de Correos (Post Office), built in 1766. Each year the Spanish New Years celebration takes place outside of the Post Office. An interesting tradition of the Spanish New Year is the “Eating of the Twelve Grapes”. This tradition consists of stuffing 12 grapes into your mouth, 1 every second, for the last 12 seconds of the year. Then everyone shouts “Feliz año nuevo (Happy New Year)” with their mouths full of grapes. Puerta del Sol parallels New York’s Time Square with respect to it’s central location, importance, and popular location for people to meet and party through out the year. This is an extremely lively square full of people, history, and fantastic architecture,

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• Thing to do: Puerta del Sol: find km 0 and “el oso y el madroño” – Madrid symbols (365thingsmadrid.com)
• New Years in Puerta del Sol (studentroommadrid.wordpress.com)

Edificio Metropolis

 

 

The Metropolis Building was built in 1911 by the famous French architects, Jules and Raymond Fevrier. It is a beautifully decorated building covered with allegorical statues representing commerce, agriculture and industry. The Building was constructed for the Metropolis Insurance Agency and the Phoenix Union.

 

Palacia de Comunicaciones

  

A beautiful building opened in 1919 as the central distribution center for post, telegraph, and telephone communications. Since the decline of telegraphs and post as a means of communication, the building was recently internally renovated in order to provide a headquarters for the Madrid City Council. The palace is also the home to the Mayor of Madrid. Since the late ’70s the Mayor of Madrid has been democratically elected through universal suffrage. The current Mayor of Madrid is Ana Botella, the first female mayor!!

Puerta de Alcala

  

 

A royal gate that gave access to the city of Madrid. The Gate was constructed in 1778 in order to control travelers entering Madrid. Those entering the city had to pay a tax before passing through the gate.

Monument to the Dicovery of America & Spain’s Largest Flag, Plaza de Colon

 

Across the street from the Christopher Columbus Statue, a larger, more modern set of monuments commemorates his journey to America. The plaza is decorated with three huge stone monuments each depicting part of Columbus’ journey.  The three monuments are named The Prophecies, The Genesis, and the Discovery. Each stone depicts carvings of Columbus’ voyage. Also located in the center of the plaza is the world’s largest flag of Spain!!