Madrid is relatively young when
compared to the other great Spanish cities such as Seville and
Valencia and so it lacks the traditions of the ancient
Andalusian and Castilian towns. It lies on a vast open plateau
and is subject to extremes of temperature, the daily variation
is sometimes 22C. The locals sum up their climate as nine
months of winter and another 3 months of hell.
It is the nation's chief
transportation and administrative centre. Its commercial and
industrial life developed very rapidly after the 1890s and today
it is nation's chief transportation and administrative centre,
rivalled only by Barcelona. Besides its many manufacturing
industries, Madrid are foremost as a banking, education,
printing, publishing, tourism, and film production centre.
The general aspect of Madrid is
modern, with boulevards and fashionable shopping areas, but the
old quarters have picturesque streets. In the heart of the city
is the Plaza Mayor, a 17th century square, built in the style of
Juan de Herrera. Madrids loveliest gardens can found the Buen
Retiro Park which opened in 1631. At the weekends street
performers including musicians, tarot readers and puppet shows
for children play in the park but this does bring in the crowds.
Other landmarks include, El Pacicio Real, the huge and very
opulent royal palace. A restored 1850 opera house and the
imposing 19th-century building containing the national library,
the national archives, and an archaeological museum. Also
noteworthy is the modern University City, which transferred from
the town of Alcal de Henares in 1836.
The best area in Madrid for
bars and clubs is Malasana. If you arrive before 1 am you'll
find the night yet to get underway. Cool Ballroom is probably
numero uno in the city. And don't forget to end the night with
the traditional Chocolate con Churrus. Madrid, as you would
expect has numerous eating-place but try Casa Mingo in the Rio
Manzanares. The house speciality is a whole roast chicken served
with a salad and a bottle of cider. On Sunday you should head
for, along with most of the population of the city, the
Embajadores for the flea market on El Rastro. Most of what is on
sale is junk but there are a few stalls with genuine antiques.
If you're a football fan try to obtain tickets for one of Real
Madrid's home games at the spectacular Santiago Bernabeu
Stadium. Here you will see the famous "galacticos" perform, or
as is more usual under perform.
Madrid places host to three
superb art museums, the Prado, which houses one of the finest
art collections in the world including works by Veleazquez,
Domenikos Theotokopoulos, Goya, Murillo, Ribera, Hieronymus
Bosch, Rubens, Botticelli, Mantegna, Titian, Rembrandt, Mengs,
Poussin and Gainsborough. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is
housed in the renovated Villahermosa Palace and is home to one
of the most wide ranging private collections of European art.
The Queen Sofia Museum of modern art includes turn of the 20th
century Catalan Modernism, Juan Gris' cubism, the bronze
sculptures of Pablo Gargallo, some 20 canvases by Salvador Dali
and Picasso's work condemning the German bombing the town of
Guernica in the Basque country during the Spanish civil war.
Also worth a visit is the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales
which holds an interesting collection of treasures.
Madrid was first mentioned in
the 10th century as a fortress of the Moors. Alfonso VI of
Castile drove them out in 1083. The Cortes of Castile met in
Madrid several times, and Ferdinand and Isabella as well as
Emperor Charles V often resided there, but Madrid became the
capital of Spain only in 1561, in the reign of Philip II. The
city developed slowly at first, but it expanded rapidly in the
18th century under the Bourbon kings. The royal palace and the
Prado date from that period. A popular uprising against the
French took place at Madrid on May 2, 1808 at the beginning of
the Peninsular War. A fierce battle was fought in the city's
central square, the Puerta del Sol. In reprisal, hundreds of
citizens were shot at night along the Prado promenade. Goya
immortalized the events of that day with two of his most
celebrated paintings, both can be seen in the Prado gallery.
Madrid again played a heroic role in the Spanish civil war,
when, under the command of General Jos Miaja, it resisted 29
months of siege by the Franco's Nationalist forces, suffering
several bombardments and air attacks. It finally surrendered in
late March 1939 effectively bringing the conflict to an end.
Alcal de Henares lies some 30
km to the east of Madrid, on the Henares River. Once surrounded
by wheat fields, the building of a major road has drawn it into
the suburban orbit of Madrid. Chemicals, plastics, electrical
appliances, leather, and china are produced in the town. Among
the landmarks are a Gothic collegiate church and the former
archiepiscopal palace. The new University of Alcal de Henares
was founded in 1977.
The town was called Complutum
in Roman times. It is famous as the former seat of a great
university founded in 1508 which subsequently transferred to
Madrid in 1836. Also as the birthplace of Cervantes, Ferdinand I
and Katherine of Aragon. And lastly as the scene of the Cortes
in which Alfonso XI promulgated the Ordenamiento de Alcal. The
Spanish civil war saw the town severely damaged.
Other towns within the
autonomous region of Madrid include Toledo, which preceded
Madrid as the Spanish capital. Avila, whose old walls remain and
the harsh Castilian landscape outside. Segovia and it's
ancient aqueduct which is an example of Roman engineering at
it's very best and Guadalajara
purple monkey;
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