Madrid

Feb23

Barrio de Chueca

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Places and Monuments

This area is famous in Madrid because of it is full of clubs, bar and restaurant, but most of all for being the gay district in Madrid, and one of the most famous in Europe.

Ought to the drug dealing it was one of the most dangerous areas in the city, but ever since the gay population started opening new businesses it has gradually become one of the most alternative bohemian boroughs in the capital of Spain.


Feb28

El Barrio de las Letras

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Places and Monuments

This neighbourhood´s name is related to the artists that lived there during the centuries XVII and XVIII. It was known as the Golden Age of the Spanish literature. And at the time, many of the most famous writers in Spain were living around this area.

Nowadays it is one of the liveliest areas in Madrid. Close to the centre and the three most important museums it is one of the nicest walks of Madrid. Its streets are mostly pedestrian and it is full of bars where to have a drink after a long day.

Dec13

Gay Pride in Madrid

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Festivals and Festivities

Gay Pride has become lately in one of the most famous festivities of Madrid. During these days the borough of Chueca becomes an outdoor party, where everybody is welcome and the official motto is freedom.

Chueca is the gay area of Madrid. Ever since Gay population started to gou out around the area, the borough suffered a transformation: from being one of the most famous places in Madrid for Drug selling to being, nowadays, one of the most expensive areas in the city full of restaurants, bars, and shops.

Dec14

La Plaza Mayor

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Places and Monuments

The Plaza Mayor was built during the Habsburg period. It is a central square in Madrid, located only some steps away from another the Puerta del Sol. The Plaza Mayor is rectangular in shape,  and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 balconies facing the Plaza. It has a total of nine entranceways. The Casa de la Panadería, serving municipal and cultural functions as the central tourist office, dominates the Plaza Mayor.

Dec14

La Puerta del Sol

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Places and Monuments

The Puerta del Sol (Spanish for "Gate of the Sun") is one of the most emblematic  and busiest places in Madrid. It is known as the Km 0 because it is the centre of the radial network of Spanish roads. It is also the meeting point to welcome the New Year. Its Clock bells mark the traditional eating of the Twelve Grapes.

Dec02

Madrid City

Categories // Destinations, Madrid, Madrid

Madrid is the capital of Spain, located right in the centre of the country, Madrid is the headquarters for the Public Administration, Government, Spanish Parliament and the home of the Spanish Royal Family, in fact a cosmopolitan city, and business center of Spain.

Madrid can trace its origins to the times of Arab Emir Mohamed I (852-886), who ordered the construction of a fortress on the left bank of the Manzanares river. Later it became the subject of a dispute between the Christians and Arabs until it was conquered by Alonso VI in the XI century. At the end of the XVII century, a defensive wall was built for the protection of the new outlying areas, tracing the roads of Segovia, Toledo and Valencia. During the 18th century, under the reign of Carlos III, were designed the great arteries of the city, such as the Paseo del Prado and Paseo las Acacias.




Dec13

New Year´s Eve in Madrid

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Festivals and Festivities

Madrid has one of the most amazing nightlife in Spain every single night of the year. Obviously it is also this way on the New Year´s Eve.

Thousands of people congregate at Puerta del Sol, which is the centre spot of Spain, considered the Kilometre 0, because it is the point from where all the motorways distances are counted.

Dec13

San Isidro Madrid

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Festivals and Festivities

This festivity honors Patron Saint of Madrid, San Isidro. The official date is the 15th of May, but the celebration lasts for a week and it has plenty of concerts, performances, and all  sort of activities.

On this date it is typical to go to the local shrine and to drink water from the well where the saint worked his miracles. Legend tells that this saint got to make rise water by beating the floor with his hoe, in a time of deep drought.  The second part of the story is about how this same fountain water got to heal King Felipe the Third, of a serious disease.

Dec13

Cultura Urbana

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Festivals and Festivities

Cultura Urbana is an annual festival in Madrid promoting Hip Hop culture. Ever since its first edition in 2005, it had been gaining more followers and it has rapidly been consolidated as one of the biggest outdoor festivals in Spain.

The scenery for this great festival has been changing every edition because it is becoming more and more important, attracting every year more people that need more space and new activities and concerts.

Dec13

Fiestas de la Paloma

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Festivals and Festivities

Between the 6th and 15th August, all the “madrieños” celebrate the festivity of la Paloma to commemorate the virgin of la Paloma. This virgin was elected by the locals to be the matron of the city at the beginning of the 20th century.

The 15th of August is the procession date. The virgin´s image is sat on float decorated with carnations (the most typical flower in Madrid) and taken out by local firemen, who carry her on their shoulders. During the walk, the “chulapos and chulapas” pay the virgin with the most original compliments to show off their arrogance, aspect often related to people from Madrid.

Dec13

La Almudena

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Festivals and Festivities

La Almudena is one of the Matrons of Madrid. Its history is very close to the romance between María de las Mercedes and the King Alfonso the Twelfth. This love story has been one of the most famous of the city and has been taken into the cinema.

Queen María de las Mercedes had a strong faith in virgin of la Almudena and ordered to build the current Cathedral to honor her.

Feb23

La Puerta de Alcalá

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Places and Monuments

It is one of the most emblematic monuments of the city. It has been evoked by all sorts of artists in Spain and it even has its own song.

Located really close to the city centre and in front of the main entrance of the Retiro Park, gets its name from the old path who took antique travelers out of the city walls on their way to Alcalá de Henares.

Dec14

Los Veranos de la Villa

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Festivals and Festivities

During the months of July and August, Madrid has an important cultural offer with the festival Los Veranos de la Villa. First edition was in the year 1985, in a period called La Movida (which means the move, and refers to a period of new trends in Madrid, because of the cultural life that was occurring at the time in the city.

Summer nights in Madrid become life scenery where it is possible to enjoy from traditional spectacles such as Zarzuela, Flamenco and Fados to rock, jazz, R&B or gospel.  Traditionally it has been an outdoor festival that occurs in some of the most emblematic spots of the city, but in the last years, theatres who wanted to participate in the festival have expanded the cultural opportunities during the summer in Madrid.

Dec14

Madrid, Festivals and Festivities

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Festivals and Festivities

Madrid is a lively city that offers all kind of spectacles typical of a big capital that still keeps the tradition of “the village”, as it is known. And that is because, somehow, Madrid has still a village soul that offers all the kindness of a small town. Madrid is versatile and charming, and these two features can be seen every time in the city.

From New Year´s Eve with thousands of people meeting at la Puerta del Sol to spend the last 12 seconds of the year listening the chimes while eating 12 grapes, to the next Christmas, when the city becomes a street Christmas market, Madrid offers many different leisure opportunities.

But besides its traditional festivals, Madrid is also known because of its nightlife, one of the most interesting in Spain. Every night in the year Madrid has something new to show to its visitors and locals. In Madrid it is possible to enjoy the most varied leisure in its many bars, restaurants, theatres, auditoriums and night clubs.

Dec13

San Antonio de la Florida

Categories // Madrid, Madrid Festivals and Festivities

San Antonio is one of the most important Saints for los “madrileños”. This event takes place in the borough of Moncloa-Aravaca and it is one of the most famous in the city. Its origin was in 1732, year in which the old chapel was erected.

From then on, the Saint Antonio de Padua gained popularity between people not only from the area, but in the whole Madrid. The festival takes place in June on one if the sides of the River Manzanares.