Madrid Romance
Madrid, the capital city of Spain, can claim to be Europe's highest city at 2,120 feet above sea level. An exciting and fascinating city, Madrid successfully blends its colourful history with modern chic. There is also a vibrant cultural atmosphere in the city. Madrid's Museum Mile has more masterpieces per yard than anywhere else in the world, and, of course, there's Real Madrid, the most successful soccer club in history.
Why Madrid
This is Spain's headiest city, where the revelling lasts long into the night and life is seized with the teeth and both hands. Strangers quickly become friends, passion blooms in an instant, and visitors are swiftly addicted to the city's charms.
Madrid may not have the Roman origins that get city historians hot and bothered, and it may be a comparative parvenu, selected from rural obscurity to become the capital only in the second half of the 16th century, but it oozes an ebullience that rarely fails to move.
In no other European capital will you find the city centre so thronged, so late into the night, as though some unwritten law forbade sleeping before dawn. To experience Madrid is to explore its restaurants and eateries, prop up its countless bars, and be swept by the nocturnal madness of its music scene and clubs. Madrid has always been a city of immigrants and transients, and the result is an unusually open and accessible city. Ambitious programs to modernize the city are afoot, but the gatos (locals) of Madrid can rest assured that their town remains as refreshingly unlike Paris, London or Rome.
The main north south artery, Paseo de la Castellana (which turns into Paseo de los Recoletos and Paseo del Prado), connects the city's two main train stations, Chamartln and Atocha. The oldest quarters are squeezed in between Paseo del Prado (where you'll find the city's great art galleries) and the Palacio Real to die west. Midway, the barrios southeast of Puerta del Sol leading to the working-class district of Lavapies are filled with seemingly endless restaurants, bars and cafes.
A picture of Madrid wouldn't be complete without mention of the city's bullfights. Those with the machismo of Hemingway and the sensibilities of Sid Vicious can taste the blood and sand at the Plaza de Toros Monumental de Las Ventas, the world's biggesc bullfighting ring. The season kicks off in February, and there are small local corridas throughout summer and spring. The main event on the bullfighting calendar is the mid-May feria, the four weeks of bloodletting that are part of the festival of San Isidro.
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