
Madrid
Madrid the capital of Spain is a fascinating city famous for its zest for life. This city is famous for its museums and for its night life. It is definitely one of those cities with mucha marcha known as the lively spirit and meaning in this sense having lots to do. With a population of just over three million it is Europe’s fourth largest city and its highest capital at 650m above sea level.
Madrid is one of the major capital of the arts. It is famous for its galleries and the museums which are among the finest in the world. Madrid is a compact city and most of the sightseeing areas are concentrated in a down town area stretching between the Royal Palace and the Parque del Retiro. The cities and sites around Madrid most notably Toledo are more important than Madrid itself and are fascinating from a historical, architecture and artistic perspective. The major cultural festivals notably the Veranos de la Villa in summer and the autumn Festival de Otono embracing film,dance, theatre and music of every descriptions is one of the famous tourist attraction which can be seen in the city of Madrid. Though the climate of Madrid is more extreme than other Sapnish locations the warm dry summers and the cool winters still allow many alfresco activities.
Among the museums and the galleries the Golden Triangle- the city’s three most important museums, all the three mueums are located near the center all within walking distance of one another forming what is known as the Golden Triangle. The Prado Museum one of the world’s greatest galleries and is Madrid’s premier tourist attraction with a higher concentration of masterpieces than any other museum in the world. There are works by Goya, El Greco and Velazquez the great Spanish painters as well as celebrated works by Bosch, Botticellu and Rubens. The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza which is famous for its collection that has been installed in chronological order to allow the visitors to take a historical walking tour of European painting from the 13 th century to the modern times. The last but not the least of the museum is the Museo of National Centre de Arte Reina Sofia which is the most individual work of art in Madrid and indeed in Spain and the rest of the collections contains works by virtually every noted Spanish artist of the century. Some of the other museums are the Museo Sorolla and the Museo de America.
Shopping is simply fabulous in the city of Madrid ranging from Spanish crafts such as ceramics, guitars and leather goods. This city is now more like Rodeo Drive famous for contemporary furniture and decorator items as well as chic clothing, shoes and jewellery. There is a fabulous range of restaurants in Madrid to suit every pocket and every taste, the city’s best restaurants specialize in Basque cooking, Numerous sea foods houses take full advantage of the abundant fish trucked in nightly from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean coasts, and also there are interesting bars and cafes where you can take a break in these places and feel the Capital’s heritage. Madrids own cuisine is based on the roasts and thick soups and stews of Castile. Roast suckling pig and lamb are standard Madrid feasts as are baby goat and chunks of beef from Avila and callos a la madrilena are fundamental local specialities.