Adventures In Madrid - A Guide To The Location Of Spain

On the Eastern part of the city you find the classy Paseo des Arte, with its beautiful foliage and three enormous museums, The Prado, the Centro de Arte de Reina Sofia, and the Thyssen Bornemisza, all clumped together just a conveniently short walk from each other. It's a tranquil neighborhood with excellent restaurants and apartment buildings and several scruffier museums providing a background for the elegance and allure of the major three. To the rear of the Prado is the luxurious length of the retiro gardens, all covered with ponds and fountains, glass pavilions and flower gardens full of roses, a beautifully shaded area to take some respite from the heat of the summer.

If your looking for tapas bars and eateries go west of Paseo del Arte. Cervantes and Lope de Vega's influences were instrumental in fashioning the area into a progressive, cultural bastion. In the past, the brothels and theatres competed with each other for business, and the place is still quite lively after dark. Standing room only crowds. It is less noisy during the daytime where the older locals lounge on benches and watch with amusement as the neighbourhood’s new population of trendy professionals take their fashionable dogs out for a stroll.

This wonderful looking plaza is the center of old Madrid. Although the vast and impressive square is now filled with tourists examining plastic covered menus at cheap cafes it was once the place where the throngs would gather to witness royalty being crowned and heretics being burned. The intertwined and curvy lanes that exit the square, and the longest living lanes in the city, a distant reminder of the history of this beautiful city. A historic classic town combining all key elements of a village including religious and musical components reflecting a slow paced lifestyle. East of this place stands the Palacio Real, an elegant sample of ornate elegance, as well as the recently renewed Opera House.

These regular working category neighborhoods are positioned indiscriminately underneath the Plaza Mayor. Renovation is clearly underway in this area, showing its own cutting edge brilliance, even though it overall appears poor and run down. People from South America and North Africa, as well as natives from Spain and young musicians that are in business for coffee shops and bars make a interesting combination The popular thing to do on a Sunday morning after the a Tapas crawl, is to visit the very popular morning flea market, El Rastro.

Gran Via is a reflection of the best of east meeting west including the modern shops and classic entertainment venues. A contrast of calm and craziness exist between night and day north of Gran Via. The hip and trendy shops and bars meshing hand in hand with the famous endless nightlife makes these places the coolest areas in Madrid to hand out in.

Swanky Salamanca, in the northeast area of the city, is made up of wide avenues with chic apartments and exquisite restaurants. As soon as you spot the Ferraris, exclusive clubs and designer boutiques, it becomes obvious that money is in no short supply in Calle Serrano. Some mansions from the nineteenth century only add to the upscale atmosphere, and the glossy towers lining the Paseo Castellano are an excellent attraction for those interested in modern architecture.

About the Author

Lucy is a writer commentating tourism and holidays, whilst working on airport transfer service on Resorthoppa on behalf of eComparison