Old Madrid
A maze of narrow streets between Palacio Real to the west and Museo del Prado to the east, from Gran Vía in the north and the Rastro market in the south.
This is the leisure center of Madrid, full of tapas bars, cafés, pubs, restaurants and hotels. Most of the interesting sights of Madrid is in this part of town, on the periphery of this part or just outside it.
Two famous squares are the center of this center, Plaza Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor, 500 meters apart.
Our first walk in Madrid will start and finish at Plaza Puerta del Sol.
Plaza Puerta del Sol
Plaza Puerta del Sol. (B2).
The geographical and factual center of Madrid. All distances in Spain are measured from this plaza. The kilometer stone of “zero” is in front of the palace of the security police on the southern side of the square. All clocks in Spain follow the clock in the tower of that palace. The square itself is surrounded with conform and cream colored houses from the 18th C.
This is the place to start from, if you want to go somewhere in the center. Madrilenos meet here at all times of the day and night, arriving by bus or metro, both of whom are centered here. The lively plaza is also the venue of protests and processions. The only relatively quiet period on the square is in the early 5-7 morning hours.
North from the square the pedestrian Preciado and Carmen lead in the direction of the fashionable shopping and traffic street of Gran Vía. Some of the best known department stores are in these pedestrian streets, El Corte Inglés and Galerias Preciados. The main leisure part of Madrid is south of the square, full of tapas bars, cafés, pubs and restaurants.
Two major streets lead west off the plaza, Mayor and Arenal. The famous Mallorquina café occupies the first floor of the building between them. Under its windows there are always some women selling lottery tickets.
Puerta del Sol lottery ticket sales
Plaza Puerta del Sol.
The old people selling tickets for the state lottery are a common sight in the streets of Madrid. There are always some vendors with a sharp tongue at the western end of Plaza Puerta del Sol.
We turn our attention upwards and look for street signs on the buildings.
Street signs
Plaza Puerta del Sol.
Beautiful ceramic tiles with street signs have been put up in most of central Madrid. We can see some of them where streets lead off Plaza Puerta del Sol.
From the west end of Plaza Puerta del Sol we walk along Arenal in the direction of the opera palace. Arriving at the second street to the right, San Martín, we turn right and take a detour to Monasterio de Descalzas Reales at a square with a corresponding name.
Descalzas Reales
Hours: Open Tuesday-Sunday 10:30-13, Tuesday-Thursday 16-18. (B2).
A 16th C. convent for daughters of noble families. It became very rich and collected paintings. It has now been converted into a museum, showing famous works by Brüghel the elder, David, Titian, Rubens and others.
In the middle of the monastery there is a courtyard with 30 chapels.
We return to Arenal and turn right, pass the opera palace, Teatro Real, from the early 19th C and arrive at the square in front of the royal palace, Plaza de Oriente.
Plaza de Oriente
Plaza de Oriente. (A2).
The statue on the plaza is of Felipe IV, King of Spain, made according to drawings by Velázquez. The popular Café de Oriente is on our left, when we enter the plaza. The Palacio Real is in front of us, on the other side of the plaza.
We can make a detour into the Sabatini gardens on the northern side of Palacio Real, with a grandiose view to the palace.
Then we walk along the palace front to arrive at the tourist entrance through the courtyard on the southern side of Palacio Real.
Palacio Real
Plaza de Oriente. Hours: Open 9:30-12:45, in summer 16-18:30, in winter 15:30-17:15. (A2).
Built in the 18th C. on the foundation of an older palace that burned down in 1734. This one has 2,800 rooms and has stayed vacant since 1931. It is now a museum, open to the public, except for an occasional reception. The main attraction is the Throne Room, probably the most decorated room in the world, clothed in gold and velvet, with a ceiling painting by Tiepolo.
The apartment of Reina Maria Christina is now a tapestry museum. The apartment of Princesa Isabel is a museum of painting, embroidery, porcelain and crystal, containing works by Goya, Bosco, Rubens, Greco and Velázquez. The library of King Felipe V is now a book and coin museum. There is also a pharmaceutic museum and a museum of armor.
There is a special entrance to a carriage museum from the gardens Campo del Moro on the western side of the palace. The view from there up to the palace is imposing.
We leave the palace, turn right into Bailén past Catedral de la Almuenda for about 150 meters until we come to Mayor, which leads back to Plaza Puerta del Sol. We turn left at this corner of Bailén and Mayor and continue on Mayor just over 200 meters to arrive at Plaza de la Villa, the old City Hall square of Madrid. We turn right into the square and have Ayuntamiento on our right.
Ayuntamiento
Plaza de la Villa. (A2).
The City Hall of Madrid, built in the middle of 17th C. in Neo-Renaissance style.
The statue in the middle of the plaza depicts Admiral Alvaro de Bazán, the Spanish hero of the naval battle of Lepanto.
Casa de Cisneros is at the far end of the plaza.
Casa de Cisneros
Plaza de la Villa. (A2).
A 16th C. palace in Neo-Gothic Plateresque style with a noticable oriel window overlooking the plaza.
It is now a tapestry museum.
Hermeroteca is at the eastern side of the square.
Hemeroteca
Plaza de la Villa. (A2).
The Moorish palace has a Neo-Gothic entrance
It is now a library of periodicals.
Torre de Los Lujanes rises at the northern end of Hermeroteca
Torre de los Lujanes
Plaza de la Villa. (A2).
A 15th C. military defense tower, the prison of Francis I after the battle of Pavia.
At the northern side of Torre de los Lujanes the Punonrostro alley leads off the plaza. We follow the curved alley all the way south to San Miguel, about 200 meters in all.
San Miguel
Sacramento. (A2).
A 18th C. Baroque church with a convex street front.
We cross San Justo in front of San Miguel and turn into Letamendi which we follow to the San Pedro tower.
San Pedro
(A3).
A 14th C. tower, one of two Moorish towers in Madrid.
We continue on San Pedro past the church south to Plaza San Andrés and the adjoining Plaza Puerta de Moros, from where we turn left into the long Cava Baja, the main restaurant street in Madrid. Near the other end of the street we turn right into Bruno and walk a short way to arrive at Toledo where Catedral de San Isidro is in front of us.
Catedral de San Isidro
Toledo. (B3).
A 17th C. church in powerful and strict Jesuit style.
San Isidro is the patron saint of Madrid. The major festival of the year is held in his honor May 8.-15. It is a festival of music and cooking, bullfights and nightlife.
We go past the cathedral to the south and turn left into Estudios and continue to Plaza de Cascorro, where the Rastro market begins.
Rastro
(A3).
The main street market of Madrid is south from Plaza de Cascorro, in the street Ribera di Curtidores and most of the adjoining streets. This is a flea market, open Saturday & Sunday 10-14. It is a lively place with some pickpockets around so you have to be careful with your valuables.
This is the oldest and most colorful part of Madrid, with lots of alleys and the thickest Madrilenos patios.
We walk back Ribera di Curtidores, Plaza de Cascorro, Estudios and Toledo to Cava Baja, turn right into that street, cross Plaza Puerta Cerrada and walk along Cuchilleros.
Cuchilleros
(A2).
The main street of good restaurants Madrid, along with its continuation in Cava Baja in the other direction.
Among the restaurants on this mile are Casa Paco and Casa Botín in this part and Schotis, Esteban and Casa Lucio in the Cava Baja part.
We continue on Cuchilleros all the way up the steps and arcade of Plaza Mayor.
Plaza Mayor
(A2).
A comfortable square, completely free of motor traffic, a chosen place to sit down at a café. This is a rectangular square built in the beginning of the 17th C. All the buildings are in the same style, all three storeys and all with an arcade on the ground floor. We can walk in the arcade around the whole square.
In the middle of the square there is a statue of Felipe III. Nine arcades lead into the square, which otherwise is closed to the outside world.
This was formerly the main square of Madrid. Sentences were passed on heretics and they were executed here. Bullfights were here and coronations of kings. Now this is the tourist center of Madrid, also popular with locals. The Tourist Board office is at no. 3.
The square is the focal point of the yearly San Isidro festival.
San Isidro á Plaza Mayor
San Isidro is the patron saint of Madrid. The major festival of the year is held in his honor May 8.-15. It is a festival of music and cooking, bullfights and nightlife. The focal point of the festival is at Plaza Mayor.
If it is Sunday morning we can observe a quaint market in the square.
Plaza Mayor stamp market
Sunday morning stamp collectors gather at Plaza Mayor to exchange, buy and sell stamps. They clutch their large albums and huddle together at small tables, absorbed in their hobby.
We leave Plaza Mayor through the west arcade at the northwestern corner of the square, pass the Mesón tapas bar and turn left into Plaza San Miguel.
Plaza San Miguel
(A2).
A beautiful and lively food market is at the 17th C. square.
We return to Plaza Mayor, cross the square diagonally and leave it to the east at the southeastern corner and walk along Gerona and Bolsa past the Foreign Ministry of Spain to the squares Plaza del Ángel and Plaza de Santa Ana.
Plaza Santa Ana
(B2).
These two squares are the center of café nightlife in Madrid. The squares are dominated by the Victoria hotel, which fronts them both.
Here are Café Central, Cerveceria Alemana, Cuevas de Sésame and La Trucha, also the restaurant El Cenador del Prado.
From Santa Ana we walk north along Principe until we come to San Jerónimo where we turn left into Plaza Puerta del Sol where we started this walk through the old center of Madrid.
New Madrid
The newer part of central Madrid covers for our purposes two avenues and their neighborhood, Gran Vía and Paseo de Recoletos and the continuation of the latter in Paseo del Prado. It includes Plaza de España in the west and the Retiro park in the east.
Most of the important museums of Madrid are in the area around Paseo del Prado. They are Museo del Prado, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia and Colección Thyssen. We will end our walk through this part of the center at these important museums.
We start at Plaza de España.
Plaza España
Plaza España. (A1).
The square is far from beautiful, surrounded by ugly buildings from the last decades. It is important for the memorial of Cervantes the writer and the statue of his characters Quixote and Sancho Panza.
We turn our attention to the memorial and statues.
Don Quixote & Sancho Panza
Plaza España. (A1).
The bronze statue of Quixote and Sancho Panza has become a symbol of Madrid, vividly showing these extreme rather than typical characters from the well of Castilian history. Quixote is the aristocratic idealist and Sancho Panza is the earthy farmer, both in a way divorced from reality, just as many Castilians want to think of themselves.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a contemporary of Shakespeare in the end of the 16th C. By writing the story of the travails of Quixote and Sancho Panza he was of the same importance to the Spanish language as Shakespeare was to the English language.
We leave the plaza at its eastern corner and walk along Gran Vía.
Gran Vía
Gran Vía. (B2).
The main tourist avenue in Madrid, lined with offices of airlines and car rentals, international thrash food restaurants and hotels. The center of Gran Vía is at Plaza de Callao, where two pedestrian streets, Preciados and Carmen lead down to Plaza Puerta del Sol, passing the main department stores of Madrid on their way, El Corte Inglés and Galerias Preciados.
A little farther to the east Gran Via joins with another traffic artery, Alcalá, which comes from Plaza Puerta del Sol. All the way to Paseo de Recoletos we are walking alongside the heavy traffic of beeping motorists.
To the south of Gran Vía is the old center of Madrid with a web of narrow alleys, lots of tapas bars, cafés and restaurants. To the north is a more recent part of the center, more frequented by young people, with louder music entering the streets from the establishments of leisure.
When we arrive at Paseo de Recoletos we observe the palatial post office on the other side.
Postes
Plaza de Cibeles. (C2).
Probably the most heavily decorated post office in the world, built in wedding-cake style at the beginning of the 20th C.
We are at Plaza de Cibeles. On the plaza there is a statue from the 18th C. depicting the goddess of fertility, Cybele, in a wagon pulled by lions.
We turn left into Paseo de Recoletos.
Paseo de Recoletos
Paseo de Recoletos. (C1).
The avenue is lined with cafés with outdoor sections on the green islands between the motor traffic lanes. Among them is an Art Nouveau glass house, belonging to Café d’Espejo. The best-known café at this stretch is Gran Café de Gijón.
When you enter the cafés the traffic noise drowns in the noise of the lively conversation. But the heavy motor traffic continues all day, all evening and far into the night.
Just before we arrive at Plaza de Cólon we pass Biblioteca Naçional, the national library.
We arrive at Plaza de Cólon.
Plaza de Cólon
Plaza de Cólon. (C1).
The plaza is dominated by a giant monument with a statue of Cólon or Colombus on top. The monument rises above fountains and a subterranean cultural center with a gallery and a theater. The entrance is at the monument.
At the back of the plaza there are monuments honoring famous Spanish explorers.
The palace to our right houses Biblioteca Naçional, facing Paseo de Recoletos, and Museo Arquelógico Naçional, the national museum of archeology, facing Serrano, open Tuesday-Sunday 9:15-13:15.
We turn our attention to the Cólon statue.
Cólon
(C1).
Columbus is a national hero of Spain, even if he was really an Italian, born in Genova. But it was Spain that was ready to finance his addiction to explorations, which enormously helped the European discovery of the Americas and made Spain for a century the major superpower on earth, amassing an empire covering most of Latin America.
It is no wonder that his memorial is a major landmark of Madrid.
We turn right into Serrano.
Serrano
Serrano. (C1).
The main fashion and antique street of Madrid, in fact the most expensive street in town, good for observing fashionable ladies walking with flourish on the pavement.
This is the Salamanca district, built by noble families in the 19th C., now a district of foreign embassies.
We continue on Serrano all the way to Plaza de la Independenzia with the Puerta de Alcalá in the center of the plaza.
Puerta de Alcalá
Plaza de la Independenzia. (C2).
A triumphal arch built according to drawings by Sabatini in the late 18th C. in memory of the investiture of Carlos III.
From the plaza we enter the northwestern corner of the Retiro park.
Retiro
(C2).
The large park is similar in size to Hyde Park in London, but much more covered in woodland. This park was laid out in the 17th C. for the summer palace of Felipe IV, converted into a public garden in the late 19th C.
We pass a marionette theater for children, fortune-tellers with Tarot cards, hot-dog stands and pickpockets.
On our left we pass lake Estanque.
Estanque
People rent pleasure boats to row around the lake.
A memorial to Alfonso XII is on the other side of the lake, designed in a wedding-cake style that is similar to the memorial of Victor Emanuel II in Rome.
We continue straight through the park, passing bridge, backgammon and chess players, excited lovers and peculiar dogs. Finally we leave the park by the southwestern corner and walk down Claudio Mayanno.
Claudio Mayanno
Claudio Mayanno. (C3).
Second-hand bookstalls line the street. The action is most interesting on Sunday morning when Madrilenos relax in the Retiro park.
We cross Plaza del Emperador Carlos V and walk a few meters southwest along Atocha and turn right into Santa Isabel where Centro de Arte Reina Sofia is at no. 52.
Centro de Arte Reina Sofia
Santa Isabel 52. (C3).
The old building is immediately recognizable by glass enclosures that have been erected around new outside elevators.
This extensive museum is similar in size to Museum Pompidou in Paris. It boasts of 20th C. Spanish masters, such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso.
The main attraction is the Guernica by Pablo Picasso.
Picasso
Santa Isabel 52. (C3).
Guernica may be the best-known work of art in the 20th C. It describes the effect of a German aircraft attack on a Basque town in the Civil War of 1936-1939. Picasso painted it for the Republican government, that Franco displaced at the end of the civil war.
The painting was returned to Spain after the death of Franco and demise of Falangism and became a symbol of Spanish democracy. It has a place of honor in Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.
We return on Santa Isabel and Atocha to Plaza del Emperador Carlos V. There we turn left along Paseo del Prado, past Jardín Botanico and Museo del Prado on the other side. At Plaza Canovás del Castilio we arrive at Palacio de Villahermosa housing Colección Thyssen.
Colección Thyssen
Plaza Canovás del Castilio. (C2).
A museum of 787 works of art collected by the Swiss millionaire Thyssen-Bornemisza and put by him into the custodianship of Spain. It opened it doors in 1992.
Opposite Palacio de Villahermosa on the other side of San Jerónimó is the Palace luxury hotel. Behind Villahermosa on San Jerónimó is Cortes Españolas, the parliament of Spain. Opposite Villahermosa on the other side of Plaza Canovás del Castilio is another luxury hotel, the Ritz.
We cross Plaza Canovás del Castilio, turn right and walk to the entrance of Museo del Prado. If there are crowds waiting to enter the main entrance, it is often easier to walk on and enter the museum from the south side, where there tend to be less crowds.
Museo del Prado
Paseo del Prado. Hours: Open Tuesday-Saturday 9-15, Sunday 9-14. (C2).
Prado is one of a handful of major art museums in the world, in the same class as the Louvre in Paris, Uffizi in Florence, National Gallery in London and National Museum of Art in Manhattan. It started as the private collection of the Spanish royal dynasty.
When browsing the museum we may notice the violent nature of many of the works of art. The paintings are more brutal and bloody than the paintings of other museums of the same stature. Destruction, death and the Devil seem to have weighed heavily on the religious minds of the extremely Catholic Habsburg dynasty of Spanish kings.
Some of the major works of Goya, El Greco, El Bosco, Raphael and Rubens decorate the walls of Prado, in addition to several other masters. The collections of Prado are so large that only a tiny fraction can be exhibited at the same time in the extensive palace. It is difficult to give directions as the placing has tended to change.
There are some important works by Goya.
Goya
Goya was a major force in the Romantic period of European painting. He lived 1746-1828, famous for his violent paintings expressing extreme feelings and abhorrence of war and its terrors.
His paintings in Prado include the two Majas, the clothed and the naked Maja, the Execution of the Rioters, and Saturnus Eating His Son.
El Greco is another major master in Prado.
El Greco
El Greco dominated the Spanish scene of painting in the Renaissance period. He lived 1541-1614, born in Crete, studied with Titian in Venice and later fled to Spain as a vehement Catholic. He is famous for his strong use of powerful colors marking the pinnacle of Renaissance art. He lived in Toledo and painted for religious patrons.
His paintings in Prado include Nobleman with a Hand on His Chest and Adoration of the Shepherds.
El Bosco is another great master in Prado.
El Bosco
El Bosco was a Dutchman, also known as Hieronymus Bosch, lived 1450-1516, a member of a fanatic group of Catholics. His weird pictures are hair-raising and surrealistic attacks on hypocrisy, greed and lust. The extremely religious King Felipe II of Spain adored them.
His paintings in Prado include Garden of Delights and Adoration of the Magi.
Velásques is another Spanish master at the Prado.
Velásques
Possibly the greatest painter in Spanish history, 1599-1660, born in Sevilla and became the court painter of the kings in Madrid.
His paintings in Prado include Maids of Honor, probably the main diamond of the museum.
Memorable paintings by other masters include the Cardinal in Red by Raphael, and the many naked and fat ladies of Rubens.
This concludes the second walk through the center of Madrid.
1996
© Jónas Kristjánsson
