The Gran Via Madrid

The Gran Via, main east west thoroughfare and lifeline of modern Madrid. The bustling Gran Via (Main Avenue) is a mixture of hotels, shops, theatres, nightclubs and cafes the street for strolling and window gazing. Connoisseurs of traffic jams will appreciate the nightmarish rush-hour along this busy street. Ponytailed policewomen frantically gesticulate and whistle in a doomed effort to stir the immovable traffic; drivers at their wit's end lean on their horns in sympathy and add to the cacophony. And a special bonus: in Madrid, thanks to the siesta break, the rush-hour happens not twice, but three times a day.

You can get your bearings on the Gran Via by looking up. The highest tower in sight belongs to Madrid's first rascacielos (skyscraper), the headquarters of the telephone company. La Telefonica, as it is called, sprouts antennas and parabolic reflectors.

At Plaza del Callao (named after Peru's principal port), the pedestrian traffic reaches its peak. This is the centre for department stores, cinemas, cafes and bus stops: yet only a couple of streets south of Callao's turbulence, the Convent of Descalzas Reales cling onto 16thcentury tranquillity. The institution was founded by Princess Joanna of Austria, the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and subsidized by generous patrons. In 1961, it was opened to the publicise nation al museum. Cloistered nuns of the Santa Clara order, still on the premises, stay out of sight during visiting hours. As for tourists, their first view of the convent's splendours' begins with the theatrical grand stairway. Upstairs are heavy timbered ceilings and walls covered with works of art mostly of religious or royal significance? In one hall, there are a dozen 17thcentury tapestries based on original Rubens drawings. The museum contains outstanding paintings by Titian, Brueghel the Elder, Zurbanin and Sanchez Coello. The shrine of the convent church is particularly well endowed in religious relics and jewels.

From Plaza del Callao, the Gran Via continues downhill towards the Plaza de Espana through more shopping, strolling and nightlife territory. Two controversial skyscrapers, of 26 and 34 storeys have changed the atmosphere of the plaza, a sanctuary of grass, flowers, trees and fountains. A favourite sight, especially with visiting photographers, is the Cervantes Monument. A stone sculpture honouring the author looms behind bronze statues of his immortal creations, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, astride their horse and