Things2DoSpain

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About Estartit

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Situated on the Costa Brava, Estartit is a small seaside resort on the north-east coast of Spain.
Small but perfectly formed, Estartit attracts thousands of visitors every year who come to enjoy the sun, sand and sangria, and a wealth of things to see and do on the ´Wild Coast´ of Spain.
Estartit is located in Girona province, which is part of the community of Catalonia, and the town stretches from Cala Montgó in the southern part of the Bay of Roses, to the Ter river estuary in the Bay of Pals. The town stretches 3km east to west, and includes the nearby hills of Roca Maura and Torre Moratxa.

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The Medes Islands Catalonia Spain

Just 1km offshore lies the Medes Islands, which is a world famous diving paradise made up of several uninhabited islands. These islands have been protected by Natural park status and are home to many unusual species of flora and fauna which live above and below the water line.

Tourism in the Costa Brava and in Estartit bought a large influx of visitors to the region in the 1960s, and the area continued to grow and develop into one of Spain´s most popular holiday destinations. Hotels, apartments and camp sites now surround Estartit, and this once sleepy fishing village has evolved into a lively Costa Brava resort.
Estartit is particularly popular with golfers, divers and sailors, and there are many golf courses, dive sites and sailing schools in and around the town. Estartit is 140km from Barcelona, 40km from Girona and 40km from Figueres. The nearest airport is Girona/Costa Brava Airport, which is just 50km from Estartit.

Things to do in Estartit

Most daytime activities in Estartit take place near the beachfront, and you can also take time to explore the rugged coastline close to the town, plus the old Spanish villages which are dotted around the countryside.

If you are planning a hiking, walking or cycling holiday in Spain, Estartit is the perfect place to come, and the region boasts a rich variety of landscapes, rocky coves and fertile plains. Horse riding is also a popular pastime in and around the town, and several riding centres can be found close to the town.

Catalonia golf

Catalonia is also home to some of the best golf courses in Europe, including two which are within easy reach of Estartit. The Emporda course is one of the most spectacular courses in Spain, and the club can be found between Torroella and Pals. The Golf Club of Pals is also popular, and it is set in pine forest close to the sea.

Torroella de Montgri attracts many culture vultures, and the major landmark of this town is the hilltop castle which dates back to the 13th century. The castle can be reached via a long path which starts at Carrer Fatima, and takes about an hour. The walk is worth it just for the views alone.
The town of Torroella de Montgri has narrow, old, winding streets and an impressive Gothic church which was built in the 14th century. Pals, to the south of Estartit is also a superb stopping off point for visitors who want to explore the ´real Spain.´

Estartit offers a wealth of international restaurants, including British fish and chips, Spanish paella and superb seafood, and even Chinese and Japanese restaurants. Try the Catalan restaurants for local specialities.

Estartit hotels

If you decide to stay in Estartit, you will find a wealth of hotels, apartments and camp sites in and around the town. You can find cheap hotels in Estartit, five-star luxury hotels and several guest houses and hostals to suit all tastes and budgets. Estartit is the perfect resort for a family holiday with sun, sand and sangria at reasonable prices.

Galicia things to do

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The Auditorium of Galicia is an excellent venue for concerts and exhibitions built by Spanish architect Julio Cano Laso. Guided by a pergola crafted from steel and glass, we now make our way back to the old quarter of Santiago, to be exact to Calle de San Francisco, whose entrance is preceded on the right by the monastery of the same name.

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According to tradition, the Monastery of San Francisco was founded by St Francis himself on the occasion of his pilgrimage to Santiago in the 13th century. The Neo-classical style church dates from the second half of the 18th century, whereas the monument to St Francis of Assisi, situated in the vicinity of this street was sculpted by Galician artist Asorey in the first third of the present century. Calle de San Francisco, flanked on one side by the Faculty of Medicine (erected from 1910 to 1928) and the Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos, leads us back to the Plaza del Obradoiro.

The next stage of our tour takes us down Avenida de Rajoy, a narrow street that leads off to the right of the University Vice Chancellor's Office (Rectorado de la Universidad) and which offers a marvellous view of the Cathedral. This road brings us out into EI Campo de San Clemente, from where a flight of steps leads up to Plaza de Rodrigo del Padron. Standing at the far side of this square is the Rosalia de Castro Secondary School building, erected in the early 17th century in Plateresque style, which was commissioned by Archbishop Sanclemente to house the Colegio Mayor or university residence that was to bear his name. The main facade of the school building looks out onto La Alameda, without doubt the best park to be found in Santiago.

As we walk around La Alameda, which has a perimeter of around one kilometre, we are afforded a variety of interesting perspectives of the town. Thus, for instance, from the Paseo de la Herradura (also called Paseo de los Leones), a promenade dating from 1853, there is a spectacular panorama of the old town, whilst from the Paseo de las Palmeras, a walkway featuring a monument to poet Rosalia de Castro and a fir tree planted by Eva Peron in 1947, we are greeted by a view of the southern University campus, one which takes in the Faculties of Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Pharmacy, Biology, Law, along with several Schools, three University Residences, and a series of sports complexes and other facilities. Within the grounds of La Alameda we find two churches, the 12th century Romanesque Church of Santa Susana, set amidst oak trees at the very heart of the park, and the 18thcentury Baroque Church of EI Pilar, itself lying at the edge of the park, opposite the Mendez Nunez Gardens.

Lying at a distance of between 1 and 6 kilometres from the centre of Santiago are the following points of interest: Colegiata de Sar. Founded in the first half of the 12th century, this originally Romanesque collegiate church is renowned for the leaning piers separating its nave and aisles. The inclination of these members is to be explained by the flexible nature of the clayey soil on which the church was erected. Indeed, in the 16th century part of the nave vault came tumbling down, and later on in the 18th century massive buttresses were built against the church exterior. A number of mural paintings have been discovered in the walls of the central apse (there being three apses in total) and still surviving today is one of the sides of the Romanesque cloister, the remainder of which was reconstructed in Baroque style in the 18th century. The visitor to the church can also take in a monographical museum.

The Monastery of Conjo Galicia

Former Monastery of Conjo. Having been established in the 12th century, this monastery preserves very little of its original Romanesque fabric (certain sections of the cloister), since it was completely rebuilt church and all from the 17th to the 18th century. Up until the 15th century, it was run by a community of Benedictine monks, whereupon it was taken over by Mercedarians. In the second half of the 19th century, the Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Paya y Rico arranged for a mental hospital to be set up here, one which would serve the whole of Galicia. Pazo de San Lorenzo de Trasouto. This pazo or rural ancestral home lies on the site of the former homonymous Franciscan monastery that was founded in the 13th century at the edge of an oakwood. Having undergone alterations in the 17th and 18th centuries, nowadays it belongs to the Duchess of Soma. In what was the monastery church there is an interesting retable and two beautiful sepulchres featuring 16thcentury Plateresque statues depicting figures in prayer.

Monte Pedroso. From up on top of this hill we are afforded a superb view of the whole of Santiago and its environs, our field of view stretching out as far as 30 kilometres in some directions. Monte del Gozo (Mount of Joy). This is the hill from which the pilgrims arriving at Compostela on the French Route caught their first glimpse of the town. On the occasion of the Holy Year 1993, this site was to witness the construction of the John Paull! Pastoral Centre, as well as a boarding house and a camping site to cater for pilgrims and tourists alike, the latter having a capacity for 5,000 campers. There is also an openair theatre that can hold up to 20,000 spectators. Lying in the vicinity of Monte del Gozo is the Congress and Exhibition Centre, along with several hotel establishments.

Great places to go in Santiago de Compostela Spain

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Setting off along Calle Cardenal Paya, we reach Plaza de Mazarelos, a square that in times gone by was replete with shops selling meat. Another feature of the square is the Puerta de Mazarelos, the only surviving gate of the seven that once formed part of the town walls. Looking through the gate, we can see the Convent of the Mercedarias Descalzas (Discalced Mercedarians), which was built beyond the town walls on the orders of Archbishop Giron in the second half of the 17th century. Displaying an early Baroque style, the convent facade features a beautiful group sculpture portraying the Annunciation.

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Other noteworthy elements of the square are the large building that nowadays houses the Faculty of Journalism (a mid-18th century Baroque structure commissioned by Archbishop Yermo Santiba Flez in order to serve as a Jesuit-run House of Exercises) and the memorial statue of Jose Montero RIos, the illustrious late 19thearly 20th century jurist and politician who was born here in Santiago.

Still standing in the adjacent Plaza de la Universidad is the former School of the Society of Jesus, along with the church that belonged to it. Having originally been erected in the second half of the 16th century, both were to be reconstructed in Baroque style in the 18th century and subsequently undergo Neoclassical alterations in the 19th. At present the school building houses the Faculty of History and Geography, whereas the church, which has recently been restored, is used as a venue for cultural events of a singular nature.

Next, our walk around the streets of Santiago takes us down Calle del Castro, graced by a statue of King Alfonso II (a gift from the town of Oviedo), and out into what is one of the most interesting parts of town, namely the Plaza del Mercado or Market Square, which lies between the Church of San Felix and that of San AgustIn. The origin of the Church of San Felix is to be traced back to the hermitage of Pelagius, the man who in the early 9th century saw the luminous signs revealing the location of the Apostle's tomb.

The Church of San Agustin, a mid-17th century structure, belongs to a monastery of the same name which, originally run by Augustinian friars, was later taken over by the Jesuits Architecturally speaking, the market building itself dates from the middle of the present century and was erected over a section of the old town walls. Consequently, from certain points of the market one can enjoy an interesting view from what amount to be genuine miradores or lookout posts. Among the elements encompassed by the view are:

Calle de la Virgen de la Cerca, a street running concentrically to the said wall; the 19th century Neoclassical Colegio de la Ensenanza, a school for young ladies commissioned by Archbishop Muzquiz; and, rising up in the distance, on a hillock reached by means of the narrow, steeply climbing Calle de las Trampas, the Convent of Belvis. The latter institution was founded in the early 14th century by Dona Teresa Gonzalez. Having been completely rebuilt in the 18th century, nothing remains today of its original fabric. Nevertheless, the convent has a chapel erected in honour of Our Lady of the Portal, who is greatly worshipped by the people of Santiago. Leaving Plaza del Mercado behind us, our tour takes us on around the Plazuela de San Agustin, the square lying at the feet of the church of the same name.

Next, we carry on along Rua Traviesa, where we find the late 18th century Baroque Church of Nuestra Senora del Camino, and finally come out into Rua de Casas Reales. Outstanding features of the latter are the early19th century Neoclassical Church of Las Animas, whose nine remarkable altars portray the Passion of Christ, and a series of Gothic (15th century) and Baroque houses.
Walking on up this street, we come to Plaza de Cervantes, formerly known as Bread Square owing to the fact that it once contained a number of shops selling both bread and other agricultural products. Standing on one side of the square is the Church of San Benito which, founded in the 12th century, was totally reconstructed in the course of the 18th.

Inside the church is a beautiful Gothic doorway tympanum depicting the Adoration of the Magi. Leaving Plaza de Cervantes by Calle de la Azabacheria, the street once lined with jet-craftsmen's workshops, we then turn into Calle de la Troya (second on the right), where we come across a building bearing the same name. This is Casa de la Troya, a former students' inn that provides the setting for Following the road around to the left, we come out into Calle de San Roque, a street that takes its name from the chapel and hospital founded here in the 15th century in order to invoke the protection of St Roque against epidemic diseases and to provide care for the sufferers of the latter, respectively.

Every year since then, the town of Santiago and the cathedral chapter have ceremoniously renewed their vow to the saint at the chapel, expressing their gratitude for his heavenly protection. As far as the hospital is concerned, it would appear that soon after it had come into operation thanks largely to he support of Archbishop Francisco Blanca, it became a centre dedicated to the treatment of venereal diseases, a function it served right up until the middle of this century. The hospital facade features the coat of arms of its founder and the statues of Cosme and Damian, the healing saints.

Puerta del Camino Santiago de Compostela

Skirting the Hospital of San Roque on its right is Calle de las Ruedas, a street that takes us down to the place known as Puerta del Camino, so-called because it is the site of the town wall gate through which the most important section of the Camino or Pilgrim's Route once passed, the section that has since come to be known as the Castilian or French Route. Spreading out to our left as we stand at Puerta del Camino is a group of monumental buildings. First of all, there is the Galician Centre for Contemporary Art, recently built by Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza.

Secondly, we have the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Bonaval (whose main building and church both belong to the 18th century Baroque, even though the former preserves an east end from a 14th century Gothic church). Nowadays the monastery houses the Municipal Museum (exhibiting, amongst other things, objects from the no longer existing Hospital de los Reyes Catolicos, for instance a portrait of Charles IV by Goya), the Museum of the Galician People (an ethnographical institution with rooms devoted to activities related to the sea and other traditional trades) and, in one of the church chapels, the Pantheon of industrious Galicians (holding the tombs of Rosalia de Castro, Ramon Cavanillas, Domingo Fontan, Alfredo Branas, Castelao). Finally, there is a large park which, likewise remodeled by the architect Siza, combines the former orchard belonging to the monastery of Santo Domingo with what had been the local cemetery from 1947 until the middle of this century.

We leave the above area by taking Calle de Ramon del Valle Inclan, which leads us back to Calle de San Roque. On this occasion we turn right into this road and follow it down to the end, where we find, facing each other on opposite sides of the street, the Convent of Santa Clara and that of EI Carmen. The first of these convents, lying on our right, is run by nuns of the Order of St Clare and is believed to have been founded in the 13th century by queen Violante, the wife of Alfonso X the Wise; its present-day building, however, is 18th century Baroque.

The second belongs to a community of Discalced Carmelite nuns and was itself established in 1753 by the venerable Mother Maria Antonia de Jesus. Setting off down Avenida de Coimbra, the avenue that starts right in front of the Convent of Santa Clara, we join Avenida de Juan XXIII, which is lined on either side behind large garden areas by buildings belonging to the University, the area as a whole being referred to as the northern campus (including the Faculties of Economics and Business Studies and Modern Languages, along with the School of Nursing and the Primary School Teachers' Training College). The said landscaped area, which goes under the name of Parque de Vite or Parque del Burgo de las Naciones, is commanded by a building of large dimensions partially encircled by a small artificial lake.

Santiago de Compostela places to see

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Calpilla del Santo Cristo de Burgos

This chapel was founded in the second half of the 17th century by Archbishop Pedro Carrillo y Acuna, who, being as he was from Burgos, dedicated it to the famous Santo Cristo or Blessed Christ, an image so devoutly venerated in his home town, a replica of which is seen to preside the mid 18th century main altar. The most outstanding architectural feature of the chapel is its Neoclassical portal. Next we come to two doorways, the first of which decorated in a BaroquePlateresque style leads the visitor down to the so-called Old Cathedral. The second doorway takes us up to the gallery or triforium.

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Portico de la Gloria Santiago

Regarded as a veritable masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture, this doorway was built by Master Mateo in the period spanning the years 1166 and 1188 Having been designed to serve as a porticoed entrance to the cathedral, it comprises three arches, a central one and two side ones that correspond to the cathedral nave and aisles. Dominating the central arch tympanum is the figure of Christ surrounded by the four Evangelists, each of whom can be identified by means of their respective symbols, namely the eagle (St John), the writing desk (St Matthew), the bull (St Luke) and the lion (St Mark). Appearing on either side of the latter is a group of figures in prayer representing the people of God, beneath which there are eight angels carrying the instruments of the Passion.

The tympanum is framed by an archivolt representing the 24 elders depicted here playing a series of musical instruments mentioned by St John in the Book of the Apocalypse Supporting the tympanum at its centre is a mullion in the form of a cluster of columns, the top of which is graced by a sedentary or seated image of St James the Apostle, whilst its base features a portrayal of the Tree of Jesse, that is, Christ's human and divine ancestry.

Turning our attention to the columns on either side of the central arch, we will notice, on the right, a series of sculptures depicting St Peter (holding some keys), St Paul, St James, St John (whose symbolic eagle appears at his feet), and on the left, the figures of Moses (with the tables of the Law), Isaiah, Daniel (here young and smiling) and Jeremiah. Without doubt the most noteworthy of the two side arches is the right-hand one, its tympanum featuring at its centre the heads of Our Lord the Father and the Son. Two groups of figures, one on either side of the latter, are seen to represent Heaven angels lovingly carrying the blessed in the folds of their robes and Hell horrible demons torturing the wretched damned. There are two further points of interest regarding the Portico de la Gloria.

Firstly, evidence exists supporting the view that its sculpted ensemble was in fact polychrome; and secondly, standing with its back to the Portico and leaning against the mullion, there is a statue representing none other than the artist responsible for the Doorway, Master Mateo. The latter is commonly known in Galician as santo dos croques or the saint of the knocks, owing to the fact that in ancient times the people of Santiago would bring their children here and knock their heads against the stone crafted by such an outstanding artist, in the hope that, by the magic of touch, the sheer intelligence and genius of Mateo would rub off on their offspring.

As we leave the Portico by its right-hand side arch, we come across another pair of doorways arranged symmetrically to those lying opposite that we have described above. Capilla de las Reliquias (Chapel of the Relics). This chapel is preceded by a vestibule or ante-chamber which it shares with the Chapel of San Fernando, the far wall of which contains the tombstone belonging to Bishop Theodomir of Iria, the discoverer of St James's tomb in the 9th century. The Chapel of the Relics can only be seen by looking through the windows in its doorway.

The chapel altar, built subsequent to the 1921 fire that destroyed the previous one dating from the 17th century, was fashioned from cedar wood in Neogothic style and houses a large number of reliquaries, some of which are true gems of the art of working precious metals. Capilla de San Fernando. Nowadays this chapel is one of the rooms that goes to make up the Cathedral Museum, and as such holds a number of important, valuable exhibits.

Amongst these are the processional monstrance crafted in Plateresque style by Juan de Arfe in the mid-16th century; the lavishly adorned early-18th century Baroque lunula commissioned by Archbishop Monroy in gold and gemstones; the early19th century Imperial style chalice and cruet set in gold and diamonds, a gift from Archbishop Muzquiz; along with a number of trays, Eucharist dishes, medallions (including one of St Christopher embellished with coral) and ornaments. Having thus completed our tour of the cathedral nave, and before we move on to the southern arm of the transept (the one facing Plaza de las Platerfas), we should stop awhile to appreciate the fronts of the two organs that stand opposite each other across the nave.

Being of early 18th-century Baroque style, the latter were paid for by the above-mentioned Archbishop Monroy, a great benefactor, both of the cathedral, the town and the diocese. A stroll around the wellpreserved historical centre of Santiago is a truly unforgettable experience, both as a result of the beauty of the various sights to be be held at each turn and the sheer variety of the latter, all of which form part of what is a living city.

Been founded in 1495 (1995 saw the celebration of its fifth centenary). Under the patronage of Archbishop Alonso de Fonseca, the building remained a hall of residence right up until the mid-19th century, when the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy were established here. Nowadays it is home to the University General Library. Visitors have free access to the beautiful cloister to be found inside.

We continue our tour along the Travesfa del Franco, which in turn leads us into Rua del Villar, the most important street in the old town of Santiago, comprising as it does a series of notable houses, most of which are arcaded. This street takes us on to Plaza del Toral, the northern flank of which is lined by the 18th-century Baroque palace belonging to the Marquises of Bendaria. Crowning the palace facade is a statue of the mythological figure Atlas, who is depicted bearing the universe on his shoulders. On leaving Plaza del Toral we set off down Rua Nueva, one of the most outstanding features of which being the 18thcentury Baroque Palace of the Count of Ramiranes, erected on the site previously occupied by the Colegio de San Patricio or St Patrick's College, an institution that was devoted to the education of Irish noblemen. Further along the road we come to the Church of Santa Marla Salome, a 12th century Romanesque structure that has undergone several subsequent additions and alterations.

Its porticoed facade boasts a Romanesque image of the Blessed Virgin with the Child, at the centre of the arch, and a 15thcentury Gothic group sculpture representing the Annunciation. At this point, Calle de Tras Salome leads us on into Calle las Huerfanas, a street that owes its name to the College founded in the late 16th century by Archbishop Juan de Sanclemente in order to take in the town's orphaned maidens . Dedicated to Our Lady of the Remedies, the college was rebuilt in the early 18th century by Archbishop Monroy. It has its own church, the facade of which is to be seen at the left end of the complex, as we face it.

Places to visit in Santiago de Compostela

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This square is reached along a winding lane, Transito de la Quintana, that skirts the cathedral from Plaza de la Azabacheria. Also known as Plaza de los Literarios in memory of the batallion formed by university students to help ward off the French in the Spanish War of Independence (1808), Plaza de la Quintana is arranged into two levels connected by an extremely wide flight of steps. The upper section is called Quintana de Vivos (Quintana of the Living) and the lower one Quintana de Muertos (Quintana of the Dead), owing to the fact that the latter was the town cemetery right up until the late 18th century. Lining the square on each of its sides are the following monumental structures:

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Casa de la Parra Santiago

This small Baroque-style palace, dating from the 17th century, features a flat roof, a continuous balcony supported by corbels, along with a doorway and windows decorated with motifs in the form of bunches of fruit. Up on its roof we see a large chimney typical of those fashioned in its day, finishing as it does in a kind of turret adorned with a false or blind balustrade.

Monasterio de Antealtares Santiago

This monastery ranks as the second oldest building in Santiago, having been founded immediately after the discovery of the remains of St James the Apostle, at a time when work was already underway on the basilica that Alfonso II the Chaste had ordered to be built over the saint's tomb. Ever since its foundation, the monastery has belonged to the Benedictine Order, its building having served its original purpose right up to the present day, except that is for a short period in the late 15th century, during which time its community of monks joined that of the nearby monastery of San Pinario, their place being taken by a unity of nuns.

Once inside the church one can visit the interesting Museum of Sacred Art belonging to the monastery and at the same time get to know some of the interior buildings that go to make up the monastic complex. Canonica. This arcaded building owes its name to the fact that in former times it was the institutional residence of the cathedral canons. This would also explain why it is divided up into several independent living quarters. Built in Baroque style in the 18th century, it replaced an earlier structure which, serving the same purpose, had stood on this site since the early 12th century.

Eastern facade of the Cathedral, also known as the Quintana facade. Constructed in Baroque style in the second the world-renowned Puerta Santa or Holy Door, which is only ever opened during the Holy Years. The door is opened amidst great ceremony on the 31 st December of the year before and is subsequently closed with similar pomp and circumstance on the last day of the Holy Year. The other portal, lying adjacent to the clock tower, is known as the Puerta Real or Royal Door, owing to the remarkable Spanish coat of arms presiding it.

Plaza de las Platerias Santiago

Plaza de las Platerias (Silversmiths' Square) is lined on two of its sides by the Cathedral and is flanked on the other two by the Chapter-house and the Bank of Spain, the latter dating from the middle of this century. At the centre of the lower level of the square stands a fountain, Fuente de los Caballos. Rising up above the fountain horses is an allegory of the town of Santiago in the form of the image of a woman resting on the Apostle's tomb while holding, in her right hand, the star that had signaled the spot where the saint's remains lay.

From this square we can enjoy views of two parts of the Cathedral, namely the Southern facade also known as Platerias facade and a section belonging to the cloister. The former lies on the upper level of the square and is adjoined on its right-hand side by the Clock Tower, which is also referred to as Torre de la Trinidad and Torre de Berenguela. What we have before us here is the oldest facade of the cathedral, since this was where work on the original Romanesque cathedral began in 1075. The lower level of the facade features two portals whose tympana provide a portrayal of scenes from the Life of Christ.

Thus, the left-hand tympanum depicts The Temptations of Christ in the Desert and an image of the Penance of Mary Magdalene, whereas the right-hand one shows The Capture of Christ on the Mount of Olives, Simon of Cyrene Carrying the Cross, Flagellation, The Crown of Thorns and The Adoration of the Magi.
Above the tympana is a series of sculptures, many of which were brought here from the Northern facade when the latter was replaced, as we have pointed out earlier, in the 18th century. The upper level of the facade features two windows framed by multifoil arches, the structure as a whole being crowned by a 17th century Baroque balustrade.

Inside Santiago Cathedral

Inside Santiago Cathedral St James is depicted in a seated posture in typical pilgrim's attire with a tunic and short cape; in his left hand he holds a long stick or pilgrim's staff, from which hangs a gourd for carrying water. Higher up above this silver ensemble is another statue of St James, on this occasion in polychrome wood and in a standing posture, but likewise dressed in pilgrim's clothing Flanking this statue are the images of two kings who are portrayed on their knees in prayer.

Covering the whole of the high chapel is a solid, sumptuous gilt wood baldachin or canopy supported by a series of massive angels. The canopy bears the Spanish royal coat of arms and yet another representation of the Apostle, this time on horseback, portrayed just as he is said to have appeared at the Battle of Clavijo, sowing terror amongst the Moslem forces, an image known as St James the Moorslayer.

Rising high up above the cathedral crossing is the lantern or dome. Featuring as it does a series of windows and vaults that are clearly Gothic in style, the lantern was built in the 14th century as a replacement for a previous Romanesque structure. A curious device to be seen in is the one that rests on the four corners of the crossing. This is the aisle or passage circles the high chapel. As we turn the ambulatory from the side to side, we notice on our left two passageways giving access to stairways. The first of these leads down to the crypt where the tomb of the Apostle lies, whilst the second takes us up to the camarin or little chamber where one can embrace the statue of St James that presides the high altar.

In the crypt, which was remodeled in the late 19th century and extended a few decades ago, the visitor to the cathedral can contemplate what remains of the tomb of the Apostle and his disciples. This is the very tomb that was discovered by Bishop Theodomir of Iria at the beginning of the 9th century and above which lay the altars of the three successive basilicas that were built between the 9th and the 11 th/12th centuries in order to afford protection for the said sepulchre. Through a doorway opened up at the centre of one of the walls, which is quadrilateral in plan, see an excavated chapel.

The lamp is a reminder of the captain's visit to the cathedral in 1512. Back down in the ambulatory, we come across seven chapels and the Puerta Santa or Holy Door that open out into the outward facing wall.

Capilla del Pilar Santiago

Capilla del Pilar is a 18th century Baroque chapel founded by Archbishop Monroy, whose tomb complete with praying statue and epitaph is the highlight of the wall on the Epistle side. The chapel altar is dedicated to Our Lady of the Pillar (Virgen del Pilar). The chapel is richly and profusely decorated with elements and motifs relating to the tradition of St James. Capilla de Mondragon. A 16th century Plateresque addition to the cathedral, this chapel was founded by the Mondragon family, whose coat of arms embellishes the grillwork closing off the entrance. Crafted from polychrome terracotta, the chapel retable portrays the complete scene of the Descent from the Cross (the work of Corniellis of Holland).

Capilla de San Pedro (St Peter's Chapel). This is one of the original five Romanesque chapels that graced the ambulatory. Its design is that which was shared by all but one of the said chapels, featuring, amongst other elements, a semicircular ground plan, a quadrispherical shellshaped vault and three openings. It also has an 18th century Baroque retable and the,tomb, complete with recumbent statue:of Dona Mencia de Andrade, a lady from Compostela who lived in the 16th century.

Puerta Santa or Holy Door. Having already briefly mentioned this doorway above on referring to Plaza de la Quintana, we should also point out that it was constructed in the early 16th century, following the example of the Basilica in Rome, whose own Holy Door had been opened up in the late 15th century. In what is a symbolic tradition, it is through this doorway that pilgrims enter the cathedral in Holy Years, a fact that we are reminded of by the inscription that can be read on the parchments held by the two Romanesque figures flanking the door.

These figures originally stood in the former cathedral choir, which was dismantled in the early 17th century. The inscription reads: People come from all over the world to proclaim your glory, Lord. Capilla del Salvador. Also known as the Chapel of the King of France, due to the fact that King Charles V the Wise donated it a considerable amount of money in the 14th century. Lying at the centre of the ambulatory, this chapel is Romanesque in design, but unlike the others has a quadrilateral ground plan and features two side niches at its back wall. Appearing on the capitals gracing the arch at the chapel entrance are inscriptions alluding to King Alfonso VI and Diego Pelaez, Bishop of Santiago, both of whom lived at the time this part of the cathedral was built (the late 11th century).

Awaiting us inside the chapel are a 16th century Plateresque retable and two notable tombs, namely that of the former regidoror mayor of Santiago Francisco Trevino, embedded in the lefthand wall, and the one belonging to canon Antonio Paramo y Somoza, who died in 1786 as bishop-elect of Lugo. In former times, this was where the pilgrims to Santiago would collect their compostela, the certificate presented to them by the cathedral chapter in recognition of their having completed the pilgrimage.

Capilla de Nuestra Señora la Blanca. A 13th-century Gothic addition. Standing in symmetry to that of San Pedro, it features a Baroque altar with the image of the martyr St Susan, who shares with St James the Apostle the distinction of being the patron saint of Santiago de Compostela.

St Bartholomew's Chapel Santiago de la Compostela

Likewise Romanesque in style, the distinguishing feature of this chapel is its pentagonal ground plan. Its simple 14th century Plateresque altar stands in stark contrast to the magnificent tomb that is embedded in the left wall and which, fashioned in the same style and period, houses the remains of the canon who had achieved the dignity of maestrescuela, Diego de Castilla, the great grandson of King Peter the Cruel (the tomb sculpture, crafted from Coimbra stone, a limestone, is the work of master Arnau).

Having at this point come to the end of the ambulatory, we now turn into the northern arm of the transept, the one which, leading to the Azabacherfa facade, contains the following chapels: Capilla de la Concepcion Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. This chapel is 16thcentury Plateresque. It features two altars that are separated by a door and be pointed out that the walls separating the chapels from the said staircase contain the tombs complete with recumbent statuesof Prior Juan Vidal (late 16th century) and the bishop of Orense, Alonso I (15th century). Capilla de la Comuni6n (Chapel of Communion).

This is the part of the cathedral in which the Blessed Sacrament is venerated. Dating from the 18th century and having a circular ground plan, this chapel boasts, in addition to its Rococo retable, the sepulchres of archbishops Lope de Mendoza and Bartolome Rajoy. The former archbishop was responsible for the founding, right here, of the chapel that preceded the present-day structure, which was in turn commissioned by the latter. The sculpted armorial bearings belonging to each of the said bishops appear on the lintels of the two doors leading into the chapel.

Things to do in Santiago de Compostela

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Plaza del Obradoiro: This rectangular square is the largest in Santiago and is flanked by four buildings: the Cathedral, the Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos, Rajoy Palace and the University Vice Chancellor's Offices. The Cathedral. The vast area of this square devoted to the cathedral building is in fact made up of three easily distinguishable parts, namely a central section and two side ones.

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The central section is none other than the main cathedral facade, which bears the same name as the square itself, EI Obradoiro. Built in Baroque style in the first half of the 18th century by architect Fernando de Casas y Novoa, this facade came to replace a formerly existing one and features elements to be assigned to various epochs.

Thus, the flight of steps giving access to the cathedral was erected in the 17th century and leads to what is erroneously referred to as the Old Cathedral but which in reality is a 12thcentury vaulted Romanesque style edifice, one which forms the true foundations of the Cathedral at this point. Soaring up to the left and right of the observer are the towers called Torre de la Carraca (carraca is the name given to a wooden instrument played during the Easter celebrations) and Torre de las Campanas (or Bell Tower), respectively. Standing around 70 meters tall, the towers feature a 12th century (Romanesque style) first level disguised by more recent additions, to which the two remaining levels were added in the 17th and 18th centuries (Baroque style).

The highlights of the rich ornamentation gracing this facade are, from top to bottom, the effigy of St James the Apostle (depicted in pilgrim's attire) and, underneath the latter, a star-spangled chest symbolizing the saint's tomb, on either side of which stand the images of St James' favorite disciples, Theodore and Athanasius. The part of the cathedral lying to the right of the Obradoiro facade belongs to the cloister, itself built in the 16th century in Plateresque style and featuring an impressive gallery on its upper level and a strange tower with a tiered roof reminiscent of a dovecote at the southwestern corner of the building.

The part of the cathedral complex lying to the left of the Obradoiro facade as we face it belongs to the Archbishops' Palace (Palacio de los Arzobispos), a building that stretches out beyond the square itself into the adjacent Calle de San Francisco. Featuring as it does elements erected in a variety of periods, above all the 16th, 17th and 19th centuries, the oldest part of this edifice, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries and only to be seen from the inside, is the one popularly referred to as Palacio de Gelmirez, itself a remarkable example of secular Romanesque architecture (the most noteworthy of the various buildings that go to make up the palace is what was possibly the former dining hall, its vaulted ceiling resting on a series on ribs whose weight is supported by brackets or corbels decorated with several scenes). The so-called Arco de Palacio is an archway or passage which, having been opened up right at the heart of this oldest part of the Archbishops' Palace, connects Plaza del Obradoiro with that other famous square, Plaza de Azabacherfa.

Santiago parador Spain

Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos. Since 1953 a luxury hotel belonging to the chain of Spanish paradores or state-run hotels, this building had up to that point in time been the Gran Hospital de los Reyes Catolicos, the 'hospital' or hospice founded by the Spanish monarchs in the late 15th century in order to provide accommodation and care for the pilgrims that arrived in the town. The area lying just in front of the building, marked off by a series of pillars and chains, is where in former times one could enjoy the right of asylum (no criminal taking refuge here could be apprehended by the law without the prior permission of the person in charge of the Hospital). The beautiful Plateresque facade, the work of architect and sculptor Enrique de Egas, is literally overflowing with sculpted figures (depicting Apostles, saints curing illnesses, etc,) and is flanked on either side by contemporary 16thcentury Spanish coats of arms. The balconies and windows underwent Baroque style alterations in the 18th century.

The layout of the building's interior is seen to revolve around four interconnected arcaded courtyards The two courtyards lying adjacent to the entrance, between which stands the former hospital chapel (itself featuring an interesting grille and a transept with spectacular ornamented and a graceful lantern), were built 1st decade of the 16th century.

in a Plateresque style. The 10 courtyards were built as a result sion work carried out on the in the 18th century and are e Baroque in style. the centre of each is a small shaped structure standing over a well. Nowadays, apart from still being the home to Santiago Town Council, the building houses some of the departments of the Galician Autonomous Regional Government or Xunta, along with the Council for Galician Culture (Consello da Cultura Galega).

Built in Neo-classical style according to the plans drawn up by the engineer of French origin Charles Lemaur, the structure of the palace is arranged into five sections, the central one of which, graced by a series of sturdy columns, is surmounted by a pediment featuring a sculpted portrayal of the miraculous apparition of St James the Apostle at the legendary Battle of Clavijo. This scene is likewise depicted by the equestrian statue of St James the Moorslayer that crowns the pediment. The finishing touch to the end sections is provided by segmentally curved pediments emblazoned with the coat of arms of the founder bishop.

Las Angustias de Abajo Church Santiago

From a small terrace on the northern side of the palace, the one nearest to the Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos, one can see the mid 18th century Baroque Church of Las Angustias de Abajo. (A similarly-named church, Iglesia de las Angustias de Arriba, is to be found in northeastern Santiago), Rectorado de la Universidad. (The University Vice-Chancellor's Office), Built in the mid 17th century to house one of the University's colleges, namely the Colegio Menor de San Jeronimo. This is a structure of modest appearance whose outstanding feature is the 15thcentury Neo-Romanesque portal that constitutes the only element to have been saved of the Old Hospital (also called St James) that was demolished in the 17th century.

Plaza de la Azabacheria Santiago

Moving on from the Plaza del Obradoiro we reach this square by means of the ' above mentioned passage, the Arco de Palacio. Plaza de la Azabacheria is so called in memory of the guild of jet craftsmen or azabacheros, whose workshops once lined both the square Itself and the adjoining street of the same name. Objects crafted from jet (a black colored lignite) were and still are very typical of Compostela, above all items of jewellery in which the stone either plain or carved is set in precious metal. Many shops in Santiago specialize in offering a wide range of craftsman made silver and jet jewellery, which they sell at very reasonable prices. Plaza de la Azabacheria is flanked by three extraordinary buildings: the Cathedral, whose northern facade gives onto the square; the Archbishop's Palace; and the Monastery of San Martin Pinario.

The Northern Facade of the Cathedral, also known as the Azabacherfa facade, was built in the second half of the 18th century in a style marking the transition from the Baroque to the Neoclassical. It replaced the former 12th century Romanesque structure, which we know was adorned with a large number of magnificent sculptures.

The most outstanding features of the present-day facade, apart from the coats of arms and medallions that grace it, are the statue portraying Faith attributed to the artist Gambino and, crowning the whole, the sculpture of St James the Apostle, who is depicted with two praying kings at his feet. From the said narrow little street, Calle de la Azabacheria, one can see a small belfry which, although embedded in the cathedral wall, belongs to the Church of La Corticela, an originally freestanding Romanesque building that in the course of the 17th century would be embraced by the cathedral fabric.

The building known as San Martin Pinario was a Benedictine monastery from the time of its foundation in the 9th century until the advent of ecclesiastical disentailment in 1836 that forced members of religious orders to abandon their cloisters. At a later date the edifice was reconverted to house the Council Seminary of the Santiago de Compostela Archdiocese, a function that it still serves today.

For the last few decades, San Martin Pinario has also been home to the Theological Institute, the Galician School of Social Studies and a University Hall of Residence. Spreading out as it does over an area of 20,000 square meters, the present-day building was erected in Baroque style from the 17th to the 18th century, thus replacing the former structure that stood on this site. Giving onto the Plaza de la Azabacheria is the main facade, at the centre of which a flight of steps leads up to the entrance doorway. Above the latter, arranged on successive levels, we can observe a statue of St Benedict, an impressive balcony, the coat of arms of Spain and the facade's crowning glory, a group sculpture depicting St Martin of Tours, the monastery's patron, cutting up his cloak in order to dress a poor man.

The interior of San Martin Pinario, part of which is open to visitors, boasts a superb processional cloister with a fountain at its centre, the work of architect Casas y Novoa. The building's own church, the dimensions of which surpass even those of many cathedrals and whose facade gives onto another square, namely Plaza de San Martin, is the regular venue, along with the eastern section of the complex, for important exhibitions and other cultural events.

St James and Spain

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St James the Greater became a disciple of Jesus at the same time as Peter, Andrew and his own brother John.

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It is well-known by all that upon the death of the Saviour, the Apostles, following Christ's instructions, ventured out to the four corners of the world as it was known then in order to teach the Gospel. According to tradition, St James came to the Iberian Peninsula, (in those times called Hispania), where the memory of his preaching still endures at several places, such as Viana do Castelo, Braga, Padron, Lerida and Cartagena. On the outskirts of the town of Caesar augusta (the present-day Zaragoza, Saragossa). James was visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary, who came miraculously to comfort him from Palestine, where she still lived, leaving him as a reminder of her presence a column or pillar, which is kept at the Basilica in Zaragoza.

On his return to Jerusalem, James was apprehended and beheaded. Thereupon his disciples devoutly gathered up his body and, setting off from the port of Jaffa (the present-day Haifa), headed for Iria Flavia in Hispania (a coastal town that once stood near what today is the village of Padron in Galicia), on a journey that took them across the Mediterranean, along the Strait of Gibraltar and around the coast of the Iberian Peninsula. From Iria the disciples then carried the body inland on a cart drawn by oxen which, as legend will have it, was given to them by a woman by the name of Lupa. Finally, they laid the saint's remains to rest in a funerary structure built at a place called Libredon, situated near a castro (or prehistoric fortified settlement) whose existence and location is still remembered today by one of the streets in Santiago's old quarter, namely Calle del Castro.

Once they had brought James' body to these lands, the saint's disciples set off once more on their evangelizing mission from the very tomb in which he had been buried. Two of them, Theodore and Athanasius, who in all likelihood stayed behind to serve as the first guardians of this apostolic site, would in time also be buried in this tomb, one on either side of their master.

The Tomb of St James Spain

With the passing of the centuries and the ever-changing fortunes they brought, the tomb of St James was to gradually fall into oblivion. Amongst the many specific reasons why this should happen were the various persecutions to which Rome subjected the early Christians, an oppression that was felt to a greater or lesser extent in all corners of the Empire; the Barbarian invasion of Galicia in the early 5th century; and the subsequent Moslem over-running of the region in the early 8th century. Little by little, the small funerary structure was destroyed as a result of its exposure to the elements and its ruins came to be hidden by plant cover. Indeed, the only indication that remained as to its existence was the vague memory that the local inhabitants passed on, by word of mouth, from generation to generation, namely that somewhere in Gallaecia (Galicia). at a place called Libredon, lay the relics of St James the Greater, Christ's Apostle.

In the early 9th century, a hermit by the name of Pelagius, who lived in a church dedicated to St Felix which itself was situated at Libredon, is said to have perceived, on successive nights, a series of inexplicable lights and sounds that seemed to emanate from the wood that lay nearby. Aware as he was as were so many others that this very spot was the one that allegedly concealed the tomb of St James, Pelagius hastily set off for the neighboring town of Iria Flavia, 20 kilometers away, where Theodomir, the bishop of the local diocese resided, in order to inform him of such strange happenings, which he himself believed to be miraculous signs indicating the exact location of the tomb. Thereupon, the prelate visited the site accompanied by his entourage.

Trees were felled, undergrowth cleared, unearthing a small building that lay in ruins and which comprised two levels: an upper one featuring a small altar, and a lower level or crypt in which three burials were discovered. The latter were immediately attributed to the Apostle himself (the central tomb), and to his two disciples, Theodore and Athanasius (those on either side).

On receiving the glad tidings, the King of Asturias Alfonso II the Chaste, accompanied by his noblemen, hurried here from Oviedo in order to admire the Apostle's sepulchre. The king ordered a small basilica to be erected over the site of the tomb, whereby the original altar belonging to the latter was retained. At the same time, he arranged for the foundation, on adjacent lands, of a monastery. Here, a community of twelve Benedictine monks from Oviedo led by Abbot Iidefredo were entrusted with the task of providing for and supervising the incipient veneration of the relics of St James the Apostle.

Santiago de Compostela Spain

Thus the town of Compostela was born, its first buildings being the said basilica and monastery. Its name was believed, up to a few decades ago, to have derived from the Latin Campus Stellae (Field of Stars), in memory of the miraculous lights that revealed the location of the tomb. In recent years, however, a number of other explanations for the name have come to challenge this theory.

In 1955, the excavations carried out beneath the Cathedral unearthed the tombstone belonging to Bishop Theodomir of Iria, the man who according to tradition was responsible for the discovery of St James' tomb. The finding of this tombstone has greatly reinforced the authenticity of the traditional account, both as a result of the fact that Theodomir had expressly wished to be buried near the body of the Apostle and not in Iria, his episcopal see, and because the date of his death, recorded by the inscription appearing on the tombstone as being 847, is in keeping with the general chronology that has been assigned to the great event he played such an important part in.

The Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage

Having taken the decision to undertake the pilgrimage to the tomb of St James, the unending stream of pilgrims would start their journey from the very doors of their own houses, making up their exact itinerary as they went on, in accordance with the various alternatives afforded them by the road network existing in Europe at the time. It can be said, therefore, that the generic term Pilgrims' Route to Santiago refers not to a single route but rather to a combination of possible itineraries featuring a myriad of points of departure the pilgrims' own dwellings and a common destination, namely the Apostle's sepulchre. Indeed, the only justification for the use of this term lies in the very fact that those who made their way to Compostela did so by means of the said network.

Those who journeyed along the Route with the intention of reaching Santiago were what we can call spiritual travelers, or even sacred wayfarers. Taking the above into account and in light of the wealth of cultural developments and exchanges that have taken place under the influence of the Route, in 1987 UNESCO effectively recognized this generic concept of the Pilgrims' Route to Santiago, declaring the latter to be a Primary European Cultural Itinerary.

The pilgrimage to Santiago was to receive a great impulse when, in around 1119, it was granted the so-called Jubilee or Holy Year Privilege by Pope Callistus II. A Holy Year, according to this particular privilege, is any year in which the feast day commemorating the martyrdom of St James held on the 25th July falls on a Sunday, which happens to occur every 6, 5, 6 and 11 years. Those pilgrims who in a Holy Year completed the journey to the basilica in Santiago were able to benefit from the concession of a full indulgence and obtain many other spiritual rewards.

Things to do in Estartit

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Situated on the Costa Brava, Estartit is a small seaside resort on the north-east coast of Spain.
Small but perfectly formed, Estartit attracts thousands of visitors every year who come to enjoy the sun, sand and sangria, and a wealth of things to see and do on the ´Wild Coast´ of Spain.
Estartit is located in Girona province, which is part of the community of Catalonia, and the town stretches from Cala Montgó in the southern part of the Bay of Roses, to the Ter river estuary in the Bay of Pals. The town stretches 3km east to west, and includes the nearby hills of Roca Maura and Torre Moratxa.

The Medes Islands Catalonia Spain

Just 1km offshore lies the Medes Islands, which is a world famous diving paradise made up of several uninhabited islands. These islands have been protected by Natural park status and are home to many unusual species of flora and fauna which live above and below the water line.
Tourism in the Costa Brava and in Estartit bought a large influx of visitors to the region in the 1960s, and the area continued to grow and develop into one of Spain´s most popular holiday destinations. Hotels, apartments and camp sites now surround Estartit, and this once sleepy fishing village has evolved into a lively Costa Brava resort.
Estartit is particularly popular with golfers, divers and sailors, and there are many golf courses, dive sites and sailing schools in and around the town. Estartit is 140km from Barcelona, 40km from Girona and 40km from Figueres. The nearest airport is Girona/Costa Brava Airport, which is just 50km from Estartit.

Things to do in Estartit

Most daytime activities in Estartit take place near the beachfront, and you can also take time to explore the rugged coastline close to the town, plus the old Spanish villages which are dotted around the countryside.

If you are planning a hiking, walking or cycling holiday in Spain, Estartit is the perfect place to come, and the region boasts a rich variety of landscapes, rocky coves and fertile plains. Horse riding is also a popular pastime in and around the town, and several riding centres can be found close to the town.

Catalonia golf

Catalonia is also home to some of the best golf courses in Europe, including two which are within easy reach of Estartit. The Emporda course is one of the most spectacular courses in Spain, and the club can be found between Torroella and Pals. The Golf Club of Pals is also popular, and it is set in pine forest close to the sea.

Torroella de Montgri attracts many culture vultures, and the major landmark of this town is the hilltop castle which dates back to the 13th century. The castle can be reached via a long path which starts at Carrer Fatima, and takes about an hour. The walk is worth it just for the views alone.

The town of Torroella de Montgri has narrow, old, winding streets and an impressive Gothic church which was built in the 14th century. Pals, to the south of Estartit is also a superb stopping off point for visitors who want to explore the ´real Spain.´
Estartit offers a wealth of international restaurants, including British fish and chips, Spanish paella and superb seafood, and even Chinese and Japanese restaurants. Try the Catalan restaurants for local specialities.

Estartit hotels

If you decide to stay in Estartit, you will find a wealth of hotels, apartments and camp sites in and around the town. You can find cheap hotels in Estartit, five-star luxury hotels and several guest houses and hostals to suit all tastes and budgets. Estartit is the perfect resort for a family holiday

Madrid museums

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The Reina Sofia Art Gallery Madrid

The Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, the third but no less important temple to the arts, is situated by the Paseo del Prado in what was once Madrid's general hospital. It was opened by the Spanish queen in 1988. The glass lifts on the facade offering a fine panoramic view and the changing exhibitions of contemporary art recall the Pompidou Centre in Paris, hence the popular name for the arts centre, the Sofidu.

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The permanent collection on the first floor represents a cross-section of Spanish modern art. Representative samples of works by Jose Gutierrez Solana, Julio Gonzalez, Salvador Dall, Joan Miro, Antoni Tapies are displayed here. But the centre-piece is undoubtedly Pablo Picasso's Guernica in Room 7. This huge piece measuring 8m by 3.5m (26ft by 11 ft 6in), completed in 1937, depicts the horror of the night when German pilots bombed the small Basque town of Guernica Lumo. Picasso painted the picture at the request of the Republican government for the Spanish pavilion at the Paris World Exhibition. In his will he decreed that the painting should be hung in Spain only when democratic government had been restored. On what would have been Picasso's 100th birthday, Guernica returned to Madrid.

Opposite the museum, on Glorieta del Emperador Carlos V, the train station Estacion de Atocha is a redesign, carried out in 1993 by Rafael Moneo, of a late 19th century Art Nouveau glass and cast iron construction. The lush palm garden under the vaulting of the main hall is shrouded in a tropical mist created by air humidifiers. It has become a popular meeting place and not just on cold winter days. Both the old-style Tren de las Fresas or Strawberry Train and the highspeed AVE to Andalusia leave from here.

The colonial-style Samarkanda restaurant serves modern Spanish dishes. Situated beside the imposing Ministerio de Agricultura (1897), the Museo Nacional de Etnologia recalls the greatness of Spain as a colonial power. The ethnological exhibits originate mainly from Latin America, Equatorial Guinea and the Philippines.

[t is worth taking a short detour along Calle Fuenterrabia to visit the Real Fabrica de Tapices). Felipe V founded the Royal Tapestry Factory in 1721, and Gobelin tapestries and carpets continue to be knotted by hand or woven on looms. The company is still owned by the same Flemish family the Spanish king summoned to Madrid in the 18th century. Much of the company's work today involves restoring the original tapestries, but private commissions are accepted.

Madrid transport

The cheapest way to make a sightseeing tour is on the No. 27 bus (Atocha-Plaza de Castilla), which follows almost the full length of Paseo de la Castellana. To the southeast above a memorial to Isabella of Castile is the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales II, the Natural Sciences Museum.

This sand building, dating from 1887, is fronted by a pleasing neo- Renaissance brick facade. Based around the Royal Natural History Collection founded by Fernando VI, the museum was revived in 1994 after a long period of slum ber. Geology, mineralogy, zoology and palaeontology are the main themes, with the dinosaur skeleton proving very popular among visiting school parties. Reckoned to be 1.8 million years old, the bones from the late Cenozoic period were found in Argentina in 1788 by the Dominican monk, Manuel Torres.

Madrid architecture

The Torre BBV (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya), built between 1974 and 1982, was the most controversial element because the architect, Francisco Javier Sainz de Oiza, chose for the outer skin of the I 08m (354ft) high complex a steel alloy which oxidised over time into a rusty red colour.
With 43 floors and a height of 157m (515ft) the Torre Picasso is the tallest structure in Madrid. It was built in 1988 by the Japanese architect Minoru Yamasaki, who also designed the New York Trade Center. The air-conditioning and security in this white giant made from glass and aluminium are computer-controlled. None of the 4,700 workers can enter their office without a pass.

Moda Shopping Centre and Torre Europa (with a clock incorporated into its exterior concrete supports, was designed by Miguel Oriol e Ybarra) and marks the northern edge of the AZCA complex. Despite the ambitious plans, the whole project has clearly not lived up to expectations. It was intended to be a lively meeting place for workers and shoppers, but once the offices have closed at night, the plazas become concrete deserts. Opposite rises the enormous concrete bowl of the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. Since 1947 this stadium, which holds 105,000 spectators, has been the venue for the many triumphs of Real Madrid football club.

The Puerta de Europa Madrid

On Plaza de Castilla, directly behind a huge memorial to Jose Calvo Sotelo, a Republican politician murdered by the Falangists in 1936, stand what are probably the most striking examples of contemporary Madrid architecture, the twin towers of the Puerta de Europa (also known as Torres KIO). Designed by the top American architect, Philip Johnson, and his partner, John Burgee, and opened in 1998, the 27-storey high-tech towers, clad in steel and blue glass, lean towards each other at an angle of 15°, Situated at a busy junction of two northbound arteries, the resulting 'triumphal arch' reflects the restoration of Spain's role within a united Europe.

Palacio de EI Pardo Madrid

This palace, a hunting lodge for Castilian kings since the 14th century, is situated in the northwest outskirts. Converted under Carlos III by Francisco Sabatini and later a residence for General Franco, it is now used by guests of the state. It boasts a fine collection of Gobelin tapestries.

Fundacion Infante de Orleans Madrid

A collection of historic aircraft can be seen in Hanger 2 at the Cuatro Vientos aerodrome by National Highway V to Extremadura. A highlight of the collection is the De Havilland 'Dragon Rapide' in which Franco flew from the Canary Islands to Spanish Morocco in 1936 in the early stages of the Civil War. On the first Sunday in the month about 20 vintage flying machines built in the 1920s and 1930s take to the air for a flypast.

Where to go in Madrid

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The Sorolla Museum

If you cross Paseo de Castellana at Glorieta de Emilio Castelar, you will find another arts foundation which is worth a visit. In the living rooms and studio belonging to Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923), the Museo Sorolla houses some of the Valencian Impressionist's finest works. Sorolla is best known for his beach scenes evoking images of the sea and the Mediterranean sun, in partIcular women dressed in white, children bathing in the sea, straw hats and sunlight shining through blinds. Sorolla's world, brimming with beautiful pastel tones extols the simple pleasures of life.

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The Prado Museum Madrid

Dedicated art lovers would have to set aside about a month if they wanted to do justice to the treasures amassed in the museums along Paseo del Prado. The world-famous Museo del Prado alone has more than 2,500 pieces in 120 rooms, through which 1.5 million visitors pass each year. At the beginning of the 1990s the Old Masters such as Goya and El Greco were joined by such modern luminaries as Picasso and Pollock, when the superbly equipped Thyssen Bornemisza and Reina Sofia museums, only a short walk away, opened. Despite the proximity of such top attractions, do not ignore the area around the museum. Worth a visit here are the finest station in Europe and the oldest tapestry manufacturer in Spain.
During the 17th century under the Habsburgs, Paseo del Prado was a popular meeting place and promenade.

At that time, strollers followed the bed of a stream, shaded by meadow trees (prado = meadow, pasture). Two bridges served as the ink with Buen Retiro Palace. Carlos III, justifiably described as Madnd's best mayor, laid the boulevard in its present form in 1781.Next to the general post office building stands the Cuartel General de la Armada, head-quarters of the Spanish navy.

The National Museum of Decorative Art Madrid

The National Museum of Decorative Arts collection comprises porcelain, glass, jewellery, furniture, leather, textiles and carpets from the 15th to the 19th century, thus providing a comprehensive overview of traditional Spanish domestic culture. One splendid example is the 18th century kitchen, fully fitted with azulejos from the famous Manises pottery school near Valencia.

Rising above the semi-circular Loyalty Square is a 29m (95ft) high obelisk built in memory of the two officers who died on 2 May 1808, Pedro Velarde and Luis Daoiz. To the northeast of the square, Madrid's brokers go about their daily business in the classical Bolsa de Comercio (1893), a replica of the Vienna Stock Exchange, which had opened eight years earlier.

A leftover from the now long-gone Habsburg palace quarter, the royal ballroom with its collection of 19th century Spanish art has been an annex for the Musco del Prado since 1971. Its classical facade dates from the 17th century, as do Luca Giordano's fine frescoes created at the behest of Felipe IV. Works on display here include paintings by Vicente Lopez, Raimundo de Madrazo, Joaquin Sorolla and other less wellknown representatives of Historicism, Romanticism and Impressionism.

Well-established in the second surviving wing of the Palacio del Buen Retiro, formerly known as the Salon de Reinos, is the Musco del Ejercito. The military museum's collection includes busts of long forgotten war heroes, lead soldiers and every kind of weapon from the halberd to the hand grenade. Of particular interest are swords belonging to Boabdil, the last Moorish ruler in Granada, and the reconquisra hero, EI Cid.

The Cason del Buen Retiro and Salon de Reinos and surrounding park are all that remains of the Palacio del Buen Retiro, which was completed in 1633, with a ballroom, theatre, lake and various pleasure gardens added 10 years later. The cultured Habsburg king Felipe IV, who had acceded to the throne in 1621 aged 16, charged his prime minister and favourite, Conde Duque de Olivares, with creating a better world away from the dirty, narrow passages where his long suffering subjects lived. Important battles against France, England and Holland had been lost. Catalonia and Portugal were rebelling against Spanish rule and war debts were weighing heavily on the Spanish coffers.

This mentality found expression in court theatre. The king himself loved acting. Nothing was too expensive or sophisticated for the openair stage. The Italian theatre technician, Cosimo Lotti, worked wonders. Using special devices, he enabled whole fleets to be sunk on the lake, angels and gods to fly through the air, storms and earthquakes to shake the Retiro. Actors were transformed into crystal columns; colourful reefs and waterfalls formed magical backdrops. Felipe's court poet, Pedro Calderon de la Barca, provided the addicted public with the right sort of material. His play La Vida es Sueiio or Life is a Dream depicted the world as an illusion, human existence merel y a drama. This beautiful dream lasted barely a century, as the Bourbons showed little interest in the palace. EI Buen Retiro even Louis XIV, the French king responsible for the Palace of Versailles, was impressed by it began to decay. Most of the buildings were destroyed during the War of Independence.

The Hapsburg dynasty and the Prado Museum Madrid
The Habsburg dynasty did a great service for the Museo del Prado, the unique royal collection of paintings, long before any public picture gallery existed in Madrid.

Carlos V and his son Felipe II built the first home for their collection when they acquired paintings by Titian and Bosch. Felipe IV, a dedicated patron of the arts, instructed his viceroys and court painter Velazquez to buy top-ranking works from Italy, Flanders and Spain remarkably, Spanish rulers, contrary to common practice elsewhere, never enriched their art galleries through theft or confiscation. Shortly before his death in 1665, Felipe IV decreed that no part of the collection should ever be sold. This was a principle that even the Bourbon dynasty adhered to. Indeed, after 170I they added to the collection, but unfortunately more than 500 masterpieces were lost in the serious fire at the Alcazar at Christmas in 1734. Carlos III finally ordered the construction of the Museo del Prado in 1785, although he originally wanted to keep a natural history collection there.

By 1806, work on the museum, under the direction of the architect, Juan de Villanueva, was so well advanced that Napoleon's invading troops requisitioned it as stabling. It was Fernando VII of all people, otherwise an arch-reactionary and anti-intellectual, who opened up the Prado as an art gallery in 1819.Of the 9,000 paintings, 5,000 drawings and 700 sculptures available to the museum, only about a third of them are permanently on display. The rest of the collection is gathering dust in storerooms and will continue to do so until the Prado is extended. Some 20 new rooms are due to be completed by 2003.

The works in the Prado museum are not classified according to any academic theories, but reflect the taste of Spanish monarchs from the 16th to the 19th century. It is not easy to follow a trail through the various rooms, partly because paintings are frequently moved. Holland or England, countries with which Spain has often had fraught relationships, are not well-represented, but the number and quality of works by masters such as Titian, Rubens, EI Greco, Velazquez and Goya are unsurpassed. If you only have a day, then it is recommended that you concentrate on one of these painters or on the Flemish or Venetian School.

Italian painting is represented in the rooms to the left (2 to I 0) with works by Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Giorgone and Raphael and the great Venetians, Veronese, Tintoretto and Titian. The latter was a friend of Carlos V as court painter from 1536 he painted several portraits, including Carlos V with Hound and The Emperor Carlos Vat Miihlberg. Felipe II liked commissioning poeslas, mythological scenes such as Bacchanal, Salome, Danae with Nursemaid. Nude portrayals of the beautiful Danae, painted in Titian's warm shades, were kept under lock and key until 1827 as they were thought to endanger public morals.

Spanish masters at the Prado Museum

The rest of the ground floor is reserved for Spanish masters. Jose de Ribera, known in Naples where be chose to live as La Spagnoletto (the little Spaniard), was the chief exponent of the contrasting light and dark style (tenebrismo) inspired by Caravaggio. Francisco Zurbaran, the specialist in portraits of monks (Santiago de Alcald), and the Seville painter, Bartolome Esteban Murillo (Immaculate Conception), have a presence here. If you wish to explore the ecstatic world of El Greco (Christ Carrying the Cross, The Adoration of the Shepherds), then spend some time in Rooms 8b, 9b and lOb.

Rooms 11 to 16 provide a summary of the works of Diego Velazquez the Prado has about a half of all his works. Felipe lV's court painter perfectly portrayed the glittering facade of the Golden Age. In his court scenes (Las Menifias, The Family of Felipe IV), royalty are shown flanked by dwarves, jesters and court ladies. He was not afraid of emphasising in his portraits and groups the most prominent facial feature of the ruling family, the socalled Habsburg chin. Inbreeding for political and inheritance purposes meant that the unusually large lower jaw was passed down through the generations. But that was only one consequence. The weak-minded Carlos II, the last in the line, suffered for a lifetime from chronic illnesses.

For the highlights of this unique gallery you must visit the southern section of the ground floor (Rooms 1923, 3239). In the Goya rooms, containing about 150 of his works, hang such famous masterpieces as Family of Charles IV, The Shootings of 3 May 1808, plus The Clothed Maja and The Naked Maja both probably portrayals of the Duchess of Alba, with whom it is said Goya had an affair. Works in Rococo style depicting lively country games, festive scenes and children playing (The Wine Harvest) characterise his early period, when he worked on the designs for the Gobelin tapestries in the Real Fabrica de Tapices.Goya's darkest side, shown in his later works, can be seen in the basement (Rooms 66 and 67). The 14 Pinturas Negras including Saturn Devouring One of his Sons once adorned the walls of his country house, Quinta del Sordo or Villa of the Dove. They are the images of a soul tortured by depression.

The basement is dedicated to Flemish painting. One of Felipe II's favourite painters was Hieronymus Bosch known in Spain as El Bosco who painted surreal fantasies on such subjects as temptation, sin and the Apocalypse. In Room 57 hang Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights and the Haywain triptych.

The Thyssen Bornemisza Museum Madrid

Opened in 1992, the classical Palacio de Villahermosa (19th century) was converted specially for the purpose by leading architect, Rafael Moneo. With a collection of about 800 paintings, it is one of the largest private art collections in the world. Baron Hans Heinrich ThyssenBornemisza gave the collection to Madrid in preference to a number of other European cities, when he considered that Villa Castagnola by Lake Lugano had become too small. He was clearly attracted by the proximity of his prized collection's new home to the Prado, as it filled many of the latter's gaps.

The tour through 700 years of art history begins on the second floor with medieval sacred art, and then moves on to some magnificent Renaissance portraits (Hans Holbein the Elder, Piero delia Francesca, Albrecht Durer), followed by the Italian Baroque and the Spanish Siglo de Oro (Titian, Tintoretto, Canaletto, EI Greco, de Ribera, Murillo). Some first-class landscapes by a number of French and English Romantics (Antoine Watteau, Gustave Courbet, John Constable) can be seen on the first floor.

It is difficult to surpass the Impressionist section, which contains works by Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne. Oskar Kokoschka, Edvard Munch, Emil Nolde, Egon Schiele, Lyonel Feininger, Vasily Kandinsky, Franz Marco, Otto Dix and George Grosz represent Expressionism and the New Realism. In the basement are works by modern painters such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Fernand Leger, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. Last but not least come American artists, including Edward Hopper, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. The catalogue resembles an encyclopaedia of contemporary art.

Famous places to visit in Madrid

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The Puerta de Toledo

The pretentious triumphal arch, Puerta de Toledo , was intended to celebrate the glorious achievements of Joseph Bonaparte, but because of the long construction period (1812-27), it became instead a blatant symbol for Fernando VII's rule.

More things to do Madrid

If you follow the natural gradient in the direction of the Rio Manzanares for about 500m (550yds), you will come across the Puente de Toledo , a stone bridge (1719-32) which bears the unmistakable imprint of Pedro de Ribera, the master of Madrid Baroque. Nine arches span the river and a city motorway. In between are buttresses forming semi-circular balconies.

Lavishly-decorated canopies with coats of arms and sculptures of the city's patron saint, San Isidro, and his wife mark the middle of the crossing. In 1830 Javier de Mariategui added the obelisks to both sides. Closed to traffic for years now, the bridge is very popular with strollers on summer evenings. Towering above the righthand bank of the river is a modern shrine, the black and red Estadio Vicente Estadio Calderon, where one of the top Madrid teams, Atletico Madrid, play football.

From the southern bank of the Manzanares river you can either take a 20 minute walk along the rather monotonous Paseo Quince de Mayo footpath or else take a taxi to the Cementerio de San Isidro. Dating from 1811, it is Madrid's largest cemetery. The grand mausoleums built to immortalise Madrid's aristocrats often match in pomp and splendour the fine mansions these dignitaries once inhabited. One or two local celebrities occupy tranquil spots, e.g. city historian Ramon de Mesonero Romanos or, in the neighbouring Cementerio de San Justo, the poet, Mariano Jose de Larra, and composer, Federico Chueca. The cemeteries offer fine views over the river and Madrid's western suburbs. Not far from the cemeteries stands the Ermita de San Isidro del Campo, on 15 May each year the destination for pilgrims in exuberant holiday mood. This Iomerfa is portrayed on some of Goya's paintings. Near the church is a spring, whose waters are said to have miracleworking powers. It was discovered by San Isidro while ploughing the soil. The best way to return to the Old Town is by taxi, but you might prefer to make an interesting detour via Puente de Segovia.

Places of interest Madrid

One look at a street map of Madrid will be enough to spot the main feature of the Salamanca quarter. Symmetrical residential blocks, a network of roads in a strict chequer-board pattern quite a contrast to the cramped conditions in the Lavapies or Morerfa quarters. Planned on the drawing board in the middle of the 19th century to house the aristocracy and the middle classes, Salamanca has retained its elegance.
Designer shops, expensive nightclubs and top-name fashion boutiques have taken over at street level. But art and culture are still very much in favour in the Barrio de Salamanca. The private galleries, auction houses, art foundations and special collections are well worth a tour.

If you are in Madrid for the weekend, set aside some time to visit Madrid's classical Retiro Park on Sunday - it is like a fairground.As you make your way from the Old Town to the eastern part of the new town, in Calle de Alcala you will find the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Tuesday to Friday 9am7pm, Saturday to Monday 9am2.30pm; free admission on Sunday), housed in a mansion designed by Jose Benito Churriguera (1725).

Although the Royal Academy of Fine Arts is somewhat eclipsed by the nearby Prado, it can nevertheless count among its treasures some first class works by Goya, such as his self-portrait of 1815, Madhouse and Burial of the Sardine (Room 2). Fine paintings of monks by Zurbaran are displayed in Room 3, while in Room 4 hang portraits of Felipe IV and Mariana de Austria by Velazquez. lmportant works by Rubens and van Dyck can be seen in Room 8, together with the bizarre Spring Allegory by the eccentric Milanese artist, Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

Further east, squeezed between the smart business premises and banks on Calle de Alcala, most of which date from the early 20th century, stands Iglesia de las CaIatravas . Originally dating from 1678 and designed by the Augustinian monk, Fray Lorenzo de San Nicolas, this baroque domed church was converted 200 years later to the north Italian Renaissance style. The church had previously been used as a base for the Calatrava Order of Knights, who during the reconquista had been fanatical opponents of the infidels. The impressive Baroque altarpiece is regarded as one of Jose Benito Churriguera's finest works.

Plaza de la Cibeles Madrid

Where Calle de Alcala and the broad Paseo del Prado meet is the often-congested square, Plaza de la Cibeles. At its centre stands the Cibeles Fountain, designed in the 18th century by Francesco Gutierrez. Cybele, the Greco-Roman goddess of nature and an ancient symbol of fertility from Asia Minor, is just one of the symbols for Madrid. Several grand buildings form the background for her chariot hauled by two lions.

The giant Palacio de las Comunicaciones was completed in 1917 to plans by Antonio Palacios. Madrileños refer to it ironically as Nuestra Señora de las Comunicaciones. It is not another of Madrid's churches, but the headquarters of Spain's postal service. The impressive neo-Renaissance-style building opposite houses the Banco de Espana. No less extravagant is the Palacio de Linares, which was built in the 18th century for an aristocratic family. Since 1992, the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage of discovery, it has housed the Spanish Latin American Cultural Institute, Casa de America. The elegant rooms and staircase made from the finest Carrara marble are open to the public.

On the other side of Plaza de la Cibeles stands the well-proportioned Puerta de Alcala triumphal arch. It was created in 1778 by Francisco Sabatini in Carlos Ill's preferred classical style. To the right of the gateway stands the main entrance to the Parque del Retiro. This 120 hectare (300 acre) oasis in the middle of the city once surrounded Felipe IV's summer residence, of which only a few parts have survived . In the tradition of court entertainment from that era, every weekend musicians, magicians, mime artists and puppeteers perform in the park. On summer Sundays, the street theatre performers draw huge crowds. Games of chess and dominoes are played in the shade of old trees, while the city orchestra performs a midday concert in the music pavilion.

A popular place for sunbathing and relaxing is the Monumento a Alfonso XII by the banks of the artificial lake. The semi-circular colonnade with a huge equestrian statue of the king was unveiled in 1922. Two more attractive spots are the 19th century exhibition halls, Palacio de Velazquez and Palacio de Crista!. The latter, a graceful glass palace, is now part of the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia and is currently being renovated. At the southern end of Paseo Republica de Cuba is the only monument a town has ver dedicated to the devil. The figure on the Fuente del Angel Caido depicts the expulsion of the fallen angel, Lucifer, from the Garden of Eden a neo-Baroque rendering by the sculptor, Ricardo Bellver (1885).

When madrileños gather for refreshments in one of the park's open-air cafes, the favoured drinks are granizado (crushed ice with lemon syrup) or horchata de chulas (a milky drink made with tiger nuts).

The National Archaeological Museum Madrid

The collection, established on the instructions of Isabel II, and housed in this building since 1895, consists of many priceless finds from all eras of Iberian history. In the garden to the left of the entrance is a faithful replica of the Altamira cave in Cantabria, northern Spain. The walls are covered with rock paintings from this 'Stone Age Sistine Chapel'. Prehistoric exhibits displayed in the bsement of the main block document the many cultural links between Spain, North Africa, Greece and other early civilisations from around the Mediterranean basin. The ground floor continues the journey through Spain's past. One highlight of the archaeological collection is the famous Celto-Iberian bust of the Dama de Elche (about 475BC) in Room 20. Researchers are still not sure if the figure with the ornate head wear and inscrutable smile, a high priestess, represents the goddess of death or eternal lIfe.

A cavity at the rear of the statue was used for retaInIng the ashes of dead princes.Some fine floor mosaics and a sundial from the Cadiz region and dating from the Roman era can be seen in Rooms 21 to 26. The Treasure of Guarrazar consists of a Visigoth gold crown, excavated near Toledo during the 19th century (Room 29). Impressive relics, such as a richly decorated arch from the Aljaferia Palace in Zaragoza, were left by the Moors, who expelled the Visigoths in the 8th century. The reconquista period is represented by an ivory crucifix belonging to the Castilian royal couple, Fernando I and Sanchez (11th century). There are also Romanesque and Gothic altars, column capitals and other pieces of Christian sacred art (Rooms 32 to 35).

The oldest part of the Salamanca quarter (1864-71) extends along Calle de Serrano from the Archaeological Museum to Calle Don Ramon de la Cruz. The driving force behind the ensanche, the planned expansion of the city, was the aristocratic banker and businessman, Marques Jose de Salamanca y Mayo. Sadly, his project ended in financial disaster in 1867. Initially, there were not enough takers for his luxury apartments, all of which were fitted with flushing lavatories a new phenomenon in Madrid at the time. These upmarket residences were all built to the same plan, as can be seen clearly in Calle de Serrano Nos 18 to 62. The architect Carlos Lecumberri arranged the stately rectangular blocks around a garden patio.

The Jardines del Descubrimiento at the southeast corner of the Plaza de Colon recall Christopher Columbus's voyages of discovery. Four huge stone blocks from the studio of Joaquin Vaquero (1977) represent the caravels in which the explorer set off in 1492 for the Indies. Mounted on a neo-Gothic column (1885), the Genoese aristocrat surveys the square. On its west side, hidden behind a cascade of water, is the Centro Cultural de la Villa, where an excellent programme of plays, concerts and exhibitions are staged.

Further south by the Paseo the Biblioteca Nacional adjoins the Archaeological Museum. The statues at the entrance depict Cervantes, Lope de Vega and Alfonso the Wise. In the Museo del Libro next door about 500 of the 3.5 million books, manuscripts and drawings can be viewed interactively on screens.

Also inseparably linked with Spanish literary history is the Cafe Gijon. Situated on the other side of the road, it was opened in 1888. Many of Madrid's intellectuals, from Vallecian to Dali and Bunuel, met here to exchange ideas. Until his financial ruin, the Marques de Salamanca lived in the neo-Renaissance palace opposite. It is now the headquarters of the Banco Argentaria.

If you walk northwards from Plaza de Colon past the elegant shop windows on Calle de Serrano, it is worth paying a visit to the Teatriz in Calle de Hermosilla. Top desiner Philippe Starck was invited to give the former Teatro Beatriz at No. 15 a new interior. The restaurant and tapas bar now extends across the former stage and the stalls to form a dramatic post-modern complex.

A striking example of the eclectic tastes of the early 20th century can be seen in the Byzantine/Moorish-style Iglesia Evangelica de San Jorge. Architect Agustin Ortiz de Villajos was given an equally free hand when designing Iglesia San Andres de los Flamencos (1884). The name of the church on Calle Claudio Coello recalls a hostel for Flemish pilgrims, which was situated here during the 17th century. Of particular interest inside is the St Andrew the Martyr, which is attributed to Peter Paul Rubens.

Expensive brand names from Chanel to Versace grace Calle de Jose Ortega y Gasset. Explore the garden of this renowned cultural foundation, set up in 1955 by the banker Juan March, and you will encounter sculptures by Eduardo Chillida and Eusebio Sempere. The Belgian Embassy oppo site occupies one of the quarter's finest mansions, the Palacio Rafal (1919). Calle de Juan Bravo will take you back to Calle de Serrano, passing the French neo-Baroque Palacio Amboage (1917; now the Italian Embassy) set in a spacious garden.

Museo Lazaro Galdiano Madrid

This museum in its own way is just as unconventional. Amassed in the four-storey Palacio Parque Florido, which the writer and obsessive collector Jose Lazaro Galdiano built at the end of the 19th century, is a huge collection of art treasures, ranging from clocks, miniatures, fans and jewellery to pottery, guns and furniture. Among the highlights are the paintings on the second floor, and a series of other works by Goya, a Rose Miracle by Zurbaran, the Seven Deadly Sins by Hieronymus Bosch, a Head oj Christ attributed to Leonardo da Vinci as well as paintings by Murillo, Ribera, EI Greco and may more. There are even some works by the Engl ish painters, John Constable, Thomas Gainsborough and William Turner.

Madrid attractions

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Lope de Vega's life story resembles a turbulent Baroque drama. As a youth he fled from a Jesuit college, at 15 he signed up for the war against the Portuguese and later studied theology at the University of Alcala de Henares. As a naval recruit he witnessed the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Back in Madrid he became a secretary and procurer of women for the Duke of Alba, but then took up writing, penning hundreds of plays over 40 years.

More things to do Madrid

When his second wife died, he joined the St John's Order of Knights and was ordained as a priest, even though he had a reputation as a philanderer and frequenter of brothels. In fact he was even banished from Madrid for a time. Yet the public flocked to the courtyard corrales to see his popular comedies. In later life Lope de Vega became a doctor of theology and spent his last few years in penitence, whipping himself to death at the age of 72.

Situated on the corner of Calle del Leon and Calle de las Huertas is the Real Academia de la Historia. Built in early classical style by Juan de Villanuva (1788), it houes the library of the Royal Academy of History, together With 200,000 books and many other Important manuscripts. If you follow the Calle del Leon to the north, you will Come to Calle del Prado, a street lined with many pensiones and antique shops.

The Ateneo at No. 21 plays an important part in the cultural life of Madrid. Founded in 1835, it moved to this address in 1884. Its main function is as an academy,educational centre and literary club. Before the Civil War, liberal intellectuals, progressives, freemasons and independent-minded scientists met here to discuss the arts and politics. Following the Madrid model, many branches opened up in other Spanish cities. Although Franco suppressed liberal thinking, the athenaeum still served as a forum for opposition forces. Traditional debating sessions are still held in the cafe and its lectures are open to the public.

Opening up on the other side of the junction with Calle Echegaray, named after the politician and winner of the Nobel prize for literature of 1904, Jose Echegaray (1832-1916), is the attractive Plaza Santa Ana with a memorial to Calderon (1880) in the middle. The foundation stone for the square was laid in 1610 by Jose I, otherwise known as Joseph Bonaparte.

The Reina Victoria Hotel Madrid

The impressive glass facade of the Reina Victoria hotel dates from 1919. A popular haunt with bullfighters and fans, it has lost some of its former splendour. The other end of the plaza is occupied by the Teatro Espanol . In the 16th century, theatre groups performed in what was then known as the Corral de Comedias del Principe. The present building was designed in 1802 by Juan de Villanueva. After a series of fires and recent modemisation, the theatre, where mainly classical Spanish dramas are performed, now radiates with fresh colours.

Manzanilla in Madrid

Manzanilla, the smooth dry sherry from Sanlucar de Barrameda, is the most popular drink in the Huertas quarter. For the best manzanilla in Madrid, plus delicious olive tapas, visit Taverne La Venencia, Echegaray 7.It is also worth making the detour to sample some of the tapas bars on Calle Espoz y Mina, Calle Victoria and Calle de la Cruz.

Restaurants beneath the awning in the narrow Pasaje Matheu serve paella and spicy patatas bravas. Follow Calle de las Huertas to Plaza Jacinto Benavente. This Madrid dramatist (1866-1954) received the Nobel prize for literature in 1922. Passing Teatro Calderon, a musical theatre dating from 1920, Calle Doctor Cortew leads to Plaza Tirso de Molina. A memorial remembers the monk and Mercedarian Order missionary, whose Seducer of Seville (1617) introduced into literature the hero-villain Don Juan, a libertine whom Tirso derived from popular legends but recreated with originality.

Lavapies Madrid

Take a tour through the barrios bajos, the low lying areas next to the south of the Old Town. Its name, once in common use, was not a reflection of the quarter's geographic allocation down by the Rio Manzanares, but much more to do with its social composition. Lavapies might initially seem a rather rundown quarter but behind the rather scruffy faade lies a closelyknit community imbued with a genuine madrileño atmosphere. Virtually nowhere else in the capital will outsiders get into conversation with the locals so easily, no other district has so many old fashioned shops and bodegas. Immigrants from north Africa, Latin America and the Orient bring some exotic touches to a quarter that has an almost provincial feel. Added to this contrasting mix is EI Rastro, a flea market, where on Sunday everything from pure junk to antiques and colourful cage birds are traded.

As soon as you emerge from the Anton Martin metro station, you will find yourself among the crowds that throng around the market in the narrow Pasaje Don.Descending steeply to the south from Calle de la Magdalena is Calle del Ave Maria. It crosses narrow lanes such as Calle del Olmo (Street of Elms) and Calle de Tres Peces (Street of the Three Fish), whose names refer to anecdotes about the neighbourhood. A tale is often told, for example, about Calle de Cabeza (Street of the Head). A well to do priest, who once lived here, was the victim of a mugger.

To avoid leaving any evidence, the robber cut off the priest's head. Years later, after the murderer had bought a lamb's head at the butcher's, curious neighbours wanted to know what was wrapped in the bloody cloth. Unsuspectingly, the murderer opened it and came face to face with the fixed gaze of the dead priest. Close to madness, the rogue confessed to the murder and soon lost his own head on the executioner's block. Later on, the bundle was examined, only to reveal the lamb's head.

The traditional Nuevo Cafe Barbieri is a meeting place for the district's alternative scene. The name Plaza de Lavapies and the quarter it serves probably derives from the Hebrew. Avapies means something like 'place of the Jews' , but where the 'I' came from has never been fully explained. Nothing remains of the Sephardic culture, as in 1492 the Catholic Kings forced all Spanish Jews to either convert to Catholicism or leave the country. The modest Iglesia de San Lorenzo in Calle de la Fe (Street of Faith) now occupies the spot where the synagogue once stood. Known for many years as the church that served the city's poor, it is also referred to as the Iglesia de las Pulgas or Church of Fleas.To get a better feel for the atmosphere in the quarter, walk a few yards to the north.

Greying houses with colourful pot plants, washing hanging on tiny balconies, clearance shops, vegetable stalls and simple bars line the street. The people all know each other and always have time for a quick chat. Licoreria EI Madroño in Calle Caravaca sells a liqueur and pastries made from the fruit of the strawberry tree - something of a rarity in modern Madrid.

There is another unusual sight in Calle Meson de Parades. The Iglesia del Convento de las Escuelas Pias de San Fernando , a monastery church built in the 18th century, was like many other institutions belonging to the reactionary Catholic Church, plundered by anarchists and burnt to the ground at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Franco insisted that the ruins be left to stand as a reminder of 'leftwing dangers'. Surrounding the broad square in front of the shattered walls (with a statue of the Mexican cholis composer Agustin Lara) are the tenement blocks typical of the barrios bajos.

The best example of one of these, Corrala is to be seen diagonally opposite on the other side of Calle Meson de Parades. A characteristic feature of these multistorey flats, built in Andalusian style, are the wooden decks, which provide access to the narrow dwellings. This block was built in 1839 and last renovated in 1979. If you are in Madrid for the summer festival, then you must take the opportunity to watch one of the evocative zarzuela performances in La Corral's courtyard.

San Cayetano, the patron of the Theatine Order church, is also the patron saint of Lavapies. He is remembered on 7 August when the surrounding streets vibrate with music and dancing. To mark the beginning of the festivities, a procession winds through the quarter, with residents bearing a statue of the saint at the head.

If it is time for food or refreshments, return to Calle Meson de Parades. Hidden behind No. 13 is one of the oldest and most unusual bars in Madrid, the Taberna de Antonio Sanchez . Opened in 1830, it was initially owned by the picador (the horseman who goads the bull), Colita, but was later taken over by the well known matador, Antonio Sanchez. When an accident forced him to give up his glorious career in the arena, he devoted himself to his small bar. He lovingly decorated it with bullfighting memorabilia, some of his own pictures and two bulls' heads. Literary figures such as Miguel de Unamuno and Ramon Maria del ValleInclan were regular guests. Nowadays it is not just curious tourists who come to the galvanised bar to sample a fine Valdepeñas or a rabo de loro (braised tail of bull).

EI Rastro Madrid

Spain's most colourful and most famous flea market, is held. The best starting point for visitors wishing to experience the full spectacle is Plaza de Cascorro. Where now an astonishing range of junk, clothing, books and antiques can, on a good day, attract up to 300,000 visitors, there was during the Middle Ages a district for butchers and tanners. The word rastro literally translated means 'trail', i.e. of blood left behind on the streets.

The tradition of selling secondhand goods of every kind goes back to the 18th century, but do not imagine that you will pick up a genuine Goya for a song, as the 3,000 or so dealers here know their trade. In any event, the range of goods on sale has changed considerably in recent years. Instead of curios and bric-a-brac, many of today's offerings are cheap goods, mainly clothing, CDs, jewellery and toys imported from the Far East. Even so, if you keep your eyes open, you may well pick up a bargain. Tourists must be on their guard against thieves here. Cameras, wallets and handbags are their usual targets.

What may at first glance seem like a chaotic collection of street traders, on closer inspection turns out to be organised in an orderly fashion. You will discover this for yourself, if you follow the main artery, Ribera de Curtidores, downhill and explore the small side alleys. Genuine junk is laid out in Calle Mira el RIo Bajo, while clothes and shoes are offered for sale around Plaza General Vara del Rey. Specialists in old furniture and household goods are based in Calle Carlos Arniches, while oil paintings of dubious quality the Spanish seem to go for windmills and blazing-eyed women wearing Carmen costume are sold in Calle San Cayetano. Plaza del Campillo del Mundo Nuevo is the place for bookworms to browse.

A Sunday ritual for many madrileños is to breakfast on churros con chocolate in one of the many bars beside EI Rastro and then to prepare for siesta time with wine and tapas. If you cannot make the Sunday market, it is still worth making a tour of the district during the week as many small retailers line Ribera de Curtidores. There are shops in the former fish market at the southern end of Calle de Toledo which sell antiques in a far more elegant setting, namely the modernised Mercado Puerta de Toledo.

Madrid monuments and things to see

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Calle Libertad, where a number of traditional Madrid restaurants are clustered, leads to the attractive Plaza de Chueca, a square named after the famous paso doble composer, Federico Chueca (1846-1908). During the day it is a meeting place for local residents, at night the plaza becomes a popular rendezvous. If you feel in the mood for a glass of wine, then do try the Bodega de Angel Sierra, which has been in existence since 1908. With its mahogany panelling and old tiles, it is almost a museum piece in itself.

More things to do Madrid

Only a few blocks to the northeast is the Iglesia de las Salesas Reales. This church stands overlooking the square of the same name. Sometimes referred to as the Iglesia de Santa Barbara, it was built between 1749 and 1758 for Fernando VI's wife, Barbara de Bragana, who had made herself very unpopular with the people because of her extravagant tastes. She chose the French Salesian Order to run the church and convent. Very little remained of the monastery after a serious fire in 1915. The reconstruction on Plaza de la Villa de Paris is now used by the Ministry of Justice.

Designed by the Parisian architect, Franois Carlier, the richly-decorated late Baroque interior has clear French influences. Frescoes by Gonzalez Gutierrez and paintings by Francesco de Mura have transformed the dome and altar into a Rococo gem, making it a popular venue for weddings. The most extravagant pieces are the tombstones of the royal couple, who unusually chose their own church as their last resting place. Most kings and queens are buried at EI Escorial.

The Casa Palacio Longoria

On the corner of Calle Fernando VI and Calle Pelayo you will come across one of the rare examples of Spanish Art Nouveau. The Casa Palacio Longoria was built in 1902 by the Catalan, Josep Grases Riera, for a banker by the name of Longoria. The building with its characteristic flowing forms is now used by the Spanish Writers' Guild.

Travesia de San Mateo crosses Calle de Hortaleza and then joins Calle de San Mateu, where it is worth seeking out the Museo Romantico at No. 13 (Tuesday to Saturday 9am-3pm, Sunday and public holidays, 10am-1,45pm; free admission on Sunday). Until 1924 this classical mansion belonged to Marques de VegaInclan, the founder of the Paradores hotel chain. Visitors can admire period furniture, pottery and paintings, mostly from the 19th century, and also Francisco de Goya's St Gregory the Great (1794). The former ballroom used to be the haunt of Spanish Romantic poets, actors and Bohemians. There is even the chair on which the poet and founder of the liberal Ateneo cultural society , Mariano Jose de Larra, 'El Figaro' (1809-37), shot himself after being rejected in love.

Municipal Museum Madrid

The Museo Municipal in nearby Calle de Fuencarral is worth a visit if only for its richly decorated baroque portal, designed in 1726 by Pedro de Ribera. The former Hospicio de San Fernando, founded in 1674 by Maria of Austria, has since 1929 housed an interesting collection relating to the history of Madrid.

Exhibits include countless artefacts, works of art and historic maps and models, all tracing the development of the city from the Stone Age to the present day. Of all the paintings in the museum it is probably Goya's ALegorfa de La Villa de Madrid (1810) which deserves most attention. The studies used by the writer, Ramon Gomez de la Serna (1888-1963), and the historian Ramon de Mesonero Romanos (1803-82), also founder of the adjoining municipal library, have been recreated here.

A simple brick gateway, all that is left of the Monteleon barracks where the rebels held out to the bitter end, serves as a reminder of the bloody uprising of 2 May 1808. The memorial in front of the gateway represents the leader of the resistance movement, Daoiz y Velarde. The Madrileños, who had fought Napoleon's troops under General Murat with kitchen knives and pitchforks, had no chance. Among the 1,500 civilians who lost their lives in the street battles was a brave young woman by the name of Manuela Malasaña. The quarter now bears her name.

The day's activities on this spacious square are split into two halves. During daylight hours it belongs to the residents of the district but after sunset it is taken over by punkis, rockeros, girlies and members of all the other young people's tribus (tribes). On summer weekends the squares between Glorieta de Bilbao and Calle San Vicente Ferrer and the surrounding roads are besieged by Madrid's burgeoning youth culture and the whole area becomes an open air event.

The Malasaña Quarter Madrid

If you look around you in the Malasaña quarter, you will discover many attractive shop facades with tiled pictures and enamel plates, such as on the corner of San Andres and San Vicente Ferrer, the Laboratorio Juanse chemist Lahora, (since 1892) and Antigua Hueveria. The latter, formerly an egg shop, is now a restaurant. On the south side of the plaza by Calle Dos de Mayo stands Iglesia de los Santos Justo y Pastor 6, also known as Iglesia de las Maravillas (Church of the Miracles). This house of prayer was once part of a Carmelite monastery demolished in the 19th century. Its alternative name, which at times is applied to the whole of the Malasaña district, refers to the apparently miracle-performing Madonna figure on the Baroque high altar.

A convent survives on the corner of Calle de San Iglesia, Bernardo and Calle Daoiz. At the Convento de las Salesas Nuevas , dating from 1798, nuns continue to sell homemade pastries. During the 19th century when many monateries were secularised, the city authorities unceremoniously changed a place of prayer into a penal institution. Until 1920, it was used as La Galera women's prison. The main facade with its huge Rococo tower by Pedro de Ribera (1704) looks strangely lopsided as the planned twin tower was never completed.

Calle de Quinones leads up to the attractive Plaza de Comendadoras. On the right is the large convent of the Order of Santiago. In their church, Iglesia de Comendadoras de Santiago (17th century), an image of St James as the killer of Moors (Santiago matamoras) serves as a reminder of the important part this order of knights played during the reconquista. The colours of the Order of Santiago placed under the dome of the church bear the names of the historic battles waged agaInst the Moors.

Madrid Palacio de Liria Ventura Rodriguez

Palacio de Liria Ventura Rodriguez designed the Baroque Palacio de Liria (entrance Princesa 20) in 1780. The imposing structure set in gardens is the property of the Alba famIly. A valuable art collection belonging to the family is displayed in sumptuous palace rooms, including works by EI Greco, Rembrandt and Velazquez. Visits only by prior appoIntment.

When making your way back to the Gran Via you can either follow Calle de la Princesa via Plaza de Espana or take Calle de San Bernardo past some fine mansions. The assembly for the Comunidad de Madrid meets in the Old University , while in Palacio Bauer, built in 1744 for envoys from the Rothschild bank, the Madrid Conservatory trains aspiring musicians and singrs (corner of Calle del Pez). Farmacia Delueze at No. 39 is a delightful 19th century chemist's shop.

The Plaza Santa Ana Madrid

The Plaza Santa Ana in the heart of Huertas, to give the 'genius quarter' its correct name, is one of the most popular squares with Madrid's late night revellers, and a closer look at the names of the narrow alleys and lanes around here provides the clue to the 'genius' tag. Many of the 'greats' from the Siglo de Oro, like Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, once lived here.

Set out from Puerta del Sol (Metro) eastwards along Carrera de San Jeronimo. Sample a glass of sherry at the bar or better still a clear soup or calda from the silver samovar. You do not have to choose from the sophisticated menu in the elegant restaurant.

The political hub of democratic Spain is located by Plaza de las Cortes. The neoclassical Congreso de los Diputados begun in 1843 by Narciso Pascual y Colomer, houses the assembly hall for the lower chamber. The building is fronted by six Corinthian columns below a marble relief and flanked by two bronze lions cast from cannons captured during the Moroccan war of 1860. Extended in 1994, it closely resembles an ancient temple. The portal beneath the columns is only opened for special occasions at the behest of the king. History was written on 23 February 1981 when Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero of the Civil Guard stepped up on to the podium and started firing wildly as the prelude to a coup d'etat. His failure was seen as proof that democracy had taken a firm foothold in Spain.

Note the colour-coded seating in the assembly: blue for ministers and red for MPs. Opposite the parliament building by a grassy plaza, a bronze statue by Antonio Sola (1835) honours Cervantes. The view from here along the gentle downhill slope of Carrera de San Jeronimo extends as far as Paseo del Prado, with its Neptune fountain, illuminated at night, and the Iglesia San Geronimo el Real in the background.

Madrid places to go

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The viewing terrace at Plaza de la Armeria affords a magnificent panoramic view of the former royal hunting grounds, Casa de Campo. Dominating the view from the palace entrance is the new cathedral for the Madrid and Alcahi diocese, La Catedral de Santa Maria de la Almudena . Displaying a variety of styles including neoGothic and classical, it was finally consecrated by the Pope in 1993 more than 100 years after the foundation stone was laid. According to legend, the heroes of the reconquista found an image of the patron saint, La Virgen de laAlmudena, in the walls of the medina and took this as a sign from God. Archaeologists have unearthed remnants of the ramparts on Cuesta de la Vega behind the church.

More things to do Madrid

If you follow Calle Bailen for about I kilometre to the north, you will pass on the right hand side the Spanish Senate Building (begun in 1845 but with recent extensions) before taking an underpass to Plaza de Espana. Standing in the middle of a small park with gnarled olive trees is the muchphotographed memorial to Cervantes, the result of a sculptors' competition in 1915. The writer appears sitting under a globe with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza riding off towards La Mancha.

The 107m (350ft) high Edificio Espana was built under General Franco between 1947 and 1953 as a way of demonstrating to the world that Spain was thriving despite his isolationist policies. At the same time opponents of the regime were disappearing into prison cells and poverty was widespread in the provinces. The architects of the red and white colossus, Julian and Joaquin Otamendi, were, they claim, influenced by Madrid Baroque. Torre de Madrid, by the same architects, was the first Spanish skyscraper. Completed in 1957 with air conditioning, it reaches a height of 124m (406ft).

On Calle San Leonardo in the shadow of these concrete giants lies an oftenignored little gem. The Iglesia de San Marcos is one of the finest works by the Madrid Baroque architect Ventura Rodriguez, who also designed the extravagant altarpiece. The church was built between 1749 and 1753 to commemorate the victory of Felipe V over Archduke Karl of Austria at Almansa, a decisive battle for the Bourbons in the Spanish War of Succession.

The artistic highlight is EI Greco's The Ecstasy of St Francis of Assisi (in the chapel). No less impressive, however, are works by Titian, Tintoretto and Alonso Cano in the Galerfa de Pintura. Of all the many grand rooms, the ballroom is undoubtedly the finest.

Situated on high ground on the other side of Calle de Ferraz stands a monument with an unusual past. The Templo Temple de Debod comes from southern Egypt and is, without doubt, the oldest structure in the city. Constructed on the banks of the Nile around 200BC in honour of the Egyptian god, Amon, it would have disappeared under floodwater when the Aswan dam was completed. However, the Egyptian government presented it to Spain in 1968 as a gesture of thanks to the Spanish engineers involved in the dam project. The surrounding hills which today form the Parque del Oeste witnessed a tragic episode in the history of Madrid. It was here on 3 May 1808 that Napoleon's soldiers massacred the rebellious madrileños. The terrible events of that day are documented in one of Goya's most famous paintings.

Ermita de San Antonio de Florida Madrid

Pass through La Rosaleda rose garden, carry on downhill through the park towards the Rio Manzanares and then cross the footbridge over the railway tracks into Principe Pio station. To the right on the other side between the railway lines and the river lies the modest chapel of Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida built in 1798 by Juan de Villanueva. It took Francisco de Goya only five months to complete the magnificent frescoes inside the dome depicting the miracle of San Antonio de Padua.

The monk proves the innocence of his father, falsely accused of murder, by successfully raising the victim from the dead. The bright colours, the free composition and the treatment of the theme as a carnival-like scene go way beyond what was expected of sacred art at that time and helped to raise Goya's profile at the vanguard of contemporary art. The mortal remains of the master were moved to the Ermita from Bordeaux in 1919, hence its alternative title, the Panteon de Goya.

Moncloa Madrid

You can either walk northwards for 1.5km Oust along shady Paseo del Pintor Rosales and Paseo de Moret or take the Metro from Arguelles station. Plaza de Moncloa is dominated by the austere Cuartal del Ejercito del Aire, headquarters of the Spanish air force, a totalitarian-stye structure typical of the Franco era. On the other side of the Arco de la Victoria (1956), built by the dictator to celebrate his victory over republican forces, towers the futuristic Faro de Moncloa. The view from the 300ft high terrace extends across the city, with the university campus (Ciudad Universitaria) and Palacio de la Moncloa, the prime minister's residence, below.

The America Museum Madrid

This museum houses a modrn-style arrangement of exhibits, most of which were brought back to Europe by the early explorers of the New World. The emphasis is on the culture of Latin America. Prized pieces include the Treasure ofthe Quimbayas from Columbia and the Mayan Codice Trocortesiano (AD 1250-1500) from Mexico.

Casa de Campo Madrid

The former royal hunting grounds are sometimes described as the city's lungs. On summer weekends, madrileños flock in their thousands to the I ,700 hectare (4,000 acre) park to the west of the Rio Manzanares. Among its attractions are a funfair, a swimming pool, a zoo and an artificial lake with boat hire. The Casa de Campo can be reached via a cable car (teleferico) from the Parque de la Montana or explored along a 25km (16 mile) road network. Daytrippers arrive laden with cool-boxes and bottles of wine. The children are left to play, while the grown-ups play cards, pelota or badminton, read the Sunday papers or listen to the football commentary on the radio. Some chase around on their mountain bikes or don their walking shoes. Away from the cable car station and the car parks, the meseta woodland of pines, cork oaks and strawberry trees is remarkably quiet, even though the city skyline seems only a stone's throwaway. That nature suffers from such invasions is only evident the next day.

Fifteen attendants are not enough to clear up a weekend's litter. To slow down the soil erosion caused by too many cars, cycles and walkers, the authorities plant 5,000 trees a year.
Environmentalists demand restrictions on car use in the park, but their calls remain unheeded. Cable car from Paseo de Pinto Rosales/Calle Marques de Urquijo; Metro: Arguelles.

The Gran Via Madrid

What is the difference between a city and a world-ranking capital? The answer is quite straightforward: a wide boulevard, ideally one that is both grand and elegant. Madrid's city fathers, certainly not accustomed to doing things by halves, decided in 1910 to cut a swathe through the northern half of the city centre. The Gran Via was designed on the drawing board by architects with the aim of bringing to the city flair and grandeur on a par with anything seen in Paris or New York.This thoroughfare has now become fully integrated into the architectural landscape of the city; it has even developed a glossy sheen. Many of the magnificent buildings erected early in the 20th century look almost decorative compared to some of the more recent examples of monumental architecture.

A world of quite different dimensions exists only a few yards from the 'main road'. The intimate aura of old Madrid lives on in the barrios of Malasana and Chueca. Even in the early hours of the morning, the atmosphere in the narrow lanes remains lively as Madrid's legendary all night party-goers prepare to see in the dawn. The western section of Gran Via between Plaza de Espana (Metro) and Calle de San Bernardo is lined with faceless multi-storey blocks built during the 1930s and 1940s and of interest more for their size than their beauty. Restaurants, shoe shops and fashion retailers have taken over at street level.

Calle de los Libreros on the north side is a favourite haunt of book collectors. There are several antiquarian booksellers (e.g. La Felipa at no 16) and some shops sell books at discount prices. From Plaza de Callao, where Calle Preciados and Calle del Carmen branch off to the south, the scenery changes dramatically. Cinemas like the Callao, Capitol and Palacio de la Musica (with 2,000 seats the largest cinema in Spain) attract movie fans to see the latest box office success with hand-painted posters.

The dimensions of the Telefonica building on Calle de Fuencarral outstrip all its neighbours. It was built for the Spanish telephone company at the end of the 1920s to plans by the American architect, Louis Week, but with a hint of Madrid Baroque to suit Spanish tastes. At that time it was the highest building in Europe (89m/292ft). During the Spanish Civil War republicans and anarchists used it as their headquarters. The Museo de la Fundacion Arte y Tecnologia, Telefonica's arts foundation, keeps a fine collection of works by contemporary Spanish artists.

When the building workers finally withdrew from the Gran Via in the 1950s, the town planners were able to take stock. Some 14 old-town lanes and 311 houses had been demolished and 44 empty sites concreted over. The demolition teams only spared churches, which explains why the boulevard is not perfectly straight. One example is the Oratorio del Caballero de Gracia (entrance at Calle Caballero de Gracia 5). It was designed in 1799 by Juan de Villanueva and built on the foundations of a 17thcentury monastery. The rear facade stands out as an alien among the phalanx of office blocks along Gran Via. The bar in the Museo Chicote (No. 12) is a good place to stop off for a drink, perhaps an exotic cocktail. During the Spanish Civil War, the writer Ernest Hemingway was a regular guest here.

A private collection of timepieces in the Museo del Reloj Grassy can be viewed during business hours at Edificio Grassy (Nos 13). Since the 1950s the building has been associated with the highclass jewellery shop that occupies the ground floor. On the corner with Calle de Alcala stands the Edilicio Metropolis. Built in 1905 by Luis Esteve, its dome and winged goddess of war make a photogenic landmark to conclude this stroll along Gran Via.

Take Calle del Barquillo northwards to find Plaza del Rey 6). The monument at its centre was designed by Mariano Benlliure in 1891 and shows the heroic Teniente Ruiz as, with sword drawn, he gives the order to attack during the uprising against Napoleon on 2 May 1808. Along the west side of the square lies the Casa de las Siete Chimeneas, named after its seven chimneys. This Renaissance palace, built in 1577, is now the home of the Spanish Ministry of Culture. A gruesome tale is told about the house; it is said that Felipe II built it for one of his mistresses, who later met a mysterious death. No trace of her body was found and her troubled soul continued to haunt the property. Peace was only restored when, during renovation work, a female skeleton together with coins dating from the time of Felipe II were found in the cellar.

A sightseeing tour of Madrid

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The atmospheric Plaza de la Paja was during the Middle Ages the market for cattle feed and straw (Spanish: paja). Further south lie three interlinked squares. As the name suggests, Plaza Puerta de Moros recalls the former Moorish town gate which once stood here. Plaza de la Cebada (Barley Square) was the centre for the sale of cereals. A stroll around the large Mercado de la Cebada will almost certainly whet your appetite. Finally, off the Plaza del Humilladero, Carrera de San Francisco leads up to the Basilica de San Francisco el Grande.

More things to do Madrid

According to legend, the basilica is built on the site of a hermitage where St Francis of Assisi stayed during a pilgrimage to Spain. The classical facade of this huge domed structure (1774) was the work of Francisco Sabatini. The gloomy interior suffered badly during the Civil War, and since the 1970s no funds have been available to renovate the crumbling structure so it has had to be supported by scaffolding.

It is nevertheless worth taking the half-hour tour (only in Spanish) as the art collection includes some important pieces, such as those by Zurban'in and Sanchez Coello. An early Goya, the Sermon of St Bernardino de Siena (1780), adorns one of the six chapels. As the Panteon Nacional, San Francisco contains the last remains of some famous Madrid architects, e.g. Ventura Rodriguez and Juan de Villanueva.

If you are feeling like a bite to eat, then you are sure to find something to suit you on one of the two parallel roads, formerly moats, Cava Baja and Cava Alta. Several traditional restaurants along Cava Baja serve Castilian roasts dishes.

In royal monasteries the illegitimate daughters of the Habsburgs found a home that suited their station in life. The Bourbons filled the chambers in the Palacio Real with countless works of art and the cultivated Marques de Cerralbo did likewise in his private palace.

Plaza de España Madrid

By Plaza de España, General Franco satisfied his delusions of grandeur by building Spain's first skyscraperbehind the backs of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Artlovers simply must view the unique Goya frescoes in the Ermita de San Antonio. The twin towers belonging to the Collegiate Church of San Isidro Labrador dominate the junction of Calle de Toledo and Calle de la Colegiata. Built in the 17th century for the Jesuits, it was dedicated to the patron saint of Madrid. When the Jesuits fell out of favour with Carlos III, San Isidro became Madrid's cathedral. But the bishops always regarded the elevation to cathedral of a church in a rather undignified location alongside a row of houses as only a temporary measure.

When La Almudena was consecrated in 1993, San Isidro lost its special status. Baroque stylistic features dominate the interior. The remains of the saintly farmhand, who Iived between 1080 and 1172, are kept in a silver urn close to the main altar.

When returning to Puerta del Sol, follow Calle Cuchilleros and pass Madrid's oldest restaurant, EI Sobrino del Bolin, which has been serving traditional Castilian fare since 1725. On the left-hand side, hidden between narrow alleyways, are two picturesque Old Town squares: the shady Plaza del Conde de Barajas G, a venue for a small art market on Sundays, and the Plaza del Conde de Miranda together with the 17thcentury Las Carboneras convent where the nuns sell homemade pastries through the gateway window.

Pass the attractive Arco de Cuchilleros, a staircase up to the Plaza Mayor, and you will return to Calle Mayor. Start out from the Puerta del Sol and initially take the traffic-free Calle Preciados shopping street northwards, before turning left into the narrow Callejon Preciados by the Corte Ingles department store.

The Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales

The Monastery de las Descalzas Reales is by the Plaza de Descalzas.
Dona Juana, a daughter of Carlos V, converted this Renaissance palace into a convent in 1554. Only women from the upper echelons of the ruling Habsburg family, including many widows and illegitimate daughters, retreated behind these walls to find solace away from secular life. The close link with the monarchy was never broken, so that these 'Royal Barefoot Sisters' could enjoy a lifestyle which matched their standing. On display in the staircase, which leads to the upper gallery of the cloister, is a magnificent collection of frescoes, while in the gallery itself is a series of finely decorated chapels. In the main chancel lie the remains of the most celebrated nun, Empress Maria of Austria, a sister of the convent's founder.

A 14-piece collection of tapestries based on cartoons by Rubens adorn the former dormitory. Works by Rubens, Brueghel the Elder and the Spaniards Jose de Ribera and Francisco Zurban'in can be seen in the former kitchen. The famous Tribute Money by Titian is a replica of the painting in Dresden. Some 26 Franciscan nuns still live in the retreat. Depending on the current programme the grand Sala de las Alhajas by the neighbouring Plaza San Martin (1870), an arts foundation set up by the Caja de Madrid, is usually worth visiting. By the busy Calle del Arenal shopping street stands the Iglesia de San Gines . Founded in 1358 it was last altered in 1958.

In the right-hand chapel (Capilla del Cristo) hangs El Greco's Expulsion of the Money changers from the Temple. The west end of Calle del Arenal forms Plaza de Isabel Teatro Real II. Overlooking the statue of the queen is the huge facade of the Teatro Real. The Madrid opera has not had a happy career. Work started on the building in 1831, but a shortage of money meant that it was 1850 before its doors finally opened. The hexagonal opera house was closed for decades during the 20th century, with director Garda Navarro staging the house's first performance in 1997-98.

At Arenal stands the Palacio de Gaviria. A seriously rich banker by the name of Manuel Gaviria had this neo-Baroque palace built in the middle of the 19th century. For many years, its ballrooms were frequented by welltodo Madrid society. A club of the same name continues the dancing traditions but now salsa rhythms and disco sounds resonate from the ornate rooms.

Take Calle de Arrieta to the Plaza de la Encarnacion, where, as well as a memorial to the poet Lope de Vega, stands Madrid's second Habsburg convent, Monasterio de la Encarnacion; The design for the complex, completed in 1616, was drawn up by the architect responsible for the Plaza Mayor, Juan Gomez de Mora. Founded by Margaret of Austria, the wife of Felipe III, it is still used as a convent. Of special interest inside are the Painting Room, with such works as John the Baptist by Jose de Ribera, and a macabre reliquary chamber, where not only bones and scraps of material from sacred robes are stored, but also a phial of St Pantaloon's dried blood which, according to legend, liquifies each year on 27 July, the saint's feast day. It is an ill omen if the miracle does not take place.

Plaza de Oriente Madrid

Between the Opera House and the Royal Palace lies Plaza de Oriente, a broad square for which the people of Madrid can thank Joseph Bonaparte. The equestrian statue at its centre immortalising Felipe IV was brought here in the 19th century from the Buen Retiro palace complex. The trusty steed rearing up on its hind legs is by the Italian sculptor, Pietro Tacci. Cast in bronze in 1640, it was at that time a masterpiece of engineering.

The Royal Palace Madrid

Built from light grey granite and limestone, the vast Palacio Real was clearly built to impress. Situated in a dominant position overlooking the Rio Manzanares, its dimensions alone are stunning (500m/1 ,650ft along each side).

It was built by the Bourbon, Felipe V, with four wings and an inner courtyard, after the Habsburg residence, which shared the same foundations as a Moorish alcazar, was burnt to the ground on 24 December, 1734. Giovanni Battista Sacchetti from Piedmont was appointed as chief architect. Externally, the building displays classical Italian features, but in the 2,000-plus rooms it is lavish late Baroque which predominates.

As long as no state functions are taking place, the palace is open to visitors (access from Plaza de la Armeria). As a rule only 30 to 50 rooms are open at anyone time. With such a wealth of magnificent furnishings in dazzling gold brocade, silk and velvet, and walls hung with paintings by masters such as Goya and Velazquez, visitors are sometimes overwhelmed by the extravagant decor.

The Salon de Alebarderos Madrid

One of the highlights is the Salon de Alebarderos (Hall of the Halberdiers) with its striking ceiling painting, Apotheosis of Aeneas by Gianbattista Tiepolo (1766) and tapestries woven to designs by Raphael (17th century). In the Throne Room another of Tiepolo's ceiling frescoes glo rifies the empire and its rulers. Paintings by the Bohemian master, Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-79), adorn the pri vate apartments of Carlos III, while in the State Dining Room are hundreds of sparkling chandeliers and cande labra. In the small Salon de las Porcelanas (Porcelain Room), the walls and ceilings are covered with ceramic tiles from the Fabrica del Buen Retiro.

The collection of armaments, rusty sabres and rifles displayed in the Real Armeria (Royal Armoury) is one of the largest in Europe, while the dusty Real Botica (Royal Pharmacy) and the Museo de Carruajes (Carriage Museum) in the Campo de Moro park give some insights into everyday life at the royal court.Admire the view of the cathedral and the Casa de Campo. Alternatively you may feel like a relaxing stroll. If so, you have the choice of the adjoining Jardines de Sabatini and the larger Campo de Moro, which extends down to the banks of the Rio Manzanares (entrance off Paseo de la Virgen del Puerto). Campo de Moro means Field of the Moor and refers to the Almoravid prince, Ali ibn Yusuf, whose troops set up camp here in 1109.

Madrid information

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What was once a highly centralised state, has now devolved powers to the provinces. Madrid is indeed Spain's capital, but it is only one out of 17 autonomous regions (comunidades autonomas), each with its own government and wide-ranging responsibilities, including education, culture and tourism. The Comunidad de Madrid breaks down into 179 municipalities.The municipality of Madrid itself consists of 21 districts.

More things to do Madrid

The Spanish civil war and Madrid

Nowadays this dark chapter in Spanish history is hardly mentioned. It was as though upon the death of General Franco the nation signed a pact of silence to prevent the national trauma from deepening ever further. The battle for the capital began on 18 July 1936 when El Caudillo, as he was called, launched his uprising against the Republican administration. The Popular Front government immediately distributed arms to Madrid workers. On 20 July the barracks in what is now Parque del Oeste were stormed and the hated Nationalists lynched. The short summer of anarchy, however, was not to last long. Franco's troops advanced from the south and carried out massacres that put the 'red terror' in the shade.

By October the Nationalist troops were ready to take Madrid. The government fled to Valencia, while Mussolini and Hitler supplied soldiers and aircraft so that the bombing could begin. When in November the onslaught started, the militias, together with the anarchists under Buenaventura Durruti and the International Brigades, used Soviet arms to repulse the attackers in bloody house to house combat. But the Franquistas dug in at the Casa de Campo park and bombarded the town with heavy artillery. Despite hunger and deprivation, the Madrid Republicans fought on.

Communist leader, Dolores Ibarruri (La Pasionaria) issued the instruction: iNo pasaran! They will not pass! The front, which the soldiers reached by tram, hardly moved for the rest of the war. The battle for Madrid was decided elsewhere. A way out of the impasse was finally achieved when Colonel Casado surrendered unconditionally to General Franco. On 1 April 1939 the Generalisimo marched into the capital, but the killing went on. By 1944 at least 200,000 Republicans had died as part of the political cleansing process and at least 400,000 went into exile.

Madrid life

It is a normal morning on Gran Via. The din from six lanes of traffic resonates between the concrete facades of the multi-storey office blocks. Noisy diesel buses, screeching brakes at red traffic lights, ear-piercing moped exhausts, the cries of the lottery ticket sellers, the penetrating squeal of an ambulance siren, the shrill whistle of a traffic policeman these are the routine sounds of the typical Madrid street. A recent European Union study revealed that no other European city is anywhere near as loud. A level of 70 decibels above which the ear can suffer permanent damage is exceeded in half of all the roads in urban Madrid for more than 10 hours a day.

But the never-ending background noise does not seem to worry the city's hardened residents. They either don't hear it or else they compensate by making even more noise. The TV in the bar is turned up, the hand reaches impatiently for the car horn and everyone shouts. Like all creatures on earth, the madrileños have simply adjusted to their environment.

Bullfighting Madrid

Spain's Fiesta Nacional seems to be flourishing as never before. In one recent year there were 2,500 corridas, a record in the history of bullfighting. It is true that many Spaniards regard this form of popular entertainment as an anachronism and animal rights campaigners in Spain and abroad condemn the sport as butchery. But the reality is that both teenagers and women are flocking to the arenas to cheer on their heroes in the red capas. The greatest idol among the matadores, Jesulin de Ubrique, who retired in 1999, occasionally gave free galas for his female fans, who then showered him with their underwear.

Hardened observers, such as the respected El Pais commentator, Joaquin Vidal, regard the boom in bullfighting with growing scepticism. The jiguras, the great bullfighters, are only after the big money and are going into the ring too often and reducing the ancient drama to an undignified mass spectacle. Some of the private TV channels broadcast the bloody bullfights as pure entertainment, ignoring the high arts of tauromaquia. To create greater excitement, overweight and tame bulls (ratitas or little mice) are thrust into the ring, their horns blunted so that the torero is not put at risk. The highest award the matador can receive, the bull's ear, has been debased. In 1997 star bullfighter, Enrique Ponce, won 159 orejas.

Its narrow alleys and squares, still retaining a quiet, almost rural atmosphere, bear the names of long-gone guilds and markets. The classic beauty of the Plaza Mayor survives intact from a later period in Madrid's history, the Habsburg years, while the bustling Puerta del Sol is not just a focal point for three Metro lines, it is also where all Spanish roads converge. The perfect way to conclude this first tour would be a visit to one of the many Old Castilian restaurants along the cavas, once the moats for the medieval castle.

Puerta del Sol Madrid

The name of the square is derived from a former town gate adorned with a sun symbol that served as the eastern entrance to the historic Old Town. The normally congested semicircle, lined by classical facades from the 19th century, has witnessed many important national dramas among them the bloody rebellion against Napoleon's invading troops of 2 May 1808, the assassination of prime minister Jose Canalejas Mendez in 1912, the declaration of the Second Republic in 1931 and General Franco's assumption of power in 1939.

The building on the south side, Casa de Correos , was built in 1768 as the main post office, but later housed the Ministry of the Interior, and under Franco was used by the state security services and contained a torture chamber. It is now used as the administrative headquarters of the regional government, the Comunidad de Madrid. Its ornate clock tower, dating from 1865, had to be renewed in 1996 because of woodworm. Every year the clock is the focal point for the whole of Spain. On New Year's Eve, to bring good luck during the year ahead, practically every Spaniard follows the clock's 12 strokes live on TV or radio, swallowing one grape (uvas de fa suerte) for each stroke. A plaque cut into a kerbstone in front of the building marks the point from which all distances to Madrid are measured.

Three prominent statues adorn the middle and north side of Puerta del Sol. The figure on a horse is Carlos III, responsible for such important edifices as the Prado and the Puerta de Alcala. La Mariblanca is the name given to the replica of a graceful Venus figure, which once towered above a famous Baroque fountain. The original is now in the Museo Municipal.

It was not until 1967 that the animal that features on the city's coat-of-arms was commemorated by the erection of the monument on Calle del Carmen. The bronze bear can be seen reaching for the fruit of the wild strawberry tree. Another important symbol for Madrid visible from the square is the illuminated advertisement for Tio Pepe sherry, now an established part of the city's cultural heritage. It is the only one of its kind to be allowed in such a prominent position.

The best place to sit and watch goings on in the square is the first floor of the traditional La Mallorquina cafe. Throughout the Spanish-speaking world, from Andalusia to Galicia, from Mexico to Peru, Madrid's Plaza Mayor is the model for public events and gatherings. Once an uneven expanse of land outside the city walls, used mainly as a market, it was laid out in its present form between 1617 and 1620 at the behest of Felipe III, who sits astride his steed at the centre of the square. It was rebuilt by Juan de Villanueva after a serious fire in 1790.
The square may seem peaceful enough these days, but it has not always been so. Until the 19th century, the plaza was the venue for bullfights, riding tournaments and executions. Now concerts and theatre performances are staged here during the Verano de fa Villa. On Sunday the plaza resumes its market character when the shady arcades become a trading post for stamp and coin collectors.

Calle Mayor, lined by many long-established shops, runs westwards. You can quickly get through to Plaza Mayor via Calle Esparteros (Basketweavers' Street) and Calle Postas or one of the passages further on to the left. Architecturally, the overall effect of what is probably the finest square in central Spain perfectly reflects the Spanish Renaissance. With its unified facades and matching heights, the square radiates a sober elegance. The pointed towers on the oldest building, the Casa de la Panaderia (1672), are reminiscent of the monasterial palace of EI Escorial.

On important state occasions the Habsburg dignitaries would have looked down on events from the central balcony of what was once the city's bread and grain reserve. The pseudo Baroque frescoes were the work of the painter Carlos Franco in 1992. Plaza Mayor: facade detail Located in the building opposite, the Casa de Carniceria, formerly the town abattoir, is the municipal tourist office. At the rear of the plaza, the sloping Cava San Miguel follows the course of the moat, which once boosted the town's fortifications. Tourist restaurants occupy the vaults of the 18th century houses.

Markets and shops in Madrid

Stalls in the glass and iron, single-level Mercado de San Miguel, built in the early 20th century, overflow with fresh fare. The market for Moorish Madrid (Arabic: zoco) was situated a little further on by the Plaza de la Villa, the town hall square. Casa de la Villa , a baroque structure with pointed towers (1644), is where today's city council meets. Juan de Villanueva worked on the facade overlooking the Calle Mayor between 177 I and 1787. Contributing to the splendour of the rooms inside are an impressive collection of Gobel in tapestries, crystal chandeliers and paintings. Fine mahogany furniture and a fresco by Vicente Palomino (17th century) are the most striking features in the council chamber.

Places to see Madrid

On the south side of the square, linked to the town hall by an archway, is the Casa de Cisneros, a palace built in 1537 and named after the architect, a nephew of the great Cardinal Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros. Now the residence of the mayor of Madrid, it is the Plateresque facade in Calle del Sacramento which attracts most attention. The tapestries (dating from the 15th/16th centuries) and the town hall are open to the public on Monday between 5 and 6pm.

Opposite the town hall stands Casa y Torre de los Lujanes. Dating from the 15th century, it is Madrid's oldest public building. The horseshoe arches on the tower, typical elements of Mudejar style, are mirrored in the portal of the municipal newspaper archives next door. The statue in the middle of the square honours Admiral Alvaro de Bazan, who died in Lisbon in 1588 shortly before the English sunk his apparently invincible Armada.

To reach the heart of the Morerfa quarter, take Calle Cordon. The busy Calle de Segovia was once a tributary of the Manzanares river, beside which Madrid's first nomadic settlers camped. On the other side rises the medieval brick tower of San Pedro el Viejo (1354), a church thought to have been built on the site of the Arab mosque (mezquita).

Following the rising Costanilla de San Pedro southwards, you will soon find on the right-hand side two squares, Plaza San Andres and Plaza de los Carros. In the inner courtyard of the Museo Casa de San Isidro stands a fountain often associated with a miracle. According to legend, the son of the Madrid's patron saint fell into the water and drowned, but was brought back to life by the power of prayer. San Isidro himself, originally buried in the domed Iglesia de San Andres (17th century) next door, was later moved to Colegiata San Isidro. At the rear in Calle San Andres is the only Gothic Church in Madrid, Capilla del Obispo (1535). It houses an impressive Plateresque high altar by Francisco Giralte (closed for renovation until further notice).

About Madrid

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The map of Spain is often compared with a bull's hide laid out in the sun to dry. On this basis Madrid would be the heart of the bull, not only because all the roads in Spain meet up outside the town hall on the Puerta del Sol, but also because all the country's political, social and cultural impulses start from here. It has not always been like that.

More things to do Madrid

Up until the 1970s, the city that is now noisy, vibrant and throbbing with life, was as peaceful as a graveyard. Hordes of night revellers now gather where once the night watchman kept a lonely vigil. Until relatively recently the people were cowed by the authoritarian control of the Franco regime. Today the whole gamut of opinions and lifestyles co-exist. To most Spaniards, having a good time is not something for fiestas and weekends, it is a right. Madrid is a place where, so long as decorum is observed, people tend to do as they please. Ride your noisy motorbike on the pavement? Leave the dog out all night? Drive around in the early hours with the car stereo at full volume? No-one will complain. Madrileños are tolerant people; in fact a touch of anarchy often prevails. Life here is lived to the hilt. Nightlife in Paris or Rome would be dull by comparison.

Spanish culture

Behind those sometimes daunting stares lie generous hearts and a civilised approach to life. After all, madrileños have always welcomed outsiders. Without immigrants from all parts of Spain and beyond, nothing would have emerged that in any way resembles the legendary castizo traditions. Meaning pure-blooded and authentic, the word encapsulates the madrileño character. There is no question about it, modern Madrid is proud of its great diversity. It is precisely for that reason that the bull's heart is beating stronger than ever.

Madrid landscape

The historic core of the Iberian peninsula extends over the autonomous regions of Castilla Leon (Old Castile), Castilla La Mancha (New Castile) and Extremadura. Covering an area of over 200,000 sq km (75,000 sq miles), this region occupies about 40 percent of Spanish territory. The Castilian mountain range divides the meseta into a northern and southern half. Rising from the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range about 90km (56 miles) north of the city are peaks which reach a height of 2,400m (7,500ft). During the summer day trippers often head for the cooler air on these slopes, while in the winter it is even possible to ski here. The relief of the meseta also has an effect on the city's outward face. Situated at an average height of 650m (2,130ft), Madrid is the highest European capital. The gentle ups and downs of many streets in the Old Town reflect the contours of the high plateau, but there are no natural commanding spots within the city's boundaries.

Although the steep slopes above the Manzanares river form a sort of terrace, madrileños love to poke fun at its meagre flow. They say it suffers from mal de piedra or 'stone disease'. The people of Madrid are proud of the city's many open spaces, which occupy almost half of the total surface area of 600 sq km/1230 sq miles (Madrid autonomous region 8,000 sq km/3, I 00 sq miles). The many tree-lined boulevards and roads, especially in the newer quarters, help to create a sense of space, but the large parks such as the Retiro, the Parque del Oeste and the huge Casa de Campo in the Manzanares valley cannot prevent the pollution from the huge volumes of traffic from rising to alarming levels.

Madrid weather

While it is true that Madrid lies on the same line of latitude as Naples or Istanbul, the meseta can offer nothing resembling the mild Mediterranean-style climate. Del invierno al inferno or 'from winter straight into hell' is how the locals often describe the continental inland climate of extremes typical of central Castile.

If you have endured a numbing rainy and windy winter's day, then you will, almost certainly, be wanting a hotel with a fully functioning heating system. Frost and snow are rare. The icy wind from the Sierra may occasionally blow in a few white flakes, but they never stay around for long. In the nearby Avila province, on the other hand, whole villages can sometimes be cut off from the outside world for days by blizzards. Spring and autumn bring pleasant, moderately warm sunny days, but provide only a short interlude. During the summer, temperatures regularly rise to over 40°C (104°F). The heat can sometimes be unbearable, particularly in late afternoon when the asphalt and concrete have heated up. If you do not have to work, then you leave Madrid for this part of the year. Madrileños prefer to spend their summer holidays (veranear in Spanish) on the Costa Blanca or on the cooler north coast. Many restaurants shops and smaller museums close.

As a consolation for the heat-resistant tourists and those residents who have no choice but to stay put the summer promises a rich and varied cultural programme, including the music, theatre, ballet, film and various openair events of the Verano de la Villa (summer arts festival). With so many local people fleeing the capital in the summer, there is noticeably less traffic congestion, the cafes along Paseo de la Castellana are livelier at night and the numbers visiting the Prado Museum and the Thyssen Bornemisza collection lower than usual. The cool museums make perfect refuges from the intense daytime heat.

Madrid history

Madrid underwent massive growth when Franco's indutrialisation plans led to serious unemployment in the provinces. Between 1950 and 1970 the population in the Comunidad increased from 1.9 to 4.8 million. A reversal of this trend was first noted in the 1990s. By 1998 about 130,000 young madrileños had turned their backs on the traffic congestion and high rents and settled in the housing estates (urbaniziciones) on the northern outskirts.
Many immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa have also made their homes in Madrid. At least 130,000 foreigners live in the city, about 30,000 of them Illegally. Like the Spanish migrants, the new arrivals have brought their own gastronomy, festivals and customs, thereby enriching even further the city's cultural diversity. Anyone who listens in on the contemporary music scene is sure to hear the Latin influence. Cuban salsa, Colombian cumbia, merengue from the Dominican Republic and tango from Argentina have been the repertoire in the city's clubs for a long time. Gypsies (gitanos) form a significant minority but most are now permanently settled.

Like everywhere else in Spain, Madrid society has changed dramatically since the transition to democracy. The birth rate is similar to that in most northern European countries and the influence of the once all-powerful church is waning. While it is true that 96 percent of the population regard themselves as Catholics, only a third of them are regular churchgoers.
The traditional role of women has undergone a remarkable change since 1975. During the Franco period, married women were not even allowed to open a bank account without their husband's permission, let alone earn money. Now women make up one third of the workforce. The true nature of the madrileño soul is the source of much speculation, not least by the madrileños themselves. Ramon Gomez de la Serna, a dedicated observer of his fellow madrileños, wrote that they are a collection of imaginative people who know how to live the miracle of life and know that laughter is something very serious.

One thing is certain: the concept of el madrileño castizo, the true madrileño, does exist. But the faces are too varied. Is it the civil servant with the brightly-polished black shoes? The elegant young manager with his mobile phone? The blind lottery ticket seller on the Puerta del Sol? The extravagantly dressed society queen in designer wear? Or perhaps it is the scruffy student from Lavapies or the cleaner from the Caribbean? What unites them all is a kind of love-hate relationship with the chaos which envelops their daily life. Clearly this informs the vitality, the flexibility and the ready wit of the madrileños. But at the same time they are proud of the everyday madness that drives the city on. They grin and then declare: aqui vivimos de pelicula en vivo - live our life as if it's a film.'

Madrid fashion

During the 18th century, the manner and dress of these smart underdogs, now referred to as majo and maja (meaning attractive, pretty), became the fashion model on the smarter side of town. Aristocratic duquesas and condes suddenly developed a taste for the styles adopted by the market girls and coachmen. Goya even went as far as to portray the woman who many believe was his mistress, the Duchess of Alba, as maja, once fully clothed, once naked. The second led to his appearance before the Inquisition.
During the 19th century, the image of the majos changed. They were now known as chulos or chulapos, shady characters often modelled on the bandit Luis Candelas, Madrid's answer to Robin Hood. The archetypal chulo now wears a check waistcoat, neckerchief has a malicious tongue, speaks in a strong Madrid dialct and is quick to reach for the stiletto.

Madrid tourism

Despite all the success stories emanating from official sources, life in Madrid has not improved for everybody. The Spanish economy is still weighed down by high levels of unemployment. Keeping inflation low and reducing the national debt continue to be key economic targets. The wages of ordinary working people have not kept pace with price increases. The future is especially bleak for young people without skills or qualifications. Prostitution, drug addiction and crime have afflicted many of those with poor job prospects.

A clear north-south divide characterises the social makeup of the city. Anyone who has made it chooses to live in the fashionable Salamanca quarter. The middle-class families now prefer the northern outskirts, where it is possible to buy a terraced house (chalet). The lower-middle classes gravitate towards the cheaper, and in places rather rundown apartments in Malasaña or Lavapies. Students and new arrivals from Morocco or Latin America also find reasonably-priced accommodation there.
In a belt around the south of the city lie many characterless dormitory towns such as Carabanchel, Vallecas and Villaverde, which were built during the 1950s for newcomers from the rural regions. These are now where the majority of the low-paid workers live. Not unlike the favelas of Rio de Janeiro are the shanty towns and permanent campsites beside the main arterial roads and under motorway bridges in the southern and eastern suburbs. The chabolas (tin huts) are home to thousands of illegal immigrants, gypsies and drug addicts.

He could have chosen from such magnificent towns as Toledo, Salamanca, Segovia and Valladolid, so why on earth did Felipe II pick such an insignificant spot in the heart of the meseta as the seat for his court? What was it that was so attractive to a man who at that time was one of the most powerful rulers in the world? Why go for a small town named Majrit with a population of about 3,000? Perhaps he was looking for political neutrality, perhaps he wanted to turn over a new leaf in the history books or maybe he was rather taken by its position as the geographical centre of the country. But since 1561 Madrid has wanted to be known officially as Villa y Corte or 'market town and court'. The madrileños continue to use this expression which describes their town with a hint of gentle Irony. It has grown up quickly, it has improvised, but somehow it has remained a town.

The head of state, now King Juan Carlos I, has traditionally ruled from the Palacio de la Zarzuela (Bosques del Pardo). Of course, the two parliaments (cortes generales), the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, meet in the capital too. The prime minister runs the country from his office in the Moncloa quarter, where all the other ministries and high court buildings are based.

About Gran Canaria

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History of Gran Canaria

Much of the Canary Islands' history between their conquest in the late 15th century and the present is tied up with that of the Spanish mainland. As a vital point for trade with the Americas, Gran Canaria briefly shared in the prosperity of Spain's Golden Age, although it suffered economic decline thereafter. And in the late 20th century, the islands, along with Spain, became part of the European Union. But long before the Spaniards ever set foot here, there was a flourishing civilization.

More things to do Gran Canaria

Land of the brave was the proud name given to Gran Canaria by the Guanches, the pre-Hispanic people of the islands. No one is quite sure where the Guanches came from. Some historians and scientists think they were related to the Canarii tribe, who lived on the Saharan side of the Atlas Mountains. The few fragments of writing that can be reconstructed are similar to scripts used by the ancient Berber people, and some Canarian place names are similar too. But as far as can be deduced, the Guanches had no boats, so how they crossed from the African coast remains a mystery. Perhaps, having settled on the islands, they simply forgot how to sail.
Quite a lot has been discovered about the culture of these original islanders. Language and social structure varied from island to island. On Gran Canaria, the rulers were called guanartemes and shared some of their power with a jaycan, who combined the role of judge and priest. Next on the social ladder came the aristocracy, the guayres.

The Guanches were a settled, agricultural people, who lived in groups of caves. Gofio, toasted flour originally made from barley, was their staple, but, as well as roots, they could pick a variety of wild fruits and berries. Pigs, sheep and goats provided meat as well as the materials for shelters, containers and clothes, and milk also came from sheep and goats. Fish formed a part of their diet, even when they had to travel some distance down to the coast to find it.

The Guanches did not have the wheel, they knew nothing of metalworking and did not use bows and arrows. Their domestic implements were made from stone and bone or from obsidian, a black, volcanic glass. Porous lava was made into millstones and mortars. Their vessels and containers were made from pottery, wood, leather and woven cane. They mummified their dead and buried them in caves or stone lined graves, and it is evidence from mummies so far discovered that has led scientists to place the original islanders' ethnic origins in northwest Africa. The Museo Canario has a number of mummies and skulls in its collection, along with domestic items, remarkably well preserved in the dry climate.

The Normans and the Canary Islands

The first conquering force, in 1403, was led by a Norman lord, Jean de Bethencourt, and funded by the king of Castile, but he failed to take the two main prizes Gran Canaria and Tenerife. It wasn't until 1478 that another attempt was made, under the aegis of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella of a newly united Spain. As the force was undermanned and the indigenous people put up quite a fight, it took several years to subdue them. Pedro de Vera was the man for the job. Arriving as military governor in 1480 he is said to have killed Doramas, the most warlike of the chiefs, with his own hands on the Montana de Arucas. This coup, and the capture and conversion two years later of chief Tenesor Semidan brought the native people under control, but not before many of them had been killed, starved to death or committed ritual suicide.

De Vera remained governor for 10 years, during which time, in the interests of security, he had many of the local population deported or enslaved. This, together with an influx of European farmers and entrepreneurs, plus two severe outbreaks of plague, meant that within half a century the indigenous population was outnumbered. Those who survived had been forcibly 'converted'.

Slavery and the Gran Canaria

Because of their location, the Canary Islands became a proving ground for future Spanish colonization strategies in the Americas. These revolved around slavery and sugar cane, both of which were were introduced to the Americas from the Canaries. The sugar boom on the Canaries only lasted until the mid-16th century, when competition from Brazil and the Caribbean became too strong. While Tenerife was able to switch to a lucrative wine industry, conditions on Gran Canaria were unsuitable for viniculture and the island became something of a poor relation, locked in fierce rivalry with flourishing Tenerife, which became the residence of the Captain General and location of the first university. The problems Gran Canaria suffered during the 16th and 17th centuries were intensified by the fact that the island and her ships were frequently attacked by pirates. The worst outrage was in 1599, when the Dutch buccaneer Pieter van der Does sacked and burned Las Palmas.

Gran Canaria began to assert its independence from Tenerife and mainland Spain in 1808 when the Napoleonic Wars destroyed Tenerife's wine trade. Ajunta was formed in Las Palmas, calling for 'a patriotic government, independent of the peninsula', but it was unsuccessful. Not until the 1860s did the island's fortunes begin to recover, with the introduction of cochineal, the red dye produced from a beetle of the same name that feeds on cacti. The boom was short-lived, as the invention of cheaply produced aniline dyes brought a virtual end to the industry. Poverty and unemployment forced many islanders to emigrate to the Americas, mainly Cuba and Venezuela.

It was only in the 1880s that things really began to get better, largely due to Fernando Leon y Castillo, a local politician who became foreign minister in the Spanish government. With the collaboration of his brother, Juan, an engineer, he embarked on a project to transform Las Palmas into the major port on the island. Within about six years, the Puerto de la Luz was dealing with most of the steamship trade that passed through the islands.
Canary Islands agriculture

The last of the briefly successful mono-cultures was bananas, introduced by the British in the late 19th century. But World War I had a disastrous effect on the trade, thereby creating more poverty and more emigration. Contact with the New Agriculture is still a labor-intensive activity World, where Cuba had won freedom from Spain in 1898, led to calls for Canarian independence, but most people simply wanted the division of the archipelago into two separate provinces.

Franco and the Canary Islands

Formalization of this came in 1927 but no new economic solutions had been found when the three-year Spanish Civil War began in 1936, initiated by Francisco Franco, military governor of the Canary Islands. He spent the last night before launching his coup in the Hotel Madrid in Las Palmas. (The Canaries are the only parts of Spain where you will still see main streets named 'Generalissimo Franco' or 'Primo de Rivera, the latter after a Falangist leader executed in 1936.)

After the civil war and World War II, the Canaries, like the rest of Spain, initially suffered from isolation and economic hardship. Things improved a little in the 1950s, when Spain was once more recognized by the interactional community, but it was the advent of tourism in the following decade that really turned the tide. Franco remained in power until his death in 1975, when his authoritarian regime was replaced by democratic government. The new Spanish Constitution of 1978 created the Autonomous Region of the Canary Islands now one of 17 such regions. The archipelago is not completely separate from Spain but the island movement, the Cabildo Insular, does have a great deal of freedom.

The islands have enjoyed considerable commercial freedom and tax exemptions ever since the 19th century, but when Spain became a full member of the European Union, fiscal changes had to be introduced. In order to protect trade and industry the Puerto de la Luz and the industrial area round Arinaga were confirmed as a Free Trade Zone, governed by a local consortium. The agricultural sector finds it difficult to compete in the wider market. Until the end of 1995, Spain guaranteed a market for Gran Canaria's bananas but since then, despite subsidies, the industry has been uneconomical. Production costs are high and bananas need a lot of water a scarce commodity. The island is a major producer of tomatoes for the European market, but countries with lower labor costs, such as Morocco, have been able to undercut the Canarian growers. The only real money-spinner is tourism.

The top 25 water parks in Spain

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Spain offers visitors thousands of things to see and do, and one of the most popular attractions are the water parks, which provide family fun for thousands of holidaymakers every year.

The best 25 water parks in Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Brava, Ibiza, Tenerife, Costa Dorada, Mallorca, Madrid,

More things to do Spain

Lanzarote, Barcelona, Gran Canaria and Menorca include:

1. Aqualandia Water Park, Benidorm, Costa Blanca

2. Aquapolis Water Park, Torrevieja, Seville and Costa Dorada

3. Parque Aquatico Water Park, Mijas-Costa, Costa del Sol

4. Aqualand Water Park, Torremolinos, Costa del Sol

5. Aqua Brava Water Park, Las Garrigas, Costa Brava

6. Aqua Diver Water Park, Costa Brava

7. Marineland Water Park, Costa Brava

8. Aquaola Water Park, Granada

9. Aqualandia Water Park, Talamanca, Ibiza

10. Aqualandia Water Park, Mallorca

11. Marineland Water Park, Mallorca

12. Hidropark Water Park, Mallorca

13. Aqualand Water Park, Maspalomas, Gran Canaria

14. Ocean Water Park, Gran Canaria

15. Aqua Centre Water Park, Menorca

16. Aqualand Water Park, Costa Adeje, Tenerife

17. Octopus Water Park, Tenerife

18. Waterworld, Lloret de Mar, Costa Brava

19. Aquapolis Water Park, Madrid

20. Aquasur Water Park, Madrid

21. Aranjuez Water Park, Madrid

22. Aqua Lanza Water Park, Costa Teguise, Lanzarote

23. Marineland Water Park, Catalonia

24. Aqualeon Water Park, Costa Dorada

25. Illa Fantasia Water Park, Barcelona

All the water parks in Spain provide rides, attractions and slides for visitors of all ages, and most have special play areas and scaled-down slides for the smaller kids. If you are planning to travel to Spain during the summer months, you can even book tickets online for most of the water parks, which will save you time and money when you arrive.

Costa del Sol places to visit

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The Costa del Sol is one of Spain´s most popular tourist destinations, and with 320 average days of sunshine every year, the region attracts thousands of tourists every year from around the world.

More things to do Costa del Sol

For many, mention of the Costa del Sol conjures up visions of suntanned bodies on the beach, luxurious hotels set in tropical gardens, golfing and glitzy marinas lined with millionaires' yachts, lively restaurants and swinging discos in other words, the high life, where you might rub shoulders with celebrities. Indeed, the Costa del Sol can offer all of this though, since its popularity took off in the 1960s and it became the 'in place' for the jet set, it has had its ups and downs. However, in recent years it has regained its position as a top year-round destination.

The ambience is cosmopolitan and expatriates from all walks of life have settled here with a particularly high concentration around Torremolinos, Marbella and Fuengirola.Although the scene has changed with the times, the 'beautiful people' still come here. The tendency is now to seek more seclusion, however, with much of the entertaining and partying taking place in private But the Costa del Sol still exudes an aura of glamour, which serves as a continuing magnet to visitors. Its mild, sunny winter climate, unrivalled in Europe, is an additional attraction.

From the late 90s onwards there has been an effort to encourage visitors to look beyond the beach only holiday, and to sample the more rural pleasures of the hinterland. The Costa del Sol is an excellent gateway to the beautiful interior of Andalucía with its enchanting white towns and villages dotted about the countryside, peaceful landscapes and its real jewels, the historic cities of Seville, Cordoba and Granada.

Costa del Sol information

The Costa del Sol is now officially within the province of Malaga, but this book covers a more extended area, including the provinces of Granada and Cadiz, and the hinterland.
The Costa del Sol covers nearly 300km of the Mediterranean coast.

Average temperatures: spring 20°C, summer 28°C, autumn 18°C, winter 13°C.Average sea temperatures: 15°C in January, 24°C in August.A minimum 8 hours' sunshine is expected daily for 320 days a year.Most rainfall is likely to occur between December and March.The famous sweet Malaga wines are produced in Los Montes de Malaga Antequera, north of the city, and in La Axarquia, to the east.

Olive groves are a feature of the Andalucía landscape. Olive oil, which is refined in Malaga, rates among Spain's leading exports.Oranges, lemons, and acres of vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes and potatoes are cultivated along with wheat, sugar-cane, tobacco and cotton.

Cumin, coriander, cinnamon, marjoram, thyme and rosemary are among the herbs which flourish here.The uplands of the Guadalquivir are famous for black fighting bulls and thoroughbred horses.

Long sandy beaches stretch along the western Costa del Sol; east of Malaga you will come across smaller beaches and rocky coves. The Costa del Sol has over 500 golf courses. There are some 20 tennis clubs and most top grade hotels have tennis courts. This stretch of coast boasts over 10 marinas. Many resorts offer sailing, waterskiing, windsurfing (top spot Punta de Tarifa) and scuba diving.

Parasailing, hang gliding and delta winging are also widely available in resorts.Skiing in the Sierra Nevada, Europe's most southerly ski resort, is an increasingly popular winter sport.
Stables offer horse rides along and behind the coast.

Costa del Sol life

Life on the Costa del Sol is generally a relaxing affair with priorities leaning towards sunbathing, swimming (perhaps), drinking and eating, with a siesta occupying the greater part of the afternoon. The more energetic may want to go sailing or waterskiing, while others might opt for golf or tennis. In the evening, after a late dinner, the dedicated will enjoy dancing in a club or disco until the early hours.

10 Costa del Sol things to do

• Dance until dawn in Puerto Banus. Take your pick from dozens of discos, bars and clubs, admire the yachts and enjoy some of the finest restaurants in Spain.
• Visit Malaga and do an evening round of the wealth of tapas bars centered in the old town.
• Walk up to the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro for the panoramic views over Malaga and the bay.
• See a flamenco show in Malaga or inland in Sevilla.
• Have an evening drink on Marbella's promenade and watch the sunset, taking in a wide view of the Rock of Gibraltar and coastline of Africa.
• Take a trip to Ronda, which is one of the most fascinating towns in Andalucia. Stroll around the old town and enjoy the views over the gorge and surrounding countryside.
• Drive up to Mijas-Pueblo, which is just ten minutes inland from Fuengirola. Whitewashed houses cling to the hillside, and donkey taxis will transport you around this typically-Andalucian village.
• Book an excursion to the Alhambra Palace in Granada, which is said to be the 8th wonder of the world. This fascinating fortress has stood since the 1400s and is a magnificent monument from the times of Moorish rule in Spain.
• Take a trip to Gibraltar for the day. Only an hour´s drive by hire car or coach from Marbella, Gibraltar is a fascinating place to see. British shops, bars and restaurants mingle with casinos, waterside cafés and excellent hotels. Take a rock tour and visit the Barbary Apes who inhabit the upper regions of the rock.
• Take a trip to the Nerja Caves, which were uncovered in the 1950s by accident and are home to some of the world´s most incredible stalagmites and stalactites.

Inland Costa del Sol

For those who feel like taking a break from the hustle and bustle of the Costa del Sol, there are many possibilities. The inland areas offer a variety of landscapes, from olive groves in rolling hills, to dramatic mountain ranges with snowcapped peaks. In a very short time you can leave behind the heat of the coast and lose yourself in the tranquil surroundings of inland Andalucia.

Costa del Sol parks

Within reach of the coast are a number of protected areas and nature parks. With landscapes of wild natural beauty and a wealth of flora and fauna they make an ideal destination for the nature lover seeking peace and quiet. Among these are the Parque Natural Montes de Malaga, north of Malaga; and south of Antequera, the Parque Natural Torcal de Antequera, which features weird and wonderful rock formations. Further west, from the Marbella area, you can easily reach the National Game Reserve near Monda, or the Parque Natural Sierra de Las Nieves, south of Ronda, with its rugged cliffs and great ravines.
Further west are the nature parks of Grazalema and Los Alcornocales, both areas of natural, unspoilt landscape. South-east of Granada and easily accessible from the eastern section of the Costa del Sol is the Parque Natural Sierra Nevada, famed for its striking scenery and diversity of plant and animal life.

Hiking and Horse riding

The nature parks are wonderful areas for hikers and usually have marked trails for visitors to follow. Information on walking trails can be obtained from local tourist offices. The region of Las Alpujarras with its varied scenery also provides excellent walking terrain. With its long tradition of raising and riding horses, Andalucía provides an ideal backdrop for long distance trekking. Stables are plentiful and horses can be hired to explore the coast and its hinterland.

Accommodation inland Andalucia

Mountain refuges and country houses in traditional Andalucía style make it possible to stay in some of these remote areas. Often located in wild, mountainous terrain and offering magnificent views, they are usually located near access roads.

Bird watching Andalucia

Spring and autumn are good periods to watch the European bird migration, Using Spain's southern coast as a resting place, hundreds of species of birds stop here on their journey between Africa and northern Europe. Early morning is a good time to see new arrivals and vantage points are Punta Marroqui at Tarifa, Calahonda, east of Marbella, and Benalmadena.
The nature reserve at the mouth of the river Guadalhorce, located just east of Torremolinos, not far from Malaga airport, is another good place for bird watching. An area of exceptional beauty, however, is the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra. Located off the N334 west of Antequera, it is known as the Pink Lagoon, afte; the large colony of pink flamingos which comes here every year to breed. The best time to see these spectacular birds is from the end of January to June.

Costa del Sol history

In the 18th and 19th centuries a number of writers, romantics and intrepid travelers discovered for themselves the attractions of Malaga and wrote about it. Hans Christian Andersen, who stayed here towards the middle of the 19th century, wrote of the joyous way of life. Lord Byron, George Borrow and Richard Ford were among others who contributed to discovering Malaga as a winter holiday destination. Later, the interior of the region attracted writers and poets such as Rainer Maria Rilke, Gerald Brenan, Laurie Lee and Ernest Hemingway. Federico Garcia Lorca, poet and playwright, came from rural Granada.

Picasso and Malaga

One of Malaga's most famous sons is the celebrated painter Pablo Ruiz Picasso who was born here in 1881. He began to paint at the age of seven, later joining the School of Fine Arts in La Coruña and moving to Barcelona in 1895. A new Picasso museum is scheduled to open in Malaga in late 2002 or early 2003.

Marbella celebrities

By the 1960s the tourism industry had developed along the Costa del Sol and the Marbella Club, creation of Alfonso de Hohenlohe, began to attract the rich and famous. Marbella acquired a reputation as a playground for the jet set. Since then the area has seen a flood of personalities, adding their mark to the star-studded scene.

Costa del Sol golf

Given its emphasis on sport, especially golf, it is not surprising that the Costa del Sol continues to receive its fair share of sports personalities In the world of golf, Severiano Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazable are frequent visitors. Tennis stars Bjorn Borg, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Conchita Martinez and Alberto Beresategui visit the area, and former champion Manolo Santana runs a tennis club near Marbella.

Seville Cordoba and Granada

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One of the most passionate and beautiful cities in Spain, Seville offers visitors plenty of things to see and do. From its incredible baroque cathedral to its cobbled streets and tapas bars, there is something for everyone in this vibrant city.Seville's main shopping street is the Calle Sierpes. This is the place for fashionable clothes as well as more typical fare, from fans to ceramics. Martian offers a pleasing display of Sevillian ceramics and poltery. Zadi has a serious collection of fans, mantillas and Lladro porcelain, while the old-fashioned Marquedano stocks a classic range of Andalusian hats.

More things to do Spain

To the east, the Plaza de Jesus de la Pasion is the city's matrimony corner, with several jewellery shops. Beyond the northern end of Calle Sierpes you come to the Plaza del Duque de la Victoria, with Spain's largest department store, EI Corte Ingles.

Shopping Seville

the corner on Calle Alfonso XII Sevilla Rock sells Spanish pop and guitar music including flamenco and sevillanas. For ceramics, La Alacena (further down Alfonso XII, at No 25) has top of the range china and crockery from La Canuja factory (now on the Carretera de Merida). Puerta Triana (corner of Calle Santas Patronas and Calle Reyes Catolicos) has a less expensive selection of painted plates, bowls and jugs while across the bridge in Triana, Cenmica Santa Ana (Calle San Jorge ) is a rambling show room with enough antique and modern azulejos.

On the east side of the Maestranza bullring, Jamon Reall Esther Fernandez Fdez. (Calle Lopez de Arenas 5) sells Extremaduran wines, meats and cheeses, marmalade and homemade wines and liqueurs (it also has a small bar where you can sample products); there's another branch, Jamon Real II, at Calle Pastor y Landero Being a university town, Seville has many good book shops. One of the best is Venice, across from the Old Tobacco Factory on Calle San Fernando.

Things to buy in Cordoba

The English word 'cordwainer' is derived from Cordoba and testifies to the city's long tradition of high quality leatherwork. In the area bordering La Mezquita you'll find studios and cobblers' workshops, such as the one at Calle Magistral Gonzalez Frances 7 which specialises in riding boots.

Silver filigree (filigrana de plata) is also common. Look out also for two distinctive types of ceramic plate: the green and white Caliphal pottery based on 10th century Arab designs, and the dark green pottery from Lucena. Montilla wines and anis flavored licor from Rute are other specialties’.

In the small shops and stalls on the Plaza de la Corredera you'll find tyresoled sandals, iron rings for hanging up flowerpots, barbecue utensils and wickerwork chairs, baskets, hampers and linen chests. Near the Ayuntamiento the guarnicioneria Rafael Estevez Lopez (Calle San Pablo 6) sells saddles, riding tackle and woolen blankets while the Zoco, the old souk opposite the Synagogue on Calle Judios 5, is the headquarters for Cordoba Association of Craftsmen, many of whom have their shops here. Il is a good place to browse for silver filigree, jewellery, leather work and ceramics.

Granada souvenirs

Granada's souvenirs play heavily on the city's Moorish past embossed leather, marquetry chessboards, inlaid furniture, and a distinctive blue and green pottery known as jajalauza are the most obvious examples. The Albaicfn is the best place to chance upon these but you'll also find them in the Cuesta de Gomerez at the foot of Alhambra hill. Woven products from the Alpujarras mountains are worth looking at the Tejidos Fortuny workshop (Plaza de Fortuny I) has attractive rugs and wall hangings.
Granada's main shopping area lies south and east of the cathedral. Calle Pescaderia has small friendly shops selling meats and cheeses and a stall opposite the Bar Boca has good jajalauza pottery. You may find interesting bargains in the Alcaicerfa (the old silk market). For a spot of self-indulgence, buy a box of mouthwatering cakes from Flor y Nata (Calle Mesones 51) or Lopez Mezquita.

Markets

Markets are the best place to buy fresh food from the countryside: honey, goats' cheese, spiced meats, snails, seafood, olives, nuts, bread and fruit. Produce markets usually start early and pack up around I pm.

In Seville every district hosts its own daily fresh produce market there is one in the Plaza de la Encarnacion and another across the Triana bridge (turn right), on the site of the old Inquisition headquarters. There is a small weekday arts and crafts market outside EI Corte Ingles in the Plaza del Duque de la Victoria. In the north of the city there's a centuries old flea market on Thursday in Calle Feria known as 'EI Jueves'.
Nearby in the Alameda de Hercules a similar bric-a-brac market takes place on Sunday mornings. At the same time there's a bird and pet market (including silkworms) in the Plaza de la Alfalfa, and a stamp and coin collector's market in the Plaza del Cabildo.
In Cordoba the main market venue is the Corredera. In the week a covered mercado sells fresh produce while stalls outside sell fabric, clothes, plants and household items. On weekends this becomes a flea market.

Granada's nicest market is in the Plaza Larga in the Albaicin, but you'll find a belter range in the Mercado de San Agustin on the southwest corner of the cathedral.
Eating and drinking in Seville Cordoba and Granada

In cities like Seville, Cordoba and Granada people never seem to stop eating. Mornings are when work gets done and breakfast is but a meditative moment. Anything goes as long as it's quick: coffee and brandy, chocolate and churros (extrusions of sweet battered dough), bread dunked in olive oil, toast and dripping all taken standing at the bar. By II am the mood shifts cake wards or to an elevenses ice-cream, but by noon the emphasis changes again as the bar staff start putting out their freshly made tapas.
By 7pm it's time for the paseo and an obligatory ice cream, after which the tapas appear again around 5pm. Restaurants are in action by 9pm but rarely full before 10pm at weekends they will still be serving new customers at midnight. After dinner, it is time for an oloroso, a sticky cake. Seville claims to have invented tapas (snacks and appetizers) and can even tell you the bar where this national custom originated:

EI Rinconcillo (near the Santa Catalina church, Calle Gerona 40) where the staff developed the habit of covering a glass of fino with a tapa (lid) of ham. Today tapas are found everywhere and can be anything from a saucer of spiced olives or some slices of jamon serrano (mountain ham) to a gourmet dish of oranges, onions and bacalao (dried cod), or a hot terracotta dish of paella.

A tapa or porcion is simply a taster, while a racion is a small dish, often cooked. Lunch is the best time for raciones the daily menu will be written on a board or the dishes just put out on the counter. Often the bill turns out to be as costly as a meal but the taste of fino and gambas (prawns), or a cerveza (beer) and boquerones (anchovies in garlic and vinegar), is quintessential Spain. If you're a serious tapas addict head straight for Seville to investigate Modesto (Calle Cano y Cucto 5) or the Hosteleria del Laurel (Plaza de los Venerables) in the Barrio Santa Cruz and Casa Manolo (Calle San Jorge) in Triana.

Most bars have an alarming array of mountain hams and spiced sausages suspended from the ceiling, all tagged like prize antiques. You could also try some salchichon (salami), chorizo (red spicy sausage) or morcilla (blood sausage) while habas con jamon (broad beans with ham) is a typical Granada dish. Gazpacho is another famous Andalusia creation, a chilled soup based on bread and olive oil and flavored with vegetables and herbs usually tomatoes, garlic and peppers. The Cordobans make their own, thicker version called salmorejo while ajo blanco is a white soup from Malaga based on garlic, almonds and fruit.

In restaurants look for regional dishes large fish are often served with a saffron, paprika or tomato sauce while zarzuela is a fish stew with a spiced tomato sauce. Fried fish can be bought in takeaway freidurias. Desserts always include a choice of fresh fruit or ice cream but in better quality restaurants you'll be able to dither over tarta de almendras (almond tart), crema de membrillo con queso (quince jelly with cheese), pastel cordobis (puff pastry with candied fruit) or the tocino de cielo (caramel custard) from Cadiz.

Andalusia's most famous drink is sherry, a fortified wine from Jerez de la Frontera. Tthe Spanish will drink it with a meal and indeed whenever they can find an excuse. It is the classic complement to tapas. Fino is the most common drink a light, dry sherry, always served chilled. Amontillado is mellower with a nutty flavor and an amber hue. Oloroso is mature, dark and rich, often drunk as a dessert wine. Palo cortado is richer than amontillado but lighter than oloroso. You should also try manzanilla, afino made in Sanlucar de Barrameda on the Atlantic coast where the salty sea air gives it a distinctive tang.

Andalusian wines are few and come a poor second to their Sherries. Exceptions are the excellent strong white Montilla Moriles, produced in Cordoba (amontillado means 'like a Montilla'), and the sweet dessert wines made in Malaga from muscatel grapes. Brandies are also produced around Jerez, varying from the cheap, highly addictive Soberano to the luxurious Carlos I. There are also assorted firewater’s variously flavored with almonds, cherries, oranges, apricots and anis. Spanish measures of spirits are liberal, so take care.

The history of Seville Granada and Cordoba

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The history of the Rio Guadalquivir, one of Spain's great rivers, reflects that of the south of the country. Now bloated with silt, it is a portly descendant of the fast flowing, frequently flooding Baetis (Blessed) river that the Romans knew. From the mountains of north-eastern Jaen, its waters wend their way westwards for some 600km (375 miles), carving an ever widening valley that culminates in Las Marismas. These broad marshlands stall its entry into the Atlantic beside the sherry town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. When their fleets arrived here in the 1st century BC, the Romans could sail upriver as far as Cordoba, a strategic point already colonized by Phoenician, Carthaginian and Iberian settlers.

The Romans and southern Spain

The Romans laid the ground plan of southern Spain, building roads, bridges and aqueducts. They established Cordoba, the home of Seneca and Lucan, as the capital of Hispania Ulterior, and redeveloped many of the prehistoric settlements built alongside the Baetis, including Hispalis (now Seville), Carmona and Wilica. The vicinity's numerous archaeological excavations have produced many an artifact that now graces the museums and stately homes of Seville and Cordoba. Of these the most famous is the gold jeweler that constitutes the Carambolo treasure in Seville's Museo Arqueologico. This incredible collection testifies to the wealth of the kingdom of Tartessus that flourished here in the 8th and 9th centuries BC. Near Santiponce (on what are now the western outskirts of Seville) you can wander amid the crumbling ruins of Roman Italica, birthplace of the emperors Trajan and Hadrian, while at Carmona you can see the remains of the necropolis and amphitheatre.

The Visigoths in Spain

The fall of the Roman Empire led to the rise of the Visigoths, who set up their capital in Toledo. A number of Visigoth fountains, arches and columns can still be seen lurking inside Andalusia monuments constructed many centuries later. In AD711 the Moors principally Arabs and North African Berbers landed at Tarifa. This arrival marked the start of a phenomenal advance: in seven years the Moors conquered virtually the whole peninsula. What had begun as a daring foray was to result in eight centuries of Moorish rule and the flowering of a great civilisation.

The Moors called their new land Al-Andalus, and the river that fed it Guadalquivir (Great River). By the 10th century, Cordoba, the capital of Al-Andalus, had become the most important city in Europe. It was four times its present size, and had a university, libraries, public baths, workshops, street lighting and more than 1,000 mosques.

The greatest of these, La Mezquita, still stands as a testimony to this golden age, which reached its apogee with the construction of the palaces at Medinat al Zahra (now Medina Zahara, just outside Cordoba). Today their partly restored ruins barely hint at the opulence of a royal pleasure park that had its own zoo, mint, fabric factory and arsenal. At its centre stood a pool filled with mercury; when stirred, the sunlight's reflection would flash round the surrounding marble patios and the gold and silver tiles of the roofs.

The Moors in Andalucia

Fabulous wealth grew from the Moors' talent for irrigation in the rich lands of the Guadalquivir Valley. The Greeks had introduced the vine and the olive both cultivated intensively by the Romans but it was the Arabs who added the orange and the almond tree, along with rice, aubergines, saffron, cotton, silk farming, Merino sheep and herbs, spices and fruits. They also, like the Phoenicians before them and the British long after, exploited the mineral resources of the surrounding sierras.
Inevitably, it did not last. By the 11th century the refined glory of the Umayyad Caliphate had disintegrated into feuding taifas (factional kingdoms). These were easily overrun by the strict and austere Almoravids whose Berber armies were summoned to prevent a Christian reconquest. They in turn were succeeded by the more liberal Almohads, who established their capital in Seville the greatest of the taifas and bequeathed us the Giralda and Torre del Oro as mementoes of their reign.

The Decline of Andalucia

In 1212 the Christians defeated the Almohads at Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena, a turning point in the 700-year Reconquista. By 1236, Ferdinand III had captured Cordoba, and in 1248 he took Seville. Ferdinand was aided by the complicity of the first Nasrid king, Ibnal Ahmar, who had retreated from Jaen to the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and a new power base in the former Almoravid capital of Granada. As a result of a peace treaty with the Christians, the kingdom of Granada which covered the modern provinces of Malaga, Granada and Almeria survived as a vassal state for 250 years. The city flourished, not least due to an influx of Muslim refugees and artisans from other captured cities. Indeed the newcomers played a key role in building the Alhambra, the Nasrid dynasty's memorial to the swan song days of Al-Andalus. At the same time the Christian king Pedro the Cruel was also employing Moorish craftsmen to build another tribute to this fading world the Alcazar in Seville.

In 1492 the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella captured Granada, Columbus discovered the New World, and the Jews were expelled from Spain. By then the notorious Inquisition had been in force for 12 years (it was to survive until 1821), autosdafe (burnings of heretics) were a fact of Sevillian life, and conversos (converted Jews) were having their wealth confiscated for investment in projects such as Columbus's second voyage. In 1503 the monopoly of trade with the New World was awarded to Seville's Casa de la Contratacion, from which the city reaped great profits.

One of its employees, Amerigo Vespucci, gave his name to the new continent, Hernando Cortes sailed from Seville to ravage Mexico, and Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated the globe. Conquisladores returned laden with gold and new curiosities such as peppers, tomatoes, quinine and tobacco.

Seville and the Moors

By 1588 Seville had a population of at least 80,000, and a stature equal to that of Venice. But from the end of the 16th century it embarked on a slow, glorious descent into decadence, a decline exacerbated by the expulsion of the moriscos (converted Moors) in 1610 and a terrible plague in 1649. During the 16th and 17th centuries Seville acted as a transit point for trade, administration and emigration. Its Lonja (Exchange), financed by a quarter percent tax on the import of silver, is now the Archive of the Indies, where you can see the signatures of these early colonizers.

Seville religion

These were heady days in Seville. Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), who served time in Seville's prison, recorded its colorful, roguish underworld in his novels; Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1617-82) painted the beggars and other characters that filled the city's crowded streets. The Church, its coffers filled to bursting by the activities of the Inquisition, acquired a wealth that enabled it to build for itself luxury city centre sanctuaries that to this day force pedestrians into circumnavigator detours.

At one point the city had more than 70 convents, a glut mitigated only by their decorations, which often featured paintings and sculpture by artists such as Velazquez, Cano, Zurbaran, Murillo and Leal - all members of what is now referred to as the Seville School. Their works can be seen in Seville's excellent Fine Arts Museum.

In 1717 the silting of the Guadalquivir forced the Casa de la Contratacion to be moved south to Cadiz, thus hastening official recognition of Seville's decline. Cordoba and Granada were now merely provincial backwaters in a demoralized country whose empire had been shriveled by the 1701-14 War of the Spanish Succession. In the 18th and 19th centuries Andalusia gained a reputation as the home of gypsies, brigands, majos (dandies) and matadors that enchanted northern Europeans.

Seville was seen as a city of aristocratic seducers called Don Juan and streetwise barbers called Figaro, while a sultry gypsy girl by the name of Carmen worked in the heat of its famous tobacco factory. In reality, however, Andalusia was a place of political chaos and deep poverty: by the beginning of the 19th century, 72 percent of the farming land in Seville was owned by an elite and invariably absentee landlord class that comprised barely five percent of its population.

Travellers in southern Spain

Poverty contributed to the appeal of southern Spain for the numerous aristocratic travelers who hired mules, boats and carriages to tour its provinces. They enjoyed its dilapidated state, exotic landscape and Moorish Oriental heritage. The Alhambra now a picturesque ruin inspired many a Romantic eulogy. Washington Irving swam in its ancient pools, Theophile Gautier cooled sherry in its fountains and hotels appeared on the hill. But it was the passionate, sensual lifestyle of the Andalusians that really set northern heart’s pumping.

Hans Christian Andersen, visiting Andalusia in the 1860s, admitted his disappointment that he had experienced 'just a little encounter with bandits'. One intrepid lady traveler, en route to the Sahara in the same period, confessed that, after hearing a guitarist in Granada, 'you are ready to make love and war'. Spain, which meant Andalusia to these visitors, was in vogue. This fashion as encouraged by the nation's victories in the Peninsular War (1809-14), its low cost of living and the growth of trade interests such as sherry. Granada and Seville topped the bill of places to see: 'Seville, the marvel of Andalusia, can be seen in a week' declared Richard Ford in his 1845 Handbook for Spain, a masterly work that did much to put Spain on the tourist map. Cordoba tended to receive, as it does today, a more perfunctory inspection.

By the end of the 19th century, Spain had lost virtually all of its remaining colonies, and it still lacked political stability. The nation remained neutral in World War 1 but in the 1920s it became bogged down in a war of independence with its onetime masters, the Berber tribes of Morocco. In an attempt to create a lasting order out of chaos, General Miguel Primo de Rivera assumed power in a semi dictatorship that had the concurrence of King Alfonso XIII: the pastiche pavilions built for the 1929 Ibero American Exposition in Seville are a legacy of his period of power.

In the 1930s Ernest Hemingway wrote Death in the Afternoon, a paean to the 'noble art' of bullfighting, but it was fighting of a different nature that characterized that decade in Spain. Almost one million people were killed in the Spanish Civil War (1936-9), including many who were executed at the start of the conflict in Seville, Cordoba and Granada, which were among the first cities to be taken by Franco's Nationalist forces. One such victim was the Granada born writer, Federico Garcia Lorca. Indeed many artists, writers and intellectuals volunteered their support for the Republican cause, but they could not stand between Franco and a fascist victory.

Spain and World War II

In the aftermath of World War II, in which Spain remained neutral, the country was left isolated and impoverished. Franco's dictatorship lasted until his death in 1975, a period of steady economic advance scarred by political and cultural repression. Many Andalusia’s migrated to the northern industrial cities or abroad, leaving the countryside deserted. Franco's acceptance in 1953 of American military bases in exchange for loans, along with Spain's subsequent admission to the UN, accelerated its economic recovery and led to the development of mass tourism during the 1960s.

In 1975, monarchy returned in the shape of King Juan Carlos, soon to be followed by democratic elections. In 1982 the Socialist PSOE party, led by the charismatic Sevillian lawyer Felipe Gonzalez, won a sweeping victory that paved the way for long overdue investment in the region. The great manifestation of this was Expo '92 in Seville, which brought new roads, high-speed trains and a building boom to the regional capital.

And yet, for all the high-tech facelifts, the romantic, rose in the teeth view of Andalusia persists. The Andalusia’s themselves foster this image in their patios, bars, peiias (clubs) and ferias (fairs), and in the countryside, where donkeys are still used to plough the fields. Andalusia will always be Spain spiced with the tang of North Africa, a mountain locked land racked by summer heat and fed by the waters of the Guadalquivir.

About Costa Blanca

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The Costa Blanca offers visitors a wide range of things to see and do. From the high rise hotels and fantastic entertainment venues in Benidorm to the quiet inland villages of the rural Costa Blanca, this region of Spain attracts thousands of visitors every year.Most visitors to the Costa Blanca head for Benidorm, knowing that the Mediterranean's biggest resort will provide an unforgettable holiday. Many tourists find everything they need in the coastal resorts an agreeable year-round climate, a good standard of accommodation and plenty to do.But the Costa Blanca has much more. A few kilometers from the tourist centers traditional Spain re-emerges, a country where historic towns are set amid superb scenery and the rural pace of life remains undisturbed. Finding this other side is a challenge and delight, and the memory of this will last long after the tan has faded.

Costa Blanca culture

It is a land of huge variety, with thriving ports, bustling cities and a vast agricultural industry. Life has changed immensely in the last 50 years, but its people remain fiercely proud of their region, their history, their traditions and their culture For most visitors though, the main attraction will be the beauty and fertility of the land. High sierras soar above terraced valleys planted with almonds, oranges and olives. Discover the vineyards, hidden upland streams, and vistas of buff, red and ochre peaks. Explore the still lonely coastal stretches, where pines shade rocky paths and the air is scented with aromatic plants. Gaze over the salt flats, haunt of wading birds, a flat and shimmering landscape backed by miles of rich market gardens. The sooner you discover this Costa Blanca, the more you'll enjoy this lovely corner of Europe.

Costa Blanca Information

The Costa Blanca officially lies along the coastline of the region of Valencia, but now includes the hinterland and the region of Murcia. At 325km, the Segura is Spain's eighth longest river.Espuna, with a height of 1,579m is the area's highest mountain.There is one regional park and several natural parks, including marine reserves, within the area.The northern part of the Costa Blanca enjoys 3,147 hours of sunshine annually, and the southern 3,098 hours.The annual rainfall ranges from 394 to 148mm and occurs mainly in the winter months.

People in the Costa Blanca

Most of the population of the area live in the cities and their suburbs.Only around 50 per cent of the area's inhabitants were born here of local parents.Over 70 per cent of foreign property owners are English or German.The main fruit crops are oranges, lemons, cherries, peaches, nectarines and loquats.Large amounts of almonds and olives are grown here and are important Spanish exports.Local produce includes rice, tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, beans, aubergines and a range of salads, which are exported throughout Europe.Fruit and nut processing are major industries.Shoe manufacture is an important source of revenue.

Tourism in Alicante and the Costa Blanca

Holiday life on the Costa Blanca revolves around sun, sand and sea, with plenty of good food and a few late nights. If this is your first visit here, soak up the sun and the atmosphere, sparing perhaps a couple of days for exploring the beautiful inland mountains and one or two atmospheric towns. Once you have tasted the diversity of the region, you will probably return and gradually get to know the hidden corners, where traditional Spanish life has remained untouched by the glitz of the big resorts. Bottom: clean beaches lie within an easy stroll of Costa Blanca's modern hotels

Best things to do on the Costa Blanca

Take the scenic Costa Blanca Express between Alicante and Denia for great views and glimpses of small-town life; or hop on at night and have dinner up the coast from your resort.Take a boat ride for fresh breezes and a change of scene, to the offshore island of Abarca, Benidorm Island, or the islands in the Mar Menor.Go to a local market and admire the produce, smell the flowers and buy a picnic, a paella pan or a pair of locally made sandals.

Have a gastronomic day out sampling local wine, locally grown rice, almonds and honey, and turron, a super sweet nougat produced here to be eaten at Christmas.Take in a fiesta, be it the pre-Lenten Carnaval, the Holy Week processions, a Moros y Cristianos parade commemorating the Reconquest, or a summer firework display. Eat a traditional rice dish fish based on the coast. or with pork, game and vegetables inland. Top: the crags of Guadalest rise above the roofs of this picturesque village Above: an Alicante flower stall glows with warm southern colors.
Rural inland Costa Blanca

As in so many parts of Spain, tourism in the Costa Blanca clings to the highly developed coastal strip, leaving the hinterland virtually untouched. Less than 8km inland from even the busiest resort, Spanish rural life continues as it has always done. So if you crave tranquility you never have far to go, with the added bonus that this lovely coast is backed by some wonderful countryside.

Even beside the sea there are still undeveloped pockets where you can have a swim, rock scramble or a cliff top walk far from the sights and sounds of the 21 st century. There are some impressive pine studded cliffs and solitary coves south of Cabo de la Nao, with stretches of dune backed secluded sand between Alicante (Alacant) and Torrevieja, and remote, empty bays and beaches at Calblanque below Cabo de Palos, now a designated natural park. These coastal areas have an exceptionally rich spring flora; lavender, thyme, rosemary, white, yellow and pink cistus, and other aromatic plants carpet the cliffs from March to June. Some parts of the coastal water have remarkable submarine life, which flourishes on the expanses of sea grass, and includes the now rare turtle. The salt flats around Santa Pola and Torrevieja provide rich feeding for more than 250 species of birds, including good-sized flamingo colonies.

South of Alicante

South of Alicante the area behind the coastline is relatively flat and very fertile, planted with vegetable crops and huge orange groves, the landscape dotted with small farms and sentinel palm trees. The palms form a forest around Elche thousands of trees carpeted with cool greenery, where you can stroll in shady peace. South again, Murcia seems like one vast market garden, the upper Segura valley a rolling landscape of peach orchards, olive groves and rice fields interspersed with patches of woodland, steep escarpments and sleepy country towns, its quiet roads bordered with the vibrant colors of poppies, crown daisies and Bermuda buttercups This agricultural landscape provides shelter for a good range of birds and small mammals naturalists keen on insects and small reptiles will find fascinating life in the stone walls and long grasses bordering the well tended fields.

Costa Blanca mountains

North of Benidorm the high sierras rise precipitously from the coast, wonderful mountain systems of great drama, the bare rock faces glowing with different colors as the light changes throughout the day. The lower slopes of these great mountain valleys have been intricately terraced since Moorish times and are planted, as they have been for centuries, with almonds, oranges, loquats, cherries and olives. Roads twist up through the mountains, sometimes clinging to the hillsides, sometimes allowing stupendous panoramas of valleys and further chains of peaks and rock faces. These hills are laced with ancient footpaths offering magnificent day-long hikes for discovering the wildlife, birds and flora. Foxes, rabbits and other mammals are hard to spot in daylight, but the soaring birds of prey, migrant wintering songbirds and prolific insect life add an extra dimension to walking in this superb landscape.Right in the south of the region lies another great mountain area, the Sierra de Espuna, a superb mountain chain covered with natural pine woods.

Alicante and Costa Blanca information

Long before the Costa Blanca was a famous holiday resort, it was home to many famous Spaniards from the world or art and nobility.This part of Spain has given birth to many eminent Spaniards, who have made their mark on local history. World famous are the writer Gabriel Miro Ferrer, who was born in Alicante and Murcia's most famous son, the 18th century sculptor, Francisco Salzillo. Salzillo specialized in life-size painted wooden figures, which adorn altarpieces and are used in religious processions throughout Murcia.

Rich and famous sons of the Costa Blanca

Today, tourism has changed the Costa Blanca forever, and the 19th and early 20th century travellers who explored this coastline would scarcely recognise it. One of the last people to write about the area before the boom was Rose Macaulay, who travelled along the coast and described sleepy villages which are now buzzing resorts and a landscape which has virtually ceased to exist. The luxurious villas, hidden in pine woods above the sea, are the retreats for northern European celebrities, business people, financiers, sportsmen and women and their families. Many famous people have found the area ideal for a second home, where they can escape the attention of the media which is an inevitable part of life in their own countries.

About Formentera

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If you are looking for things to do in Ibiza and Formentera you will be spoilt for choice when it comes to attractions, events and beaches.

Swing a map of Formentera about half a turn and squint your eyes and you can convince yourself that the blueprint for the island was a seahorse. From the straight spine followed by the Via Major, the seahorse's rolled tail follows the eastern coastline from Punta Roja past La Mola to Punta Palmera, while the head points towards Cap de Barbaria. The usual explanation of Formentera's name is that it derives from 'wheat', the island having been one of Rome's granaries. Yet that seems so unlikely on this arid outcrop that many experts believe the name must derive from an ancient word for a headland, the two headlands of Barbaria and La Mola (the head and tail of the seahorse) being such prominent features of an otherwise flat island.

Formentera is a quiet, peaceful place, the ideal antidote to the hectic activity of tourist Ibiza. Come here to relax if you have been burning the candle at both ends on the larger island.

How to get to Formentera

Only 4km separate Punta de ses Partes, the most southerly point on Ibiza, from the northern tip of S'Espalmador, the island off Formentera's northern shore. Since the sea between S'Espalmador and Trucadors, Formentera's northern tip, can be waded on calm days, it might seem a simple thing to cross between Ibiza and the smaller island. Yet Es Freus, the passage between the islands, with its numerous islands, sand banks and strong currents, has always been a difficult passage for ships. Today's traveler has no such problems: numerous boats leave Eivlssa's harbor for Formentera every day during the summer months. Of these boats the most reliable are the scheduled services of Fiebasarrrasmapi, which include both passenger and car ferries, and the Umafisa car ferry. The Flebasa/Trasmapi passenger services are by fast catamarans which cut the journey time of the slow ferries (about one hour) in half. Tickets can be bought at the Estacion Maritima on Eivissa's harbor (on the side nearest the new town, not at the large building beside the monument to the Corsairs). at the harbourside at Estación Maritima at La Savina on Formentera, or on the boat itself. Check the return times of boats and remember to arrive early if you are planning to catch the last boat as it might be full. Those taking a day trip to Formentera from Ibiza at the height of summer would be advised to catch an earlier boat back, just to be sure.

Leaving from Eivissa, the boat offers a wonderful view of Dalt Vila and Ibiza's southeastern coast and soon passes the lighthouse on the islets of Penjats and Porcs to reach the long, flat S'Espalmador - its watchtower prominently visible. If you are travelling on the deck of the catamaran rather than in the comfortable seats inside, look out for seabirds: Cory's shearwater and the Balearic subspecies of the Manx shearwater are often seen on the journey.

Formentera beaches

Formentera is a quieter, more peaceful island than Ibiza, better for visitors looking for relaxing days on the beach, a good meal and an evening stroll rather than a hectic nightlife. It is therefore popular with families and has beaches to meet all expectations. Except at the cliff-bordered ends of the islands, it is possible to swim almost anywhere, check out the site for best beaches