This huge, opulent building is the official residence of the Spanish royal family and reflects the great wealth and grandeur of the country’s previous rulers. Nowadays, the palace belongs to the state and the royal family lives in a more modest palace on the outskirts of the city, but it is still used for state ceremonies. The Palacio Real is the largest palace in Europe in terms of floor area and, unlike the Palace of Versailles in France, retains its original furnishings and treasures. Members of the Royal Family regularly appear on these balconies to greet the public on special occasions, such as the wedding of Prince Felipe, or his coronation as the current king of Spain in June 2014. There are a total of 3,418 rooms in the palace, some of which are open to the public. For a small fee, you can enjoy the palace’s rich collection of musical instruments - including violins made by Stradivarius - and paintings by famous artists like Goya and Caravaggio, as well as the opulent furniture, clocks, porcelain and jewelry. The throne room on the upper floor is particularly impressive, and the palace also houses the royal armoury of Madrid. Guided tours are usually available, and there is also an audio guide. It is worth spending at least three hours in the palace so, if time is short, you may prefer to visit the grounds, which are free. The palace is also beautifully-lit in the evenings, if you have chance to view it then.

Royal Palace of Madrid

Almudena Cathedral (or Catedral de la Almudena) is the Catholic Cathedral in Madrid. Despite its impressive, historic appearance, it was only completed recently, and was consecrated by the pope in 1993. The church is dedicated to Madrid’s patron saint, Santa Maria de la Almudena, and the exterior is made of granite and stone. It is characterised by an impressive double dome measuring 20 meters across. The grand royal wedding of the current Spanish king and queen, King Philip VI and Queen Letizia, took place here in 2004. This was the first royal wedding to take place in Spain for over a century, as Philip’s parents had married in Athens, and was cause for great national celebration. The funeral of the former Prime Minister was also held here. Prior to that, the cathedral had been closed for many years. The building work began in 1883, with a Neo-Gothic design, but ceased completely during the Spanish civil war. The construction work was resumed in 1944, when the exterior was redesigned as a neoclassical building to match the style of the nearby Royal Palace, which we have just visited. The interior remains in the neo-Gothic style, and there is a neo-Romanesque crypt. The cathedral is full of light, with enormous stained glass windows with modern designs. There are lovely side chapels containing modern sculptures and designs. Unlike most churches, which face east to west, Almudena Cathedral faces north to south, again so that it might fit in better with the neighbouring Royal Palace. The crypt is also well worth visiting. It contains ten side chapels belonging to the most prominent Spanish families, decorated with great art and sculptures.

La Almudena Cathedral

The Plaza de la Villa is a small, picturesque square in the heart of Madrid. It is pretty, relaxing place, and well worth a visit. The Plaza de la Villa is the city’s oldest square, and was the location for the city’s main market place in Muslim and early medieval times. It is enclosed on three sides by historic buildings in contrasting styles. The first building we see as we enter the square is the old town hall (Casa de la Villa), which dates back to the 17th century. This is the tallest building in the square and served both as a town hall and a prison. It has two symmetrical doors – the left-hand one led to the prison, the right-hand one to the town hall. Today, it is home to the Municipal Council of the City of Madrid. The old town hall is linked by an arch to the Casa de Cisneros, a sixteenth-century castle. The oldest building in the square is also one of the oldest in Madrid, dating back to the 1460s. It is the Lujanes Tower (Torre de los Lujanes). One of Madrid’s aristocratic families resided here, and it is rumoured that King Francis of France was kept prisoner here in the 1500s, following his capture by the Spanish in battle. Currently, this building is home to the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and its Gothic porch is decorated with several coats of arms of the Lujanes family. In the center of the square stands a statue of the Spanish Admiral who planned the ill-fated Armada attack against England. It was created by Benlliure, one of Spain’s most outstanding sculptors.

The Plaza de la Villa

The Mercado de San Miguel is a large indoor market that is open daily. It is always full of tourists and locals and has a lively, buzzing atmosphere. Following the demolition of the old parish church that formerly stood on this site, the various guilds seized this space and began to conduct trade. In the early twentieth century, a roof was added to the open market. Iron was used in its construction, to mimic the architectural style of other European markets. Today, the Mercado de San Miguel offers a bright space for people to go and sample delicious food and drink, as it is constructed almost entirely of glass from floor to ceiling. The market champions small businesses, which often struggle in the face of the large supermarkets, and aims to be a culinary cultural center. At La Tortilla Senen stand, gourmet tortilla chips can be prepared for you in a few minutes. Horno de San Onofre sells homemade jams. Ergoien, meanwhile, offers a range of organic products, and the market is full of various wine, yogurt, meat and fish stalls, all selling gourmet, in-season produce. If you are feeling hungry and are ready to take a break, why not stay for a while to sample the local gastronomic delights? Why not try some traditional Spanish food, such as tapas – Spanish snacks such as olives with cheese - or paella – a Spanish rice dish? There is also a wide variety of seafood on offer. You can eat standing up at one of the bars, sitting at a large common table, or while simply wandering around – the choice is yours!

Mercado San Miguel

The Plaza Mayor is a large, pedestrianized public square, filled with shops, cafes and restaurants. It is one of the busiest places in Madrid all year round, welcoming thousands of hungry locals and tourists in every season. The square dates back to the sixteenth century, when it was the location for Madrid’s main market. It is rectangular in shape, measuring 129 m by 94 m and is surrounded by three-story flats, so there are 237 balconies overlooking the Plaza. It has provided the location for numerous events, such as markets, bullfights, association football games, and public executions. During the Spanish Inquisition, "autos de fe" were held here, where supposed heretics were forced to do penance, and then often burnt at the stake. Celebrations in honor of San Isidro, patron saint of Madrid, are also held here, and there is also a large Christmas market held here annually. The Plaza Mayor has suffered several fires throughout its history. The Casa de la Panadería (Bakery House) dates back to the construction of the square in the early seventeenth century. It has been rebuilt several times, following the fires. The building has served various uses since its foundation as a bakery where the national price for bread was set. It housed the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal Academy of History in the 18th and 19th centuries, and later became the Municipal Library and Archives. Today, it houses the Madrid Tourism Center. In the center of the square stands a bronze statue of King Philip III.

Plaza Mayor

The Puerta del Sol is a large semi-circular area with many statues and monuments. It is considered the hub of Madrid, and is very busy and bustling. It is one of the best known and most characteristic places in Madrid. It is so named because this was originally the site of one of the city's gates, which faced the east, and so was adorned with an image of the rising sun. Located on the straight, south side of the semi-circle, you can see a clock tower, part of a building known as the "Real Casa de Correos". This was built in the 18th century to house the Post Office, and is now the office of the President of Madrid. Outside the Casa de Correos is a stone slab on the pavement marking Kilometre Zero - the official starting point for Spain's 6 National Roads. Every New Year’s Eve, there is a tradition of eating twelve grapes (one for every strike of the clock) with one’s family. Huge crowds visit the Puerta del Sol every new year, and millions of Spaniards watch the event on TV, which has been broadcast live to the nation since 1962. This tradition of eating twelve grapes is deeply-rooted in Spain, and there are several theories about its origin. One story tells how, in the late 19th century, a group of locals who had gone to the Puerta del Sol to welcome in the new year decided to mock the bourgeois habit of eating grapes with champagne to celebrate New Year’s Eve, and so ate a grape for each strike of the clock. Look out for the statue entitled "El Oso y El Madroño" (the Bear and the Strawberry Tree), which is the emblem of the capital and provides a popular meeting point for locals, and there is also an equestrian statue of King Carlos III.

Puerta del Sol

The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando) is often missed by visitors to Madrid, who favour the larger galleries, like the Prado Gallery, which we visit later. It is well worth a visit, however, if you have the time. The collection is spread over three floors, and because the gallery is a lot quieter than the main ones, it is possible to see most of the artwork on display within an hour or so. You might almost feel you have the place to yourself! The academy was established by royal decree in 1744, and King Charles III purchased a palace in Madrid to serve as its new home. Acting as both a museum and gallery, today, it houses a fine art collection of paintings from the 15th to 20th centuries. Picasso and Salvador Dalí studied at the arts academy, which is housed in the 18th century Goyeneche Palace just a short walk down the street from Puerta del Sol. The Fine Arts Museum holds over 1,500 paintings and almost 600 sculptures, dating from the 15th century to the present day. The collection includes works by old masters such as Van Dyck and Rubens, and drawings by Raphael and Titian. There are particularly fine examples of the most famous Spanish artists, including works by El Greco and Velazquez. Goya was a former director of the academy, and a whole room is devoted to his work. Flash-free photographing of the collection is permitted, and the gift shop offers a selection of high-quality fine art prints.

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

The Plaza de Cibeles is possibly the most beautiful of the many grand squares that adorn Madrid. It is a busy square containing neo-classical marble sculptures and fountains, and is usually filled with traffic. This site used to form part of a wooded, longitudinal axis that, during the Renaissance, separated the urban section of Madrid from various monastic and palace complexes. Probably the most prominent of the buildings in this plaza is Cibeles Palace (formerly named the Palace of Communication). The cathedral-like landmark was built in 1909 to serve as the postal service headquarters. This impressive building was home to the Postal and Telegraphic Museum until 2007 when it became the Madrid City Hall (Ayuntamiento de Madrid). The fountain of Cibeles (Fuente de la Cibeles) is one of Madrid’s most important symbols. It is named after Cybele, the Phrygian goddess of fertility and nature, who was worshipped in Rome. She is depicted seated on a chariot pulled by two lions, symbolizing her power and divine nature. The fountain was built in the reign of Charles III and was moved to its present location in the late 19th century. It has been adopted by the football club, Real Madrid, whose fans celebrate major triumphs here. The Real Madrid flag is often to be found wrapped around the statue of Cybele. Today, this is the location of the Banco de España (the Bank of Spain), the oldest part of which dates back to 1882. The bank was nationalized in the 1960s. The gold bullion is stored 30 meters below ground and, before the invention of modern security, the vault could be flooded by water from the Cibeles Fountain in case of danger. Opposite the Bank of Spain is the Palacio de Linares, a Baroque palace built in 1873 by a rich banker. It now houses the Casa de América, a cultural center and art gallery that promotes Latin American art. The building is said to be haunted by the spirits of its first owner, who made his fortune in the New World. Opposite the Palacio de Cibeles stands Buenavista Palace, surrounded by a French-style garden, which is now the headquarters of the Spanish army.

Plaza de Cibeles

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, or simply the Thyssen) is an art gallery that forms part of the ‘Golden Triangle of Art’, which includes the Prado and the Reina Sofia national galleries. With over 1,600 paintings, the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection was once the second largest private collection in the world after that of Queen Elizabeth II. The gallery started in the 1920s as a private collection by Baron Heinrich Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon, a Dutch-born industrialist. He bought many paintings from American millionaires who were facing the Great Depression and inheritance taxes, reversing the usual trend of European art being shipped to America. The collection was later expanded by Heinrich's son Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, who continued to acquire numerous new works to create one of the world's finest private art collections. Whereas his father had collected mainly Old Masters, Hans focused more on the 19th and 20th century, resulting in a collection that spans eight centuries of European painting. On marrying, the Baron decided to relocate his collection from Germany to Spain, where the local government offered a building close to the Prado. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum officially opened in Madrid in 1992, displaying 715 works of art. A year later, the Spanish Government bought this collection outright. The highlights include early European paintings from the 14th and 15th centuries, together with the works of early Flemish and Dutch painters like Jan van Eyck and Hans Holbein (Portrait of Henry VIII). There are also works by the most famous Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo painters, including Titian, Rubens and Canaletto. The Museum houses a display of North American paintings from 18th and 19th Centuries including work by John Singer Sargent. The main Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works are by artists like Monet, Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cézanne, and van Gogh, plus twentieth century works by Picasso, Dali, Chagall and Pollock. The collection is spread out over three floors, with the oldest works on the top floor down to the contemporary scene on the ground floor.

Image: <a href="https://www.codart.nl/guide/museums/museo-thyssen-bornemisza/">"Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza"</a> by Diego Delso is licensed under&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

The Museo del Prado is Spain’s main national art gallery. It is one of the largest museums in Europe, and it would take several days to view the whole collection. Built in 1785, the gallery was opened to the public in 1819 not only to show off the works of art belonging to the Spanish royal family, but also to demonstrate that Spanish art was of equal merit to that of the rest of Europe. This gallery is one of the most visited sites in the world, welcoming 2.8 million visitors in 2012. It offers an outstanding collection of European art, from the 12th to the early 19th centuries, and is undoubtedly the best single collection of Spanish art in the world. The collection includes 7,600 paintings and 1,000 sculptures. The highlights are paintings by Goya, Velázquez, Titian, Rubens and Hieronymus Bosch. The most famous work on display is Las Meninas by Velázquez. Following a two-year, $10 million overhaul in 1998, the gallery has been vastly expanded, although the original royal collection remains at its center. A glass-roofed, wedge-shaped foyer now houses the gallery’s shop and cafeteria, leaving room for more artworks to be displayed in the main building. The Prado Museum hosts many travelling exhibitions and, because the collection is so extensive, only about a seventh of its entire permanent holdings are on display at any one time.

Prado National Museum

Madrid’s Royal Botanical Gardens cover 20 acres (8 hectares), containing plants from five continents, particularly South America and the Philippines. The gardens were originally founded by King Ferdinand VI in 1755 on the banks of the River Manzanares but, a few years later, King Charles III ordered them to be moved to their current location, where they reopened in 1781. The aim of the gardens was not only to exhibit plants but also to promote the study of botany, including organizing expeditions to discover and classify new plants. The current collection of preserved plants (the Herbarium) is the largest in Spain, containing over a million specimens from around the world. The gardens are divided into seven major outdoor sections and five greenhouses, including tropical, temperate and desert plants. You will find great variety here, from neatly-laid out beds, to medicinal plants and herbs, and a vast variety of trees and shrubs. There are an estimated 30,000 plants and flowers, and 1,500 trees on display. Look out for the delightful, multi-colored roses of every variety, and the classical Romanic Garden, with its duck pond. The warm climate in Madrid means that the gardens are open all year round, and they are always full of sight-seers and locals enjoying their lunch. It is also a center for important botanical research, and the state-of-the-art greenhouses help to main a delicate ecosystem in which the wide variety of plants can flourish. All in all, the gardens provide a wonderful spot in which to relax and they are also a superb setting in which to take photographs.

Real Jardin Botanico

Welcome to Madrid and to this walking tour of some of Madrid's historic buildings, squares and art galleries, including the Royal Palace, Puerto del Sol, the Prado Museum and the Royal Botanical Gardens. Enjoy a taste of what the beautiful Spanish capital city has to offer, strolling around various plazas and marveling at beautiful artworks along the way.

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Madrid City Tour

Madrid

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Madrid

Madrid City Tour

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