Monumentos
Monumentos de Madrid
Monumentos
8
Palacio Real de Madrid
Europe's largest royal palace by floor area: 3,418 rooms, though only around 50 are open to the public, dripping with frescoes, Stradivarius violins, and a Throne Room that still hosts state ceremonies. The Spanish royal family no longer lives here, which is exactly why you can walk through it.
Plaza Mayor
A vast 17th-century arcaded square that has hosted royal coronations, bullfights, and the occasional Inquisition trial, now filled with café terraces, street portraitists, and the equestrian statue of Felipe III at its centre. Everyone passes through eventually; that's the point.
Puerta del Sol
Kilometre Zero: the exact point from which every road distance in Spain is measured, marked by a small plaque in the pavement. Home to the bear-and-strawberry-tree statue, the Tío Pepe sign, and the clock whose twelve chimes on New Year's Eve set the whole country's midnight.
Puerta de Alcalá
A neoclassical granite gate commissioned by Carlos III in 1778, one of Europe's first purpose-built triumphal arches predating Paris's own by decades. It once marked the eastern edge of the city; now it stands mid-roundabout at the entrance to Retiro Park.
Templo de Debod
A genuine 2nd-century BC Egyptian temple, dismantled stone by stone and gifted to Spain by Egypt in 1968 for help saving Nubian monuments from the Aswan Dam floodwaters. It now sits on a hilltop above Parque del Oeste with one of the city's best sunset views over the Sierra de Guadarrama.
Estación de Atocha
Madrid's grandest railway station: a 19th-century wrought-iron train shed whose old departure hall was converted in 1992 into a tropical garden of more than 7,000 plants and a resident population of turtles in a central pond. Still a fully working station, and free to wander through.
Plaza de Cibeles
Madrid's most photographed fountain: the goddess Cybele riding a lion-drawn chariot, ringed by four of the city's grandest buildings including the wedding-cake Palacio de Cibeles. The traditional spot where Real Madrid fans celebrate every trophy, whether the mayor's office likes it or not.
Gran Vía
Madrid's Broadway: a mile and a half of Beaux-Arts and Art Deco towers built between 1910 and 1929, now lined with theatres, flagship stores, and the neon of the Schweppes and Metrópolis buildings. Cut through in a straight line specifically to modernise a city of medieval alleys.
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