Tourist routes around Madrid

Image | OK Daily

In addition to being the capital of Spain, Madrid is an open, cosmopolitan and lively city that has a multitude of activities to offer its visitors. Each traveler who comes to the city does so for a different reason: studies, business, leisure ... some discover it for the first time and others repeat.

Both for some and for others, the tourist routes through Madrid are an excellent way to get to know it as they are a source of knowledge and also of fun. The country's capital has many different themes to choose from. Would you like to do any of the following?

Christmas route

Christmas is one of the most special times of the year, especially for Madrid that lives it with great joy and strives every year to decorate the streets with new reasons to surprise tourists and locals.

Madrid likes Christmas, which is why for a year it has had a highly demanded service known as Naviluz. An open-top double-decker bus that runs through the main streets and avenues of the historic center to contemplate the play of lights, colors and shapes with which the city is adorned on such a special date.

This is one of the most popular tourist routes in Madrid, so it is important to be attentive to the start date of the service, which has not yet been officially communicated, because in recent years the places are sold out quickly. Naviluz is scheduled to start its route from Thursday, November 28, and will serve until Three Kings Day.

In addition, this year another of the tourist routes through Madrid related to Christmas has to do with the traditional figurative nativity scenes. that on the occasion of next Christmas will be installed in the Puerta de Alcalá, as well as in Puerta de Toledo, Puerta de San Vicente, Plaza Mayor and Viaducto de Segovia.

Route through the Barrio de las Letras

Image | Hostal Oriente

Talking about Madrid is talking about culture. Next to the Madrid Art Triangle (Museo del Padro, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and Museo Reina Sofia) we find a neighborhood that breathes literature, the so-called Barrio de las Letras.

It receives this name because many of the great Spanish authors settled in it during the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries: Lope de Vega, Cervantes, Góngora, Quevedo and Calderón de la Barca.

Some buildings have survived from that time, such as the Casa de Lope de Vega, the church of San Sebastián or the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians (where the tomb of Cervantes is located).

With these writers also appeared the first comedy corrals such as El Príncipe (now the Spanish Theater), printers such as that of Juan de la Cuesta or the lieutenants of the comedians.

Later, in the XNUMXth century, prominent institutions such as the Royal Academy of History or the Madrid Chamber of Commerce and Industry (both sublime buildings) were located in the Barrio de las Letras. And in the following centuries the headquarters of the Madrid Athenaeum, the Hotel Palace and the Palace of the Courts, would arrive.

This is one of the best tourist routes through Madrid to discover the literary Madrid of the Golden Age, the era of splendor of the Spanish language. It is also a place to stop along the way to enjoy Madrid's gastronomy that ranges from the most traditional to the most innovative in the kitchen. The Barrio de las Letras is full of bars and restaurants with a lot of atmosphere.

Mystery Route

Image | Wikipedia

There is no better way to get to know a city than by getting lost in its streets, even in those that have been scenes of legends and mysteries. The historic center of Madrid is full of them.

We will start at the well-known House of the Seven Chimneys, an authentic pilgrimage place for lovers of the paranormal. It is said that in this building located in the Plaza del Rey some nights the ghost of a lover of King Felipe II appears over the roofs.

And from a house with ghosts to one that weighs a curse: the cursed-house of Madrid is located on Antonio Griso Street, whose walls have witnessed horrible crimes. Some say that, since those events, the property is cursed.

In the Plaza de la Paja we can know the legend that circulates around the Mudejar Tower belonging to the Church of San Pedro El Viejo. It is said that the first bell in the tower was put in place without anyone having to carry it to the top.

As you can see, not all Madrid mystery stories have adapted in the same way over time and some of them seem to be part of fantastic literature.

A classic in the legends and mystery of Madrid is the Palacio de Linares, in the Plaza de Cibeles. It is said that a ghost inhabits the palace and even psychophonies can be heard.

Route through the historic center of Madrid

Image | Pixabay

Madrid, the capital of Spain, has a lot to offer and a route through the historic center will allow us to know its most emblematic sites.

The itinerary can begin, for example, in the Plaza de la Independencia, which shows two very important places for the people of Madrid: the Puerta de Alcalá and the Parque del Retiro. Following Calle Alcalá we arrive at Plaza de Cibeles, home of the famous sculpture and the Town Hall. Then we head towards Gran Vía and its impressive buildings between the 0th and XNUMXth centuries. Taking Calle Montera you reach Sol, kilometer XNUMX of the capital where the famous sculpture of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree, the emblem of the city, is located.

Several very famous shopping streets start from Puerta del Sol, such as Calle Preciados, Calle Arenal or Calle Carretas. But on this walking route through Madrid we will continue along Calle Mayor until we reach Plaza Mayor, another of the most prominent places in the historic center.


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