living here in Madrid, you would imagine that at some point it just becomes the place you live and loses its magic, but this has not been the case for me.
I take a walk to the Madrid city center at least once a week, sometimes more. It takes me around 90 mins to walk there, and I take many different routes, and each time I always end up seeing something I had not seen before.
It can be a pretty house, a road, or a small park I have never came across before, but no matter what, my walks to and from the city center of Madrid are never boring for me, and I love the center of Madrid so much that I appreciate seeing it as often as I can.
So its a Sunday, there’s a heatwave ripping through here right now, so I am going to skip my cardio and just take a walk to the center, and let you know what I managed to see in day of walking through Madrid.
A DAY WALKING IN MADRID
I live to the east side of the center of Madrid in Canillas, so as the crow flies, the center is about 6km to Puerta Del Sol. On a good day, it takes around an hour and a half to walk there, depending on if it is just me or the family, but it’s not all that far.
There are two main routes we take to the center of Madrid, and we plan this based on what we want to eat, any shops we want to visit, if there is a hill or not. We really do walk a lot so we know the roads pretty well.
Lopes de Hoyos or Calle Alcala our the preferred routes. If you go up Calle Alcala, known to be one of if not the longest road in Spain, you will take a more direct route and see a lot of great sights.
I also do leatherwork as a hobby, so I needed to take a trip to the Rastro market to pick up some bits and pieces, and I was running a little late, so I took the Metro there and walked back.
Arriving at the Rastro Market, Madrid.
I usually like to get to the Rastro nice and early, like 8.45 early, but that’s because I am usually there to buy some leather, or a tool or something, and I want to get out before it gets busy, but I wanted to see some of the new things the Leather stalls had out.
I walked down the main part of the market, all the stalls that sell mostly the same stuff, but what you would want to buy if you were on a holiday somewhere, saw a few things I like, bought some handmade jewelry for one of my daughters, then made my way to the sidestreets where I like to rummage a little more.
I like shiny things, and toys, comics, old tools, knives, and I like them to have a story.
Walking down all the side streets, you come across many small shutters in the wall shops that are dark and cluttered and I love going to these places in the hope of finding something cool just as much as I like kneeling down by a stall at searching through a box of old toys.
So after my treasure hunt (didn’t find anything of note), and the temperatures ramping up, I left the Rastro, and started my walk back home making sure the route takes me by some of my favorite places in Madrid .
Fuente De La Fama
On my walk back from the market, I walked back up toward Plaza Mayor then around the back past Gran Via, and ended up walking through Malasana.
When I got to Tribunal, I was walking toward Alonso Martinez, and on the corner of Barcelo, there is the Madrid History Museum which is a beautiful building in itself, and the stone carving around the entrance is amazing.
But in the garden of the museum, the is a little know treasure of Madrid. The “Fuente de la fama” was originally constructed in 1732.
It has dolphins as water fountains, angels, seashells, and flower pots, and is just a really really stunning fountain. You will inevitably be seeing the famous Cibeles fountain, but if you want to see another example, this is a cool one.
Just another pretty building in Madrid
A little further down from the fountain, nothing spectacular, but I saw a building and it really caught my attention. Madrtid has so many pretty streets, roads buildings, fountains, parks that its would take thousands of photos to give you an idea, but just one good walk and you can see this all yourself.
You can get carried away when walking and you don’t really take in what you are walking past. I see a lot of nice buildings in Madrid, and always take a second to appreciate the craft that went into making them.
Turns out this one was a Hotel called Urso, don’t know much about the hotel, so I won’t speak to their service, but they picked a pretty building.
THE NATIONAL LIBRARY MADRID
Here is another building that often gets overlooked. You can see the entrance to the library in the pic, and there is also a very neatly kept garden at the front with benches where you can relax in the shade of the trees.
Its such a nice building, and these types of buildings always remind me of the natural history museum back home in London.
Something you will also see if you pay attention to, and I am a bit of a geek, so I do is that the iron gates that used to surround monuments here in Madrid are gorgeous.
They are more than just thick iron bars, they all have a unique design to them and are kept in tip top shape, always painted.
Plaza De Colon
Now I am real close to the Plaza Colon which is a really cool square and famous for many reasons.
There in an arts center underneath the square, the Fernan Gomez Cultural Center, and there is usually a year round art installation on the square.
Right now, there is a giant model of a head that looks scarily realistic, and also reminds me a lot of the statue from the never ending story movie.
For such a nice square, there are never really a lot of people here, unless there is a demonstration or national parade.
But there is an issue of shade here, so if its in the middle of the summer, there is not really a place you can sit and get some shade, so it kind of makes sense that you would not hang around here too long in the sun.
5. That’s a big arch
Of the number of entrances to the square, Arco the Cuchilleros (Knifeman’s Arch) is the most famous and tallest arch, the work of Juan de Villanueva.
The arch is around 7 stories high, but you would not notice this when looking at it from inside the square. The real size is only noticeable once you see it from the other side on Cava de San Miguel.
6. The oldest restaurant in the world
Now if you were to go under the aforementioned Arco De Cuchilleros, you will find another landmark not to be missed if you are ever in Madrid. El Restaurante Botin, is considered to be the oldest registered restaurant in the world according to the Guinness book of records.
The restaurant was frequented and used in the stories of names such as Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Maria Duenas, and many others.
There are even stories of spies meeting here in the restaurant, and Forbes named the restaurant 3rd in the world’s top 10 classic restaurants list.
The restaurant is most famous for serving slowly roasted lamb and pig.
7. The thieves’ hideout
Luis Candelas was born into a family of wealth and was known as an elegant man among the elite of Madrid, but He also really enjoyed a bit of crime on the side and had a group of friends that were also criminals, and throughout his life was imprisoned several times.
During His time in Madrid, along with His crew of thieves, they committed a number of high-profile robberies of money, jewels, and important documents and even robbed the Queen’s dressmaker and they would all meet in a cave below Plaza Mayor.
Today, these caves are home to one of the most well-known restaurants in the area, Las Cuevas de Luis Candela.
Now you know a little more about the square, I hope you feel a little more involved, have a more personal feeling if and when you visit Plaza Mayor, and drop me a comment and let me know what you liked the most.
If you need a few more ideas on thingd you can do in Madrid, these other posts may interest you: