Outside the city other destinations exist with great interest for the visitor. Alcala de Henares, 30 km outside of Madrid, is an old university city with great cultural tradition that reached its maximum splendor in Renaissance times. The university monument, with a plateresque facade, is an architectonic jewel. The prehistoric, Roman and visigothic remains can be visited as well. Aranjuez offers to its visitors a fantastic Royal Palace from the XVI-XVIIth century. The beauty of the "Porcelain Hall" and the "Throne Hall" stand out.

Chinchon is another colorful medieval town with stone paved streets and a beautiful Square, where bullfights take place during local festivities. In San Lorenzo del Escorial, a few kilometres from the capital, is located one of best known monasteries in the world. This gigantic construction was built by order of Spanish King Phillip II to commemorate a triumph over the king of France in the battle of San Quintin, and, since then, has been the kings’ pantheon. Its ground has form of a grill.

Different local and regional celebrations sprinkle Madrid throughout the year. May 2nd marks the official celebration of the Region. On that date, the resistance of the Spanish capital to the arrival of the French Napoleonic armies is commemorated. During these days an important bullfighting fair, named "goyesca", takes place. It has this name because the bullfighters wear clothes in early XIXth century style, like they are seen in a lot of Goya paintings. May 15th dates the celebration of a local patron saint, San Isidro. In Madrid there is an ancient tradition for this saint, to whom the Madrilenos dedicate dances, ‘romerias’ and the best bullfighting in the world. It is a tradition to buy sweets on this day, like rolled wafers and local doughnuts. Another celebration is the one that lasts from the 6th to 15th of August: “Verbena de la paloma”, a famous ‘zarzuela’ play. It is a celebration of with a very local tradition that presents one of the most typical figures of Madrilenian folklore: chulapa. The men get dressed in gray trousers, vest and a local cap and the women shine with their steering wheel dresses, with a shawl over their head.

Madrilenian gastronomy has gathered influences from all the immigrants from other Spanish zones that have arrived in this region. The dishes more commonly accepted as proper local Madrilenian are Spanish stew, a chick-peas mix, as well as Madrilenian Calluses. Madrid also stands out because of its quality of fish, because the best fish products arrive daily on its markets from all the Spanish coasts.

[Autonomous regions]       [1 2 3]

Spain Art

Spanish Culture