Steves - Rick Steves Snapshot Madrid & Toledo

SNAPSHOT

Madrid & Toledo

This Snapshot guide, excerpted from my guidebook Rick Steves Spain, introduces you to majestic Madrid. Spains capital is home to some of Europes top art treasures (the Prado Museums collection, plus Picassos Guernica in the Reina Sofa) and a lively selection of characteristic tapas bars, where you can assemble a memorable feast of Spanish specialties. Explore the citys cozy-feeling historic core, tour its lavish Royal Palace, and beat the heat on a rowboat at the lush and inviting Retiro Park.

This book also covers several side-trips from Madrid. Toledo, the hill-capping onetime capital of Spain, features one of the countrys most magnificent cathedrals, a medieval vibe, and top paintings by favorite son El Greco. Northwest of Madrid, youll find Spains grandest palace at the Inquisition-era El Escorial, a jarring jolt of the 20th century at Francos Valley of the Fallen, and a pair of charming towns: Segovia, with its towering Roman aqueduct, and vila, encircled by a medieval wall.

To help you have the best trip possible, Ive included the following topics in this book:

Planning Your Time, with advice on how to make the most of your limited time

Orientation, including tourist information offices (abbreviated as TI), tips on public transportation, local tour options, and helpful hints

Sights with ratings:

Dont miss

Try hard to see

Worthwhile if you can make it

No ratingWorth knowing about

Sleeping and Eating, with good-value recommendations in every price range

Connections, with tips on trains, buses, and driving

Practicalities, near the end of this book, has information on money, staying connected, lodging, restaurants, transportation, and other helpful hints, plus Spanish survival phrases.

To travel smartly, read this little book in its entirety before you go. Its my hope that this guide will make your trip more meaningful and rewarding. Traveling like a temporary local, youll get the absolute most out of every mile, minute, and dollar.

Buen viaje!

Todays Madrid is upbeat and vibrant. Youll feel it. Look around, just about everyone has a twinkle in their eyes.

Madrid is the hub of Spain. This modern capitalEuropes second-highest, at more than 2,000 feet above sea levelis home to more than 3 million people, with about 6 million living in greater Madrid.

Like its population, the city is relatively young. In medieval times, it was just another village, wedged between the powerful kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. When newlyweds Ferdinand and Isabel united those kingdoms (in 1469), Madridsitting at the center of Spainbecame the focal point of a budding nation. By 1561, Spain ruled the worlds most powerful empire, and King Philip II moved his capital from tiny Toledo to spacious Madrid. Successive kings transformed the city into a European capital. By 1900, Madrid had 575,000 people, concentrated within a small area. In the mid-20th century, the city exploded with migrants from the countryside, creating todays modern sprawl. Fortunately for tourists, the historic core survives intact and is easy to navigate.

Madrid is working hard to make itself more livable. Massive urban-improvement projects such as pedestrianized streets, parks, commuter lines, and Metro stations are transforming the city. The investment is making once-dodgy neighborhoods safe and turning ramshackle zones into trendy ones. The broken concrete and traffic chaos of Madrids not-so-distant past are gone. Even with Spains financial woes, funding for the upkeep of this great city center has been maintained. Madrid feels orderly and welcoming.

Dive headlong into the grandeur and intimate charm of Madrid. Feel the vibe in Puerta del Sol, the pulsing heart of modern Madrid and of Spain itself. The lavish Royal Palace, with its gilded rooms and frescoed ceilings, rivals Versailles. The Prado has Europes top collection of paintings, and nearby hangs Picassos chilling masterpiece, Guernica. Retiro Park invites you to take a shady siesta and hopscotch through a mosaic of lovers, families, skateboarders, pets walking their masters, and expert bench-sitters. Save time for Madrids elegant shops and people-friendly pedestrian zones. On Sundays, cheer for the bull at a bullfight or bargain like mad at a megasize flea market. Swelter through the hot, hot summers or bundle up for the cold winters. Save some energy for after dark, when Madrileos pack the streets for an evening paseo that can continue past midnight. Lively Madrid has enough street-singing, bar-hopping, and people-watching vitality to give any visitor a boost of youth.

Madrid is worth two days and three nights on even the fastest trip. Divide your time among the citys top three attractions: the Royal Palace (worth a half-day), the Prado Museum (also worth a half-day), and the contemporary bar-hopping scene.

For good day-trip possibilities from Madrid, see the next two chapters (Northwest of Madrid and Toledo).

Morning: Take a brisk, 20-minute good-morning-Madrid walk along the pedestrianized Calle de las Huertas from Puerta del Sol to the Prado. Spend the rest of the morning at the Prado (reserve in advance).

Afternoon: Enjoy an afternoon siesta in Retiro Park. Then tackle modern art at the Reina Sofa, which displays Picassos Guernica (closed Tue). Ride bus #27 from this area out through Madrids modern section to Puerta de Europa for a dose of the nontouristy, no-nonsense big city.

Evening: End your day with a progressive tapas dinner at a series of characteristic bars.

Morning: Follow my self-guided walk, which loops to and from Puerta del Sol, with a tour through the Royal Palace in the middle.

Afternoon: Your afternoon is free for other sights or shopping. Be out at the magic hourjust before sunsetfor the evening paseo when beautifully lit people fill Madrid.

Evening: Take in a flamenco or zarzuela performance.

Puerta del Sol marks the center of Madrid. No major sight is more than a 20-minute walk or a 7 taxi ride from this central square. Get out your map and frame off Madrids historic core: To the west of Puerta del Sol is the Royal Palace. To the east, youll find the Prado Museum, along with the Reina Sofa museum. North of Puerta del Sol is Gran Va, a broad east-west boulevard bubbling with shops and cinemas. Between Gran Va and Puerta del Sol is a lively pedestrian shopping zone. And southwest of Puerta del Sol is Plaza Mayor, the center of a 17th-century, slow-down-and-smell-the-cobbles district.