Mad About Madrid

Madrid's Top Summer Terrazas

One of the highlights of summer is eating or drinking in one of the city’s many terrazas. Terrazas (street café’s) are extremely popular in Madrid and are a wonderful way of spending an evening in the city. They are open through summer until September and cater for all tastes and budgets, though in places like Retiro Park they are open all year round. Some of the best places to enjoy terrazas are the Paseo de la Castellana and the Paseo de Rosales. El Mundo newspaper has an exhaustive list of the summer’s top terrazas on their website which, though written in Spanish, categorises them into barrios, displays their food specialities and gives the price range.   

Fiesta of the Virgen de la Paloma

The month of August sees a number of fiestas going on around the city. Probably the biggest and most wel known is the Virgen de la Paloma, which has been celebrated since the 18th century. Around 'old Madrid' - Plaza de las Vistillas, La Paloma and Toledo streets and the Plaza de la Paja and Plaza de los Carros you will find a number of events (concerts, processions and street events) going on and people dressed in traditional Marileño costume. The fiesta starts on the 11th August and culminates on the 15th with the procession of a picture of the Virgin through the streets carried by the fireman of the city council.

Cervantes' Birthplace Museum

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the first publication of Cervantes' Don Quijote, one of the most famous and important books/characters in world literature. There are a number of events going on in Madrid to mark the event throughout the year but you may be interested in paying a trip to Cervantes' Birthplace Musuem, in the city of Alcalá de Henares just outside Madrid (35 minutes by train).Here is an overview of the museum from the website:

The Cervantes Birthplace Museum is a monographic museum owned and run by the Autonomous Region of Madrid, and housed in the building where, the scholars tell us, the writer was born. It brings to life the various areas of an affluent household during the 16th and 17th centuries, recreating an environment intended to provide visitors to the rooms with a sense of the former residents as they went about their daily lives.

The museum, which has been in existence since 1954, organises workshops for children, talks, concerts and book launches.

Getting There
Atocha Train Station (See 'Cercanias' section on Renfe website)
Opening Times
Tuesday to Sunday: 10 am to 6 pm

Madrid - the Capital with the Second Highest Number of Trees in the World

According to data from Madrid's City Council, the city has the second highest number of trees for a capital city in the world - Tokyo takes the lead. Madrid has 300,000 compared to Tokyo's 400,000 - most of them (216,000) can be found lining Madrid's pavements. Madrid's Retiro Park accounts for around 15,000. If you were to take into account Madrid's Casa de Campo (west of the city with 1,700 hectares), you could add another 500,0o0 trees - easily putting Tokyo in the shade.

Source: Consumer.es