Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/604887
Madrid | 61 VACATION ENHANCING TOURS • Avila & segovia Full-Day with Tourist Lunch • Flamenco show at Torres Bermejas with Dinner • Hop-On/Hop-Off Pass (24 or 48 hours) • Madrid Highlights Tour • Madrid Highlights Tour & Prado Museum • Toledo Half-Day • Toledo Full-Day Tour with Tourist Lunch • small Group Imperial Toledo & Winery • small Group segovia & Pedraza Consult your travel agent for more details on these and other tours. Immerse yourself in a city both modern and historic, or day-trip to a neighboring destination for a full experience. Plan ahead to do it all. In the center of the Iberian Peninsula lies the heart of Spain—its capital, Madrid. A city of passion, the architecture, music, dance, and art stir the soul like a tempest. The internationally celebrated Prado Museum is where travelers can find some of the very best of the latter, displaying masterpieces by Raphael, Rubens, bosch, and Goya. If the largest art museum in Spain isn't enough, there are more than 60 others to visit, many along the Paseo del Arte, including the Thyssen-bornemisza Museum, which showcases over 800 paintings. The mucha marcha, or "lively spirit," local Madrileños are known for is perhaps never so apparent as at a flamenco restaurant like the old El Corral de la Morería, where the sultry, sensual dance continues to flourish…unless one happens to visit the Alonso Martinez, Huertas, or Santa Ana districts at night, where discotecas and pubs keep dancers of all types on their feet. Upmarket restaurants, terrazas, and tapas and wine bars provide a different vibe in Castellana, Cava baja, and Malasaña. Music is much a part of daily life as well, with free concerts in the summer in Retiro Park, the original site of the gardens of the Palace of buen Retiro, which also features a boating lake, rose garden, sculptures, the Crystal Palace, and the neoclassical Velazquez Palace. baroque and classical styles provide a different perspective at the Royal Palace, near other architectural pearls like the Teatro Real opera house; the bank of Spain building; the Palace of Telecommunications; and the fountains of Cibeles and Neptune. For the ultimate contrast, the historic center, Plaza Mayor—known as the "Madrid of los Austrias" for the Habsburg King Philip II's reign—demonstrates architecture of all schools from 1620 onward. MAdrid