Madrid became
Spain's capital simply
through its geographical position at
the centre of Iberia. When Felipe II
moved the seat of government here in
1561 his aim was to create a symbol
of the unification and
centralization of the country, and a
capital from which he could receive
the fastest post and communications
from each corner of the nation. The
site itself had few natural
advantages - it is 300km from the
sea on a 650-metre-high plateau,
freezing in winter, burning in
summer - and it was only the
determination of successive rulers
to promote a strong central capital
that ensured Madrid's survival and
development.
Nonetheless, it was a success,
and today Madrid is a vast,
predominantly modern city, with a
population of some three million and
growing. The journey in - through a
stream of concrete-block suburbs -
isn't pretty, but the streets at the
heart of the city are a pleasant
surprise, with pockets of medieval
buildings and narrow, atmospheric
alleys, dotted with the oddest of
shops and bars, and interspersed
with eighteenth-century Bourbon
squares. By comparison with the
historic cities of Spain - Toledo,
Salamanca, Sevilla, Granada - there
may be few sights of great
architectural interest, but the
monarchs did acquire outstanding
picture collections, which formed
the basis of the Prado
museum. This has long ensured Madrid
a place on the European art tour,
and the more so since the 1990s
arrival - literally down the street
- of the Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza
galleries, state-of-the-art homes to
fabulous arrays of modern Spanish
painting (including Picasso's Guernica
) and European and American masters.
As you get to grips with the
place you soon realize that it's the
inhabitants - the madrileños
- that are the capital's key
attraction: hanging out in the
traditional cafés or the summer
terrazas, packing the lanes of the
Sunday Rastro flea market, or
playing hard and very, very late in
a thousand bars , clubs,
discos and tascas . Whatever
Barcelona or San Sebastián might
claim, the Madrid scene,
immortalized in the movies of Pedro
Almodóvar, remains the most vibrant
and fun in the country. The city is
also in better shape than for many
years past, after a £500-million
refurbishment for its role as 1992
European Capital of Culture and the
ongoing impact of a series of urban
rehabilitation schemes - funded
jointly by the European Union and
local government - in the older barrios
(districts) of the city.
Improvements are also being made to
the transport network, with
extensions to the metro, the
construction of new ring roads and
the excavation of a series of road
tunnels designed to bring relief to
the city's overcrowded streets. The
authorities are even preparing a bid
for the 2012 Olympics.
