Madrid Audio Tours

Madrid became Spain's capital almost by accident: in 1561, Philip II planted his court in what was then a modest Castilian town on the central plateau, 660 meters above sea level, and the decision stuck. Today the Paseo del Prado runs through what UNESCO recognizes as a Golden Triangle of Art: the Prado itself with Velazquez and Goya, the Reina Sofia housing Picasso's Guernica in a converted hospital, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza covering everything else, all within a ten-minute walk of each other. An Egyptian temple from the 2nd century BC sits in Parque del Oeste, a gift from Egypt in 1968 that somehow fits perfectly.

The real texture of Madrid is not in the museums but in the streets after 10pm.

Dinner at 9 is early, and the terrazas around La Latina and Lavapies fill long after midnight on weekdays. The Mercado de San Miguel, rebuilt in iron and glass in 1916, hosts pintxos and vermouth; the Gran Via was built to rival Paris's boulevards, and if you look past the retail frontage, the 1920s ornate cinema facades still deliver. El Retiro park, created under Philip IV in the 17th century and now public, spreads 1.4 square kilometers of lake, rose garden, and shade through the center of the city.