The Plaza Mayor was built during the Habsburg period and is a central plaza in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is located only a few blocks away from another famous plaza, the Puerta del Sol. The Plaza Mayor is rectangular in shape, measuring 129 by 94 meters, and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 balconies facing the Plaza. It has a total of nine entranceways. The Casa de la Panadería, serving municipal and cultural functions, dominates the Plaza Mayor. The name of the plaza has changed over time. Originally it was called the "Plaza del Arrabal" but became known as the "Plaza Mayor". The Plaza Mayor has been the scene of multitudinous events: markets, bullfights, soccer games, public executions, and, during the Spanish Inquistion, "autos de fe" against supposed heretics and the executions of those condemned to death. The Plaza Mayor also has a ring of old and traditional shops and cafes under its porticoes.

The largest and liveliest plaza in Madrid is the Plaza Mayor and you can gain access to it through nine archways, the most famous of which is the Arco de los Cuchilleros.

The archway is more a street than a simple arch between one place and another. Reached by a flight of stone steps, the Cutler’s Arch was once where the city’s cutlers and sword makers plied their trade.
Nowadays it has taverns and handicraft shops where you can buy handmade souvenirs, including pottery, leather goods, wood-carvings, wicker baskets and silver jewelry. In one of the taverns you can watch, or even take part in, flamenco dancing.

The Plaza Mayor was built in the early 17th century, but after a fire destroyed most of it in 1790, the Spanish architect, Juan de Villanueva, redesigned the square in the style you can see today. The plaza has served many purposes over the centuries: it was a market, a bullring, a gathering place for public executions, an open-air theatre and where many tournaments took place.

Today it is a great tourist attraction with its cafés, restaurants and shops. In late November until the end of the year it is the site of the biggest Christmas market in Madrid, and on Sundays there is an important market for coin and stamp collectors.

No holiday in Madrid is complete without a visit to the Mercado de San Miguel in the heart of the Old Town. It really is a must for gourmets and gourmands alike.

The market is housed in a glass fronted 20th century Beaux Arts building and is known as the Cultural Culinary Centre of Madrid. There are over 50 individual stalls, each run by a specialist in his chosen field of fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and meat.

You can browse through the stands of locally grown fruit and vegetables where the odor of herbs and spices fill the air; nothing here has seen the inside of a freezer, none of the produce is ready-packed in plastic and the layout of the goods is an art in itself. The fish stalls display a vast range of rather ugly-looking seafood, fresh from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.

Most of the produce on sale is Spanish, but you will also find charcuterie from France, Viennese Patisseries and a selection of fine European cheeses. The market also has several cafés and restaurants and shops selling books on Spanish cuisine and kitchen utensils.

The only thing a bit off-putting about this really great market is the number of signs forbidding potential clients to touch the produce, so you won’t be able to pick and choose your purchases.

The Basílica of San Miguel is a baroque Roman Catholic church in central Madrid, Spain. It is located in San Justo Street, adjacent to the Archbishop's Palace. It is now owned by the Opus Dei. Constructions began in 1739, on the site of the parish church of Sts. Justus and Pastor. The work was commissioned by Cardinal Infante Luis of Chinchón, Archbishop of Toledo, who subsidized construction with 1,421,000 reales. Construction was completed in 1745. After the Napoleonic invasion, the church added the advocacy of Saint Michael (San Miguel), when the nearby parish church of San Miguel de los Octoes was torn down. The Italian composer Luigi Boccherini, who died in Madrid, was buried here until 1927, when Benito Mussolini repatriated the remains to his native Lucca. The cupola is decorated with frescos (1745), by Bartolomé Rusca, depicting the apotheosis of Santos Justo y Pastor.

If you would like to spend a quiet hour or so in the heart of busy Madrid, the best place to visit is the Plaza de la Villa, not far from Plaza Major.

This small, medieval square is surrounded by lovely buildings, each with its own fascinating history. You will find Madrid’s old Town Hall (Casa Villa) here, built in 1696, with its graceful stained glass windows and frescoes by Antonio Palomino. There are two entrances to this building as it was also a prison.

Adjoining the town hall by an archway is the Casa de Cisneros, an early Spanish Renaissance castle built in 1537. It has a Plateresque façade which is very rare in Madrid, and an outstanding collection of fine tapestries. The nearby Casa and Torre de Los Lujanes are the oldest buildings in Madrid; the tower is early 15th century.

According to legend, King Charles 1st imprisoned King Francis 1st of France in the tower after the battle of Pavia in 1525. Because the French king wouldn’t bow or show any respect to his captor, King Charles had the door of the tower lowered, forcing Francis to bow his head to enter or leave the tower; this gave the people the impression that he was bowing to their king.

In the centre of the square is a statue of Alvaro de Bazen, the Spanish admiral who planned the Armada. The statue was sculpted in 1888 by Benlliure and set in the plaza in 1980.

Opposite the Royal Palace you will find the Catedral de la Almudena, a Baroque-style cathedral which is less than twenty years old.

This lovely church was designed by the Marquis Francisco de Cubas. Construction of the church began in 1879 on the site of a medieval mosque. The original plans gave the church a Gothic Revival style with a Neo-Classical cupola. One unusual feature about the church is its orientation – North-South, instead of the traditional East-West.

Construction of the church limped along for over 50 years and it was abandoned entirely during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. Work started again in 1950 under the direction of Fernando Chueca Goitia who adapted the original plans and gave the church its present day Baroque style.

The interior of the cathedral is modern Neo-Gothic, with many small chapels and statues of contemporary artists in diverse styles. The crypt is Neo-Romanesque with a 16th century image of the Virgin de la Almudena. In 2004 new paintings by Kiko Arguello were hung in the apse.

The cathedral was completed in 1993 and was consecrated by Pope Jean Paul II, a statue of whom is to be found in front of the building. Don’t miss the bronze doors by Sanguino which bear the legend of the discovery of the image of the Virgin in the 15th century.

The Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid), also known as the Palacio de Oriente (English: The East Palace), is the official residence of the King of Spain in the city of Madrid, and it is only used for State Ceremonies. However, King Juan Carlos and the Royal Family do not reside in it, choosing instead the more modest Palacio de la Zarzuela on the outskirts of Madrid. The palace is owned by the Spanish State and administered by the Patrimonio Nacional, a public agency of the Ministry of the Presidency. The royal Palace of Madrid is the largest palace building in Western Europe. It is located on Bailén Street, in the Western part of downtown Madrid, East of the Manzanares River, and is accessible from the Ópera metro station. The palace is partially open to public, except when it is being used for official business.

While on holiday in Madrid you will surely visit the Royal Palace; if so, don’t miss a stroll through the Plaza de Oriente on the eastern (“oriental”) side of the palace.

The plaza is shaped like a rectangle with one of its long sides curved outwards; it was designed by Pascual y Colomar in 1844. The plaza has a series of small, beautifully tended gardens separated by gravel walkways leading to a central stone basin fountain with the equestrian bronze statue of Philip IV as its centerpiece. The statue was cast in 1843 by Pietro Tacca, who had the idea to make the back end of the horse very heavy and the front part very light, so that the horse would balance on its hind legs without toppling over before it was fixed to its stone base.

Around the plaza are rather disproportioned limestone statues. These represent the monarchs of Spain and among them are 5 Visigoth Kings and 15 Christian Kings. The statues were originally intended to stand on the palace roof, and were sculpted in a fashion to look tall if you are looking up at them. When they were finished, however, it was decided that they were too heavy for the roof, so they were arranged around the plaza.

While in Madrid you might like to spend an evening at the opera and you couldn’t do better than book your seats at the Teatro Real, the Royal Theatre just in front of the Royal Palace.

The Teatro Real is Madrid’s major opera house, finished in 1850 under the explicit orders of Queen Isabelle II, who was an ardent opera lover and who had grown tired of seeing the half-finished building in front of her palace. On the inauguration night (which just happened to be on the queen’s birthday) the famous Spanish contralto Marietta Alboni played the leading role in Donizetti’s “La Favorita”. In 1863 Verdi gave the Spanish premier of “La Forza del Destino” here.

During the exile of the Spanish monarchy the opera house was renamed the National Opera Theatre. From 1867 to 1925 it housed the Madrid Royal Conservatory. During the construction of the metro system nearby, the building suffered serious structural damage and was closed down in 1925.

The theatre reopened after extensive repairs in 1966, but was used as a concert hall, until 1990 when, after further renovations, it regained its status as an opera house. In 1997 the stage was improved with 18 articulated stage-sets, making even complicated background scenery easier to install. The orchestra pit was enlarged and acoustics were greatly improved by the elevation of the roof.

Today the opera house attracts some of the greatest operatic shows on the European circuit and its 1854 seats are quickly filled, so don’t hesitate to book in advance.