ATOCHA
Atocha includes a rather large area
which extends from the Atocha railways station
up to the Huertas zones
on one side and Lavapiés on the other.
The two important sites located in this area
are the Reina
Sofía museum (Museo Nacional Centro
de Arte Reina Sofía) and the Atocha
Railway station The area also contains
a number of art galleries and restaurants serving traditional food. There are many hotels
around the station and wandering about the
smaller streets in this zone one can find
many small shops selling a range of curiosities.
Covering the area from Plaza de la Cibeles
and Atocha westwards, ending just in front
of Parque del Retiro,
this area is very well known for the splendid
houses it has. The area contains the Prado
Museum, the Thyssen
Bornemisza, and the Jardín
Botánico, to name just a few. A
very exclusive area to live in.
Ananda Terrace
It is located in Atocha Station and open from 11pm to 5am
The terraces have also formed part of the fashionable Madrid night scene for a number of years now, a place to see and be seen against a background of avant-garde and surprising décor.
Reina Sofía Museum
calle Santa Isabel 52
Google map location
Metro: Atocha
www: reina Sofia Museum Madrid
Facing Atocha station at the end of Paseo del Prado, keeps different opening hours and days from its neighbours, which is fortunate because this leading exhibition space, and permanent collection of modern Spanish art, is another essential stop on the Madrid art scene. The museum, a massive former convent and hospital, is a kind of Madrid response to the Pompidou centre in Paris. Transparent lifts shuttle visitors up the outside of the building, whose levels feature a cinema, excellent art and design bookshops, a print, music and photographic library, restaurant, bar and café, as well as the exhibition halls (top floor) and the collection of twentieth-century art (second floor). It is for Picasso's Guernica that most visitors come to the Reina Sofía, and rightly so. Superbly displayed along with its preliminary studies, this icon of twentieth-century Spanish art and politics – a response to the fascist bombing of the Basque town of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War – carries a shock that defies all familiarity. Other halls are devoted to Dalí and Surrealism, early-twentieth-century Spanish artists including Miró and post-World War II figurative art, mapping the beginning of abstraction through to Pop and avant-garde.
This museum brings together the new trends in contemporary art and undertakes the task of showing the backbone of Spanish art of our times. The extension of the museum, conducted by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel, has increased the facilities and the services provided by the original building and has complemented its activities with two exhibition rooms, a library and an auditorium.
More information in our page in culture section.
Restaurant Arola Madrid
Inside the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is the restaurant run by Sergi Arola, one of the most famous Spanish chefs. Arola Madrid is located in the new building constructed by architect Jean Nouvel, who undertook the expansion of the Reina Sofía Museum. Arola Madrid represents an original and contemporary alternative. The restaurant has an informal spirit in which designer elements play an important role. Every detail has been considered, from the lights to the distribution of the chairs including the air-conditioning and heating channels. The restaurant, which aims to recover the essence of traditional Mediterranean cooking adapting it and adding the personal stamp of the “chef,” has three different atmospheres: an informal one for quick snacks at the bar, another with tables for lunch, and another for suppers, when diners can enjoy top quality food. Arola Madrid also strongly supports enology and has a wine cellar with over 700 references of national and international wines. Designer David Delfín collaborated with Sergi Arola in setting up this restaurant and has designed all the clothes worn by Arola’s staff, taking his inspiration from jean material.
2004 Madrid train bombings
The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known as 3/11 and -in Spanish- as 11-M [1]) were a series of coordinated bombings against the Cercanías (commuter train) system of Madrid, Spain on the morning of 11 March 2004 (three days before Spain's general elections), killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
The alleged perpetrators were Islamist extremists, mostly of North African origin, some with links to Al Qaeda. Spanish nationals who sold the explosives to the terrorists were also arrested. The official investigation by the Spanish Judiciary determined the attacks were directed by an al-Qaeda inspired terrorist cell.
Cuesta de Moyano
A worth visit on Sunday morning, but it is daily open from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm, browsing among all the stalls on this famous street for old books or discounted new publications. It's a book market, sort of smaller literary Rastro, whose outdoor stalls remain open all year round and it's named after Claudio Moyano, a politician who reformed the Spanish educational system between 1840 and 1843.
Practically all the books are secondhand and in Spanish but whether you read Castilian or not it's great fun to wander, browse, and simply absorb the scene, unchanged over many decades and one of the great traditional sights of outdoor Madrid.
The stalls line one of the outside walls of the Botanical Gardens, so you're close to other interesting attractions like Prado Museum, Retiro Park and another fascinating outdoor street market, El Rastro.
HUERTAS AND "BARRIO DE LAS LETRAS" (Literary Madrid)
Calle Huertas, only a 5 minutes walk from
Sol, gives it's name to an old traditional
neighbourhood with numerous bars and other
little establishments serving tapas in the
evenings.
Plaza de Santa Ana is the heart of the Huertas neighborhood. The city government has given Santa Ana a face lift in recent years, from seedy to posh. Hotel Reina Victoria now Hotel Me Madrid, it is one of the coolest places to go at night for a drink at the Penthouse. The Reina Victoria was a traditional bullfighter's hangout: now it has morphed into a posh, sleek chain brand.
The streets radiating off its core, Plaza de Santa Ana, are packed with tapas bars and disco-pubs, popular as much among Spaniards as with an international crowd.
It also one of the main centers for nightlife and has a number of restaurants. This area
is located between Paseo del Prado and Calle
Atocha. There are innumerable places to stay
here, ranging from cheap
pensiones to luxury hotels.
It's
a popular area for foreigners to go out, but
also for the 'not so young locals' (between
25 and 35) who may feel a bit old for Malasaña.
There are also many theaters and it's quite
common to retire to the bars nearby after
performances. Plaza de Santa Ana is a common
meeting point in the area since many bars
there have made seating available outdoors
- the square itself is also quite attractive.
Bars here are small and are a bit crowded,
but they're usually good fun. There are a
couple of places are quite famous for their
jazz concerts in this area. The traditional
wine and tapas stops are well worth a visit.
It is also known as "El Barrio de las Letras," literary Madrid. This is where Spain's most celebrated Golden Age authors - Miguel de Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina - lived during the 17th century.
Continuing down on calle Atocha, get back into the picturesque streets of Huertas by turning onto Calle de León. León intersects with Calle de Cervantes: number 11 is the Casa-Museo Lope de Vega, the home of and museum honoring Spain's most prolific playwright.
Lope de Vega House
It is house where Lope Félix de Vega Carpio lived (1562-1635) during the last 25 years of his life, declared to be an Historic-Artistic Monument in 1935, the building is an example of a restored Madrid family dwelling from the end of the 16th century, with large scale alterations in the 17th century.
Ateneo de Madrid
On Calle del Prado, number 21 is El Ateneo de Madrid, a cultural society founded in 1835, still going strong with a wonderful library and calendar of events.
Calle del Prado leaves you out on Plaza de las Cortes, right across the street from Spain's Parliament, el Congreso de Diputados. Follow
Calle de San Jerónimo northwest and you hit Puerta del Sol; follow it southeast and arrive at Paseo del Prado & Plaza de Neptuno, where is the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum stands right on Plaza de Neptuno.
Most of Huertas is found on the details
maps.
The eastern border of Huertas is Paseo del Prado, also known as Paseo de los Artes or "Boulevard of the Arts," which lies between the emblematic Plaza de Cibeles (see Las Cortes zone) and Puerta de Atocha. The southern border is calle Atocha, which runs all the way from the train station to Plaza Mayor, and the northern border is Carrera de San Jerónimo, which ends at Puerta del Sol.
