Madrid´s Main Artery
Notorious square Puerta del Sol and the "km 0" of national roads, under the 18th century Royal Mail House, Real Casa de Correos. Beneath its clock, every New Year's Eve, Madrid's people, share the last 12 seconds of the year, when the Royal Mail House clock rings its bell 12 times symbolizing the last moments of the year. Intending to create big avenues resembling Paris or New York, in 1910, ing Alfonso XIII inaugurated Gran Vía Street, after having demolished many buidings to have a greater avenue run through the city center. Over 115 years of history. Alfonso XIII also inaugurates the first underground railway in the 1920´s, el Metro de Madrid. On a visit to the Royal Palace of Madrid, your local host explains the obsession of king Felipe V, with having exquisite palaces that resemble those he had long enjoyed in France as a monarch coming from the French House of Bourbon, hence, after a supposed accidental fire burns down the Alcazar de Madrid or castle, Felipe V orders the construction of the Royal Palace, in the remarkable and regal form it shows today. Said king was the first to reign from the House of Bourbon, whereas, his namesake, H.M. King Felipe VI of Bourbon and Greece, is current monarch of Spain, for being son to H.M. Queen Sofía of Greece and H.M. King Juan Carlos I of Bourbon and Bourbon-Dos Sicilias. Discover the Royal Academy of Spanish Language or the Central Bank of Spain. The Royal Opera House (Teatro Real). Enter the National Library with your local host. Witness the Palace of Liria, where its library bestows the first edition of the universal nivel, first one ever written in Spanish language, "El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de La Mancha", by Miguel de Cervantes. The Fountain Cibeles, a landmark of Madrid carved out of granite just like most of Madrid's constructions, Paseo de la Castellana, parallel to fancy Serrano and Velázquez streets, example of the most elegant side of the once metropolis of the Spanish Empire, with Kings Carlos V, Felipe II, Felipe III, Felipe IV along others. Café Gijón and the legends of the ghost haunting the Palace of the Marquis of Linares, until our present time, now House of America in Madrid.