Spain Espana

MADRID

Madrid, the capital of Spain and the Autonomous Community of Madrid, has approximately 3.2 million inhabitants, is the third largest city (after London and Berlin) in the European Union. The region, with about six million residents in the metropolitan area, is one of the largest metropolises in Europe. The city has 21 urban districts, the so-called Distritos.

Also by means of place, Madrid is in the centre of the country and is both nationally and internationally important commercial and financial centre. The city is also the political and cultural centre of Spain. Madrid is also the seat of the Spanish government, the King, the Catholic Archbishop, the key managers and authorities.

In Madrid, there are eight public and seven private universities, the Royal Spanish Academy, the Academy of Fine Arts, Natural Sciences and Languages, many high schools, theatres, museums and cultural institutions. And in 1992, Madrid has been the Cultural Capital of Europe . In numerous museums and galleries, art pieces and works by national and international artists from various centuries, from prehistoric times to the present, are shown. They all mention here, would not be possible.

For the inhabitants of Madrid (madrile os), it is usual that Madrid is the capital of their country. Because of in history, it was almost always the capital. Through this historic Castilian countryside the river Manzanares flows. A particularly beautiful area is the old Castilian capital of Toledo. There are several historic cathedrals from the 13th to 16 Century. The synagogues, churches and finds of wall and castle, etc., and especially the two cathedrals Santa Mar a and Alcazar are worth seeing. All this and more led to the ancient capital of Toledo in 1977 in the list of UNESCO s World Cultural Heritage. Of course, there are still numerous other beautiful historic buildings in Spain.

In Madrid are also to visit: the royal palace Palacio Real, the beautiful park with many monuments is the Parque del Buen Retiro , the historic Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Plaza Espa a with Cervantes and Don Quixote monuments and skyscrapers, the Cybele fountain (on the Plaza de Cibeles), the 100-year-old City Hall and the Palacio de Comunicaciones and the Edificio Metr polis, gates, stadiums, towers and sculptures and many other historical, valuable and impressive works. Of course, the bullring in Madrid, the Las Ventas in the district of Salamanca is unforgettable.

Madrid now has two world-famous football clubs, Real Madrid and Atl tico Madrid. Moreover, the city is very well in tennis, badminton and basketball. World-famous and successful artist in the world was also Madrid star Julio Iglesias. Besides Pl cido Domingo Madrid has more successful opera singers. Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Pen lope Cruz, Ana Torroja and Jos Mar a Aznar are just a few of the many famous and successful madrile os.