Venere Travel Blog» Madrid

Touring Haunted Sites in Madrid

Anita Choudhary — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:00:59 +0000

Madrid is one of the most amazing cities in Western Europe. When you first set foot in the city, you’re going to experience a number of different sensations. You’ll feel as though you have just entered a time of centuries past that you have only learned about in history books in high school or college. The city is a mixture of cobblestone streets, crowded central plazas filled with the locals, and stunning palaces. You may even feel as though you have just walked into a type of Spanish designed New York City.

Top Madrid Gay Hotels

Anita Choudhary — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:00:07 +0000

The capital and largest city in Spain is Madrid with its 3.5 million residents. It is best known for its artistic and cultural heritage. Madrid is also renowned for its diversity in cuisines and its exciting nightlife venues. The accommodations in the city are considered some of the most outstanding in Western Europe. Interestingly enough, the city of Madrid caters to a rather significant GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, and Transgender) community. There are a number of outstanding gay-friendly hotels in the city as well.

Top Hotels in Chueca, Madrid

Anita Choudhary — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:00:21 +0000

Aside from the fact that the city of Madrid is the capital and largest city in Spain, one of the more popular destinations within the city is the Chueca neighborhood. It was named after the famous Spanish composer Federico Chueca who lived from 1846 to 1908. Chueca is situated north of Old Madrid and is located near the Plaza de Chueca. In recent years it has become an extremely popular area with the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender) community. A large gay pride festival is staged in Chueca on an annual basis.

An afternoon at El Retiro in Madrid

Gabriela Ordenana — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:38:59 +0000

If you are ever in Madrid on a Sunday, don’t miss the chance to spend the afternoon in El Retiro, the most popular and widely visited park in the city. Just crossing the street from Puerta de Alcala El Retiro is also the meeting point for all sorts of people, from kids with their rollerblades and young people jogging to families with their kids having ice cream and walking the dog. In summer time people just go and spend the whole day tanning and having fun. The park has a lake where you can take boat rides when the weather is nice.

Bullfighting in Madrid

Gabriela Ordenana — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:00:32 +0000

Bullfighting is one of Spain’s most antique and important traditions. Each year thousand of people gather in Las Ventas, in Madrid, for the bullfighting season.

Art Museums of Madrid

Gabriela Ordenana — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:00:19 +0000

If you are an art lover, you can find some great art museums in Madrid, Spain to enjoy while visiting the city. Walk through the city’s “Golden Triangle of Art” at Paseo del Prado where three great museums stand up: Museo del Prado, Museo Reina Sofia and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. All of them have great art collections from different periods of art history as well as famous masterpieces from famous European Masters.

Theme Parks in Madrid

Anita Choudhary — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:00:22 +0000

Known primarily for its artistic and cultural heritage, Madrid is the capital and largest city in Spain. Additionally, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. The population is pushing 3.5 million so you can expect it to be busy all day long and well into the night whenever you visit there. Madrid is also a great family vacation destination due to the many theme parks you will find in the city. Here are several to consider if you are planning to vacation there with your family.

How to eat cheap in Madrid

Anita Choudhary — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:00:40 +0000

The capital and largest city of Spain is Madrid as well as being the artistic, cultural, financial, and historical center of the country. With a population approaching 3.5 million, it is the busiest and most populated area of the Iberian Peninsula and southwestern Europe. Madrid is also one of the most popular tourist destinations in the region and sees millions of international travelers every year. For many of these visitors, it is the Spanish cuisine that is the primary draw.

Madrid’s Neighborhoods

Gabriela Ordenana — Sun, 29 May 2011 16:00:16 +0000

Nowadays Madrid, Spain is one of Europe’s most vivacious and dynamic cities. Thousands of people walk up and down its busy streets, have dinner at great restaurants, visit its amazing museums or just have a beer in a terraza. The city has many traditional and modern neighborhoods, each of them offering its visitors different kinds of activities and sights according to their interests. There is everything for everyone.

How to get from Barajas Airport to Madrid city centre

Will Joce — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:12:57 +0000

The opening of a new terminal specifically for low-cost airlines in 2006, and the fantastic rebuilding and renovation of the rest of the buildings, has made Barajas International Airport the main transport hub for visitors to Madrid. The clean and efficient airport is located about 12km from the centre of the city and transfers can be made easily and cheaply at any time of day or night.

Top 5 Dishes in Madrid

Gabriela Ordenana — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:00:43 +0000

Madrid, as every cosmopolitan city in the world, offers its visitors a large variety of good restaurants where they can enjoy a great meal. Eating tapas is the most commonly known practice in Madrid but if you are looking for a traditional Spanish meal there are numerous dishes you must try.

Photo by scaredy_kat

Most of them consist of meat, but you can also find some dishes based on seafood and vegetables.

Vintage Shopping in Madrid

Prudence Peat — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:00:53 +0000

In all honesty I would not choose Madrid as a top destination for 2nd hand clothes shopping. Not saying that there is nothing on offer, it just takes a little more time and effort than in other cities with a more active vintage scene.

Although saying that, its all part of the fun of second hand shopping, sweating through endless racks of clothes to finally find that one piece that suits you down to a tee, and that you know no-one else will have! This trend though, along with cupcakes, is on the rise in Madrid and little vintage boutiques are popping up and drawing attention.

The Best time to visit Madrid

Prudence Peat — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:00:19 +0000

Madrid, today, is a cultural melting pot- think about it. It’s the capital of a country that sits on the border between Europe and Northern Africa, and acts as the European link to Latin America. Coupled with the post Franco creative explosion, the Movida Madrileña, Madrid has really 'opened its eyes'. Concerts, art exhibitions, independent theatre or cinema festivals take place all over the city. It’s true that some can be hard to find, but with pre-planning, there is always something special to do. There might not be an April Fair, like that of Seville, or the Pamplona bull runs, music festivals stick to the coast and even religious festivals seem diluted in the capital, and so I would advise a visit any time in spring or early autumn.

The Spanish Tradition of Tapas in Madrid

Abha — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:20:32 +0000

A tapa, the miniature cuisine from Spain, is a finger food eaten between the meals. In Spanish, tapa means “cover or appetizer”. The Real Academia Española de la Lengua defines a tapa as “any portion of solid food able to accompany a drink”. You can choose from four types of tapas: cold, fried, sauce based and warm. The fried tapas, such as boquerones, calamaries, croquets, fritters, sausages and torreznos, are the most popular. The tapas served with salads can even replace a complete lunch. Tapas are made from both animal-based and agricultural products: anchovies, beef, cheeses, cocktail onions, dry nuts, meat, mackerel, sardines, squid, tuna, and vegetables. However, no tapa will be complete without olives.

Reasons to Visit Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid

Abha — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:00:33 +0000

The Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, a beautiful secluded place in the heart of the Spanish capital, is just across the Prado Museum. Nature lovers and gardening enthusiasts should not miss it, as the garden is home to flora from diverse climatic zones. The garden comprises greenhouses, pavilions, a bonsai section, kitchen garden, orchid section, rose garden and aromatic plant section. Greenhouses present exotic plants from different parts of the earth. Catroviejo Bolibar Santiago, a computer-managed greenhouse, has three plant sections: tropical, subtropical and desert. Graells Stove or Las Palmas greenhouse features tropical species, mosses and ferns. There are dedicated pavilions: pavilions of bananas and buckeyes.

Madrid Day Trips

Gabriela Ordenana — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 16:00:25 +0000

Madrid gives you the opportunity to make some great day trips from the city. Take advantage of European trains that for little money will take you around some pretty nice and interesting places. One of the most popular trips is a visit to the El Escorial palace. Take the Cercanias Train line C-8 from Atocha train station for a one hour-long ride.

The Best Madrid Art Museums

Gabriela Ordenana — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:00:42 +0000

If you are an art lover, you can find some great art museums in Madrid to enjoy while visiting the city. Walk through the city’s “Golden Triangle of Art” at Paseo del Prado where three great museums stand up: Museo del Prado, Museo Reina Sofia andMuseo Thyssen-Bornemisza. All of them have great art collections from different periods of art history as well as famous masterpieces from famous European Masters.

Free Summer Events in Madrid

Will Joce — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:00:21 +0000

Many cities seem to come alive in summer in a way that wouldn’t even be imaginable in summer, and one of the ways they do this is with festivals, carnivals and other events, often for free, that liven up their streets and parks. Madrid is no exception, and while it is hardly as dull and grey as London in winter, summer is certainly the time to be there. This is a chronological guide to the free summer events in Madrid.

How to Find the Best Live Music Venues in Madrid

Prudence Peat — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:00:10 +0000

Madrid is often left off the tour schedules of international bands- well, non Spanish speaking ones. Location doesn’t help and some feel they can tick the Spain box with Barcelona, considered more in tune with the international music “vibe”. To an extent true, but these days the Spanish-European link is stretching further than the Catalan capital and Madrid is mixing more European live music into its already well developed and certainly well appreciated local and national scene.

Cibeles: A Symbol of Madrid

Prudence Peat — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:04:29 +0000

Cibeles, the ancient goddess of Nature, or more precisely, mother of the mountain - a symbol of Madrid?

When thinking ‘symbols’, two ideas come to mind, one symbolic meaning