Spain

Madrid's sheer energy carries a simple message: this city knows how to live. She's a cross between Penélope Cruz (beautiful and quintessentially Spanish), Madonna (sassy and getting better with age) and an ex-convent schoolgirl who grew up and got sophisticated, but never forgot how to have a good time.

Before the 20th century

Commonly thought to have been founded by Romans, Madrid's origins are more probably as an Islamic garrison. Convention has it that the emir of Córdoba established a fortress on the future site of Madrid in AD 854. Known as Magerit, it was one of a string of forts across the frontier land between Al-Andalus in the south and the Christian kingdoms to the north.

Madrid's Muslim era ended in 1085 when hegemony over the region was handed to King Alfonso VI of Castile. Although its population is thought to have numbered around 12,000 at this time, the town's status remained only marginal. Municipal power was concentrated in the hands of a small number of local families, who managed to hold on to their position when royally appointed governors attempted to wrest control in 1348.

While Madrid remained on the fringe of things, Isabel and Ferdinand united the Castilian and Aragonese Crowns in 1474. Granada, the last Muslim stronghold on the peninsula, fell in 1492, and in the same year, Columbus set sail on the journey that would bring Spain untold wealth. Isabel and Ferdinand's grandson, Carlos I, succeeded not only to the throne of Spain but also to that of the Hapsburgs, becoming Holy Roman Emperor over territories stretching from Austria to Holland and from Spain to the American colonies.

Carlos' son and successor, Felipe II, appointed Madrid the permanent seat of the royal court in 1561. Underdeveloped Madrid offered plenty of room for expansion, as befitted the capital of an empire, but Toledo, the more likely contender, was forever miffed. Concerned with the business of empire, Felipe neglected his new capital, and it remained a chaotic medieval nightmare for its 25,000 inhabitants. Over the next century, Spain proceeded to go to pot, bled dry by a succession of wars and massive inflation caused by its looted colonial treasures. The country's rulers retreated to their capital, creating a fantasy land of sumptuous palaces and churches. The squalor in which the bulk of the people lived made a mockery of such splendour. Madrid became a city of immigrants, with the population blowing out to 150,000 by 1656; however, such numbers existed only because of the presence of the court.

Hapsburg Spain came to a whimpering end in 1700 with the death of the sickly Carlos II. A succession of reformist rulers saw Madrid finally lose its reputation as Europe's filthiest city, but attempts at land reform failed, with the region continuing to be an essentially poor country ruled by a big-spending royal court. The scene was set for the final blows: the crushing of Spain by Britain in the epic Battle of Trafalgar of 1805; the loss of its American colonies; Napoleon's occupation of Spain; and the ensuing Peninsula War for independence, which was sparked by the people of Madrid and left the city exhausted and facing starvation.

Society in 19th-century Madrid remained dominated by the landed aristocracy, with the poorer classes still living in single-storey slum housing and a full quarter of the working population employed as servants in aristocratic households. A burgeoning middle class emerged from 1837, when Church property was expropriated by the government. It's estimated that some 1600 Church properties were destroyed in Madrid in the first four decades of the 19th century alone, leaving the new bourgeois to pick up the pieces, and later art historians to gnash their teeth and weep. Thanks to an injection of foreign (mostly French) capital, living conditions were improved with the introduction of street paving, gas lighting, sewage and garbage collection.

Politically, things were a mess, with alternating coups between conservative and liberal wings of the army followed by the shortlived republic of 1873 and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1875. Spain ended the century ignominiously, losing its navy and remaining colonies (Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines) to the USA.

Modern history

The first decades of the 20th century saw improvements in Madrid such as the electrification of the tramlines, the creation of the Gran Vía and the inaugural metro line. Inward migration caused the city's population to double from a 1900 figure of half a million to almost one million by 1931. With housing shortages chronic, Madrid's politics were becoming radicalised. Opposition to the Crown and calls for constitutional reform were growing louder, socialists leading the way under the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and General Workers' Union (UGT).

A repressive six-year military dictatorship was finally ended by Alfonso XIII in 1930, and the ensuing municipal elections saw a coalition of republicans and socialists carry the day. Three days later, the second republic was proclaimed. Universal suffrage was introduced, Alfonso XIII fled the country and Madrid was officially recognised as the capital of the Spanish state. Joyful abandon was sadly shortlived, however, as party infighting, calls for revolution, a series of crippling strikes and the bloody suppression of a miners' revolt by troops led by General Francisco Franco saw the country precariously poised between right and left. The situation reached boiling point when the Frente Nacional (National Front) was pipped to the post by the left-wing Frente Popular (Popular Front) in the elections of February 1936. Three years of seemingly inevitable bloody civil war were inaugurated in July 1936 by rebellious North African garrisons, led by Franco. Madrid held the nationalists at bay until the surrender of March 1939, with fighting heaviest in the northwest of the city.

The victorious Franco made Madrid his home, ushering in decades of poverty, repression and chronic overcrowding. Economic woes lessened in the 1960s due to increased foreign investment but discontent was on the rise. Franco died in 1975, having earlier named Juan Carlos, the grandson of Alfonso XIII, his successor. With King Juan Carlos on the throne, Spain made the transition from dictatorship to democracy with the appointment of a moderate conservative government. Opposition parties and trade unions were legalised, and a new constitution was written.

With democracy taking root, Madrid embraced its new-found freedom with gusto. Madrid became an icon for the new Spain as the city's young people - under the mayoral rule of Enrique Tierno Galván, a popular socialist professor - unleashed a flood of pentup energy. This took its most colourful form in the years of la movida, the endless party that swept up the city in a frenzy of creativity and open-minded freedom that has in some ways yet to abate. In 1992 Madrid was named Europe's cultural capital.

Recent history

On 11 March 2004, just three days before the country was due to vote in national elections, Madrid was rocked by 10 bombs on four rush-hour commuter trains heading into the capital's Atocha station. When the dust cleared, 191 people had died and 1755 were wounded, many seriously. Madrid was in shock and, for 24 hours at least, this most clamorous of cities fell silent. Then, 36 hours after the attacks, more than three million madrileños streamed onto the streets to protest against the bombings, making it the largest demonstration in the city's history. Although deeply traumatised, Madrid's mass act of defiance and pride began the process of healing. Visit Madrid today and you'll find a city that has resolutely returned to normal.

Top Accommodation

Top Restaurants

Madrid is synonymous with art galleries, bullfights, tapas, bar culture and alfresco dining, and athletic frenzies are not really the order of the day. Relatively laid-back pursuits like swimming and tennis are popular. If all that sounds too strenuous, consider going along to a football match.

Top Attractions

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza Las Letras 0 ratings 0 reviews	11 March 2004 Memorial Atocha 0 ratings 0 reviews
Parque del Buen Retiro El Retiro 0 ratings 0 reviews	Galería Moriarty Chueca 0 ratings 0 reviews

From late June until the first weeks of September, the summer heat can be appalling, averaging above 30°C (85°F). The winter months are bitter, with temperatures averaging 2-11°C (36-52°F), though February occasionally produces crisp blue days and temperatures around 17°C (60°F).

Average weather

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Transport

Getting there and away

Madrid's Barajas airport is often the best option for getting in and out of the city; the trains can be just as expensive as flights, and buses are a bit of an endurance test. Driving is quite a good option, as Spain's main highways feed into Madrid, but they can be a little terrifying for the inexperienced.

Getting around

Madrid is well served by an excellent and rapidly expanding underground rail system (metro) and an extensive bus service. In addition, you can get from the north to the south of the city quickly by using cercanías (local trains) between Chamartín and Atocha train stations. Taxis are also a reasonably priced option.

Health & Legal Requirements

Dangers and annoyances

Madrid is a generally safe city although you should, as in most European cities, be wary of pickpockets in the city centre, on the metro and around major tourist sights. But don't be paranoid: remember that the overwhelming majority of travellers to Madrid rarely encounter any problems. You need to be especially careful in the most heavily touristed parts of town, notably the Plaza Mayor and surrounding streets, the Puerta del Sol, El Rastro and the Museo del Prado. Tricks abound and they usually involve a team of two or more (sometimes one of them is an attractive woman to distract male victims). While one diverts your attention, the other empties your pockets.