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So here is a nice break from monuments , shops, restos etc, and just do your mind free and walk , walk in Madrid! I do like to take easy fast transportation to the cities like the car … but once in it walking is king and we love it!! Been able to do so in a wonderful city like Madrid is heavens!

We have no plan/maps or pre determine area we just get up have breakfast and take off into another land. One day is left turn another day is right turn and even straight away will do!

This is very good but when it comes to do it in Madrid it is heavens on earth. This is the city that I spread my wings so of speak when an early teen in town, and eager to learn all of it. It took me to many places in town and unfortunately no pictures as on those other regime days we were poor.

However, remember those sidewalks and street names did sink in and when able to have pictures took to the streets in earnest. Over the years, been lazy really ,did not bother with pictures until started joining travel forum on the leading names on the web and so folks taken pictures of things I knew and had none. A picture taking hunger started that has not stop to this day thanks in a big part to my blog and readers like you. A big thank you!

The latest trip to my beloved Madrid was no different and took pictures of different streets some known some unknown to many off the beaten path. This post is about these streets of Madrid, enjoy them as we did .

There are tourist offices that helps you with maps and directions if need to or ask me!

Calle de Alcalà 331 2do A off metro Quintana line 5 lived here with my mother as a teen!

Enjoy the pictorial and remember ,happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

And back on my trails of my beloved Madrid I come to you. This time is one very famous square where in my youths came to shop at the Galerias Preciados store now part of the current there El Corte Inglés, the old timers will remember I am sure. And going over Arenal for the now discotheque Joy Eslava which then was a community center theater where dances for youths were held in strict order lol!

The Puerta del Sol  is one of the most famous and lively squares in Madrid. The Puerta del Sol was originally one of the gates to cross the wall that surrounded Madrid in the 15C. Its name comes from the fact that at the front of one of its buildings was once a sundial.  The Casa de Correos (post office) was built between 1766 and 1768 ,and today is the seat of the Presidency of the Community of Madrid. A plaque represents the zero kilometer point (Kilómetro cero) of the Spanish roads, and represents the symbolic center of the country, from distances are measure.

At the entrance to Calle Alcalá, from Puerta del Sol to Canillejas, you can see the statue symbolizing Madrid: the bear and the strawberry tree or el oso y el madroño. At the other extreme of the square you see the  Mariblanca Fountain, now gone but in its  memory a reproduction of the sculpture that adorned it was placed in 1986.

It is on the Puerta del Sol square that everyone usually meets on December 31 to celebrate the New Year to the sound of the clock of Casa de Correos. The custom is to swallow a grape at every bell or the twelve grapes with the further tradition of throwing out the 13 by making a wish.

During the New Year’s Eve 2018-2019 night, the Puerta del Sol clock for the first time in history gave the bells according to the Canary Islands schedule. After the traditional twelve midnight chimes, the clock delayed its hands one hour to adjust to the Canary Islands hour (one hour behind) and also give the bells at the same time as this archipelago.

Some of the more famous stores still there are the bakery La Mallorquina, and the umbrellas and fans house of Casa de Diego founded in the 18C. Unfortunately one of my favorite shoes store Los Guerrilleros is gone.

This is a vast square and in the middle there is a nice equestrian statue of king Carlos III 

Things done here or play out are:

Cinema: The day of the beast (El día de la bestia), film director Álex de la Iglesia. Km. 0, Spanish comedy set near the kilometer zero plaque. El misterio de la Puerta del Sol, released in 1929, considered the first Spanish sound film. Vistas of the Puerta del Sol, shot in 1896 by Alexander Promio.

Theater: The Celosa of Tirso de Molina.

Zarzuela (Spanish comedy theater type): The Puerta del Sol (1907), Manuel Fernández Palomero. La Villa de los Gatos (1917), in the first act. El último tranvía, by Ricardo Blasco. Por Conseguir a una mujer of  Luis Olona, the work begins in the square.

Littérature: Luces de Bohemia (Lights of Bohemia) of Valle Inclán. Los Comerciantes de la Puerta del Sol ( merchants), by Carmen de Burgos. Portfolio of Ramón Gómez de la Serna. In la Novela Benito Pérez Galdós, Fortunata and Jacinta, the personage Juanito Santacruz lived at the Puerta del Sol. Fernando Fernán Gómez published in 1995 a new title named La Puerta del Sol. El Largo Noviembre de Madrid  (long November) by Juan Eduardo Zúñiga.  Un Muchacho en la Puerta del Sol ( boy) (1973), by Jesús Izcaray. La Conquista de la Puerta del Sol  of Emilio Carrere.

Painting of Dos de Mayo by Francisco de Goya.

In the Sol station in the square there are numerous EMT bus  lines , three metro lines converge: Lines 1, 2, and 3. Cercanias or railway commuter lines: C-3 and C-4, which put Sol in direct communication with the Atocha-Cercanías and Chamartín train stations.

The streets that are born in the Puerta del Sol are ten now. The rotation of them from Calle de Alcalá (clockwise) are: Calle de Alcalá, Carrera de San Jerónimo, Calle Espoz y Mina, Calle de las Carretas, Calle del Correo, Calle Mayor, Calle del Arenal, Calle de Preciados, Calle del Carmen and Calle de la Montera.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here are

Tourist office of Madrid on the Puerta del Sol

Skyline webcam on the Puerta del Sol live

Hope you enjoy it and do visit this wonderful square already many have written on it, and to me it is just more, a whimsical memory of my youth and lucky to continue seeing it, the Puerta del Sol is Madrid!

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!