This equestrian statue of Carlos III, located in the Puerta del Sol, was inspired by a sculpture of Juan Pascual de Mena, sculpted in wood and plaster in the eighteenth century, and today can be seen at the Royal Academy of San Fernando. Miguel Angel Rodriquez and Eduardo Zancada, were based on this model of […]
The sculpture La Mariblanca is a copy of the original, located on the top of a column at the confluence of where Arenal street meet with Puerta del Sol. La Mariblanca, has an unknown origin, nevertheless it is known that it was purchased in 1625, to decorate the now missing Fountain of Faith (Fuente de […]
The name of Puerta del Sol, came from the time of the “Guerra de las Comunidades de Castilla” (War of the Castile Communities), between years 1520, and 1522. This is the only square in Madrid that does not have the name of “Plaza”. It is said that in June of 1520, the Comunero Movement began […]
This point or mark on the sidewalk in front of the “Casa de Correos”, (current headquarters of the Community of Madrid), in Puerta del Sol, sets the zero kilometer point, from where the six national roads or motorways A-1 to A-6, start. Also from here the numbering of the streets of Madrid begin, being the […]
The commuter rail service for Madrid, the capital and its metropolitan area is called “Cercanías Madrid“. This network now extends across most of the Community of Madrid, reaching localities bordering the provinces of Guadalajara, Segovia, and in the future, also Toledo. This service is operated Cercanías Renfe, the commuter rail division of RENFE. This rail system, […]
Esta ruta de paseo, es de 3.4 Km, para recorer desde Plaza Callao, pasando por los lugares que se definen abajo hasta volver a Callao. En este paseo, podrás ver: A- Plaza Callao B- Caminando por La Gran Vía C- Plaza de Cibeles D- Paseo del Prado E- Plaza de Neptuno F- Congreso de los […]
From Canalejas Square, a few meters away, we have the Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun in English), which is the geographical center, and meeting point for the city of Madrid. In this wide square, which already been closed to everyday traffic, and only maintain limited access to some tourist buses, and taxis, it […]
From Callao, point (A) in the map above, we walk 200 Mts. on Preciados street towards Puerta del Sol. The Preciados St. with all its shops, is one of the busiest streets of Madrid. Once we arrive to Sol, if we walk towards Alcala street, we find the statue of the bear and the strawberry […]
The Tio Pepe Neon sign, that crowned the building at number 1 of the Puerta del Sol in Madrid since 1936, has been taken away on April 2011, to allow the restoration of the building. There was a project to build a new Apple Store in that building, which has opened to the public on […]
Another building that we will see in Puerta del Sol, is the Real Casa de Correos (Royal Post Office Building), built in the late eighteenth century, which makes it the oldest building in Sol. In the tower we see in the photograph above, is the famous and very televised clock, the star of the show, […]
