most of the shops are around here on the street or around it
madrid is the capital of spain of course it is also the highest capital
in europe when it comes to elevation above the sea level it was founded by the moors
the north africans when they were ruling it was actually a small backwater little
village sort of like with a few thousand people toledo used to be the actual capital actually
there was no one capital when the christians in uh were taken over spain because the king didn't
want to piss anyone off and wherever the king used to be that was the capital in line with
the tradition of the day but there was one king who basically put his foot down and he actually
founded madrid and chose it as capital on the same principle as rome so rome is the center of italy
and he chose this place because this is the geographical center of spanish peninsula
that's how madrid became the capital of this gorgeous country now if you want to see that i
will show you that in puerto del sol where you can see the point zero of spain in this video i will
show you how to explore my favorite european capital the best possible way so come with me
i am at gran via and this is the most touristy central street in madrid
now whether you like it or not you will come across the street
and there's very little that you don't like here there's bars there's restaurants rooftop bars
there's food there's architecture it's really grand and if you like shopping this is your
street most of the shops are around here on the street or around it so if that's your thing
this is your main street but if you don't like shopping just enjoy the architecture like i do
if you're a money heist fan madrid is the mecca for you but i am going to spoil it a little bit
for you the building where they actually shoot the series is not the bank of spain the one behind me
is this is banco de espana or the central bank of spain or bank of spain as it is usually known
so the only consolation i can offer is it's really beautiful grand another beautiful place
right off gran via and the next stop we have is also really close and another gorgeous place
two things one the royal mint is a really boring drab building it's quite far i wanted to go i
looked at the photos and i was like nah also it took a very quick wikipedia read about money heist
is actually not set in the royal mint either it's some other building and to top it all off they
obviously don't keep all the gold neither here nor the royal mint it's hidden in a few different
buildings which are really boring according to a source sorry for the disappointment again
this is the bank of spain and this is the town hall of spain look how grand it is
there's something really interesting about this place by the way this is called plaza de
cibeles and i really like this place not only because of the architecture but also because
there's a rooftop bar which i'm not happy telling you about because not many people know about it
it's reasonably priced it's relatively peace and quiet and it offers great views so i'm giving you
one of my secret spots in madrid let's go see prado now my favorite museum in europe
if you watch my videos you might have noticed i don't really go to museums
this one is an exception this is the prado museum in madrid and this is the national museum
but the main reason it's my favorite is because of francisco goya who's my favorite artist in
the entire world he has his beautiful etchings which are quite depressing they are from the
civil war era and my favorite painting in the entire world saturn devouring his son
unfortunately i can't take you inside i think it's for good because you should come and explore this
yourself you definitely need three four hours to come explore and do look at saturn devouring
his son i just stand i could stand there for hours just staring at it absolutely beautiful
in terms of general art and culture madrid has a lot there's so many galleries exhibitions you're
never ever ever bored when it's your thing and you should definitely see at least a couple of them
madrid has a really beautiful park called el retiro and i'm sitting in it right now this is my
absolute favorite place not only because it's green it has nature but also because
it has history it has culture and it has nature so this is the best deal you can ever get
this behind me is the crystal palace which was inspired by the crystal palace in london in hyde
park and initially it was built to keep the exotic the tropical plants from philippines which was a
spanish colony and the park initially was built as the hunting ground of the king i believe his
name was philip ii i'm not entirely sure though so do check on that but later it was turned into
a public park it has a beautiful lake plenty of space you can see you know madrilenos
here you can see the tourists and best of all if you're coming here in summer it provides you
a lot of reprieve from that hot summer sun the exhibitions which are free here this is actually
part of the reina sofia museum i just went to one inside i'll show you it's absolutely beautiful
but i would recommend coming here during the day on a weekday because it can get really really
busy especially because it's free so have retiro park definitely recommend it when you visit madrid
i am in puerto del sol the busiest most touristy spot in all of madrid beware of pickpockets
it has this interesting clock which everyone looks at when they are eating the 12 graves
before the midnight so this is like the time square of spain and it also has kilometers 0
which is literally the center of spain so you can just put your foot down there like i did and feel
like you're the center of the country um it also has this statue of the most beloved king of spain
so generally it is a great spot for people watching by the way if you're coming
that's the bakery at the back and you definitely have to try their pain au chocolat which is amazing
and there's a long queue in the evening so go in the morning we move on to the next stop
i am in plaza mayor the big plaza y is j in spanish hence the major
and this used to be the center of life in royal madrid when it became a royal city
the plaza was even used for bullfights sometimes but the reason i really like it
is because there are certain doors and when you go through these you come across these teen
narrow streets which give you this feeling of a small city not the capital of spain remember
i talked about that so it's the perfect place for that here's another thing which i want to
debunk here and that is about the equestrian statues statues where you know the rider is on
a horse and this one has one so on certain tours i heard that you know if there's one leg raised
the rider died a certain wave there's two legs raised the front legs the right
eye the certain way etc etc now i checked online and while 50 60 of the statue is conformed to that
it is not an exact science and you should not just read the statues legs the horse's leg or the
or the position of the rider do to judge how the rider actually died sorry i had to
ruin this one for you as well you will hear this a lot in a lot of tours on in europe
i'm heading next to one of the oldest squares in entire madrid la villa by the way in spanish
double l is y so why do i like this square so much one because of the architecture two because a lot
of people just miss it because it just didn't pass by without noticing it but this is one of the best
squares because the building right behind me is one of the oldest buildings in madrid and if you
go around you will see architecture from different centuries how madrid grew up so this is one of
the most interesting and important quest when it comes to madrid do not miss that i say that to you
so the cathedral of madrid it is an interesting building the exterior is meh okay it's nothing
crazy and compared to european standards this one is a baby like you know it's inaugurated in
1993 but the reason i really like is because the interior was made right after the dictator franco
died and people went crazy with color and if you like you know the gaudius colors this
one is another beautiful cathedral that you do not want to miss and it is free as well
another claim to fame from madrid is its royal palace and it is huge it is beautiful
it has more than 3 000 rooms the largest functioning royal palace in the entire world
and it's the largest um palace by floor area in the entire europe more than 300 bathrooms
and there are a few rooms that are open to the public like 30 40ish but the most interesting
thing is this one's really budget friendly so if you come between monday and thursday
between four and six you can enter completely free amazing i like that so i'm gonna go
explore the palace and then we will see something that is right opposite the palace
when you're visiting the royal palace i would definitely recommend
not skipping the chapel and the throne room they're really
really beautiful and i would also recommend keeping your eye on the ceilings trust me you will
if you're coming to the royal palace of madrid you have to see the changing of guards
which happens every wednesday and saturday at 12 p.m it's a good place to you know come
enjoy it's nothing crazy like there are the countries it's quite you know coined
by comparison and it only lasts like five minutes
i'm a man on a mission today i want to eat some almond cookies made by nuns in
front of an egyptian temple and i will need 10 or 20 euros for this
let's go by the way this is the nunnery of corpus christi and this is where we'll get our cookies
this is the door and i have come to the right place and we're gonna go ring for the nuns
so we come to this door we make our selection of cookies
so you tell them what you want and you put the money in this round belt
muchas gracias the reasons it works like this is because the nuns are not supposed to see
anyone from outside so they sell the cookies right here through this little revolving thing
i find it absolutely fascinating let's go eat them at the temple of the boat
tell you more about that when we get there
i'm sitting in front of an egyptian temple eating really delicious cookies made by nuns mission
accomplished i guess yeah so this is the temple of debod and it is right next to plaza espana
and this was actually brought here piece by piece and rebuilt in the same
exact orientation from egypt and the thing i like about this one is it was actually a gift
it wasn't taken from there it was gifted by the government of egypt
what's better than
let's continue with this beautiful journey of madrid
flamenco so i would not recommend seeing it in madrid because it's a lot more expensive
there's a lot of tourist traps but if you really want to see it an average show costs about 35
euros-ish there's a good company called los carboneros i will put the name here and you can
try and book with them they seem to be recommended by locals that's what i mean i haven't seen it
so please don't hold me to do it if it's not good but yeah i would not recommend flamenco in madrid
if you're still not convinced about madrid i would definitely recommend checking out my video why
madrid is my favorite capital in europe and that will change your mind i promise the link is above
all good things must come to an end and sadly this journey of ours in madrid has ended i
really hope you enjoyed this guide with me and you fell in love with the city as much as i did
and it's pretty much everywhere that i come here and every single time i discover something new
or just enjoy the stuff that i already love so much i will see you in the next video until then
you guys have an amazing day ahead bye this is brown boy travels i really hope you liked the
video if you did do like subscribe share and do let me know what you think in comments i always
love some feedback so i will see you in the next video until then you have a beautiful day ahead
you