Walking Tour 3

Walking Tour 3: Puerta del Sol, Alcala & Huertas

Start: Puerta del Sol.

Finish: Plaza Canalejas.

Time: 2 hours (excluding a visit to the Convento de las Descalzas Reales).

Best Times: Any day.

Worst Times: Avoid rush hours on weekdays 7:30 to 9:30am and 5 to 7:30pm because of heavy traffic.

A circular tour extending east from the Puerta de Sol to a fan-shaped area bordered by Calle Alcalá in the north and Calle Huertas in the south, taking in a wide, compact range of historical, cultural, and fun sights en route.

The tour begins at:

1. Puerta del Sol

This half-moon-shaped square is not only the acknowledged central point of the capital but also kilometer zero for the entire country (all distances in Spain are measured from outside the Casa de Correos on the south side of the square). Prior to assuming its present central position in the 19th century, this "Gateway of the Sun" marked the eastern entry point to the city. Traditionally symbolic of Madrid, and a favorite rendezvous point, is the bronze statue of the Oso y el Madroño (Bear and the Strawberry Tree), which stands on the northern edge of the square at the entrance to the pedestrianized Calle del Carmen.

From here head west up Calle Arenal and then take the second right turn into Calle San Martín to arrive at the:

2. Convento de las Descalzas Reales

Founded by Carlos V's daughter Juana of Austria in 1557, this haven of tranquillity, with its chapels, baroque art masterpieces, grandiose stairway, and (hidden) inner gardens, is still home to an enclosed order of nuns. Visitors are allowed in 20 at a time, which at times makes for large queues -- so be prepared for a possible wait.

Return to the Puerta del Sol and then head east along Calle Alcalá past the impressive Ministerio de Economia y Hacienda building to the adjoining:

3. Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

Started in 1744 by Felipe V and bought by Carlos III 30 years later, this art museum -- located at number 13 Calle Alcalá -- is the oldest in Madrid. It boasts a rich collection of works by El Greco, Zurbarán, and Velázquez as well as masterpieces by Van Dyck and Rubens. An entire room is devoted to Goya.

Cross the road and continue down the southern side of Alcalá past the Sevilla Metro station until you reach Calle Marqués de Casa Riera. Turn right for the entrance to the:

4. Círculo de Bellas Artes

A multipurpose 1920s-style cultural center refurbished in the 1990s and complete with four exhibition rooms where continuous displays are held. It also boasts a superb cafe with high ceilings, where you can enjoy a drink and watch the city life outside swirl by. There is a top-floor library and adjoining bookshop, theater, and cinema showing international movies in their original language.

Take a Break -- If you're not tempted by the Círculo de Bellas Artes' cafe, then try the Hotel Suecia just 50m (164 ft.) farther down Calle Marqués de Casa Riera at no. 4 (tel. 91-531-69-00). The ground-floor cafe lounge is an ideal spot to sink into a sofa, relax, and enjoy a coffee and pastry. Staff members are very friendly and welcoming, and the decor and setting are bright and modern -- all very civilized. (This is said to have been one of Hemingway's haunts.)

Continue along Calle Marqués de Casa Riera, then turn left into Calle de los Madrazo, and almost immediately right into Calle Marqués de Cubas. This leads you eventually to Carrera de San Jerónimo where on your immediate right you'll see the:

5. Congreso de los Diputados

This mid-19th-century building, also known as the Palacio de las Cortes, houses the lower house of the Spanish parliament. Its classical portico and twin bronze lions facing the Plaza del Cortes create an impressive front entrance, and visitors can enjoy guided tours of the interior on Saturday mornings.

Cross the plaza, head south down Calle San Agustín, and turn right (south) at Calle Cervantes to the:

6. Casa Museo de Lope de Vega

The prolific Golden Age playwright Lope de Vega Carpio wrote some of his 2,000-plus works in this small 16th-century house at number 18, uniquely preserved and opened as a museum in 1935. Due to its size, only 10 people can visit it at one time. Farther along is the Convento de las Trinitarias, where rival pensmith Miguel de Cervantes' ashes were kept in an urn, which subsequently got mislaid. (The author of Don Quixote, incidentally, lived not on this street but on adjoining Calle León, though his abode was pulled down centuries ago. Only a commemorative plaque remains.)

Continue along Calle Cervantes to Calle León. Here turn right to Calle de Prado where almost opposite -- at number 21 -- you'll see the:

7. Ateneo de Madrid

Founded in 1820, this is one of the capital's great literary institutions and home of Spain's second largest library. You have to pay a yearly subscription to be a member, but visitors are allowed to climb up the marble stairs, wander around, eye the array of portraits of key Spanish essayists, novelists, and poets, and soak up the untrammeled/slightly run-down 19th-century atmosphere. It also has a small, unpretentious cafe if you feel like a refreshing taste of something.

Turn left along Calle del Prado to arrive at:

8. Plaza Santa Ana

A legacy of the brief French rule under Joseph Bonaparte, this sunny square is one of the most popular in Madrid, lined with tree-shaded pavement cafes and boasting a small statue to García Lorca. On its eastern side in Calle Príncipe is the stylish Teatro Español, which dates from the 18th century and reopened after lengthy refurbishment work in 2002. A theater has existed on this spot since 1583 when the Corral del Príncipe would put on shows to a raucously demanding audience.

Take a Break -- Hemingway time again. Try one of his all-time favorites, the 80-year-old Cervecería Alemana at Plaza Santa Ana 6 (tel. 91-429-70-33) for coffee or delicious cold beer. Sit at a table in the traditional wood-paneled interior in winter or outside under the trees in summer.

Leave Plaza Santa Ana via Calle Príncipe to the north and turn right into the tiny Manuel González y Fernández alleyway passing, or pausing in, the Trucha tapas bar and the tile-and-wood-furnished Viva Madrid cafe to arrive in:

9. Calle Echegaray

This long, narrow street, so quiet and unassuming by day, comes to life at night when its multinational array of watering holes and eating spots makes progressing from one end to the other a very slow ramble. Among its highlights are Los Gabrieles, a former bordello whose series of salons boast the best ornamental wall tiles in Madrid, and La Venencia, an uncompromising cellar bar dating from the 1920s that sells nothing but sherry by the glass (covering the full gamut from dry manzanillas to heavy olorosos).

At the northern end of Calle Echegaray, turn left into Carrera de San Jerónimo and continue to the:

10. Plaza de Canalejas

Placed at the closely knit junction of four roads, this attractive but busy little square was once aptly named the Plaza de los Cuatro Calles. It owes its present name to the 19th-century politician José Canalejas, who was assassinated while peering in the window of a bookshop in the Puerta del Sol (just a couple of hundred meters away). Nearby look out for the inimitable Lhardy's French restaurant with its downstairs deluxe snack bar.