Spain: Madrid: Check Out Madrid's Finest Examples of Neo-Classical and Baroque Architecture, Palacio Real and Plaza Mayor

With the favorable exchange rate of pesetas and dollars, there’s never been a better time to visit Spain’s capital city. This wasn’t always the case; although Francisco Franco died in 1975, Madrid has fought to regain prominence for the past twenty-five years. Now that Spain has joined the European Union, movement between participating countries has become easier and has stimulated Spaniards’ desire to emphasize their European qualities.

For proof of Madrid’s renaissance, look no further than its many fine restaurants and tapas bars. Consisting of meat, fish, or cheese appetizers, often topped with bread, tapas remains a distinctively Spanish meal and one that almost always facilitates conversation and wine drinking in a relaxed yet chic atmosphere like that of La Truca, Casa del Abuelo, and Los Gabrieles. Strolling past boutiques offers a glimpse at the trendiest styles, while a vital club scene keeps audiences dancing to meringue and salsa. Flamenco, one of Spain’s most famous musical forms, has also undergone a transformation, since a movement to modernize flamenco has arisen among Madrid’s intelligentsia. Flamenco still relays stories through music and dance, but the music now bears the influence of jazz and features stories touching on events and people from the twentieth century. Casual clothes as costumes and intimate settings add to flamenco’s new flair, paradoxically, by subduing its drama.

Before leaving Madrid, visitors should make sure to check out the city’s finest examples of Neo-Classical and Baroque architecture, Palacio Real and Plaza Mayor. Madrid’s renovated artistic neighborhood, La Latina, beckons with its unique shops and eateries. And no visit is complete without a stop at one if not all of Madrid’s massive art museums, the Prado, the Thyssen-Bournemisza, and the Reina Sofía (the latter home to Picasso’s "Guernica"). Conquering its reputation as Barcelona’s dull cousin, Madrid fuses the new with the old to forge a contemporary identity.