Word: madrid
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...principle commercial activity centers on Calle de la Pricessa and Avenida de Jose Antonio, south of which lies a maze of twisting alleys lined by innumerable restaurants. This is the Madrid you see in brochures, the old part of town that converges on Plaza Mayor and Plaza del Sol. This part of the city brings the reality of Spain somewhat closer to the idealized conception: Here you can sit down to a meal of paella, the music of guitars in the distance, and know you're not in America any more...
...sight that makes a vist to Madrid mandatory is the Prado, one of the world best art museurns. What can one say about a museum that has an unparalleled collection of Spanish masters, including El Greco, Goya and Velasquez, as well as pre-Renaissance and Renaissance Italian paintings and works by Bosch, Bruegel, Rubens and Rembrandt...
Barcelona, like Madrid, has little to offer in the way of traditional Spanish atmosphere. The main thoroughfare of the older part of the city. Las Ramblas, resembles an enormous flea market. Peddlers line the central strip, hawking birds, animals, jewelry and pornographic magazines...
Outside the major cities in the smaller towns of Castile and Andalucia, one finds the traditional Spanish character most intact. Toledo, 70 miles south of Madrid, is a town dominated by the shadow of El Greco, the expatriated Cretan painter who adopted the town as his home. Toledo may be the most visited small town in Spain, but it is also a microcosm of Spanish history, art, and architecture...
Segovia, to the north of Madrid, seems to have remained firmly rooted in the distant past. Its two principle attractions would probably have inspired Ruskin, Swinburne, or Byron: a Roman aqueduct in working order and the Alcazar, an ancient fortress. Around these lie Gothic churches and Moorish ruins. Segovia includes none of the artificial modernness effected in Madrid or Barcelona: it is simply a small Spanish town in an arid wilderness...