MADRID TRAVEL

Nonetheless, it was a success, and today Madrid is a vast, predominantly modern city, with a population of some three million and growing. The journey in - through a stream of concrete-block suburbs - isn't pretty, but the streets at the heart of the city are a pleasant surprise, with pockets of medieval buildings and narrow, atmospheric alleys, dotted with the oddest of shops and bars, and interspersed with eighteenth-century Bourbon squares. By comparison with the historic cities of Spain - Toledo, Salamanca, Sevilla, Granada - there may be few sights of great architectural interest, but the monarchs did acquire outstanding picture collections, which formed the basis of the Prado museum. This has long ensured Madrid a place on the European art tour, and the more so since the 1990s arrival - literally down the street - of the Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza galleries, state-of-the-art homes to fabulous arrays of modern Spanish painting (including Picasso's Guernica ) and European and American masters.

As you get to grips with the place you soon realize that it's the inhabitants - the madrileños - that are the capital's key attraction: hanging out in the traditional cafés or the summer terrazas, packing the lanes of the Sunday Rastro flea market, or playing hard and very, very late in a thousand bars , clubs, discos and tascas . Whatever Barcelona or San Sebastián might claim, the Madrid scene, immortalized in the movies of Pedro Almodóvar, remains the most vibrant and fun in the country. The city is also in better shape than for many years past, after a £500-million refurbishment for its role as 1992 European Capital of Culture and the ongoing impact of a series of urban rehabilitation schemes - funded jointly by the European Union and local government - in the older barrios (districts) of the city. Improvements are also being made to the transport network, with extensions to the metro, the construction of new ring roads and the excavation of a series of road tunnels designed to bring relief to the city's overcrowded streets. The authorities are even preparing a bid for the 2012 Olympics.

If you have very limited time, you might well do no more sightseeing than this. However, monuments are not really what Madrid is about, and to get a feel for the city you need to branch out a little, and experience the contrasting character and life of the various barrios . The most central and rewarding of these are the areas around Plaza de Santa Ana and c/Huertas , east of Puerta del Sol; La Latina and Lavapiés , south of Plaza Mayor, where the Sunday market, El Rastro , takes place; and Malasaña and Chueca , north of Gran Vía. By happy circumstance, these barrios have some of Madrid's finest concentrations of tapas bars and restaurants.

Free entrance can be gained to many of Madrid's premier attractions. Sites classed as Patrimonio Nacional such as the Palacio Real, the Convento de la Encarnación, El Pardo and the Monasterio de las Descalzas are free to EU citizens on Wednesdays (bring your passport). Most museums are free for under 18s and the retired, and give substantial discounts to students (bring ID in all cases). In addition many museums and sights that normally charge entry set aside certain times when entrance is free. These include the following:

Centro de Arte Reina Sofía : Sat after 2.30pm & Sun 10am-2.30pm.

Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida : Wed 10am-2pm & 4-8pm & Sun 10am-2pm.

Museo de América : Sat 2-3pm & Sun 10am-2.30pm.

Museo Arqueológico : Sat 2.30-8.30pm & Sun 9.30am-2.30pm.

Museo de Artes Decorativas : Sun 10am-2pm.

Museo Cerralbo : Sun 10am-2pm & Wed 9.30am-2.30pm.

Museo del Ejército : Sat 10am-2pm.

Museo Lázaro Galdiano : Sat 10am-2pm.

Museo Municipal : Sun 10am-2pm & Wed 9.30am-8pm.

Museo del Prado : Sat after 2.30pm & Sun 9am-2pm.

Museo Romántico : Sun 10am-2pm.

Real Academia de Bellas Artes : Sat & Sun 9am-2.30pm.

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