MADRID — Spain’s Socialist prime minister has irked his natural enemies on the right and in the Catholic church by legalizing gay marriage and instituting fast-track divorce. Now he has hit a raw nerve even among his supporters with a proposal to let 16-year-olds get abortions without parental consent.
The debate is harsh and emotional, showing [...]
If Madrid is your first stop in Spain, by air, train or bus , you are likely to arrive a little way from the centre. Transport into the centre, however, is relatively cheap, easy and efficient.
By air
The Aeropuerto de Barajas (tel 913 058 343) is 16km east of the city, at the end of Avenida [...]
There are year-round turismo offices at the following locations: Aeropuerto de Barajas (Mon-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9am-3pm; tel 913 058 656); Estación de Atocha (Mon-Fri 9am-9pm, Sat & Sun 9am-1pm; tel 902 100 007; Estación de ChamartÃn (Mon-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9am-1pm; tel 913 159 976); Plaza Mayor 3 (Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-2pm; tel 915 881 636); [...]
Much of Madrid’s nightlife has a big gay input and gay men especially will feel at home in most of the listings in our clubs/ discotecas section. However, around Plaza Chueca, graffiti-plastered walls proclaim the existence of a zona gay , and the surrounding streets, especially c/Pelayo, harbour at least a dozen exclusively gay bars [...]
Nightlife
Madrid nightlife is a pretty serious phenomenon. This is one of the few cities in Europe where you can get caught in traffic jams at 4am, when the clubbers are either going home or moving on to the dance-past-dawn discos.
As with everything madrileño , there is a bewildering variety of nightlife venues - all of [...]
As far as safety goes, there’s little cause for concern. Central Madrid is so populated - and so busy at just about every hour of the day and night - that it never seems to carry any “big city” threat. Which is not to say that crime is not a problem, nor that there aren’t [...]
Madrid became Spain’s capital simply through its geographical position at the centre of Iberia. When Felipe II moved the seat of government here in 1561 his aim was to create a symbol of the unification and centralization of the country, and a capital from which he could receive the fastest post and communications from each [...]