Hostal la Perla Asturiana

Madrid, of course, is the not-so-new capital of this new Spain. It?s been the Spanish capital since 1561, when Philip II moved his court here from Toledo. It?s not an elegant city. Spain always has Barcelona to go head to head against Paris or London or Rome for sophisticated shopping and well-dressed women. Madrid is resolutely unstylish, keeps its own hours, and pursues its own pleasures. Madrid is a city of thousands of bars but few drunks, a city of endless narrow streets and only a few broad boulevards, and, of course, a city filled with art. In many ways Madrid is the cultural center of the entire Spanish-speaking world. The Prado (see picture) by itself draws tourists and art pilgrims much the way Florence does.