La Castellana Avenue, Madrid

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Madrid's grand boulevard. I have so many memories of walking along it, at just about every section, back when I lived in this city. I remember my first visit to this city when I was 12 years old. The ground tiles, and their beautiful pattern fascinated me.

This time around I was only able to walk along the section close to Cibeles while checking out the book fair. I appreciated how the book fair didn't interfere with the beautiful water features.

I couldn't help but notice how damaged a lot of those tiles are now. I hope they're restored.

It's a pity the access to the Spanish National Library is restricted to researchers and people that can justify their presence there; that is, you cannot just visit the place. But even if you can't, you still can enjoy of one Madrid most impressive buildings form the outside. I simply love its remarkable neoclassic style :-)

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In a style that is strikingly different from that of the Puerta de Alcala (to say the least!), the Puerta de Europa is the northernmost point of entry to the city and a symbol of Madrid's modernity. It is made up of two towers (commonly called the KIO Towers, built in 1996) that lean towards each other at a 15° angle over the Plaza de Castilla. So far I've gotten mixed reviews when I showed my friends my pictures of the Puerta de Europa - some really like it, others really don't. I'm part of the former group: I could see the leaning towers all the way from my house in Madrid so one day I decided to walk up the Paseo de la Castellana to see the towers from up close, and I have to say that I really enjoyed their unique design. I'll let you be your own judge!

The Paseo Castellano is a beautiful walk through Madrid. It starts around the Nuevos Ministerios area, and you can walk along it all the way down to the Prado Museum. Actually, I think it eventually turns into Paseo del Prado. Either way, it is a great way to see the city, get some exercise, and just have a nice and relaxing time.

You're walking down (or up!) this street called "La Castellana" and suddenly you see these two shiny things.... Oh my good are they falling down?!?! NO, the KIO Towers might not be everyone's cup of tea, but they certainly add some "spice" to Madrid's sight!!

The Paseo de la Castella is a beautiful street with lots of apartment buildings and some stores (did I say El Corte Inglés?). This beautiful street has two outstanding buildings at the end they can be seen in many spanish movies. The thing is that this 2 office buildings are inclined towards each other, giving the scense of a door.
Anyway, the street is there, and it's quite nice to walk along it and feel like a real spaniard!!!

The main avenue of Madrid dividing the city into western and eastern part. It goes all the way from the centre towards the north where it ends with Puerta de Europa - 2 identical modern buildings on both sides of the street looking like the gate to the city.

It would be hard to account La Castellana Avenue among the highly recommended visits of Madrid, at least from the touristy point of view. However, if you land in Madrid for business, chances are that the "BladeRunner landscape" that his huge avenue offer by night would not be at all unfamiliar to you, as most of the international companies has its headquarters near the area.

Though not the liveliest area of Madrid (especially by night), some pretty decent restaurants and bars could be found over there, on the Avenida del Brasil area, to be more precise.

originally these two buildings were planned to be joined together above the road. But the money had been embezzled....... before the buildings were finished so they simply couldn`t finish them.... and that building would have been called Puerta de Europa....

Apart from being the final destination of the airport bus, this square is not really a tourista ttraction by itself, but as is located in the Castellana Avenue, you will probably pass by some day.
Here you can find some monolithical monuments to the America discovery by Columbus (left in the pic), the biggest Spanish flag in all Spain and a statue of Colon (top right in the pic), smaller than the one in Barcelona, and you can't go to the top.