Context of Madrid

 

Madrid ( mə-DRID, Spanish: [maˈðɾið]) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.6 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and its monocentric metropolitan area is the second-largest in the EU. The municipality covers 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi) geographical area.

Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula. Capital city of both Spain (almost without interruption since 1561) and the surrounding autonomous community of Madrid (since 1983), it is also the political, economic and cultural centre of the country. The city is situated on an elevated plain about 300 km (190 mi) from the closest seaside location. The climate of Madrid features hot summers and cool winters.

The Madri...Read more

 

Madrid ( mə-DRID, Spanish: [maˈðɾið]) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.6 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and its monocentric metropolitan area is the second-largest in the EU. The municipality covers 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi) geographical area.

Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula. Capital city of both Spain (almost without interruption since 1561) and the surrounding autonomous community of Madrid (since 1983), it is also the political, economic and cultural centre of the country. The city is situated on an elevated plain about 300 km (190 mi) from the closest seaside location. The climate of Madrid features hot summers and cool winters.

The Madrid urban agglomeration has the second-largest GDP in the European Union and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, environment, media, fashion, science, culture, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. Due to its economic output, high standard of living, and market size, Madrid is considered the major financial centre and the leading economic hub of the Iberian Peninsula and of Southern Europe. The metropolitan area hosts major Spanish companies such as Telefónica, Iberia, BBVA and FCC. It concentrates the bulk of banking operations in the country and it is the Spanish-speaking city generating the largest amount of webpages. For innovation, Madrid is ranked 19th in the world and 7th in Europe from 500 cities, in the 2022-2023 annual analysts Innovation Cities Index, published by 2ThinkNow

Madrid houses the headquarters of the UN's World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), and the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB). It also hosts major international regulators and promoters of the Spanish language: the Standing Committee of the Association of Spanish Language Academies, headquarters of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), the Instituto Cervantes and the Foundation of Emerging Spanish (FundéuRAE). Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI and the Madrid Fashion Week. Madrid is home to two world-famous football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid.

While Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Its landmarks include the Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace of Madrid; the Royal Theatre with its restored 1850 Opera House; the Buen Retiro Park, founded in 1631; the 19th-century National Library building (founded in 1712) containing some of Spain's historical archives; many national museums, and the Golden Triangle of Art, located along the Paseo del Prado and comprising three art museums: Prado Museum, the Reina Sofía Museum, a museum of modern art, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, which complements the holdings of the other two museums. Cibeles Palace and Fountain has become one of the monument symbols of the city. The mayor is José Luis Martínez-Almeida from the People's Party.

More about Madrid

Population, Area & Driving side
  • Population 3332035
  • Area 604
History
  •  

    The site of modern-day Madrid has been occupied since prehistoric times,[1][2][3] and there are archaeological remains of the Celtic Carpetani settlement, Roman villas,[4] a Visigoth basilica near the church of Santa María de la Almudena[5] and three Visigoth necropoleis near Casa de Campo, Tetuán and Vicálvaro.[6]

    ...Read more
     

    The site of modern-day Madrid has been occupied since prehistoric times,[1][2][3] and there are archaeological remains of the Celtic Carpetani settlement, Roman villas,[4] a Visigoth basilica near the church of Santa María de la Almudena[5] and three Visigoth necropoleis near Casa de Campo, Tetuán and Vicálvaro.[6]

    Middle Ages
     
     
    The difunct Royal Alcázar of Madrid was enlarged by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

    The first historical document about the existence of an established settlement in Madrid dates from the Muslim age. At the second half of the 9th century,[7] Cordobese Emir Muhammad I built a fortress on a headland near the river Manzanares,[8] as one of the many fortresses he ordered to be built on the border between Al-Andalus and the kingdoms of León and Castile, with the objective of protecting Toledo from the Christian invasions and also as a starting point for Muslim offensives. After the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the early 11th century, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo.

    In the context of the wider campaign for the conquest of the taifa of Toledo initiated in 1079, Madrid was seized in 1083 by Alfonso VI of León and Castile, who sought to use the town as an offensive outpost against the city of Toledo,[9] in turn conquered in 1085. Following the conquest, Christians occupied the center of the city, while Muslims and Jews were displaced to the suburbs. Madrid, located near Alcalá (under Muslim control until 1118), remained a borderland for a while, suffering a number of razzias during the Almoravid period and its walls were destroyed in 1110.[9] The city was confirmed as villa de realengo [es] (linked to the Crown) in 1123, during the reign of Alfonso VII.[10] The 1123 Charter of Otorgamiento established the first explicit limits between Madrid and Segovia, namely the Puerto de El Berrueco and the Puerto de Lozoya.[11] Since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile.[citation needed] In 1202, Alfonso VIII gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council,[12] which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III. The government system of the town was changed to a regimiento of 12 regidores by Alfonso XI on 6 January 1346.[13]

    Since the mid-13th century and up to the late 14th century, the concejo of Madrid vied for the control of the Real de Manzanares territory against the concejo of Segovia, a powerful town north of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, characterised by its repopulating prowess and its husbandry-based economy, contrasted by the agricultural and less competent in repopulation town of Madrid.[14] After the decline of Sepúlveda, another concejo north of the mountain range, Segovia had become a major actor south of the Guadarrama mountains, expanding across the Lozoya and Manzanares rivers to the north of Madrid and along the Guadarrama river course to its west.[14]

    In 1309, the Courts of Castile convened at Madrid for the first time under Ferdinand IV, and later in 1329, 1339, 1391, 1393, 1419 and twice in 1435.

    Modern Age

    During the revolt of the Comuneros, led by Juan de Padilla, Madrid joined the revolt against Charles, Holy Roman Emperor, but after defeat at the Battle of Villalar, Madrid was besieged and occupied by the imperial troops. The city was however granted the titles of Coronada (Crowned) and Imperial.

     
     
    View of Madrid from the west, facing the Puerta de la Vega. Drawing by Anton van den Wyngaerde, 1562.
     
     
    Baths in the Manzanares in the place of Molino Quemado (detail), by Félix Castello (c. 1634–1637)

    The number of urban inhabitants grew from 4,060 in the year 1530 to 37,500 in the year 1594. The poor population of the court was composed of ex-soldiers, foreigners, rogues and Ruanes, dissatisfied with the lack of food and high prices. In June 1561 Phillip II set his court in Madrid, installing it in the old alcázar.[15] Thanks to this, the city of Madrid became the political centre of the monarchy, being the capital of Spain except for a short period between 1601 and 1606, in which the Court was relocated to Valladolid (and the Madrid population temporarily plummeted accordingly). Being the capital was decisive for the evolution of the city and influenced its fate and during the rest of the reign of Philip II, the population boomed, going up from about 18,000 in 1561 to 80,000 in 1598.[16]

     
     
    View of Calle de Alcalá in 1750 by Antonio Joli

    During the early 17th century, although Madrid recovered from the loss of the capital status, with the return of diplomats, lords and affluent people, as well as an entourage of noted writers and artists together with them, extreme poverty was however rampant.[17] The century also was a time of heyday for theatre, represented in the so-called corrales de comedias.[18]

    The city changed hands several times during the War of the Spanish Succession: from the Bourbon control it passed to the allied "Austracist" army with Portuguese and English presence that entered the city in late June 1706 [es],[19] only to be retaken by the Bourbon army on 4 August 1706.[20] The Habsburg army led by the Archduke Charles entered the city for a second time [es] in September 1710,[21] leaving the city less than three months after. Philip V entered the capital on 3 December 1710.[22]

    Seeking to take advantage of the Madrid's location at the geographic centre of Spain, the 18th century saw a sustained effort to create a radial system of communications and transports for the country through public investments.[23]

    Philip V built the Royal Palace, the Royal Tapestry Factory and the main Royal Academies.[24] The reign of Charles III, who came to be known as "the best mayor of Madrid", saw an effort to turn the city into a true capital, with the construction of sewers, street lighting, cemeteries outside the city and a number of monuments and cultural institutions. The reforms enacted by his Sicilian minister were however opposed in 1766 by the populace in the so-called Esquilache Riots, a revolt demanding to repeal a clothing decree banning the use of traditional hats and long cloaks aiming to curb crime in the city.[25]

     
     
    The Second of May 1808 by Francisco de Goya

    In the context of the Peninsular War, the situation in French-occupied Madrid after March 1808 was becoming more and more tense. On 2 May, a crowd began to gather near the Royal Palace protesting against the French attempt to evict the remaining members of the Bourbon royal family to Bayonne, prompting up an uprising against the French Imperial troops that lasted hours and spread throughout the city, including a famous last stand at the Monteleón barracks. Subsequent repression was brutal, with many insurgent Spaniards being summarily executed.[26] The uprising led to a declaration of war calling all the Spaniards to fight against the French invaders.

    Capital of the Liberal State
     
     
    1861 map of the Ensanche de Madrid

    The city was invaded on 24 May 1823 by a French army—the so-called Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis—called to intervene to restore the absolutism of Ferdinand that the latter had been deprived from during the 1820–1823 trienio liberal.[27] Unlike other European capitals, during the first half of the 19th century the only noticeable bourgeois elements in Madrid (that experienced a delay in its industrial development up to that point) were merchants.[28] The University of Alcalá de Henares was relocated to Madrid in 1836, becoming the Central University.[29]

    The economy of the city further modernized during the second half of the 19th century, consolidating its status as a service and financial centre. New industries were mostly focused in book publishing, construction and low-tech sectors.[30] The introduction of railway transport greatly helped Madrid's economic prowess, and led to changes in consumption patterns (such as the substitution of salted fish for fresh fish from the Spanish coasts) as well as further strengthening the city's role as a logistics node in the country's distribution network.[31] Electric lightning in the streets was introduced in the 1890s.[31]

    During the first third of the 20th century the population nearly doubled, reaching more than 850,000 inhabitants. New suburbs such as Las Ventas, Tetuán and El Carmen became the homes of the influx of workers, while Ensanche became a middle-class neighbourhood of Madrid.[32]

    Second Republic and Civil War

    The Spanish Constitution of 1931 was the first to legislate the location of the country's capital, setting it explicitly in Madrid. During the 1930s, Madrid enjoyed "great vitality"; it was demographically young, becoming urbanized and the centre of new political movements.[33] During this time, major construction projects were undertaken, including the northern extension of the Paseo de la Castellana, one of Madrid's major thoroughfares.[34] The tertiary sector, including banking, insurance and telephone services, grew greatly.[35] Illiteracy rates were down to below 20%, and the city's cultural life grew notably during the so-called Silver Age of Spanish Culture; the sales of newspapers also increased.[36] Conversely, the proclamation of the Republic created a severe housing shortage. Slums and squalor grew due to high population growth and the influx of the poor to the city. Construction of affordable housing failed to keep pace and increased political instability discouraged economic investment in housing in the years immediately prior to the Civil War.[37] Anti-clericalism and Catholicism lived side by side in Madrid; the burning of convents initiated after riots in the city in May 1931 worsened the political environment.[38] However, the 1934 insurrection largely failed in the city.[39]

     
     
    Children taking refuge during the unsuccessful Francoist bombings (1936–1937) over Madrid during the Spanish Civil War

    Madrid was one of the most heavily affected cities in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). It was a stronghold of the Republican faction from July 1936 and became an international symbol of anti-fascist struggle during the conflict.[40] The city suffered aerial bombing, and in November 1936, its western suburbs were the scene of an all-out battle.[41] The city fell to the Francoists in March 1939.

    Francoist dictatorship
     
     
    The calle de Bravo Murillo in 1978

    A staple of post-war Madrid (Madrid de la posguerra) was the widespread use of ration coupons.[42] Meat and fish consumption was scarce, resulting in high mortality due to malnutrition.[43] Due to Madrid's history as a left-wing stronghold, the right-wing victors toyed with the possibility of moving the capital elsewhere (most notably to Seville), such plans were never implemented. The Franco regime instead emphasized the city's history as the capital of formerly imperial Spain.[44]

    The intense demographic growth experienced by the city via mass immigration from the rural areas of the country led to the construction of plenty of housing in the peripheral areas of the city to absorb the new population (reinforcing the processes of social polarization of the city),[45] initially comprising substandard housing (with as many as 50,000 shacks scattered around the city by 1956).[46] A transitional planning intended to temporarily replace the shanty towns were the poblados de absorción, introduced since the mid-1950s in locations such as Canillas, San Fermín, Caño Roto, Villaverde, Pan Bendito [es], Zofío and Fuencarral, aiming to work as a sort of "high-end" shacks (with the destinataries participating in the construction of their own housing) but under the aegis of a wider coordinated urban planning.[47]

    Madrid grew through the annexation of neighboring municipalities, achieving the present extent of 607 km2 (234.36 sq mi). The south of Madrid became heavily industrialized, and there was significant immigration from rural areas of Spain. Madrid's newly built north-western districts became the home of a newly enriched middle class that appeared as result of the 1960s Spanish economic boom, while the south-eastern periphery became a large working-class area, which formed the base for active cultural and political movements.[41]

    Recent history

    After the fall of the Francoist regime, the new 1978 constitution confirmed Madrid as the capital of Spain. The 1979 municipal election brought Madrid's first democratically elected mayor since the Second Republic to power.

    Madrid was the scene of some of the most important events of the time, such as the mass demonstrations of support for democracy after the failed coup, 23-F, on 23 February 1981. The first democratic mayors belonged to the centre-left PSOE (Enrique Tierno Galván, Juan Barranco Gallardo). Since the late 1970s and through the 1980s Madrid became the center of the cultural movement known as la Movida. Conversely, just like in the rest of the country, a heroin crisis took a toll in the poor neighborhoods of Madrid in the 1980s.[48]

     
     
    2011 Anti-austerity protests in the Puerta del Sol

    Benefiting from increasing prosperity in the 1980s and 1990s, the capital city of Spain consolidated its position as an important economic, cultural, industrial, educational, and technological centre on the European continent.[41] During the mandate as Mayor of José María Álvarez del Manzano construction of traffic tunnels below the city proliferated.[49] The following administrations, also conservative, led by Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón and Ana Botella launched three unsuccessful bids for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics.[50] By 2005, Madrid was the leading European destination for migrants from developing countries, as well as the largest employer of non-European workforce in Spain.[51] Madrid was a centre of the anti-austerity protests that erupted in Spain in 2011. As consequence of the spillover of the 2008 financial and mortgage crisis, Madrid has been affected by the increasing number of second-hand homes held by banks and house evictions.[52] The mandate of left-wing Mayor Manuela Carmena (2015–2019) delivered the renaturalization of the course of the Manzanares across the city.

    Since the late 2010s, the challenges the city faces include the increasingly unaffordable rental prices (often in parallel with the gentrification and the spike of tourist apartments in the city centre) and the profusion of betting shops in working-class areas, leading to an "epidemic" of gambling among young people.[53][54]

    ^ "Los primeros madrileños llegaron hace 500.000 años". El País. 13 June 2006. Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019 – via elpais.com. ^ "La prehistoria de Madrid". Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2007. ^ Ocupaciones achelenses en el valle del Jarama (Arganda, Madrid);Santonja, Manuel; López Martínez, Nieves y Pérez-González, Alfredo;1980;Diputación provincial de Madrid;ISBN 84-500-3554-6 ^ "Las villas romanas de Madrid. Madrid en época romana" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2013. ^ El Madrid antiguo en época romana;Fernández Palacios, Fernando;Estudios de Prehistoria y Arqueología Madrileñas;Number 13; year 2004 ^ Álvarez, Pilar; Sánchez, Esther (21 June 2013). "Hallado un taller paleolítico de más de 200.000 años en Vicálvaro". El País. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019 – via elpais.com. ^ "Madrid Islámico". Nova.es. Archived from the original on 2 October 1999. Retrieved 7 August 2012. ^ It was recorded in the 15th century by the Arab geographer al-Himyari, who wrote in his "The Book of the Fragrant Garden" (Kitab al-Rawd al-Mitar) about the history of the city. He describes: "Madrid, remarkable city of Al-Andalus, which was built by Amir Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahman..." ^ a b Bahamonde Magro & Otero Carvajal 1989, p. 9. ^ Cestero Mancera, Molina Martos & Paredes García 2015, p. 18. ^ Cerrillo Torquemada 2009, p. 245. ^ "Ayuntamiento de Madrid – El Siglo XIII" (in Spanish). Madrid.es. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012. ^ Suárez Fernández 2001, p. 137. ^ a b Bahamonde Magro & Otero Carvajal 1989, pp. 11–12. ^ "Ayuntamiento de Madrid – Madrid capital" (in Spanish). Madrid.es. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2012. ^ Parsons 2003, p. 13. ^ Domínguez Ortiz, Antonio (2003). "El reverso de la medalla. Pobreza extrema en el Madrid de Felipe IV". Historia Social (47): 127–130. ISSN 0214-2570. JSTOR 40340884. ^ "Dosier: El barrio de las letras y las mujeres". Revista Madrid Histórico. Madrid: Ediciones La Librería (82). 2019. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020. ^ Martínez Pereira, Ana (2008). "La participación de Portugal en la Guerra de Sucesión Española. Una diatriba política en emblemas, símbolos y enigmas" (PDF). Península. Revista de Estudos Ibéricos. Porto: Universidade do Porto (5): 179. ISSN 1645-6971. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2020. ^ Martínez Pereira 2008, p. 180. ^ Quirós Rosado, Roberto (2016). "El coste del trono. Guerra defensiva y fiscalidad municipal en la estancia madrileña de Carlos III de Austria (1710)" (PDF). Vegueta: Anuario de la Facultad de Geografía e Historia. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Servicio de Publicaciones. 16: 290. ISSN 1133-598X. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 August 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020. ^ Quirós Rosado 2016, p. 308. ^ García Ruiz, José Luis (2011). "Madrid en la encrucijada del interior peninsular, c. 1850–2009". Historia Contemporánea. Bilbao: UPV/EHU. 42: 191. ISSN 1130-2402. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2020. ^ "Reales Academias" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012. Royal Academies ^ "Ayuntamiento de Madrid – Madrid bajo el signo del reformismo ilustrado" (in Spanish). Madrid.es. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2012. ^ "Ayuntamiento de Madrid – Madrid y la Guerra de la Independencia" (in Spanish). Madrid.es. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2012. ^ Sánchez Martín, Víctor (2020). "Afrancesados, moderados, exaltados, masones y comuneros: periódicos y periodistas ante el conflicto político en la prensa de Madrid durante el Trienio Liberal (1820–1823)". El Argonauta Español. 17 (17). doi:10.4000/argonauta.4257. ISSN 1765-2901. Archived from the original on 16 August 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020. ^ García Ruiz 2011, p. 192. ^ "Cuando la 'Complu' se mudó al centro". Madridiario. 29 October 2018. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020. ^ García Ruiz 2011, p. 193. ^ a b García Ruiz 2011, p. 194. ^ "Ayuntamiento de Madrid – El Madrid liberal" (in Spanish). Madrid.es. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013. ^ Montero, Julio; Cervera Gil, Javier (2009). "Madrid en los años treinta: ambiente social, político, cultural y religioso" (PDF). Studia et Documenta: Rivista dell'Istituto Storico San Josemaría Escrivá (3): 15. ISSN 1970-4879. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2020. ^ Montero & Cervera Gil 2009, p. 16. ^ Montero & Cervera Gil 2009, p. 20. ^ Montero & Cervera Gil 2009, p. 21. ^ Montero & Cervera Gil 2009, p. 17; 18. ^ Montero & Cervera Gil 2009, p. 25; 26. ^ Montero & Cervera Gil 2009, p. 26. ^ Heras, Beatriz de las; Peláez, José Manuel (2018). "Mujeres en y para una guerra. España, 1936–1939. La mirada del fotógrafo Santos Yubero, cronista gráfico de Madrid". Fotografía y patrimonio cultural: V, VI, y VII Encuentros en Castilla-La Mancha (in Spanish). Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla La Mancha. p. 505. ISBN 978-84-9044-333-0. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2020. ^ a b c "Madrid, de territorio fronterizo a región metropolitana. Madrid, from being the "frontier" to become a Metropole". History of Madrid. (in Spanish). Luis Enrique Otero Carvajal (Profesor Titular de Historia Contemporánea. Universidad Complutense. Madrid). Archived from the original on 18 December 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2007. ^ García Ballesteros & Revilla González 2006, p. 16. ^ García Ballesteros & Revilla González 2006, pp. 17–18. ^ Faraldo & Rodríguez-López 2019, pp. 107–124. ^ López Simón 2018, p. 175. ^ López Simón 2018, p. 175; 178. ^ López Simón 2018, pp. 179–180. ^ Carretero, Nacho (October 2018). "Quinquis: un vistazo rápido a las barriadas españolas de los 80". Jot Down. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020. ^ "Obras, túneles y casticismo". El Mundo. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020. ^ Llamas, Manuel (9 September 2013). "El sueño olímpico costó 2.000 euros a cada contribuyente madrileño". Libre Mercado (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020. ^ Masterson-Algar 2016, p. 30. ^ Jiménez Barrado, Víctor; Sánchez Martín, José Manuel (2016). "Banca privada y vivienda usada en la ciudad de Madrid" (PDF). Investigaciones Geográficas (66): 43–58. doi:10.14198/INGEO2016.66.03. ISSN 0213-4691. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2020. ^ "Una casa de apuestas cada 100 metros: el juego se ceba en barrios pobres de Madrid". El Español (in European Spanish). 2 January 2019. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020. ^ Cite error: The named reference elpais was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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Stay safe
  •  
    Stay safe

    Madrid is a very safe city, with some of the lowest crime rates among Europe's largest cities. The police is highly visible, and the city is equipped with cameras. There are always people in the streets, even at night time, so you can walk across the city generally without fear. Travellers who remain aware of their surroundings, and keep an eye on their belongings, should have little to worry about.

    Football

    Despite the notoriously intense and politically-charged rivalry between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, most people will not care if you wear an FC Barcelona football shirt, and in fact you will often see people (usually tourists) wear that shirt around the city. As Madrid is the capital city of Spain, it attracts people from all over the country, including Catalonia. One notable exception: on match days, do be careful, as violence has been known to occur between supporters of both clubs.

    Furthermore, there is a love/hate relationship between the two major football clubs in the city: Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Both are storied clubs with diverging philosophies and origins; Real Madrid was always seen as the club of the elite, whereas Atletico Madrid is seen as the "people's club". Many fans and analysts have stated that the "Derbi Madrileño" is more entertaining than the "Clasico", partially because of those differences in identity, but also because fans of the clubs have been known to engage in fiery arguments. If you ever see Real and Atletico fans argue, be careful if things start to escalate.

    ...Read more
     
    Stay safe

    Madrid is a very safe city, with some of the lowest crime rates among Europe's largest cities. The police is highly visible, and the city is equipped with cameras. There are always people in the streets, even at night time, so you can walk across the city generally without fear. Travellers who remain aware of their surroundings, and keep an eye on their belongings, should have little to worry about.

    Football

    Despite the notoriously intense and politically-charged rivalry between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, most people will not care if you wear an FC Barcelona football shirt, and in fact you will often see people (usually tourists) wear that shirt around the city. As Madrid is the capital city of Spain, it attracts people from all over the country, including Catalonia. One notable exception: on match days, do be careful, as violence has been known to occur between supporters of both clubs.

    Furthermore, there is a love/hate relationship between the two major football clubs in the city: Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Both are storied clubs with diverging philosophies and origins; Real Madrid was always seen as the club of the elite, whereas Atletico Madrid is seen as the "people's club". Many fans and analysts have stated that the "Derbi Madrileño" is more entertaining than the "Clasico", partially because of those differences in identity, but also because fans of the clubs have been known to engage in fiery arguments. If you ever see Real and Atletico fans argue, be careful if things start to escalate.

    Pickpocketing

    Much like other big European cities, Madrid has its fair share of nonviolent pickpocket crime, though it is nowhere near the stratospheric levels of cities like Rome or Barcelona. Always watch out for any belongings (mostly bags and wallets) you have with you, especially on the Metro and in busier public spaces. Some areas with acute pickpocketing problems include Gran Via (especially near Plaza de Callao and Calle de Fuencarral), Puerta del Sol, and the AZCA business district (though the latter has seen improvements in that regard). Some major night clubs like Kapital and Mondo Disko also attract pickpockets.

    Pickpockets often create a distraction while an accomplice steals from you. Distractions include presenting a map and asking you for directions, or asking you to sign a petition - which is followed by a request for a donation. It is best to ignore any stranger that approaches you in the street asking for help. Be careful when carrying luggage as this can make you a target for pickpockets.

    One prevalent and long-lasting issue in Madrid are street vendors, especially around Puerta del Sol. They are usually harmless and will take "no" as a sign that they should not bother you, but do not provoke them. Also, these street vendors react swiftly to police cars, so watch yourself whenever they run from the police.

    At bars and restaurants never leave wallets or telephones on the table as possessions on show make for easy targets. Passing thieves create a distraction and steal the items. The area around Calle de las Infantes near Gran Via is particularly renowned for this.

    When using ATM machines, be aware of your surroundings, just as you would anywhere. Bring a friend if you need to withdraw cash after dark. If someone approaches you while using an ATM, hit CANCELAR, retrieve your card and move on.

    When going out, getting drunk can make you a target for thieves. Also keep an eye on your drink. Don't carry valuables on a night out.

    Scams

    Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol might be beauties to look at, but they are Meccas for scams.

    Avoid people offering massages (masajes); this is often a scam to extort money. Be firm and say "No me toque" ("Don't touch me") or "No tengo dinero" ("I don't have any money").

    Neighbourhoods and suburbs

    There are parts of Madrid and its metropolitan area that are less appealing and, consequently, less safe.

    Some neighbourhoods in the city's south (especially Usera and Puente de Vallecas) and east (Ciudad Lineal) are both marginally less well-off and sketchier than the rest of Madrid, and they might give off an uneasy feel. They are safer than many "bad neighbourhoods" in other western European countries, but be on your guard at night. Madrid's southern suburbs such as Móstoles, Alcorcón, and Alcala de Henares have a reputation for being sketchy at night, but sticking to well-lit and crowded streets will be enough to keep you safe. Several streets north of Gran Via, though very lively, have been known to attract seedy crowds at night.
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