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Exploring the Plazas of Madrid, Spain
Spain has many plazas in the big city of Madrid, and there are many that have a prominent place in history and culture. Within Spain’s plazas people engage in an array of activities. They eat, walk, sit, shop, observe, tour, take pictures, and just interact. Each plaza has its own history, its own story.
One of the most popular plazas of Madrid, Spain is Plaza Mayor. It has been around since the 15th century and was the city's main market then.
Plaza Mayor has endured three major fires but has been reconstructed each time.
Over the years this plaza has changed significantly. First used for public executions, it is now one of Spain’s most iconic landmarks, with traditional food surrounding the plaza, housing and tourists walking around this plaza is defiantly one of the most popular ones in Madrid.
What is so fascinating about this plaza is its structure. It is a large rectangle plaza with a statue in the middle of King Phillip III. People can walk around this plaza with plenty of space, people can sit down at a restaurant and enjoy the ambiance of the night or even gather for a ghost or wine tour offered by tour guides who utilize Plaza Mayor as a meeting place. Plaza Mayor is a wonderful place to visit, but there are also other plazas that can be visited.
Another well-known plaza is Puerta del Sol, which is where Neumann students stayed near this spring while studying abroad. Plaza del Sol is known for its survey marker which denotes the center of Spain. This sign on the ground also helped the city build roads that are there today.
This plaza is a little different that Plaza Mayor in the sense that there are more structures in the middle of the plaza where the other one just has a statue in the middle.
Puerta del Sol has a big statue in the middle with a fountain, also a few smaller statues around the plaza with spotlights on them at night. There was also seating where someone could sit down and just people watch, eat, or relax.
There are not as many restaurants in this plaza, but more stores and side streets stemming from it lined with restaurants on all sides. A big difference in this Plaza is that at night promoters walked around trying to get people into clubs nowhere near the Plaza. There are also people who perform dances and people dressed up in costumes trying to get money from tourists.
Each plaza in Spain has its own feel to it. Each one is different. The vastness of these plazas allows people to move freely and to experience Madrid.
There were some plazas that were smaller, Plaza de Isabel, for example, was on the corner of an intersection with the opera house next to it with a few restaurants but not as big as the other plazas. Some people stop to eat food, others gather as a meeting spot and then continue their journey through the streets and plazas of Madrid.
