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Photo: Carmen Voces, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
An abandoned tobacco factory turned into a huge Berlin-like alternative art space driven by the diverse locals of Lavapies district. Also free workshops daily. Nice big cheap outdoors terrace.
It is hoped that the closure is temporary and that it will return in a reduced form after works, check website for current situation.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
The main venue for contemporary music, dance, and theatre performance.
This is a wonderful old Spanish theatre dating from the 1920s. It has three screens and shows mainly art-house and critically acclaimed films in the original language. In the summertime, they screen movies on the roof.
Monumental Cinema
Cine Ideal
Probably the best known V.O. (versión original, or original language) theatre in Madrid, it offers the largest selection of movies and is a short walk from Sol.
Cardamomo Flamenco Show
Authentic Flamenco show in the center of Madrid, one of the greatest tablaos flamencos all over Spain, typical Spanish food during the performance.
This plaza is the heart of Madrid and one of the busiest places in the city - a hub for the local transit system, a favorite meeting spot for locals, a visible area for festivals or political demonstrations, and an opportune location for tour guides, street performers, pickpockets and anyone else looking to take advantage of all the tourists on-hand. In the center of the plaza sits the Statue of King Charles III on horseback, facing the Royal Post Office (Real Casa de Correos), the red-and-white building adorned with a clock tower on the plaza's south side. The building served as Madrid's first post office, then the police headquarters under Franco before being transformed into its current use as the office of the President of Madrid, the head of the regional government. The clock tower is noteworthy for being the center focus of New Year's celebrations every year, which are broadcast across Spain and mark the traditional eating of the Twelve Grapes (one for each ring of the bell) and the beginning of a new year. In front of the building is Kilometer Zero (Kilómetro Cero), a plaque showing the point where the measuring of national highway system begins. On the east side of the plaza is the famous Bear and the Madroño Tree Statue, a bear climbing a madroño tree, which is the symbol of Madrid, and on the west side of the plaza is the Mariblanca statue, a white marble goddess of at least the 17th century. Nearby the giant neon Tío Pepe sign sits above the plaza and is a famous fixture of this area.