European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 20, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A amps Flo Madrid certainly does t Lack for fountains. This Fountain at Plaza de la Cibeles is one of the City s most  round the clock Pace makes City one of Europe s liveliest by Alan Riding v the new York times Athens and Rome Are far older Paris and Prague Are More Beautiful but what european capital can match the voluble gregarious and insomniac inhabitants of Madrid not that the City lacks Fine monuments and museums. Yet somehow it is the Madrilejos who provide thereal show. They live their City like no other. And believe me it is not easy to keep up with them. They seem incapable of staying at Home they love to rub shoulders in crowds they talk eat and drink Well into the night they ramble through streets before Dawn a / and Well they never seem to  it takes a special Energy to get to know Madrid. And because its streets Are noisy polluted and clogged with traffic on weekdays the weekend is the Best time to do so. A the City has 5 million inhabitants and sprawls far and wide but much of Itcan be ignored. What entices is the old City with the grand Plaza mayor at its heart the Quot Madrid de los Austria As it is known in Honor of the it hapsburg Kings who built it in the late 16th and 17th centuries. This is where the Madrilejos like to hang  Day and  Madrid puts on different faces which is Why this part of town should be visited twice. And it can be done on foot. At most we Are talking of a three Square mile area that stretches from the Royal Palace to the Broad Avenue where the Prado museum stands from the Gran via to the Puerta de Toledo and the narrow  run through the lava pies District toward the Atocha Railroad station. And it is in this Madrid that a mind boggling a concentration of tapas bars tavernas restaurants dance Halls and nightclubs switches  City by night. But that s for later. The Plaza mayor is the City s architectural jewel and it acts As a Magnet for Madrilejos. Yet it is a measure of. Madrid s relative youth that the vast Square dates Only from 1619. A half Century earlier Philip ii moved the court to what was then a Small town while he built the monastery at Al escorial 30 Miles to the  it was Only in the 17th Century that Madrid. Became Spain s capital and that is when Philip Iii set about building Madrid de los Austria starting with the Plaza mayor where he now sits an equestrian statue watching the tourists go by. Vehicles Are banned from the Square which can be reached through any of nine Arches. Painted in Terra Cotta the Only break in its symmetry is the old Royal bread House now decorated with bucolic frescoes. Arcades crowded on sunday mornings with stalls Selling Stamps old coins and Odd documents run around the Square while three More floors with no fewer than 477 tiny balconies provided perfect viewing places for the bullfights Royal pageants and Public executions that once took place below. Now from Spring through fall cafes and restaurants occupy the Periphery of the Square. A noisier gathering place for Madrilejos and immigrants is the Puerta Del sol a Plaza with neoclassical buildings that is considered the Center of Madrid a that is All distances from the City Are measured from a plaque on the sidewalk in front of the regional government office because the Plaza tends to be full of traffic though i. Consider it More a place to meet than a place to visit. Along Calle Alcala leading off the Plaza however is the san Fernando Royal Academy of Fine arts which has works by Many Spanish masters and complements the. Prado s larger collection. Also a Stone s throw from the Puerta Del sol is the 16th-Century Convent of the Descal Zas Reales which is now both a museum of primitive religious Art and a. National Monument in its own right. Just Down Calle Arenal stands the 19th-Century Royal opera House which has been undergoing years of renovation. Behind the opera House stand the gardens of the Pla a. De Oriente which look out toward the 18th-Century Royal Palace and the 20th-Century Almudena Cathedral both just outside the Madrid de los Austria As is continued on Page i october 20, 1994 stripes Magazine 3