"Patones de Arriba" a Pearl on the Mountains

5o miles away from Madrid Downtown you will be able to go back in life for more than 400 hundred years. Between the Lozoya and Jarama rivers and some more small water streams and one of the biggest reservoir of water in the center of Spain, you will find a village that stands up trying to reach the sky in a rocky mountain.

In 1555 only seven people used to live there and in now days the access with car is restricted because of the popularity that has been gain by the village through the years. Walking around this hamlet is a perfect experience to enjoy the limestone streets and discover some of the houses that has been there for more than 300 years. The green color of the trees with the mix of the dark stones and the ageing of the houses, makes this place to stand up from the others villages around town and will take over every visitor mind that has chance to go there. With no cars and only walking people around the streets there are a few restaurants with the last tendencies in gastronomy that would make of this place a perfect time for expanding the day in later spring or summer.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=patones&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Just 25 minutes from down town

As we keep going around curious places in town, this week we just jump from south east to north west.

There we will find a place call "El Escorial", is a historical residence of the king of Spain from the year 1584, year that it was completed.

This is surrender for a mountain range on the back and fresh air comes in summer through them making our visit a perfect moment, I recommend you to have dinner at night in the village that is just across from the palace, where there are little but really nice restaurants.

If you have time enough it would be a great idea to take a twisty road for 2 miles and go all the way to the top of a hill that is just behind "Silla de Felipe II", with that little ride you can get the perfect view of all the Madrid county area making it a perfect place to read a book in the daylight or to have a beer at night.

The best view of the City

As I told you last week there are a few secrets that you must know before visiting a city, previous to start the sharing of knowledge about restaurants and interesting places to make your stay more comfortable, I ll help you up to find the best view of the city with out having to climb a mountain or going up to a 50 floor.

There is a great park or place in town, just 4 minutes by car from the "Retiro Park", the biggest park in downtown, this place where we can see the city better than any place in town is only well know by the people from the neighborhood and most of the citizen from Madrid have never been there before.

Hidden in the southeast part of Madrid, there are 7 grass hills that stand up from the ground, only a minute of hike will take you to the sky of the city, that's beacuse these hills are place in the lowest part of town and you can see from there how the city starts to get altitude from it lowest point in the southeast to its highest point in the north, were are the 4 modern buildings that I choose for the picture of my first post on this blog, and to finish the mountain range on the back with snow on the winter season.

Popular know as "Las Tetas de Vallecas" or its real name " El Cerro del Tio Pio" is with out doubt the best place to see the sunset or to enjoy a view that has been paint for one of the most famous Spanish artist alive " Antonio Lopez", so choose one of the seven hills, get to the top, relax on the grass, take your time and enjoy this peaceful and sweet place in a great city alone or with your best company.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl&q=cerro%20del%20tio%20pio%20madrid

Just visit the city with the Knowledge of a Madrid citizen

Since I m a kid I have been thinking that Travels Books are so unuseful, they dont really let you know the city farther more than the important museums, historical places and most expensives restaurants.

But what about going out, getting to the best places to shop, visit the pubs that are cool on that time, know where to buy the best things or where to go to get the best view of the city at the sunset.

The only answer is to ask to some one from that place, but for that you have to know the right people and also the right people that know the right places. In a world where technology have take all over there is still a whole to make a "World Wide Blog" of knowledge from all the cities around the earth...Imagine land in Alaska and know where to go, where to eat and get the best stuff in the country, well there is a way, and this is sharing the knowledge between all of us and of course having a great criteria and taste to choose "Practical Places", not the most famous and most expensives, but those that make the Real City great for those that live there and will make happy and very well welcome those who are just Traveling to your home town.