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| Airport Parking | Airport Hotels & Parking | Airport Lounges | Car Hire | Cheap Travel Insurance |
 Car Hire & Driving in Madrid, SpainWelcome to Madrid Car Hire, Spain; available at Madrid airport.Madrid Car HireThe charm of Madrid’s old quarters, the blue sky and exquisite sierra light, the superb art collects hat you can visit in your hire car and the vibrancy of the long, long nights, are a few of the attractions of Spain’s capital, Madrid. Think of Paris or Rome, and familiar images spring to mind. But Madrid is more exclusive, and a city that takes time getting to known, as you will discover in your hire car while in Madrid. In the past 25 years, democracy has brought a new dynamism, splendid cultural attractions and a hugely improved tourist infrastructure to Madrid, which was created on the caprice of a king in 1561. Sixteenth century Madrid was a placid farming community within sigh of the Sierra de Guadarrama, a mountainous range to the north west of Madrid that you can explore in your hire car today. When Felipe II proclaimed Madrid the capital of Spain against the advice of his father King Carlos I, reluctant courtiers speculated that it was simply because Madrid was convenient to the building works for his royal palace at El Escorial. Noble houses, convents and monasteries were hastily assembled in order to be near royal influence. As Madrid grew, deforestation led to erosion and drought in the sun-baked city of Madrid. When the Bourbons took over Madrid and the crown in the 18th century, they were horrified by the state of Madrid and set about putting things right. By the turn of the 20th century, imposing bank buildings along the Calle de Alcala marked Madrid’s growing financial power. Sweeping boulevards and monumental fountains had given Madrid a truly majestic appearance, which you can discover today in your hire car while in Madrid. Officially, Madrid and its inhabitants of almost 3 million is still called by its Hapsburg title of ‘Town and Court’, and in spite of Madrid’s avant-garde art scene and sophisticated night life, many regard Madrid still as a mass of old fashioned quarters or barrios. At 600 meters (2,000ft) above sea level Madrid is the highest capital in Europe, and on a clear day the Sierra de Guardarrama seems within walking distance. In the heart of Madrid is the Puerta del Sol, which is worth a visit in your hire car; an oval plaza surrounded on all sides by cream coloured 18th century buildings which can also explore in your hire car. This is Spain’s Kilometre 0, from which all distances are measured and the bronze statue in the middle of the plaza is the most popular rendezvous point in Madrid. Feeding into the Puerta del Sol from the north is Calle de Preciados, where you will find lots of shops to visit in your hire car, including Madrid’s largest department store, El Corte Ingles, which you can visit in your hire car at any time as it stays open all day. Nearby in your hire car on the Plaza de Sam Martin is a curious island of peace among the shopping crowds, the Monasterio de las Descalza Reales, which you should visit in your hire car while in Madrid. Founded by Juana, youngest daughter of Carlos I, it is still a working convent today, with its own kitchen garden within the walled precinct. Following the Calle de Alcala in your hire car to the north east of Madrid, you will pass the Real Academia de Ballas Arte de San Fernando, which houses painting by artists belonging to the Spanish School, which you can stop off in your hire car and see while in Madrid. Alcala intersects the Paseo del Prado at the spacious Plaze de la Cibeles in Madrid, which is graced by a fountain dedicated to Madrid’s patron goddess Cybeline and worth a look at in your hire car. The white building opposite resembling a wedding cake is the Palacio de Comunicaciones, or central post office. Whilst only a post office inside, the outside structure is surely worth investigation in your hire car while in Madrid. Facing the central post office on the north east corner of the plaza is the aristocratic Palacio de Linares which is also worth exploring while in Madrid in your hire car. Though this building was neglected for years, it was restored in the 1990s and now houses a centre for Latin American culture. The Paseo de la Castellana running north and south of here bisects Madrid between Atocha train Station, which is to the south in your hire car, and Chamartin station, which is to the north in your hire car. You will find from your hire car that most of the places along the Paseo are now banks, or have made way for new edifices of glass and chrome, but it’s still a delightful promenade for you to visit in your hire car while in Madrid. Along the Paseo del Prado, on the southern stretch of the Castellana boulevard in your hire car, you will find three outstanding art museums that are worth visiting in your hire car while in Madrid. The Meseo del Prado remains in a class of its own and owns more than 7,500 paintings, less than a sixth of which are on permanent display in this fascinating museum in Madrid. The museum’s annexe, El Cason del Buen Retiro was closed until recently while a major extension designed by Refael Moneo was added, which makes it more of a worthwhile place to visit in your hire car in Madrid. The Cason was for years to the home of Guernica, Picasso’s vast allegory of the bombing of the Basque town of that name during the Spanish Civil War. In 1992, amid fierce controversy, the painting was moved to Madrid’s new showcase for modern art and the last of the three art museums to visit in your hire car on the Prado, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. This gallery is housed in an 18th century building which was formerly used as the General Hospital in Madrid and has its formidable exterior jazzed up by the addition of such decorations as transparent lifts, as you will be able to see from your hire car while touring this part of Madrid. There is another art collection that you can visit in your hire car in Madrid. The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza arrived in 1993 amid hot competition from other countries, but is now a permanent feature that you will find on Palacio de Villahermosa in your hire car. Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza’s collection is believed to be the greatest in private hands after that of Queen Elizabeth II and spans the centuries from 1290 to the 1980s. Such a fantastic collection should not really be missed while exploring Madrid in your hire car. Moving west of Paseo del Prado in your hire car you will reach Old Madrid. South of the Puerta del Sol in your hire car is one of Madrid’s oldest and most colourful neighbourhoods, a tangle of narrow cobbled streets lined by adobe apartment houses with wrought-iron balconies. To investigate this area of Madrid properly it is best to park at Padrid’s Plaza Mayor or main square, that you will find to the west of the Puerta del Sol in your hire car. The main square in Madrid is a 17th century beauty, even if it is no longer the centre of Madrid as it was in ages past, when bullfights and coronations took place in this area of Madrid. If you care in Madrid on a Sunday morning, head south to Colegiata de San Isidro, which you will find on Calle de Toledo in your hire car, the church that for centuries has held the popular status of a cathedral. To the west of old Madrid in your hire car lie the Palacio Real and Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Alumudena, the most eye catching sights in central Madrid that you can visit in your hire car. The cathedral, finally consecrated on 15th June 1993, houses the image of the Virgin of the Almudena, patroness of Madrid, and whilst a bit of a monolithic eyesore, Madrid’s cathedral is spectacular to see in your hire car. The Palacio Real, which lies alongside Madrid’s cathedral, is an opulent 18th century affair reflecting the French tastes then in vogue. Inside are the Farmacia Real, with glass cases full of exotic medications, and the Museo de la Read Armeria containing the swords of Cortes and Ferdando the Catholic and the grand royal apartments, all of which are worth a visit in your hire car while in Madrid. The stately Campo del Moro gardens are also open to the public and worth a visit in your hire car while in Madrid. Opposite the royal palace in your hire car you will find the Teatro Real, the largest opera house in Europe built in 1850, in which legend has it cast of one production included live elephants, and definitely worth a visit while in Madrid in your hire car. In the centre of the western end of Madrid, at the end of Gran Via in your hire car is the Plaza de Espana, where the larger than life bronze statues of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza ride towards the sunset. Just north of the Plaza de Espana in your hire car is the Palacio de Lira, the magnificent 18th century home of the Duchess of Alba. Designed by Ventura Rodriguez, who worked on the royal palaces of Madrid and Aranjuez, the house contains an outstanding collection of furniture, miniatures and European paintings. If you want to visit this opulent house while touring Madrid in your hire car, you will need to make an appointment. Other sights in this part of Madrid that you can visit in your hire car include the Templo de Debold, which was given to Spain by Egypt in gratitude for helping with the construction of the Aswan Dam and dates to the 2nd century BC. Nearby, if you leave your hire car you can board a cable car and sail over the Parque del Oeste and the Rio Manzanares to the Caste de Campo, and enormous informal park, with an amusement park, swimming pool and a zoo, which, even if not by cable car, is worth a visit while exploring Madrid in your hire car. Madrid’s counter culture centre in the heady late 1970s after the fall of Franco, is Malasana, which you will find between Calles San Bernardo and Fuencarral south of Calle Carranza in your hire car. By day this area is redolent of old Madrid, with local people going about their lives. But when night falls, this neighbourhood of Madrid changes character. Bars resound with a variety of music and the streets fill with lively people, both young and old, looking for a good time inn Madrid until the early hours of the morning. Back on the sight seeing trail in Madrid the Museo Municipal, which you will find on nearby Calle Fuencarral in your hire car, is installed in a former poorhouse with an ornate late baroque façade and contains exhibits on the history of Madrid. Another museum to visit in this part of Madrid is the Museo Romantico, which you will find on Calle San Mateo in your hire car, and contains objects associated with the peculiarities of the 19th century including a pair of duelling pistols instrumental in the death of satirist Jose Larra and a water closet with a velvet which once belonged to Fernando VII. While in this area of Madrid in your hire car, enthusiasts of the work of Antoni Gaudi should see the Palacio de Longoria, which you will find on Calle Fernando VI in your hire car. Designed in 1902 by the Catalan architect Jose Grases Riera, of the Gaudi School, it is one of the best of the few examples in Madrid of Catalan Modernism that you can see in your hire car. A few blocks east in your hire, the Plaza de Colon, ‘Columbus Square’, alongside the Jardines del Descubrimiento in Madrid is graced by a statue of the adventurer on a carved neo-Gothic column erected in 1885. Alongside this plaza in Madrid is a monolithic Hellenic structure enclosing the Biblioteca Nacional facing west and the Museo Arqueologico Nacional facing east, both if which you can visit in your hire car while in Madrid. The library, inauguarated in 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage, contains manuscripts dating from the 10th century. The museum is a small gem with treasures controversially gathered in Madrid from all over Spain and well worth a visit in your hire car. Further north in your hire car, just before Serrano cross Calle Maria de Molina, is one of Madrid’s loveliest museums, the Lazaro Galdino. The early 20th century Italianate palace and lush garden that you can visit in your hire car, was the private residence of a publisher who bequeathed his art collection to the Spanish government in 1948. Having explored the highlights of Madrid in your hire car, you can now use your hire car to its best advantage to investigate the area around Madrid. The joy of escaping north from Madrid in your hire car is that the Sierra de Guadarrama is almost in view. The peaks that you can see from your hire car reach almost 2,500 meters (8,000ft) and can be snow-covered until early summer. There are three routes that you can use in your hire car to get through the mountains. The N-VI which cuts through the mountains by means of a tunnel that you can use in your hire car; the C-607/601, which takes you via the Navacerrada Pass in your hire car, being the most picturesque route from Madrid; and the main N-I which takes you over the Somosierra Pass in your hire car from Madrid. Just outside Madrid, approximately 9 miles (15km) north west in your hire car from the centre of Madrid off the N-VI, is the Palacio de El Pardo, a former royal hunting lodge surrounded by forests of holm oaks that you can visit in your hire car while in Madrid. Inside several hundred tapestries are on display, including some designed by Goya. A little further north of Madrid in your hire car and a good place to stop in your hire car for a picnic is the pretty town of Manzanares el Real. The 15th century Castillo which you can visit in your hire car here, dominates the town, and just beyond it is Pedriza Park, which has walking trails and climbing routes among its spectacular formed granite rock. The town is definitely worth a visit in your hire car to escape the hustle and bustle of Madrid. The old university town of Alcala de Henares, 20 miles (35km) east of Madrid in your hire car, on the N-II highway, is well worth visiting in your hire car for the afternoon. The entrance from Madrid is unpromising: smoke stacks and rows of high rises. But once inside in your hire car, the charms of its university buildings, convents and churches obliterates that impression and makes it a pleasant place for a trip in your hire car from Madrid. Within very easy reach of Madrid; just 32 miles (52km) to the south east of Madrid in your hire car, is the picturesque town of Chinchon. It is famous for two things. The first is its splendid and historic Plaza Mayor, which you can explore in your hire car on a trip from Madrid and has been used for bullfights since at least 1502. Surrounded on three sides with three storeys of wooden galleries, it is both rustic and elegant, as you will be able to see in your hire car from Madrid. Chinchon’s other claim to fame is a strong aniseed drink that takes its name from the town and is drunk all over Spain as a bump-start before work. One place to taste it on a trip from Madrid in your hire car and stop for lunch or stay the night is the Parador Nacional, set in a former 17th century convent. Aranjuez lies just of the N-VI highway in your hire car, 27 miles (45km) south of Madrid. The baroque 18th century Palacio Real which you can visit here in your hire car from Madrid was inspired by Versailles and is stuffed with royal portraits, porcelain, stucco and wooden carving. With so many places of interest to visit’s capital in your hire car, Madrid must be ‘the’ place from which to obtain your hire car. Madrid Barajas Airport Car HireMadrid Barajas Airport lies 9 miles (15km) from Madrid in your hire car, conveniently close to Madrid compared with some major airport. Madrid Barajas Airport has three passenger terminals that stand side by side and are linked by corridors and moving walkways, making Madrid Barajas Airport easy to get around. Terminal 1 at Madrid Barajas Airport is the biggest and least complicated with most of the international flights into Madrid. In terminal 2 at Madrid Barajas Airport there is a pleasant lounge area where you can relax and watch the planes come and go at Madrid Barajas Airport. At Madrid Barajas Airport there is plenty of parking for your hire car, should you need to leave your hire car at Madrid Barajas Airport. Madrid Barajas Airport has all the facilities you would expect, including several different restaurants, cafeterias and bars catering for all requirements and a large amount of different shops selling everything from newspapers and sunglasses to wines, fashion and electronics. At Madrid Barajas Airport there are also cash machines, bureau de change, medical, postal and car hire services. Finally at Madrid Barajas Airport you will find tourist information services that can provide advice on what to see and do in your hire car while in Madrid. Spain Car HireSpain. To the ancient Greeks, Spain was the land where Hercules’ golden apples grew; to the Arabs, Spain was the ground floor of heaven; to writers such as George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway, Spain was an area where history skittered between heroic feats and tragedy, and bullfighters flirted with death in work of an afternoon. Few other places so dramatically stimulate the imagination as Spain, as you will be able to discover in your hire car. Despite the steady traffic from Spain’s coastal resorts, Spain has remained in the eyes of outsiders a mysterious, half-mythical country. Spain’s long stretches of isolation from the rest of Europe began with Spain’s peninsular geography and were underscored by history. 700 years of Moorish occupation, were followed by a powerful empire that colonised the New World, the failure of which led via the Spanish Civil War 1936-9 to the oppressive regime of General Franco, all of which have left their mark of Spain, as you will be able to discover while touring in your hire car. However years of isolations for Spain has made it far from homogeneous. Spain embraces four languages and around seven dialects, and climate ranges go from the Subtropical south, sweet with its mangos ,and hibiscus, to the emerald north, with its gorse and heather and plunging fjords, providing you with so much choice of country side to investigate while touring Spain in your hire car. During your trip to Spain you will find some constants while in your hire car. One is light, the glorious sunshine that northern Europeans flock to bask in; but don’t make a mistake of just lying by the pool while, with so much to see and do, take advantage of the glorious light to tour the sights in your hire car. The other constant is a tremendous vitality, which you can observe in cafes and strolling Sunday evening crowds, in haughty urbanites and exuberant fiesta crowds while touring Spain in your hire car. Spain covers an area of 194,885 square miles (504,880sq km) with its capital, Madrid, situated almost in the centre. The Kingdom of Spain is a constitutional monarchy under King Juan Carlos I of the House of Bourbon, which has been on the Spanish throne since the death of Franco in 1975. Spain is divided into 17 autonomous regions, each with its own legislature. Spain is a member of the European Union, accepting the euro as its currency in 2002; the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Foreign motorists must have either an international driving licence from their country of origin and this also applies when using a hire car, so make sure your driving licence is packed before you leave for Spain. Spain has about 195,850 miles (317,000km) of highway for you to explore in your hire car; however only a few thousand kilometres of them are fast, convenient and relatively safe motorways. There are toll fees payable if using the modern motorways in your hire car while, which have rest areas, bars and service stations, and roadside telephones are also places at convenient intervals, to enable you to call for assistance in the case of emergency or breakdown in your hire car. The speed limits while driving in your hire car are 120kph (75mph) on motorways, 100kph (60mph) on all other roads and 60kph (35mph) when driving through cities and towns. In Spain seatbelts must be worn by the driver and all passengers in your hire car, and your hire car should be quipped with a spare set of head and rear-light bulbs or you could face a penalty fine. To hire ca car you have to be at least 19 years of age with either an international licence or a valid licence from your own country. With so much varied countryside around Spain it’s recommended to have a hire car to really be able to explore Spain’s full potential without having to worry about public transport. A hire car will also enable you to investigate the more remote areas of Spain where public transport may not be readily available. Madrid Province region Car HireRoyal palaces, as well as historic towns and villages, lie close to Spain’s capital Madrid in the Madrid Province, providing you with plenty of scope for exploration in your hire car from Madrid.
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