There are secret places in Madrid that are not accessible to tourists. There are places where love is expressed in all its variants, from the most passionate to the most romantic, and others where dreaming is allowed. Places that, apart from guides and routes, are pure history. Be that as it may, sites, secrets and secret places in Madrid that do not appear in the tourist guides and that, without a doubt, are worth visiting.
1. The church under the M30
The chapel, now called Santo Domingo de la Calzada, known by all as the Chapel of the Bridge and formerly baptized as the Parish of the Baptism of the Lord, has been where it is for 42 years. And his life, as you might guess, has not been easy.
2. The statue of Philip III was a cemetery for birds
The point is that these undersized birds would stop to rest in the horse’s mouth and through carelessness or any other reason of avian logic, they would drop down the neck to rest in the iron stomach. This descent into the stomachs made it impossible to return. The sparrow was doomed to live among the corpses of its peers. They could not get out of the horse’s interior because the narrowness of the neck prevented the animal from flapping.
3. A fountain inside the subway
Specifically in the Opera. When they remodeled the station they discovered archaeological remains from the XVI and XVII centuries belonging to the Fuente de los Caños del Peral, a structure that was built for water to reach the population at that time.
4. The British cemetery
Before becoming a cemetery, this site at 7 Comandante Fontanes Street belonged to a tavern keeper, Manuel Chacón, who sold the land to the British Consulate. The cemetery was founded in 1854, and was managed by a group of British residents in Madrid (one of many who at that time came to Spain for work, business or other reasons) to give burial to non-Catholic Christians, who were not admitted to any other cemetery. Between 1854 and 1883, when it is estimated that the first civil cemeteries began to appear in Madrid, was the only place where those who did not profess the Catholic faith could be buried.
5. The oldest restaurant in the world
It opened to the public in 1725 and has been visited by personalities such as Truman Capote, Hemingway and Goya, who worked there as a dishwasher.
6. One of the most spectacular baroque churches in the world
https://youtu.be/D5ePP-1VN7U
The Church of San Marcos (Calle San Leonardo, 10), a building by Ventura Rodríguez dating from 1753 and defined by Pedro Torrijos as “one of the most important Baroque buildings in the world”.
7. The tower that floats on water
The tower that practically floats on the Manzanares el Real reservoir should be the setting for a fairy tale. All that is missing is a dragon guarding it and a couple of obstacles (such as a suspension bridge or hidden traps) to access it.
8. The forest of Finland
We continue with fairytale landscapes but this time we move to a forest where you could perfectly meet Elsa from Frozen. It is in Rascafría and it is best to go in winter to see it snowed and a little cold.
9. Complutum: the Roman archaeological site
Where Alcalá de Henares is located today, Complutum was located a couple of millennia ago. The Roman city of Complutum, which nowadays is presented as a fantastic cultural alternative to outdoor leisure, is proof that the Roman legacy in the peninsula also reaches Madrid in the form of a city.
10.An international park
At Europe Park you can bring out the traveler in you by visiting Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen or Berlin for the low price of zero euros. Nowhere else will you find London Bridge so close to the Trevi Fountain.
11. Gallardo House
Casa Gallardo may sound like a roadside bar with reasonably priced set menus, but don’t let the name fool you. It is one of the few modernist buildings that are still preserved in Madrid and you can locate it at the beginning of Ferraz street, on the corner of Plaza de España.
It has become home to a new restaurant. LeClab is one of the latest openings in Madrid, Japanese style, and more specifically, focused on the cuisine Kaiseki. Directed by chef Yoko Hasei, it is based on a very complex Japanese specialty, born in the 16th century, based on a series of unbreakable rules: five colors, five flavors and five techniques.
12. La Caja de las Letras: secret chamber of cultural treasures
The last bastion of culture is buried in the bowels of Madrid. One of the best kept secrets of the capital is the vault that protects an unusual cultural treasure in the basement of the Instituto Cervantes. Few people even know that it exists, and far fewer have actually delved inside it.
The Letter Box is sealed by an impregnable circular gate. Its walls are covered with 1 ,767 locked chests spread over two floors. Inside there are no gold bars or precious jewels: their contents are of a value that no one in this world could pay for with money. This safe houses the legacies of great pens, filmmakers, actors and musicians.
13. The El Capricho bunker
El Capricho Park (Paseo Alameda de Osuna, 25) is one of those bucolic oases that greens Madrid among so much traffic and blocks of apartments. This stately and historic garden keeps its biggest secret in plain sight: a Civil War bunker that can be visited only at specific times of the year.
14. NASA’s space station
The Madrid complex is part of the Deep Space Network, the world’s largest telecommunications system for scientific applications. This worldwide network is composed of two other similar centers in Australia and California. The location of these three centers was strategically chosen so that spacecraft can maintain contact with any ground station, regardless of the Earth’s rotation.
15. Hidden treasures in the Metro
We are looking forward to a subway adventure that would like to share with you: unearth the not-so-hidden treasures of the capital for the low price of a subway ticket. Travel with us from north to south, from east to east, and let’s rummage through every platform and between the rails until we find all the pearls of Madrid’s underground. This entire trip in this article.
16. When El Retiro was a military fortress
The passage of the French through the site is reminiscent of an elephant through a junkyard: they wiped out almost everything. They cut down thousands of trees to make their bonfires and also destroyed iconic buildings such as the Buen Retiro Palace or the Royal Porcelain Factory. Much changed El Retiro in the six years that the French passed through it and much changed from then to our time.
17. Secrets you didn’t know about Atocha Station
It is difficult to come to Madrid and not notice it. Atocha station is our gateway to and from the city, a hive of comings and goings of locals and travelers. We are all equally amazed at its majestic air and the non-stop bustle that takes place on its platforms.
Atocha is unlike other European stations, starting with that inner garden that steals everyone’s attention, even if you are about to miss the train. It is a railway temple with a long history and full of secrets not so easy to discover with the naked eye. Let’s unveil some of them.
18. Original churches
It doesn’t matter if you go on time every Sunday or if the last time you visited a church was at your second cousin’s Communion. Madrid hides curious churches everywhere that are well worth a visit if you consider yourself a true insider of the city.
Listen to us, that what we say goes without saying.
19. The student who dressed up as a boy
Even if you only go to Malasaña to wear your printed shirts and go out partying, you’ve surely noticed it, mostly because it’s on Pez street and that’s where the party is. Her name is Julia and legend has it that she used to disguise herself as a boy to attend classes at the Central University, since in the 19th century women were not allowed to be students.
20. A secret garden in La Latina
At the end of the Plaza de la Paja, there is a little corner that is celebrated among seekers of jewels in urban spaces: a Verde Zone of the Royals open to the public. Many Madrileños do not know it because it is hidden among many walls, but it can be visited daily for free and it is quite a discovery. Its name is the Garden of the Prince of Anglona.
21. Lujanes House and Tower
More than 500 years of history, stone and legends. This is how the Casa y Torre de los Lujanes could be defined, a 15th century palace-house that defies the passage of time from its privileged position in the Plaza de la Villa in Madrid. And the fact is that before being a city, Madrid was -is- a town.
In the Middle Ages, that time that sounds like Gregorian chant and is written in colorful capitular letters, an Aragonese noble family arrived from Huesca with a goal: to form an alliance of Christian forces that eventually, along with other Aragonese nobles, would fight in the Battle of Navas de Tolosa. The family’s surname was Luxán, and their dynasty lasted for centuries, explains Enrique Fernández Envid, volunteer guide, at The Point About History.
22. The history of El Codo Street
But if there is something that has brought the history of this street to our days, it is the figure of one of the most outstanding authors of Spanish literature, Francisco Quevedo. Apparently, the playwright used the narrowness and darkness of this street to urinate in it when he returned from visiting the traditional taverns around it. To make matters worse, the writer always chose the same street doorway, so some tired neighbor with the situation painted a cross with a message: “No pissing where there is a cross”. However, the literary man did not restrain his needs in the face of this warning, but used his wit to reply as follows: “You don’t put a cross where you piss”.
23. Casa Palazuelos, a hidden jewel in the Calle Mayor
Built between 1919 and 1921, the Antigua Casa Comercial Palazuelo was erected on the site of the palace of the Counts of Oñate at the request of the developer Demetrio Palazuelo. According to his website MonumentaMadrid, for his design the Galician architect was inspired by the commercial architecture that triumphed in the United States in those years, with a style reminiscent of the famous Chicago School. Once you cross the threshold of access to the building, the sobriety of the facade gives way to a spectacle of light and movement. The floors are distributed around a central V-shaped courtyard with a corridor, which gives access to the different rooms and offices. In the center, a stained glass window illuminates the entire lobby.
24. San Antonio de la Florida: Goya’s Secret Corner
The legacy of Francisco de Goya is one of the treasures of our painting, and the people of Madrid have enjoyed his paintings on more than one occasion in museums as emblematic of the city as thePrado Museum . But there is another place, perhaps not so well known, where a very important part of his work is also preserved: the hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida.
25.The other Crystal Palace
This ethereal house with transparent walls where the light of the Retiro flutters freely is not unique in the world, nor is it unique in Madrid. The capital has another almost secret Crystal Palace whose walls do not bounce the flash of tourists day in and day out. Unlike its twin, this construction diverts the gaze inward: 9.000 species of plants from all over the world reside here on a permanent basis.
26. The Enchanted Forest of San Martín de Valdeiglesias
With a name that invites fantasy, this Verde space of 30,000 square meters gathers enough virtues to become one of the favorite places for children in Madrid.
It is, on the one hand, a unique botanical garden in Europe, with more than 500 species from all over the planet, and, on the other hand, a sort of natural museum with more than 300 tree sculptures made by several virtuosos of topiary that transport us to the magical universe of folk tales.
27. The arrows of Gran Vía
It seems that the goddess misses when launching two of her arrows, which are stuck in the sidewalk, but what is the target of her shots? At number 32 Gran Vía we find another sculpture on the roof. It is from the Phoenix Bird, which carries Endimion on its back, a young shepherd whom Diana visited every night after coming down from the Moon. The romance between the shepherd and his daughter Diana reached the ears of Zeus who, enraged, sent the Phoenix Bird to kidnap Endimion and hide him from his daughter for all eternity. But Diana does not give up her love, and attacks the Phoenix Bird with her arrows. It is just that moment that is represented in this space on Gran Vía, which has become a place of worship for all lovers of mythology.
28. The Olmec head of Vallecas
The head, needless to say, is a replica. There are 17 Olmec heads preserved and one of them (a replica, we insist) is in Madrid. The heads, on the other hand, are part of the pre-Columbian artistic heritage and the one that presides over this traffic circle in Ensanche de Vallecas is known as El Rey or as “the colossal head number 8” -a name that certainly reminds us of a piece that is part of an auction lot.
29. The Bravo Murillo fountain
The fountain was designed by Juan de Ribera Piferrer. It has three niches, in which the personifications of the Lozoya River, Agriculture and Industry can be found. Until last year the fountain was in disuse because caused dampness in the building behind it, where the Canal Central Archives are located, but since February 2020 the murmur of water has once again become part of the soundscape of the street.