PALACIO DE CRISTAL

(Ph. Mado. Madrid. December 2009)

Located in the centre of the Buen Retiro Park in central Madrid is an imposing glass palace modelled on London's Crystal Palace. It was built around 36 years after its London counterpart in 1887, and designed by the architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco who was responsible for another building in the park, the Palacio de Velázquez. He had also worked on such prestigious restoration projects as the Mezquita in Córdoba and the Alhambra in Granada.

The Palacio de Cristal, in the shape of a Greek cross, is made almost entirely of glass set in an iron framework on a brick base, which is decorated with ceramics. Its domed roofs makes the structure over 22 metres high. The glass palace was created in 1887 to house exotic flora and fauna as part of an exhibition on the Philippines, which was then still a Spanish colony. The exhibition spilled out into the park itself, and included a reconstruction of a native Philippino village. The palace is used today for contemporary art exhibitions organised through the Reina Sofia Museum.

In front of the entrance to the palace are steps leading down into the large artificial lake of the Retiro Park. The lake contains ducks. geese, black swans and terrapins, who will swim close to the steps, or you can hire boats on the lake for a closer view.

Only 19 years earlier, in 1868, the Parque del Buen Retiro had become the property of the City of Madrid. Prior to that, it had been the site of a Royal Palace and grounds. The original residence, built in 1632 for Philip IV, was located outside the official town limits as a royal retreat, but was destroyed during the Napoleonic period, and in the 17th century the grounds became a focus for festivals, bullfights, mock naval battles and theatre.

The park is set in around 130 hectares with a wide variety of over 15,000 trees, and is the venue for Madrid's annual book fair in May and June, where a long avenue of stalls present literature from all over the world in a variety of languages. There are a number of entrances to the park, the main one being in the Plaza de la Independencia, with other gates in the Calle de Alcala or Calle O'Donnell. The closest metro stations are Retiro and Banco de España.

FRUTAS VAZQUEZ

Frutas Vázquez is a shop in Madrid which specialises in fruit. This is probable the most colourful establishment in the posh Salamanca district and it is popularly known as the 'Vazquez Jewels'. The establishment offers an attractive and rich display of fruit and vegetables with the best of each variety, and is located in the midst of the most exclusive boutiques in the city.

The shop has an exotic fruit and vegetables section, as well as Spanish varieties such as asparagus and strawberries from Aranjuez.

This greengrocer's usually supplies its products to members of the Royal House and other well-known personalities.

Calle de Ayala, 11. Metro Serrano

JOSE RAMIREZ

José Ramírez is a shop in Madrid which specialises in guitars. The Ramírez family have been making Spanish guitars since 1882 and José Ramírez guitars are still constructed from aged woods of the finest quality.

Nowadays the family continues to closely follow the standards of traditional crafts workshops, where the highest authority is that of the Maestro, who designs, controls the work of its workers and apprentices and signs the guitars that obtain his approval.

Part of the collection of guitars held by the Ramírez family is exhibited in the shop, so visitors can delight in the perfect finishes and the beauty of the materials used.

Calle de la Paz, 8. Metro Sol

LA DUQUESITA

La Duquesita is a shop in Madrid which specialises in cakes. La Duquesita, one of the most famous cake shops in Madrid in the early 20th century, is located in Fernando VI street, just a few metres away from one of the best architectural works in the modernistic style, the Longoria palace. This cake shop, open since 1914, has kept the charm of the times when it was founded, with its wooden façade and a warm and traditional interior presided over by an alabaster doll. Roscones de Reyes (ring-shaped sponge cake with sugar and glazed fruit), traditionally eaten around Christmas time, and especially for the 'Día de Reyes' or Epiphany, and other large cakes are part of its specialities.

Fernando VI, 2. Metro Alonso Martinez

LA FAVORITA

La Favorita is a shop in Madrid which specialises in hats. La Favorita is found on Plaza Mayor, Madrid's expansive central plaza, just to the left of the Casa de la Panaderia. Founded in 1894, it is the oldest hat shop in Madrid and sells all types of felt hats, top hats, bowler hats, caps and berets. Essential accessories at the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century, these items are still particularly attractive and never go out of fashion.

Plaza Mayor, 25. Metrol Sol

LA MALLORQUINA

La Mallorquina is a shop in Madrid which specialises in cakes. Founded in 1894 by Juan Ripio from Majorca, the Pastelería La Mallorquina is located in one of Madrid's most privileged spots: La Puerta del Sol. Its specialities are napolitanas (flaky buns filled with custard or chocolate), rosquillas (small ring-shaped sweet buns) and truffles, which can be eaten at the counter or in the tea room. Every day there are crowds of people at the counters, buying or eating the excellent products offered. Other delights on sale are the pastries, shortbread, croissants, cream buns, chocolate cakes and a hundred other varieties on display, all homemade and fresh from the oven in the back store.

Plaza de la Puerta del Sol, 2. Metro Sol

LA VIOLETA

La Violeta is a shop in Madrid which specialises in violet sweets. Open since 1915, this elegant confectioner's shop owes its fame to a very particular product: violet sweets, whose name is due to their shape, their colour and that the essence of the flower is part of their ingredients.

This establishment, not far away from the Puerta del Sol Square, has kept its original wooden façade and its jars and little boxes of sweets have always had loyal and illustrious customers, like Jacinto Benavente or Queen Victoria Eugenia.

Other typical products of this confectioner's shop are natural violets glazed with sugar, glazed fruit, chocolates and marrons glacés.

Plaza de Canalejas, 6. Metro Sol

LHARDY

One of the oldest delicatessens in Madrid, Lhardy was founded in 1839 by Emilio Lhardy (also known as Huguenin) from Switzerland and it soon became a meeting spot for the aristocrats of the time. The shop is associated with a restaurant of the same name and it maintains the elegant aspect of former times. Here you can purchase an endless number of gastronomic specialities such as 'callos a la madrileña' (tripe casserole with chorizo and chillies), wild boar's head, sole in champagne, gazpacho or orange pudding.

Carrera de San Jerónimo, 8. Metro Sol