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Back with more of the best of Europe.

This time we're in Madrid, palaces, paseo�

and perhaps Europe's best ham� jamon.

Thanks for joining us.

Madrid was once the capital of
the most powerful empire on earth.

It's studded with riches from its glory days.

We'll experience the majesty of its palaces and museums,
and we'll also experience today's Madrid

at it's fun-loving best.

We'll marvel at lavish palaces

ponder the Prado's evocative art

day trip to Spain's imposing civil war memorial

stare down a flamenco dancer,

dwelve deep into Picasso's greatest masterpiece,

and munch on pig's ears.

In the southwest of Europe,
Spain dominates the Iberian Peninsula.

Its capital, Madrid, sits high in the center.

Madrid's core is bounded by the Royal Palace on the west
and the magnificent Prado Museum in the east.

The Plaza Mayor and Puerto del Sol mark the center.
From here we side-trip to El Escorial

and the Valley of the Fallen.

Madrid is the hub of Spain. This vibrant capital,
Europe's highest, at 2,000 feet

has a population of over four million.

Most of the city is modern urban sprawl surrounding
an intact, easy-to-navigate historic center.

We'll limit our visit to this historic core.

Madrid is livable and fun to visit.

Former parking lots are once again grand
and people-friendly squares.

Short posts keep cars off the sidewalks.

And the fine old buildings show off their original elegance.

The historic center is enjoyably covered on foot.

No major sight is more than a 20-minute walk
or a five-minute cab ride from Madrid's lightly named square

Puerta del Sol.

It's a hub for the Metro, buses, city celebrations,
and a busy pedestrian shopping zone.

And in the old center, it seems there's
a surprise around every corner.

My Spanish friend and fellow tour guide Carlos Galvin

is joining us to share a local's insight
in the Madrid's culture and food.

Carlos is taking me to a place famous
for food spaniards are crazy about.

If Spain had a national food,
it would probabbly be jamon, that's ham.

The eatery, called the Museum of Ham,
is tastefully decorated.

Unless you're a vegetarian, or a pig.

These cheap and cherry stand up bars
are an assebly line of meaty drinks.

In Spain you don't say ham.

No, we have different kinds.
We got all those different kinds, there.

Plaza Mayor is a stately, traffic-free chunk of 17th-century Spain.

Whether hanging out with old friends,
enjoying a cup of coffee,

or finding a treasure at the morning coin market,

it's an inviting place for people to gather.

The square is filled with emblems of Spain's powerful past.

Bronze reliefs under the lampposts show how upon this stage,
much of Spanish history was played out.

The square hosted bullfights.

It was the scene of generations of Carnavale gaiety.

And during the Inquisition, many suspected heretics
were tried here and punished�

in this case, publicly strangled.

Thankfully, the brutality of the Inquisition is long gone.

But one brutal spectacle that survives today,
anchored deep in the psyche of Spain

is the bullfight. Whether you actually go
to a bullfight is entirely up to you.

But, for a quick sense of the action,
anyone can drop by one of Madrid's many bull bars.

Aficionados gather at a bar like this after fights,
or to watch one on TV.

This bar is a temple to bullfighting.

If you like bullfighing, how do you justify it ?

It's an art.
Bullfighting is an art.

It's not about the cruelty

It's just an art... it's a whole estetic...
you're fighting against an animal...

what is 500 or 600 kilos

and there's this guy running with the cape and the sword

and he's brave enough... and he's wearing this suit
and people are so supportive of him

and they wanna see him doing well..

So simple fighters are actually quite popular, like heroes ?

Absolutely, look at these photographs,
I think they prove that the matador...

Hemingway was at that bullfight.

Hemingway was there...

A few blocks away stands one of Europe's most stunning palaces.

Madrid's Royal Palace was built
by King Phillip V in the 1700s.

He was born in Versailles, and while he ruled Spain
for 40 years, he stayed very French.

The palace was designed to be Phillip's Versailles,
to help establish a new dynasty�

the Bourbons.
And it's big, over 2,000 rooms

with acres of lavish paintings and tapestries,
a king's ransom of chandeliers,

priceless porcelain, and bronze decor
covered in gold leaf.

There's over 150 fancy clocks in the palace,
all in working order.

Portraits of past royal residents

these are by the great Spanish painter
Francisco de Goya, decorate the walls.

In the lavish throne room
golden lions thread the red velvet,

symbolizing the might of the monarchy,
whose coat of arms incorporated many realms

and whose empire spanned both hemispheres.

Above the throne, the ceiling fresco by Tiepolo
celebrates that vast Spanish empire

upon which the sun never set.

A rainbow leads to a macho red-caped conquistador
and American Indians

just some more distant Spanish subjects.

Phillip V, the grandson of France's King Louis XIV,

began the Bourbon dynasty, which continued into
the XXI century with the popular King Juan Carlos.

The palace is still used for formal state ceremonies and receptions.

The King throws dinner parties for up to 150 guests
at this bowling lane�sized table.

The king's front yard?

It's enjoyed by all the people of Madrid.

And this plaza is another example of how throughout Europe,

energetic governments are turning formerly
car-congested wastelands into charming public spaces.

Madrid's mayor is nicknamed �the mole�
for all the digging he's done.

Where's all the traffic?
Under your feet.

And so is the subway.

Madrid's subway is simple, speedy, and cheap.

Ticket ten-packs save money
and can be shared by several travelers.

The city's broad streets can be hot and exhausting.

A subway trip of even a stop or two
saves time and energy.

To transfer, check a map and simply follow the signs.

Green Salida signs point to the exit.

For dinner in Madrid it's a movable feast.

For maximum fun, people and atmosphere,
do the �tapa tango�.

It's a time-honored tradition of going from one bar to the next,
munching, drinking, and socializing.

When it comes to variety,
Madrid is Spain's tapa capital.

Grab a toothpick and stab something strange.

While Spaniards don't eat dinner until 9 or 10 o'clock,
with a meal like this,

I can eat early and still go local.

For starters, we're going to one of Madrid's quirkiest snacks
and this spot is named for it.

sauteed pig's ears.

Pig's ears are a favorite here

and Jaime is a frantic one-man show
who somehow gets everything just right.

Just up the street, Casa Toni is run by�Toni.

He's popular for his refreshing gazpacho

the cold tomato-and-garlic soup.

At Toni's you can have Huevos con Charizo

potateos brava,

mystery meats,

and the house vermouth.

Don't worry about paying until you're ready to go.

Then ask for � la cuenta � (the bill).

Next, it's La Casa del Abuelo

packed with seafood-lovers savoring sizzling
little plates of tasty shrimp and prawns.

I like gambas al ajillo (shrimp sauteed with garlic)

and gambas a la plancha (grilled shrimp).

A glass of the house red wine, right out of the keg,
is incredibly cheap.

The litter on the floor is normal;
that's where people traditionally toss their trash and shells.

For a sweet late-night finale,
enjoy pudding-like hot chocolate and churros.

Churros are the favorite local donut.

Dunk and chat, recalling highlights of the day,
and looking forward to tomorrow.

We're side tripping, a short drive into
the hills from Madrid, to San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

The town has charm�but everyone visits for this:
its sprawling palace.

In the mid 1550s, King Phillip II needed
a suitably grand palace to establish his family dynasty

the Spanish branch of the Hapsburgs.

He also needed a headquarters from which
to run a strong centralized Spanish state.

Phillip ruled his huge empire, which stretched
from Mexico to Manila, from here.

El Escorial was built during the Reformation,

a time when Catholic Spain was defending
the Church against Protestant �heretics�

The enigmatic, introverted,
and extremely Catholic King Philip II

directed the Counter-Reformation from this spot.

Today, it's packed with history and art,

offering an evocative trip back
to Spain's most fascinating age.

El Escorial was more than just
an impressive palace for a divine monarch.

It was a grand mausoleum for Spain's royal family,

It was a monastery to provide
constant prayer for the king's soul,

and it was a religious school designed to teach and
embrace humanism in a way that fit the Catholic faith.

King Phillip built in austerity:
plain white walls and bare-bones chandeliers.

His simple bed, with a mattress that's not even queen-sized,
came with a view�

of the high altar in the basilica next door.

The basilica, the architectural and spiritual heart
of the complex, is dedicated to the martyr St. Laurence.

The altar features a painting of
the flame-engulfed grill with St. Laurence

meeting his fiery death�.

Downstairs, the Royal Pantheon is the gilded resting place
of four centuries of Spanish kings and queens.

There is strict filing system:

The first and greatest, Charles V and his Queen Isabella,
flank the altar on the top shelf.

Their son, Philip II, rests below Charles
and opposite his wife and so on.

Because kings might have married more than once,

to make it here, a woman needed to be
both queen and mother of a king.

The immense Library shows that knowledge
was a priority for the Spanish royalty .

The ceiling celebrates the seven classical disciplines
with a burst of color.

The elaborate model,
constructed after the age of Copernicus

insists on proving that the solar system
revolves unmistakably around the earth.

As you leave, a plaque warns you'll be excommunicated
if you take a book without checking it out.

Who needs late fees when
you hold the keys to eternal damnation?

The emotional intensity of Spanish culture
can be experienced in its royal palaces.

But it's most riveting in the music and dance of its people.
It's time for flamenco.

While Seville is the home of flamenco,
Madrid draws Spain's top artists.

The singing and dancing gives you an exotic whiff
of Arabic and Gypsy influences on Spanish culture.

Some shows are sultry and serious.

Other's are light and designed mostly for tour groups.

And some bars are more contemporary

catering to young locals who
come out for their favorite artists.

I prefer a hotel right in the town center like Hotel Europa.

This place is popular among those with
my guidebooks for its warm and helpful welcome.

Upstairs there's a red-carpet charm with plush halls,

a velvety lounge,

and basic rooms with views overlooking
Madrid's shopping street action.

Its convenient cafeteria is just right
for breakfast or a relaxing coffee break.

For another thought-provoking excursion,

we're side-tripping from Madrid
up into the Guadarrama Mountains.

A 500 foot (150 meters) tall granite cross
marks the Valley of the Fallen.

an immense and powerful underground monument
to the victims of Spain's devastating Civil War.

In the late 1930s, a million Spaniards died

as conservative Catholics and the military
slugged it out with secular democrats.

Unlike America's Civil War which pitted north against south,

this war was between classes and ideologies.

It divided every village.

The right-wing fascists ultimately won,
and Franco ruled Spain as its dictator until 1975.

The sorrowful pieta draped over the entrance

must have had a powerful impact on mothers
who came here to remember their fallen sons.

A solemn silence fills the cavernous basilica.

As if measuring sorrow in distance,

this 870-foot-long chamber is far longer
than any church in Europe.

The line of torch-like lamps adds to the somber ambience.

Franco's prisoners, the enemies of the right,
were put to work digging this memorial out of solid rock.

Franco's grave takes center stage.

Some Spaniards come here to honor him�

others come to be sure he's still dead.

But interred here, in chapels flanking the high altar

are the remains of tens of thousands,
victims from both sides

who lost their lives in Spain's Civil War.

With every visit, I stare into
the eyes of those angels with swords,

and think about all the �heroes�
who keep dying �for God and country,�

at the request of the latter.

Another place to remember the victims of Spain's Civil War
is back in Madrid at the Centro Reina Sof�a

This modern-art museum has a fine collection of paintings,

but we're heading directly to the epic work
showing the harsh realities of modern war.

In 1937, Guernica, a village in northern Spain,
was the target of the world's first aerial saturation-bombing.

It was a kind of dress rehearsal
for the horrors of World War II

approved by Franco and carried out by Hitler.

The Spanish artist Pablo Picasso heard
the shocking news and immediately

set to work sketching the destruction as he imagined it.

In a matter of weeks he wove these bomb-shattered
shards into a large mural called Guernica

For the first time, the world could see
the destructive force of the rising fascist movement

a prelude to World War II.

It's as if shards from the bombing are pasted onto the canvas.

A woman looks up at the sky,

horses scream,

a soldier falls, body shattered�

sword broken,

a wounded woman flees a burning house.

A bull, symbol of Spain, ponders it all,
watching over a mother and her dead baby

a modern pieta.

Picasso's painting threw a stark light
on the brutality of Hitler and Franco.

Guernica caused an immediate sensation,

and with each passing year� and war,
it seems more prophetic.

Picasso put a human face on "collateral damage."

Today, Spain enjoys its peace and prosperity.

That's particularly clear at the Retiro Park

It's made to order for a green
and breezy escape from the city.

During weekends it becomes a carnival of fun

Madrid's much-loved �central park�
offers splendid picnicking,

row boating, and people-watching.

Opposite the park, the Prado Museum holds
my favorite collection of paintings anywhere.

The paintings give an eye-pleasing
overview of Spain's rich history,

from the Golden Age through its slow fade.

In the 1500s, Spain was Europe's superpower,

flush with gold from newly-discovered America,
and ruled by this man, Emperor Charles V.

Here the great Venetian artist Tizian portrays Charles
as he was: the most powerful man in the world.

Charles's son, Philip II, though very religious,
collected a bevy of sensual venetian paintings.

In Tizian's Venus and the Organ Player,
we see the conflicts these people struggled with

torn between high cultural pursuits, as symbolized here
by music, and more worldly pleasures.

Danae, also by Tizian,
is a virtual Renaissance "Miss August."

Money falling from the sky made royals and aristocrats,
the people who commissioned this kind of art,

feel their wealth was blessed by God.

Hieronymous Bosch, who painted 500 years ago
and seems radical even today

gives all this hedonism a different spin.

His Garden of Earthly Delights, a three-paneled altarpiece
which actually hung in the king's bedroom

shows where all this worldly temptation ultimately leads.

First, man and woman are born innocent into
the Garden of Eden, blessed by a kind God.

Then, foolish people chase after earthly delights

a pursuit that is ultimately a vicious circle.

They're lured by the world's pleasures:

eating �

drinking �

sex ...

Two lovers are suspended in a bubble
and in the third panel, the bubble pops.

These party animals are heading straight to hell�

a burning, post-apocalyptic wasteland
where sinners are led off to eternal torment.

Every sinner gets his just dessert.

Gluttons are themselves consumed,

good time musicians are tortured by their own instruments,

gamblers have their party forever crashed,

and a lecher gets sexually harassed by a pig-faced nun.

In the center of it all a face peers out
of this bizarre nightmare

a self-portrait of the artist:
Bosch.

Starting in the 1600s,
Spain entered a long slow period of decline.

But its wealthy court continued to finance great art.

Perhaps the most loved painting in the Prado
is Las Meninas by Diego Velasquez.

Velasquez takes us behind the scenes
as he paints a portrait of the king and queen.

The artist paints himself at work, along with a princess,
who's watching her mom and dad pose.

She's joined by her servants� the meninas

In this wonderfully 3-D painting, our perspective
is that of the king and queen as they pose.

In fact, they can be seen in the mirror
at the back of the room.

By 1800, Spain was no longer a world power.

But it continued to produce great artists.

Francisco de Goya was Spain's official court painter.

He dutifully portrayed the king
and queen in all their royal finery.

But many see Goya becoming
disenchanted with his patrons.

Here in these vacant faces he reveals
the ineptitude of the royal family.

Goya's painting called The Second of May

recalls how Spain hoped the ideals
of Revolutionary France would spread,

bringing democracy to Spain.

But when Napoleon invaded, their hopes were dashed.

On May 2nd, 1808,
Madrid's working people staged a protest.

French soldiers, with their Egyptian mercenaries,

slashed through the crowds
and arrested the ringleaders.

The next day, this painting's called The Third of May,
the French began reprisals.

Ignoring the rebels' passionate pleas,
a faceless firing squad mows them down

without mercy.

Goya, disillusioned by all the senseless violence,

portrayed common people as the victims of war.

Thankfully, stepping out of the Prado,
it's a bright and happy day in Madrid,

which seems determined to celebrate
its freedom and enjoy life to its fullest.

While Spain remembers its rich and poignant history,
and shares it well with visitors

the focus of today seems to be living well.

After every trip to this exciting city, the impression
I take home is that of a thriving people

with an enduring culture�
which really knows how to dance.

Madrid, permeated with passion,
from its grand history to its love of life today.

Let's explore more of Europe together again soon.

Until then, I'm Rick Steves.

Keep on travelin'.

Hasta luego.