Spain is the place where you can feel the history. Wherever you go, you will see old buildings, great architecture. Everything looks new and old in the same time, everything is well preserved. I visited Mardrid and I was amazed of the beauty of the city, old things are combined with new, people are very nice. It is one city that you will need more than one week to visit. You will find amazing buildings, beautiful gardens, lots of churches, a lot of entertainment and nice places to eat , have coffee or have a refreshing drink.

The weather in Spain generally speaking is quite worm. Of course, if you go to the Mediteranean Sea, it will be a bit more warmer than in the center of the country, but generally speaking it will not be cold not even in the winter time.

There are hundreds of things to see in Madrid and if you have the chance to get there , you should not miss a couple of things. One of the important things to see is the Royal Palace (Palacio Real), which is a huge building , that can be also visited to see the luxury of a king inside, or you can simply visit the Palace’s Garden , which is next to it. Also, if you have the chance to get near Royal Palace, you will be able to visit Cathedral de la Almudena (here are the official weddings blessed). It will be amazing to see such a huge Cathedral, but in Mardid, you will be amazed how many Churches/Cathedrals are (basically there are every one hundred meters , amazingly).

If you are close to the Royal Palace, you are close to Plaza de Oriente and Plaza de Espana. These are two nice places to visit, since they are in your area, and it will be a shame to miss. Not to mention that Plaza de Oriente is close to Madrid Opera which is nice to have a look at. Close to Plaza de Espana , you will be able to see a piece of Egypt’s history, by visiting Templo de Debod which was a present given to Spain for its role in saving the temple of Abu Simbel from the floodwaters of Lake Nasser following the construction of the Aswan Dam in southern Egypt. So if you like Egyptian culture, you are in the right spot. The monument itself is not too impressive, but considering is so old, it may worth the pain to go there - not to mention that in that area there are many things to see.

About 30 minutes walk (or maybe 45) from Royal Palace, you will find El Retiro Park. It is a big park , well known in Madrid , with a lot of green areas, monuments, fontains an statues. What is very important there, is the statue called “Fallen Angel” - one of the few monuments in the world dedicated to the devil. So if you are in the area, don’t miss it. Also, there are several lakes in El Retiro Park, an all of them are full of life (red fish, ducks , swans etc). Anyway, since in Spain generally speaking the weather is worm, you may want to visit the park just to cool down a little bit.

All monuments in El Retiro Park have water fountains as well, so if is hot you can stick near one to cool down.

Since you are in Madrid, you should as well take a look at the Atocha train station. Besides the fact that is having inside a botanic garden, it is quite a well known place since the terrorist attack against Spain (11 March 2004). As well you will probably not miss the large number of monuments (usually in street-joints or roundabouts) and the souvenir shops - which are quite plenty.

As for the night life of Madrid… Hmmm… It’s special!!! If you will simply visit it at night, you will simply consider it looks completely different than day-time. The madrilenos (as they call themselves - the people who live in Madrid), love the night life. They have a lot of fun especially during week-end time. There are a lot of places to visit at night , like clubs, bars, coffe-shops, restaurants … The night-life in Madrid is different than many european cities, for the simple reason that madrilenos like to have fun and to live the life. So if you are looking for night-fun, you are in the right spot.

Toledo

Toledo, is a smaller city close to Madrid (around 40 Km away) which was preserved in time. Comparing with Madrid, Toledo is totally different. It is a small city (once it was the capital of Spain), with narrow paved roads, old buildings - a place full of history. It is well known for the steel made there and for manufacturing weapons, but also golden plated artifacts.

On the streets of Toledo , you will feel like in an open-air museum. With a lot of stores of hand-crafted artifacts, it is a good place to look for souvenirs. The only problem may be the costs, because each plate or sword , that is plated with gold, is very expensive (not to mention the fact that most of them are hand-crafted). However if you get inside of stores, there are places where you can actually see how they are manufacturing those beautiful things.

One very important thing is where (and what) to eat.  The variety of foods is tremendous. Basically you will not know what to choose - but as recommendation - you should try traditional spanish foods - they are delicious. As for the places … hmm… there are many however as I learned from locals, they are preferring to eat in places where is dirt on the floor (remainings from other people) - they say that if it is dirt on the floor, obviously somebody else have eaten there - so the food must be good (somehow looks like a good policy). As for the prices, depends very much on the area.

If you just want to have a drink , or simply to take a refreshment or a coffee , remember that it will be less expensive to have it inside the bar, rather than the terrace - It seems that the prices are almost 50% smaller inside than outside (terrace) - perhaps because of high taxes of owning one terrace.

Spain worth visiting - Don’t miss it!

Oliver Cage is a contributor for http://ikoupon.com and http://simbiotiq.com