Hostal Pizarro - Madrid, Spain

Category: Hostel

Address: Calle Pizarro, 14 1º - Madrid, Spain

Private rooms from 44.00 EUR (per room)

Description: Located in the number 14 of Pizarro Street, the inn is at the heart of the city, next to Chueca.

Located inside one of the few buildings Modernist style of the city, belonging to a Historic de la Villa de Madrid, being at the beginning of the last century the headquarters of Spanish newspaper El Correo.

Its facade is the work of architect Mauritius Jalvo Millán. With decorated with elements neogothic, its composition is essentially modernist. Notably column that supports and divides the balcony, which seemed to lose its role as sustenance to become a branch winding climbs up to the floor above.

Hostel Pizarro seeks special attention. There you will find a high degree of tolerance and respect where you can feel comfortable, composed and in perfect harmony, both with service personnel from the pension and with the rest of the guests.

Hostel Pizarro has 17 rooms (10 doubles, 4 triples and 3 singles), and 2 lounges with a functional decoration and meticulous, and all the comforts of today: satellite TV and digital WiFi, minibar, electronic lock and safe . All rooms have a bathroom.

Our facilities have been completely renovated and refurbished. Inaugurate them in the Spring of 2008. Not so, the building that is included for renewal soon, within the Comprehensive Rehabilitation of the zone (see sites of interest, videos and links from the pension).

Chueca

A small but vibrant neighborhood embedded between the Paseo de Recoletos and street Fuencarral. Chueca is the perfect neighborhood gay and lesbian Madrid, in addition to its thousands of tourists.

Convert one of the neighborhoods most genuine and cosmopolitan centre of the zone, exudes New Yorker scent like no other part of the city. Filled with quaint shops and the most modern restaurants, bars, clubs, etc., during the day, an interesting business proposition is sure of the most demanding, because we have accommodated more unique shops, a landmark in Madrid for their style and innovation . At the end of the shops, Chueca became one of the neighborhoods most animated of the night Madrid.

The Madrid Chueca district has become the first district 'WiFi' of Europe, because it has more than 200 access points that provide coverage for more than 90% of the district.

The capital of Spain, located in the heart of the peninsula and right in the center of the Castillian plain 646 meters above sea level, has a population of over three million. A cosmopolitan city, a business center, headquarters for the Public Administration, Government, Spanish Parliament and the home of the Spanish Royal Family, Madrid also plays a major role in both the banking and industrial sectors. Most of its industry is located in the Southern fringe of the city, where important textile, food and metal working factories are clustered. Madrid is characterized by intense cultural and artistic activity and a very lively nightlife.

The grand metropolis of Madrid can trace its origins to the times of Arab Emir Mohamed I (852-886), who ordered the construction of a fortress on the left bank of the Manzanares river. Later it became the subject of a dispute between the Christians and Arabs until it was conquered by Alonso VI in the 11th century. At the end of the 17th century, a defensive wall was built for the protection of the new outlying areas, tracing the roads of Segovia, Toledo and Valencia. During the 18th century, under the reign of Carlos III, were designed the great arteries of the city, such as the Paseo del Prado and Paseo de las Acacias.

Gran Via is the most central street of Madrid, close to practically everything, in the main shopping and entertainment area of the city. Nearby is Plaza Cibeles square. Here is Madrid's best shopping area with its many stores on Preciados, Carmen and Arenal Street as well as the Corte Ingles.

El Corte Ingles (The English Court) is Madrid's main department store and Spain's largest departments store chain. It was founded in 1940 by Ramon Areces, who had been working before in a Madrid tailor shop on the calle Preciados.

Midnight on Friday is when the city gets ready for the night's drinking and revelry.

The major museums are El Prado, Reina Sofia Art Centre and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museums.

The Prado Museum. Long queues snake round the building at weekends. You can't visit it in 1 day, you should make several trips, each devoted to 1 particular artist, e.g. Goya or Velasquez. Time we waited in queue: 1/2 hour. Admission: about 3 euros per head

The Reina Sofia Museum, whose long Spanish name is Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, is Madrid's main venue for national and international art exhibitions. It hosts various art-related activities, including conferences, courses, contemporary music concerts, poetry recitals. In 1990 the collection of modern Spanish art was added to the Reina Sofia Museum, and shortly after it was decided to move to the Reina Sofia Picasso's famous Guernica with its preliminary sketches and drawings, which had been kept in the Cason del Buen Retiro, part of the Prado Museum. This move remains controversial: Picasso had explicitly made clear his desire that the Guernica should be exhibited in the Prado and, although its current room in the Reina Sofia was built for Picasso's masterpiece, people often complain about difficulty in seeing the entire painting, despite the fact that it is no longer kept behind a bullet-proof glass shield. The Museum is Madrid's Museum of Contemporary Art, the city's answer to London's Tate Gallery or Paris' Pompidou Centre. This museum/art centre is recommended as a 'must' because it is where Madrid's most important modern art exhibitions are displayed. The permanent collection in the Reina Sofia Museum is almost entirely made up of Spanish art from the 20th century, with works by many major artists: Picasso, Miro, Oteiza, Julio Gonzalez, Tapies, Equipo Cronica, Gerardo Rueda. But on permanent display are also works by international artists like Barnet Newman and Soto. On the top floor is the museum's library, the largest in Spain devoted to art. The museum's building has a superb mobile sculpture by Alexander Calder.

Other main cultural and tourist sites are the Puerta del Sol, Palacio Real, Parque del Retiro (Retiro Park) and Plaza Mayor.

Palacio Real (Royal Palace) in Madrid is described by most visitors to the city as one of the most beautiful things to see in the whole of Spain. It is a colossus of about 2800 rooms, of which 50 open to the public. It is splendid, from the glorious painted ceilings and crystal chandeliers to the Porcelain Room and the incredible decorations in Spanish marble and gilded stucco. It contains important works of art including frescoes by some of the greatest artists, such as Tiepolo and a precious collection of paintings including Velazquez, Caravaggio and Goya. Visit the Hall of Mirrors, Queen Maria Luisa's Plasterwork Room, and the Gala Dining Room, all dating from the reigns of different monarchs. The Throne Room has Tiepolo ceilings and crimson walls. The Royal Palace of Madrid is the official residence of His Majesty The King of Spain, who uses it for official ceremonies but does not reside there. The remote origins of the Palace go back as far as the 9th century, when it was built as a fort. On this ancient fortress the Old Alcazar was erected in the 16th century. This was destroyed by fire on Christmas Eve 1734, and King Philip V had a new Palace built on the site from 1738 to 1755, where King Charles III took up residence in 1764. Visits are free on Wednesday for citizens of EU countries.

Atocha railway station has regional trains, including to Escorial, Toledo, Segovia and other places.

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