Good thinking! Now you just need to convince a few million others to get on board! Whenever we fly into Málaga heading south I find it the same, autovia almost empty, coast road manic. I guess it would be different if I had to do it every day, every week like the locals.

Madrid has never had the wow factor for me. Prefer Barcelona. Never found Madrid dirty (although I read they have recently sacked about a third of Council cleaners). Doesn't compare with other major cities like Paris, Rome, Vienna and of course, London.

All subjective of course.
London is great for some things eg theatre, river walks, sporting venues, parks etc.
But I find Madrid far superior in terms of noise (yes London far noisier), value for money, climate, football quality , even the water quality is better. And I'll take the Plaza Mayor (or Gran Via) over Oxford Street or Piccadilly Circus any day, even if they aren't the best places for that cafe con leche
As for Barcelona, great location, some good architecture, but it's too dominated by tourists imo. Yes, London can be seen that way eg Camden or Oxford Street, but you can escape easily to other neighbourhoods.

Incidentally, it may have been the sunshine today, but I saw the tourist bus on 4 different occasions this morning and on each bus the top level was full of sight-seers. And the Plaza Mayor was as clean as you could expect it to be (only rubbish I saw was that left by a couple of people at a terraza).

Madrid is perhaps better as a place to live in than a place to visit. Though that depends on what you look for in a visit - Madrid is good for nightlife (better than Barcelona) and is better for culture (especially if you throw in Toledo, Segovia, etc). However Barcelona is prettier - with more interesting architecture and, being next to the sea, on some days it has a fantastic light. However when choosing somewhere to live, things like having more work available, more sociable and friendly people around, and lots more going on in general pushes things in Madrid's favour. On top of that, it is much, much cheaper to live in than other capital cities in Europe. Where else could you buy a flat with a communal pool, gym, etc within walking distance of the centre for less than €300k? And you can still go out in Madrid, go to a decent restaurant and have a few drinks afterwards for less than €40. Also Madrid has a very good climate - it is only "unbearably" hot for one monnth of the year, and it's only "unbearably" cold for maybe 2 or 3 months of the year. That leaves about 9 months of rather pleasant, sunny weather, with proper seasons thrown in. I just wish it was closer to the sea.

As opposed to "la boina" you mean?

Probably a couple of scruffy Brits eh Stevie ?

Never heard much positive re Madrid.

Those living there seem to spend half of their lives complaining about the place and most of their spare time joining the mass stampede over to my neck of the woods, gridlocking the roads so much that contraflow is often organised on the opposite side of the A3 as the normal 3 lanes can't deal with them all.

Nice to see them come.

Nicer still to see them go.

Same is true for the A1, A2, A4 and A5. They will all be operating contra-flows over the bank holidays, etc. First time I went to Valencia was for Las Fallas, we left at 3am and still hit heavy traffic for most of the journey. Spent so much time in the car it didn't seem worth it. But the Madrileños seem obliged to leave Madrid for every puente, even if it means spending most of the time stuck in the car somewhere on the meseta.

The Daily Mail has it sorted for you :-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...don-homes.html

Madrid - it's also scrapping breast screening programmes and fining beggars 750€.

This on top of several stories over the years of spaniards from other parts of spain being refused medical attention there and sent back to their own regions.

Never mind, eurovegas will get it back on track

Yes, the beggars, that's OK, but charging the customers of prostitutes €750!!! If the beggars had €750 they probably wouldn't be begging!

Quote:

Madrid multará hasta con 750 euros a mendigos y clientes de prostitutas

If it ever gets built, the number of jobs etc are already a small fraction of what was initially promised. 28,000 against 260,000! And Eurovegas has told the Spanish they won't be involved in running the casino or hotels, they'll be doing that themselves. Not sounding so good now, is it?

I know they are pretty desperate but that really takes the biscuit, it's so damned stupid you have to laugh.

At present one of the few success stories is the sex trade industry attracting quite a few punters from outside the borders, especially from France and Portugal close at hand and helping to compensate for the decrease in local trade.

At those sort of costs and prices, I imagine it should provide a welcome boost to trade in Bangkok, Amsterdam and even London.

If anyone is visiting Madrid this weekend, the Autumn book fair in Paseo de Recoletos is on until the 13th. A great place to look through old books, posters and memorobilia..

http://www.iberlibro.com/blog/index....e-madrid-2013/

Not a pretty sight.

http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/10/09/...56_737127.html

Cafe con Leche anyone ?

"But after 12 years of trying, Madrid finally seems aware that it has nothing more to say. A walk through the dirty city center gives one a sense of abandonment. Not even the local landmarks get special treatment: in Plaza Mayor - where Botella encouraged International Olympic Committee members to enjoy a "relaxing café con leche" - there were 30 homeless people sleeping inside cardboard boxes last Thursday. Local residents complain about the filth and claim they have seen rats. Not far from here is another major square, Plaza de España, now lined with derelict buildings filled with squatters. On the city center's main thoroughfare, Gran Vía, some historic buildings remain walled up, such as the former movie theatre Palacio de la Música. The avenue is dotted with overflowing trash cans."

That's the same article as the op, except translated into English.