RECOMMENDED HOTELS NEAR THE VENUE

Iberostar Las Letras Gran Vía**** Calle Gran Vía, 11, 28013 , Spain Tel: +34 915 23 79 80 Email: [email protected]

Double room for Single use: 144 EUR/room/night including breakfast Double room: 164 EUR/room/night including breakfast

Please click on this booking form to make your hotel reservation Deadline for reservation: 01 October 2018

Walking distance to the venue: 2 minutes  MAP

Vincci Soho Hotel **** Calle del Prado, 18, 28014 Madrid, Spain Tel: +34 911 41 41 00 Email: [email protected]

Double room for Single use: 163 EUR/room/night including breakfast Double room: 179 EUR/room/night including breakfast

Please click on this booking form to make your hotel reservation Deadline for reservation: 05 October 2018

Walking distance to the venue: 8 minutes  MAP

SOCIAL PROGRAMME SATURDAY, 24th NOVEMBER 2018

Join a walking tour to the oldest part of Madrid, combining the majestic Royal Palace with the popular atmosphere of Plaza Mayor and surroundings. We will stop to rest and enjoy a drink and a “tapa” at the Mercado de San Miguel. We will finish our visit with a nice lunch in a traditional Madrid restaurant.

Plaza Mayor, La Encarnación Monastery and Plaza de la Villa, with buildings erected in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries – Casa de la Villa (formerly, Madrid City Hall), Los Lujanes Tower, Cisneros House –, are the main architectural complexes built under the Hapsburgs. Another must-see landmark is the Descalzas Reales Monastery, a nunnery that was the royal seat of Charles I of Spain. Finally, the Santa Cruz Palace, built in 1629, is home to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This part of Madrid, peppered with churches and crowned by the Alcázar (a huge building destroyed by fire in 1737), was chosen by the Bourbons to raise the Royal Palace. Nearby are Plaza de Oriente, La Almudena Cathedral, which has a museum that gives access to the dome, affording beautiful views of the sierra, and other buildings from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Some of these sights are the Collegiate Church of San Isidro (Madrid’s cathedral until 1993), the Basilica of San Miguel, the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande and the Teatro Real opera house.

Price: 75 EUR. The price includes tour, guide and lunch. Meeting point: Iberostar Las Letras Gran Vía at 10:00 am Adress: Calle Gran Vía, 11, 28013, Madrid Departure: 10:15 am Lunch time: 1:30 pm Tour duration: Approx. 3.15 hours

You can register for the walking tour and lunch here.

Some tips for making the most of your staying in Madrid

Madrid is one of the busiest and most fun cities in Europe. Here you will find some suggestions to make the most of your time in Madrid. Choose the activities and attractions you like best and enjoy. You will surely come back for more!

THE ART SIDE OF THE CITY

Prado Museum

The superb Prado Museum is regarded by many to have the finest art in the world. It houses works belonging to the Spanish Royal collection, including paintings by , , Rubens, Fra Angelico, and , among other artists. However, the Museum stands out for the masterpieces of two of the greatest Spanish painters: Velázquez and Goya.

Reina Sofía Museum (MNCARS)

If you prefer to visit a modern and contemporary art museum, we recommend the Reina Sofía Museum (MNCARS), which tells the story of Spanish and European art from the historical avant-garde movements to the present, with a core focus on Guernica, one of Picasso’s masterpieces.

WALKING AROUND

El Retiro Park

The green lung in central Madrid doubles as an interesting cultural complex. When the park was commissioned by King Phillip IV, it was meant to be the garden of the . Since the nineteenth century, it has been open to all. The wonderful hall of steel and glass that can be seen today was built to host art and industry exhibitions. El Retiro is always lively, filled with Madrileños out for jogging, bicycling, rollerblading, rowing, visiting an exhibition or having a drink in an outdoor café, all in a bohemian and family-friendly atmosphere.

From Atocha to Cuatro Torres Business Area

The long north-south axis of Madrid starts at Glorieta del Emperador Carlos V and runs along Paseo del Prado, Paseo de Recoletos and La Castellana, ending past the Cuatro Torres Business Area at the Nudo Norte road junction. Along these avenues you’ll find ministry buildings, the National Library, the Bank of Spain and the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. The Neptuno, Cibeles and Colón fountains or the sculptures in the Museum of Public Art are some of the monuments you’ll come across along the way.

As the itinerary covers several kilometres, you could take the Madrid City Tour (hop-on hop- off sightseeing bus, line 2) or a Madrid bus (line 27 runs along the axis, departing from Glorieta de Embajadores).

From Sol to Gran Vía

You’ll love wandering through the streets of the vibrant heart of Madrid. Not only do they hold museums, churches, palaces and parks but they also have interesting stories to tell. Start at the Kilometre zero marker in Puerta del Sol, from which the national roads starting in Madrid fan out. The second busiest street in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records, Calle de Preciados, begins in this large square. Then take Gran Vía, a lively traditional avenue on which shops, cafés, movie theatres and theatres are to be found.

AT NIGHT

Out for tapas in Barrio de las Letras

When the sun goes down, the city wakes up. A good place to start your tapas tour – which consists of hopping from bar to bar eating bite-size food and drinking a glass of wine or beer – is Plaza de Santa Ana, in Barrio de las Letras (Literary Quarter), just a stone’s throw from Puerta del Sol.

Clubbing in Gran Vía, Malasaña and Chueca

Beyond Gran Vía are Madrid’s nightlife hotspots – Malasaña and Chueca. Since the late 1980s, these two districts have housed the bars, pubs, music venues and clubs that turned the Madrid party into one of the coolest the world over. Malasaña plays indie music, while Chueca is filled with nightclubs catering to the gay and lesbian community.

There’s no better place in Madrid for a great cocktail than Museo Chicote, named after Perico Chicote, the barman who opened this establishment on Gran Vía more than 80 years ago. Classic and creative cocktails here are the perfect mix of wonderful colours, smells and flavours.

You can download a map of Madrid´s tourist areas here.