Madrid - Day Trips
Escape to former capital Toledo just an hour away, preserved centuries back in time, and pig out on suckling in Chinchón.
Contrast Madrid, Spain's capital since 1561, with its forerunner Toledo. The medieval ex-capital that inspired El Greco continues to exude charm. Cling on to the wobbly wooden balconies looking out onto the idyllic central plaza of Chinchón – just the place to gorge on suckling hog washed down by locally produced firewater anís. The megalomaniac ‘paradises' of Philip II's El Escorial and Franco's Valle de los Caídos, the dictator's dubious and spooky tribute to the victims of the civil war, can be easily combined in a day trip. For hallowed peace and quiet and pure mountain air, Madrileños make for the Sierra de Guadarrama, under an hour from downtown Madrid.
