Madrid became Spain's capital simply through its geographical position at the centre of Iberia . When Felipe moved the seat of government here in 1561 his aim was to create a symbol of the unification and centralization of the country, and a capital from which he could receive the fastest post and communications from each corner of the nation. The site itself had few natural advantages - it is 300km from the sea on a 650 metre-high plateau, freezing in winter, burning in summer - and it was only the determination of successive rulers to promote a strong central capital that ensured Madrid 's survival and development.
Nonetheless, it was a success, and today Madrid is a vast, predominantly mod­ern city, with a population of some four million and growing. The journey in - through a stream of soulless suburbs - isn't pretty, but the streets at the heart of the city are a pleasant surprise, with pockets of medieval buildings and nar­row, atmospheric alleys, dotted with the oddest of shops and bars, and inter­spersed with eighteenth-century Bourbon squares. By comparison with the historic cities of Spain - Toledo, Salamanca, Seville, Granada - there may be few sights of great architectural interest, but the monarchs did acquire out­standing picture collections, which formed the basis of the Prado museum. This has long ensured Madrid a place on the European art tour, and the more so since the 1990s arrival - literally down the street - of the Reina Sofia and
Thyssen-Bornemisza galleries, state-of-the-art home to fabulous array armodern Spanish painting (including Picasso's Guernica ) and European and American masters.
As you get to grips with the place you soon realize that it's the inhabitants - the madrilenos - that are the Madrid's key attraction: hanging out in the tra­ditional cafes or the summer terrazas, packing the lanes of the Sunday Rastro flea market, or playing hard and very, very late in a thousand bars, clubs, discos and lnscas. Whatever Barcelona or San Sebastian might claim, the Madrid scene, immortalized in the movies of Pedro Almodovar, remains the most vibrant and fun in the country. Madrid city centre is also in better shape than for many years as a result of the ongoing impact of a series Of urban rehabilitation schemes - funded jointly by the European Union and local government - in the older barrios (districts) of Madrid. Improvements have been made to the transport network, with extensions to the metro, the construction of new ring roads and the excavation of a series of road tunnels designed to bring relief to Madrid's overcrowded streets. Preparations are already underway to implement an ambitious plan to extend the city northwards beyond Plaza Castile and to construct a series of state-of-the-art sports facilities to support a bid for the 2012 Olympics