Mira Madrid

Look around you to discover new things. Look around you to find places that aren’t always mentioned in travel guides, but which are highly representative of the city’s identity. This is what the very special initiative called Mira Madrid (Look at Madrid) that will take place on 2 June invites you to do. 12 places will open their doors and welcome people in to discover their history with an endless range of activities. There will be workshops, guided tours, street entertainment… But best of all, after Saturday the 2nd has come and gone these buildings, monuments and gardens will still be there, waiting for someone to come in and discover them.

When it comes to looking around, few places in Madrid are as unique as the Faro de Moncloa, whose observation deck is located 92 metres above ground level and offers a spectacular 360º panoramic view. From there you can spot the Royal Palace, La Almudena Cathedral, the Telefónica Building... and the Guadarrama mountains. In Huerta de la Salud Park there’s another svelte tower sure to catch your eye: Hortaleza Silo, built in the late 19th century in what was once an agricultural complex. The storks that nested on top of it would announce the arrival of spring to the area's residents.

And it is in the spring when Madrid’s parks are at their most magnificent. Some of them are recent creations, like Madrid Río Park, a green lung set along the Manzanares River, but others have lengthy histories, such as the Rose Garden in Oeste Park, where you’ll find roses from all over the world, and Quinta de los Molinos Park, which is home to 6,000 almond trees and boasts numerous trails. Stroll along them and you’ll find lakes, fountains and windmills scattered about, as well as one pre-Rationalist style mansion and another with red walls known as Casa del Reloj (The Clock House).

Other sites steeped in history are the Arab City Wall, which calls to mind the city’s medieval origins, the Residencia de Estudiantes, the epicentre of the Silver Age of Spanish literature where Lorca, Dalí and Buñuel all lived when it was a halls of residence, and the Royal Tapestry Factory, a living museum that showcases works commissioned by the House of Bourbon. There’s a place for culture, too, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, where you can view the study of writer Ramón Gómez de la Serna, at the Museum of Romanticism, which recreates the everyday life of the gentry in the 19th century, and at MediaLab Prado, a citizens’ lab and meeting place devoted to developing social projects. Our last stop couldn’t be any more appetising: Tirso de Molina Market. The market opened in 1933 and offers traditional food stalls as well as bars and restaurants.