Arriving by air in VS .NET

Painting Data Matrix ECC200 in VS .NET Arriving by air

Madrid s recently expanded airport, Barajas (% 902-40-47-04 or 91-305-83-43; wwwaenaes), is about 16km (10 miles) outside town In the arrivals hall, you ll find ATMs, banks at which you can change money, and a post office High-tech Terminal 4 handles most international flights and is a shuttle bus away from the other terminals The airport s tourist information office (Oficina de Informaci n Tur stica; % 91-305-86-56) is open daily from 8 am to 8 pm Line 8 of the Metro, or subway (wwwmetromadrides), runs from the airport to the Nuevos Ministerios stop (12 minutes), and then another 15 minutes from there to downtown (fare is 2 /$320) Or you can take a red city bus no 200 (wwwemtmadrides) to Avenida Am rica in the city center for 1 ($160), and then board the Metro for your destination from there The ten-trip Metrobus ticket (see Getting Around Madrid, later in this chapter) may be used for both the subway and the airport bus, although you ll pay a 1 ($160) supplement A taxi into town is about 25 ($40), plus tip and airport and baggage-handling surcharges Plan on 45 minutes to an hour of travel time from the airport to downtown

If you take the train to Madrid, you ll most likely arrive at the city s main station, Chamart n (% 91-323-21-21), the hub for trains coming from eastern Spain and France (international train routes come through the France Spain border) From Chamart n, in Madrid s northern suburbs, you can get downtown quickly on Metro Line 10 Madrid has two other train stations Trains to and from southwest Spain and Portugal come into Atocha (% 91-563-02-02) (Confusingly, two Metro stops also go by the name Atocha; the one marked ATOCHA RENFE is the one beneath Atocha train station; the Atocha Metro stop is one stop north of Atocha RENFE) Norte, or Pr ncipe P o, serves northwest Spain RENFE is the name of the Spanish national train service; for information, call % 902-24-02-02 or visit wwwrenfees

Madrid has no natural landmarks useful for getting your bearings, though it does have several major plazas (squares) and elegant boulevards linking them, which will help you master the city s layout Your best bet is to orient yourself using the Metro (subway) map, because most destinations are close to a Metro stop You want to spend most of your time in Old Madrid (near the Plaza Mayor) and Bourbon Madrid (including the Prado Museum and Retiro Park)

Plaza del Sol marks the very center of Madrid (and all of Spain, for that matter all distances within the country are measured from a 0km mark in the plaza s southwest corner) The nearby Plaza Mayor is more scenic and is flanked by cafes and colonnades; in the center sits an equestrian statue of Felipe III These two plazas constitute the heart of Viejo Madrid (Old Madrid), an area filled with authentic Spanish restaurants and nightlife hot spots Madrid s 17th-century district lies south of Plaza del Sol The wide, modern Plaza de Espa a marks the northwest corner of the city Calle Bail n runs south from there, bordering the Palacio Real (royal palace) and marking the city s western edge Madrid s main boulevard, Gran V a, zigzags from Plaza de Espa a across the northern Old City Department stores, cafes, movie theaters, and office buildings line the grand boulevard North of it are the Malasana and Chueca districts, both trendy nightlife zones Chueca in particular has gone from being a little rough around the edges to becoming perhaps the coolest barrio, as well as the epicenter of gay life in the capital Old Madrid s east side is bordered by the tree-planted Paseo del Prado, which runs from north to south from Plaza de la Cibeles through Plaza del Castillo to the Atocha train station square Hotels, cafes, and the city s major museums line the avenue Vast Retiro Park lies on the east side of the Paseo