Madrid, Spain

[sergioib]

Even in the underground TVs where they show news and stuff, they sort of connect with the other city's underground. As I saw once in Madrid underground station Atocha Renfe, there was a live camera of the Barcelona underground (I think it was Sants Estació) so they both see what is going on in the other city...


... Alright, silly thing but just to complement what you were saying about the cities being nothing without the other.

[Peshu]

Gincan . Are you serious ?Look at international media . Barcelona has always been known as Spains most famous city . I know Spain quite well and over there they would virtually have you believe that Madrid is the capital of the world . Overseas it's very , very different . Have you travelled much ?

When you talk Spain to some one first city they mention is Barcelona . Pure fact .

And like i said cities such as Paris , London , Berlin etc..... completely outclass any other city from the same country in anything you wish to mention . and let's not talk about population . Madrid is perhaps slightly larger than Barcelona and it is still not as industrialised . It's only in the last few years that Madrid has started racing away as Spains greatest city .

And concerning architecture . Which important internationally recognized projects went on in madrid before the last ten years ?

[gincan]

Originally Posted by Peshu

Gincan . Are you serious ?Look at international media . Barcelona has always been known as Spains most famous city . I know Spain quite well and over there they would virtually have you believe that Madrid is the capital of the world . Overseas it's very , very different . Have you travelled much ?

No way josé! Madrid has since the birth of the Spanish nation always been the most known city of Spain. It is defacto Capital of Spain, the economic, political and cultural center of the spanish nation. This has never changed.

What did change was that after Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympics the city became internationally renowned, before that hardly no one had heard of Barcelona except for the ones that had geography skills. It was basically the Manchester of Spain, but far less famous than Manchester.

So what happend was that Madrid didn't became less famous but that Barcelona managed to put itself on the map.

Originally Posted by Peshu

When you talk Spain to some one first city they mention is Barcelona . Pure fact .

This is not the same as saying Barcelona is more famous than Madrid, as I said, Madrid is and has always been the Capital of Spain.

Originally Posted by Peshu

And like i said cities such as Paris , London , Berlin etc..... completely outclass any other city from the same country in anything you wish to mention . and let's not talk about population . Madrid is perhaps slightly larger than Barcelona and it is still not as industrialised . It's only in the last few years that Madrid has started racing away as Spains greatest city.

Madrid (the city) has twice the population of Barcelona and six times the size.

Now Barcelona has and this goes back to the middle age always been the industrial center of Spain, Madrid has never been an industrial city of any importance in Spain, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia have always been the tree main industrial citys of Spain.

This race you talking about, that is something that only exists in you imaginary world, there has never been any race and never will there be. The two cities as i said work in symbiosis and efectively can't compete, they are more dependant on each other than any other two cities in europe.

Originally Posted by Peshu

And concerning architecture . Which important internationally recognized projects went on in madrid before the last ten years ?

There are far to many to list but a few a top of my head:


* Atocha train station and international Bank building, both by Rafael Moneo and very famous when built.

* The Madrid CBD, several buildings have been featured in international arcitectual magazines.

* Puerta de Europa
* Almudena Cathedral
* El Ruedo
* Moder art museum glas elevators
* Several project in the sixsties

[Peshu]

Gincan . I suggest you travel mate . For a start i'm one of the few that adore Madrid . Fact is You are the one living in the land of fantasy . Barcelona was famous way before the 92 olympics . My best friend is from Madrid and his father and friends are sick and tired of telling me tha Barcelona for some reason has always been Spains best known city by far .

I started a thread here a while ago to see how many people were familiar with Madrid . Guess what ? Just about everyone knew of Barcelona . Madrid was very little known .

Go to a bookshop overseas and you will see countless books on Paris , London , Rome ad Barcelona . What is that telling you ? I've lived in Madrid and often heard on t.v especially how many there thought it to be a world famous and magnificent city . Magnificent city it is . World famous ? Not by a long shot . It is changing . Thankfully . But it still has a long way to go .

Unfortunately you seem to be one of the Spaniards that has been sucked in by Television Espaniola and Telemadrid . Go outside of your borders and you will see .
P.S i ain't starting any fight . As i would love for Madrid to get the fame it deserves . But seriously mate your calculation of both cities populations is laughable . And your over-all thoughts are extremely wrong .

One final thing . Those very few projects you described hardly got any attention in the world .Todays projects such as the Barajas terminal , three museum extensions , cuatro torres business towers, new suburb of Shanchinarro , under ground metro extensions etc... are getting world wide recognition .

[gincan]

Originally Posted by Peshu

But seriously mate your calculation of both cities populations is laughable.

Madrid
3.132.463
Barcelona
1.595.110

Source:
http://www.ine.es/inebmenu/mnu_cifraspob.htm

Come back when you have grown up Boy.

[Ribarca]

double post.......

[Ribarca]

Originally Posted by gincan

About tourism you can't even compare the two cities, they cater for totaly different attraction. Both are cosmopolitan and have a huge number of attractions both within and around them. But Madrid is a capital and thus compete with London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Veinna etc. Whereas Barcelona rather compete with cities like Nice, Florence, Casablanca, etc.

Stay off the booze. There's two things Madrid lacks compare to Barcelona. Hundreds years of history and a sea. Madrid doesn't even have a proper river.

Originally Posted by gincan

One other main difference is the fact that Barcelona is surrounded by holliday resorts and thus receive an enormous amount of overday vistors during the summer months bosting its inflated reputation as a lively city when in reality it's a rather dull city by spanish standards.

Barcelona is a major center for conventions. Some of the most important ones like the mobile conference is hosted in Barcelona for example. Further you think all the 5 and 4 star hotels are frequented by cheap tourists. Barceloan is Europe's most important port for cruises as well. And the no. 1 city break destination for the Brits. Whether that's all good for the inhabitants that remains to be seen.

Regarding the last sentence. Maybe because in reality it's not Spanish at all.

[/QUOTE]

[sergioib]

Barcelona is as Spanish as Madrid, but I'm not going to get into it.

Barcelona is an important city, but so is Madrid. Madrid is even stronger because it's the capital and, believe it or not, the city which moves a whole country is always stronger than the rest. As I say, Barcelona has a great importance and it's a lovely city (I personally love it) but we don't have to say it's stronger or better than Madrid just because it is a bit better known than Madrid outside Spanish boundaries. In my opinion, that fact is due to having hosted the Olympic Games in 1992, same if Madrid had hosted them back in time, it'd be better known outside Spain.

And by the way, having the sea nearby doesn't make a city better than any other. And Madrid does have a history behind it, it has not emerged from nowhere.

[madridhere]

Originally Posted by Ribarca

Stay off the booze. There's two things Madrid lacks compare to Barcelona. Hundreds years of history and a sea. Madrid doesn't even have a proper river.

[/QUOTE]


Uuuuuu, I´m going to cry, uouououo

[nemtirev]

Really nice,what part of Madrid?Northern?

[madridhere]

Originally Posted by sergioib

Barcelona is as Spanish as Madrid, but I'm not going to get into it.

Barcelona is an important city, but so is Madrid. Madrid is even stronger because it's the capital and, believe it or not, the city which moves a whole country is always stronger than the rest. As I say, Barcelona has a great importance and it's a lovely city (I personally love it) but we don't have to say it's stronger or better than Madrid just because it is a bit better known than Madrid outside Spanish boundaries. In my opinion, that fact is due to having hosted the Olympic Games in 1992, same if Madrid had hosted them back in time, it'd be better known outside Spain.

And by the way, having the sea nearby doesn't make a city better than any other. And Madrid does have a history behind it, it has not emerged from nowhere.

I agree in general with you, Sergio. Both are very interesting cities.

[madridhere]

Originally Posted by nemtirev

Really nice,what part of Madrid?Northern?

Do you mean the skyscrapers?
Yes, they are in the northern part of the city.

[madridhere]

Picture by Gave:



Google pictures:



Picture by Davinuzi:



Gabe´s picture:




Google:






Image by Jesarm:





Gave´s pictures:

[madridhere]

One of the good things of today´s Madrid is that there are lots of new projects coming out regularly. We know this is not going to last for ever, but this is a golden moment., no doubt.

FOr example this week there is the news that there will be 15 new bridges over the river.











Our major is the man in the middle, with Perrault. He´s the brain of the new Madrid.





ONLY FIVE YEARS AGO IN THIS PLACE THERE USED TO BE A HIGHWAY! AND IN A COUPLE OF YEARS THERE WILL BE ONLY PARKS!

[Peshu]

Originally Posted by gincan

Madrid
3.132.463
Barcelona
1.595.110

Source:
http://www.ine.es/inebmenu/mnu_cifraspob.htm

Come back when you have grown up Boy.

Para con el chupete . Those figures mean nothing . Paris has a population of 2,000,000 according to some sources Those Barcelona figures are just made up . Why does Badalona for example not figure in Barcelonas figures but Alcorcon , Mostoles , Leganes , Getafe , Pinto etc... figure for Madrids calculations ? When those suburbs are further to Madrids c.b.d then Badalona is to Barcelonas c.b.d . ?????????????

And for the record Barcelona is up their with Paris , London , Rome , Prague etc..... when it comes to tourist arrivals . How old are you anyway ????????

[Peshu]

Anyways i'm a little tired of arguing with ignorant people . Let's just enjoy the photos .

[Gelehrt]

Originally Posted by Peshu

Para con el chupete . Those figures mean nothing . Paris has a population of 2,000,000 according to some sources Those Barcelona figures are just made up . Why does Badalona for example not figure in Barcelonas figures but Alcorcon , Mostoles , Leganes , Getafe , Pinto etc... figure for Madrids calculations ? When those suburbs are further to Madrids c.b.d then Badalona is to Barcelonas c.b.d . ?????????????

And for the record Barcelona is up their with Paris , London , Rome , Prague etc..... when it comes to tourist arrivals . How old are you anyway ????????

According to some sources... as if we were in a world were statistics were made up by monkeys tied to a computer...

There's a difference between the population of a city and the population of a metropolitan area, and, in both cases, Madrid's population is bigger. And this is simply true.

Madrid has a population a little bit over 3 million. If you count the whole metropolitan area (including madrid, móstoles, alcorcón, getafe, leganés, fuenlabrada, parla, san fermando de henares, alcobendas, san sebastián de los reyes...) it gets almost to 6 million.

The same happens to Paris, the difference is that is has a bigger metropolitan area.

Here are some facts from the Institute Nationale de la Estatistique et des Études Économiques (from 2005). Suprinsingly, nor London or Paris are the biggest metropolitan areas in Europe.

[master-mata]

Madrid is amazing, i had the pleasure to visit it and it´s beautiful

[Luv2travel]

One of my favourite cities. Beautiful. I hope to make it back again someday soon.

[gincan]

Originally Posted by Peshu

Para con el chupete . Those figures mean nothing . Paris has a population of 2,000,000 according to some sources Those Barcelona figures are just made up . Why does Badalona for example not figure in Barcelonas figures but Alcorcon , Mostoles , Leganes , Getafe , Pinto etc... figure for Madrids calculations ? When those suburbs are further to Madrids c.b.d then Badalona is to Barcelonas c.b.d . ?????????????

And for the record Barcelona is up their with Paris , London , Rome , Prague etc..... when it comes to tourist arrivals . How old are you anyway ????????

I supplied as source to my statment, you talk a lot but you can't back it up with any source.

There are no reliable data on the exact number of tourists in Barcelona since as i said the city is surrounded by resorts, Sitges, Blanes etc. The most accurate you can find on the net is the research done by Euromonitor International, though it only covers det city of Barcelona rather than the metropolitan area.

http://www.euromonitor.com/Top_150_C..._Leads_the_Way