Puerta del Sol in Madrid, Spain

Puerta del Sol
Metro: Sol

Madrid’s most famous plaza, Puerta del Sol, also marks KM Zero, the very center of Spain, and the point from which the country’s six national roads begin. Practically all of Madrid’s major tourist attractions are just a stone’s throw away from Sol.

The square is named after the city gate adorned with an image of the sun that was once located there. The wall may no longer exist, but there are plenty of other major landmarks left within the semi-circle shaped square. Located on the plaza’s southern side is the Real Casa de Correos, a large building with a clock tower that used to be a postal building, but is now the headquarters of the President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid. Spain’s New Year’s Eve countdown is done to the clock that appears on this building’s tower. Sol is Spain’s Time’s Square.

On the ground in front of the Real Casa de Correos, a stone slab marks KM Zero, and directly across the plaza, sits the statue of El oso y el madroño (the Bear and the Hackberry Tree), the official symbol of the City of Madrid, as sculpted by Antonio Navarro Santa Fe. Between the marker and the statue, right in the middle of the square is the statue of King Carlos III, who was called the “Mayor of Madrid” because of the improvements he ordered for the city.

On top of the building on the eastern side of the square is the infamous Tio Pepe sign.  Although Tio Pepe is a sherry wine made in Jerez, a city in the South of Spain, its massive sign that is lit up at night, has become synonymous with Puerta del Sol.