10. Puerta del Sol

This busy crossroads is Madrid's main meeting place and crowds always loiter around the statue of the bear and the madroño ("strawberry tree") at the bottom of C/Carmen. It is also officially the geographical official heart of Madrid and therefore Spain; it holds the kilómetro cero (a plaque on the pavement outside the Casa de Correus, under the clock): the point from which all distances from the city are measured. Here thousands of revelers gather at midnight on New Year's Eve to eat their grapes, one for each chime of the clock, and drink champagne. The Puerta del Sol is also where Napoleon's Egyptian cavalry charged locals on 2 May 1808, as depicted in one of Goya's most famous paintings, El Dos de Mayo. METRO: Sol   (© 10Best)

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