Start your sightseeing in Madrid with the stunning Royal Palace. Since the Spanish Royal family doesn't reside there, it is open to visitors and believe me with 3,000, that's right - 3000 (!) rooms filled with incredible clocks, tapestries, armors and other artifacts, it is a great tourist stop. Of course not all the rooms are open to public but the main rooms with paintings by Goya, Caravaggio, Rubens, Velazquez etc and the famous Hall of Columns as well as the Throne Room with its lavish sculptures, can be visited. Frescoes by Tiepolo adorn the palace and the architecture of the startlingly white building in granite and Colmenar stone as well as the lovely gardens make it worth a look in their own right.
After you're down with admiring the Royal Palace take a breather by walking around the pedestrian friendly Campo del Moro or down the gloriously vibrant Gran Via.
From there, strike off for the Plaza Mayor. The square has a rich history as the central place for public condemnations to bullfights and pageants. It was also used as a market place and is a lovely place to while away time with its beautiful cobbled ground dotted with shops and cafes in covered arcades.
Just 2 minutes away from the Plaza Mayor is the Puerta del sol - the easternmost gate of the city under the Hasburg kings surrounded by churches and monasteries at the time. With 10 roads converging there, it is a popular meeting point and the geographical center of the city. The monument of the bear and the strawberry tree stands in the center of the square.
The Plaza de Cibeles has the landmark fountain with a statue of the Greco-Roman fertility goddess astride a lion-drawn chariot. Overlooking this square is the main post office dating back from 1904.
Casa de Campo is the largest park in Madrid and its grounds also house a funfair. You can reach the it by metro or by taking the telecabin which will give you a great aerial view of the city.
Other parks that are worth spending some cloud-watching time in are the Retiro Park which used to be the private gardens of Philip IV, the Botanical gardens and the Environmental park.
The Environmental park is a new landscaped affair with 10 pavilions specially designed to recreate different natural environments. So you could walk through rain forests of tropical storms while seeing for yourself how animal and plant life have adapted to a variety of eco systems.
In the Retiro Park you could picnic hidden away by the thick wooded areas or row down the lake with your beloved. Fortune tellers, pavement artists, refreshment points, circus acts and puppet theaters are peppered over its lawns.
The Faro de Moncloa is a flying saucer shaped observation deck in the university area which offers some of the picturesque views of Madrid.
There are beautiful monasteries and different walking tours for you to indulge in when you're at a loose end.
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