Europe > Spain > Madrid > Madrid > Articles > Mistletoe and Vino: Christmas in Madrid

There are an estimated 4,000 bars and restaurants in central Madrid. It has been said that in one street alone there are more bars than in the City of London - with the whole of Norway thrown in! In the build-up towards Christmas the locals are especially tireless in their determination to put all these facilities to good use.

Madrid’s nightlife can take a bit of getting used to. In a city that truly believes in ‘rocking around the clock’ there are many bars that won’t even open before 4am and will stay busy until 10. There are restaurants here where the waiters won’t blink an eye if you ask to reserve a table for 3am!

As an aficionado of Madrid’s nightlife once explained: “Typically, we meet our friends sometime before midnight for una copita (literally ‘a little cup’) and we will often visit a dozen bars before morning. This is why la pinta (the pint) has taken so long to catch on here - we like to move too fast.” But there are many bars around El Centro that will serve beer, cider, sangria or kalimotxo (imminently drinkable red wine and coke) in decidedly ‘BIG cups’ - paradoxically called minis - for friends to share on the road between bars.

Although, at the weekend, they will rarely go out until what would be closing time in England, many Madrileños will still be dancing and drinking when others among their countrymen are strolling across Plaza Mayor on their way to morning mass.

Plaza Mayor, the grand old square in the heart of the city, and traditionally the backdrop to many a fiesta, is also preparing for the party. Stalls have been set up to provide the citizens with latex masks, water pistols, day-glo wigs and plastic bosoms – in short all the essential regalia of a full-blooded fiesta.

But there are always two sides to a Spanish fiesta and there are many much more sombre establishments in Plaza Mayor. These are the purveyors of religious artefacts: pictures, crucifixes, candles and hundreds of tiny figurines - for the scenes of the Nativity that will be given pride of place in the homes of Madrid during the festive season. Spanish families take a great pleasure in adding new characters and animals to their ‘Belén’ (Bethlehem) each year.

Plaza Mayor wasn’t always such a haven of goodwill: in 1680, King Carlos II held a huge auto-da-fé here for 120 prisoners of the Inquisition. Contemporary reports claimed that it was the only activity that the hunchbacked king – known by his subjects as ‘Carlos The Bewitched’ – ever showed any enthusiasm for. He spent weeks in planning and dress rehearsals and, on the day itself, passed fourteen uninterrupted hours in preaching and sentencing the victims. Most got off lightly with floggings or terms in the galleys (for first offences?) but, in one of the grisliest episodes in Madrid’s history, many were burnt at the stake in front of five thousand paying spectators.

Today, Plaza Mayor and the neighbouring Puerta del Sol are a prime attraction for an increasing stream of tourists and backpackers. The concentration of hostels in this area (one building alone houses no less than six budget hostels) has kept prices low so that it is still possible to find a bed for £6 a night in El Centro.

If Madrid is the crown of Spain, then Puerta del Sol is the jewel at the centre of that crown. It has been the focus for numerous fiestas and civil disturbances alike, and each year this historic plaza registers big crowds as the fiesta season reaches its climax for Año Nuevo – New Year’s Eve.

As the clock above the plaza chimes in the New Year, everybody in the crowd of thousands will pop the first grape into their mouth. They will then attempt to keep pace with one grape per chime until on the twelfth chime they will be able to dislodge the mass of grapes that threatens to choke them with propitious slugs of champagne.

For most of the world the next day’s hangover will be a sign that the celebrations have drawn to a timely close. But not in Spain: on the evening of the fifth of January there is the fiesta of ‘Los Reyes Magos’ – The Magic Kings. A procession takes to the streets and elderly citizens in the guise of one of the three wise men (frequently more well-oiled than wise) hurl sweets and presents into the cheering crowds. This date is celebrated in much the same way as our own Christmas day: in Spain, it is Los Reyes Magos, not Father Christmas, who delivers presents to the children. In return they expect, not only coffee, liquors and cake for themselves, but water and meal for their camels.

Of course, for the Madrileños, it’s also a convenient excuse to rendezvous with friends for ‘otro copita mas’ - another little cup.

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