Madrid Puerta del Sol

Our meeting point at Native Spanish tapas is in the heart of Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. This is where we start off our Madrid tapas tour, a unique local’s perspective tapas experience. Let’s have a look at the concept “Puerta” and its significance to the city of Madrid.

“Puerta” means “gate” in Spanish, but Puerta del Sol has no gate, we’re off to a good start.  Other significant “Puertas” in Madrid do, such as Puerta de Alcalá or Puerta de Toledo, to understand this we have go back to the history of Madrid. We recommend vising them during your stay in Madrid, or join us on our Madrid tapas tours where we will give you a concise run-down of Madrid’s relevant present and past history.

Madrid became the capital of Spain in the middle of the 16th century, it was a small “villa” or village at the time. A medieval wall was built to protect the village, common in medieval Europe at the time.

Puerta del Sol used to have a gate with a symbol of the Sun because the gate was facing the east. The same happened with the Puerta de Toledo,  which pointed towards the city of Toledo to the south of Madrid.

But as Madrid started expanding outwards so did the wall and its different gates. Puerta de Alcalá is the last point of expansion of the eastern part of the wall, it is named Alcalá after the city where the gate pointed towards surpassing Puerta del Sol by about 2 miles to the east. The actual gate that was in Puerta del Sol suffered serious damages during wars and revolts and in the middle 19th century the square was reformed to what it looks like today.

Don’t forget to visit us for our unique Madrid Tapas Tours!