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The fun begins the weekend before Shrove Tuesday with fancy dress competitions, brass bands, and a procession followed by a spectacular show on Plaza Mayor. Ash Wednesday is marked by the “Burial of the Sardine”. The mock funeral procession leaves from the church of San Antonio de la Florida and ends with interment in the Casa del Campo.

This café-restaurant was once the royal coach-house. Castilian fare with bacalao (cod) the house speciality.

A good place to try classics such as the dessert bizcocho borracho (“cross-eyed drunk” – sponge cake soaked in wine and syrup).

When Ciriaco first opened its doors in 1906, most of the customers were artists, writers and other Bohemian types. Nowadays it’s more respectable but Ciriaco has preserved its reputation for excellent tapas . The boquerones (anchovies in vinegar) go down a treat with a glass of the house wine (see Casa Ciriaco).

The city’s largest green space and Felipe II’s favourite hunting ground was opened to the public with the overthrow of the monarchy in 1931. Attractively planted with pines, oaks, poplars, and other trees, there are also huge areas of open space, mostly scrub. The amenities include cafés, picnic areas, restaurants and a boating lake, not to mention the zoo and the Parque de Atracciones amusement park (see Parque de Atracciones).

For hundreds of years Madrid’s town council met in the church of San Salvador (since demolished) but in 1644 it was decided to give them a new, permanent home. The Town Hall was completed 50 years later. Its main features – an austere brick and granite façade, steepled towers and ornamental portals – are typical of the architectural style favoured by the Hapsburgs. Juan de Villanueva added the balcony overlooking Calle Mayor so that Queen María Luisa could watch the annual Corpus Christi procession. Highlights of the tour include the gala staircase, hung with tapestries designed by Rubens; the reception hall with its painted ceiling and chandelier; the 16th-century silver monstrance carried in the Corpus Christi procession; the courtyard with stained-glass ceiling; and the debating chamber with frescoes by Antonio Palomino.

The “house of the seven chimneys” dates from around 1570 and is one of the best-preserved examples of domestic architecture in Madrid. The building is said to be haunted by a former lover of Felipe II – not as far fetched as it sounds, as a female skeleton was uncovered here at the end of the 19th century. The house later belonged to Carlos III’s chief minister, the Marqués de Esquilache, whose attempts to outlaw the traditional gentleman’s cape and broad-brimmed hat, on the grounds that rogues used one to conceal weapons and the other to hide their faces, provoked a riot and his dismissal.

Four floors of books on every subject under the sun. Some English books. Good travel section, especially for books on Spain.