Possibly the best place in Madrid for breakfast or a midday snack: help yourself to consomme (including a selection of sherries to complement), delicious pastries and some of the best croquetas I've ever tasted. Find a place to perch around the edge of the shop (no tables). They will also pack food for a picnic. Not cheap, but managed on a student budget.

Metro Sol, c/ carrera san jeronimo 8
(note: there is also a restaurant attached)

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A walk across one of the city's central bridges - Puente de Piedra, Puente del Pilar, Puente de la Union - is rewarded with magnificent views of the Basilica del Pilar.

Any of the bridges off Paseo de Echegaray y Caballero.

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The seat of Aragonese government is a beautiful eleventh-century Moorish palace surrounded by parkland. Although not as elaborate as the Moorish monuments of Andalucia, the mixture of architectural styles from different periods provide an interesting insight into the history of the region, from Moorish caliphate through Catholic kingdom to present-day regional autonomy. A relative lack of tourists, coupled with the sense of its continuity as a working seat of government, made this monument one of the most memorable of my time in Spain - a must for anyone interested in the history of the peninsula.

Calle Los Diputados (west of the city centre);
tel: 976 28 95 28

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