Spanish lessons in small groups in Sol with fully qualified native teacher!

Centre located next to Puerta del Sol!

Spanish lessons in group in Madrid City Centre with a fully qualified Spanish native teacher and a great knowledge in other languages (Bilingual in English, Advanced in French and Intermediate in Italian). Great experience in teaching Spanish to a wide range of nationalities: Frenchs, Italians, Englishes, Americans, Orientals, everybody who wants to learn!

We guarantee good results while developing all the techniques aimed for a proper learning of the Spanish language: grammar, conversation, exercises, listening, reading and writing. Small groups and great offer for trimesters; we also have the possibility of paying monthly.

Prices(€) Month / Trimester

If you want to learn Spanish in Madrid, do not hesitate to contact us!

The Puerta del Sol is Spain's most famous and important square and it is located in the dead centre of Madrid.

The main building in the square is the one of the Casa Correos (Mail House), otherwise known as the 'Casa del Reloj' (Clock House), which is the oldest building in the square. What's most captures the attention about this building is the clock located on top of the tower jutting out from the rooftop, the clock which chimes twelve times during New Year's Eve. Presently, the building serves as the Headquarters of the Chair of the Community of Madrid, however it has served many other functions throughout its history.

Without a doubt, for those of us who are not from Madrid nor live there, we know the Puerta del Sol most of all for New Year's Eve, seeing as the twelve bells have been chiming from the clock tower of the Mail House ever since 1962, and since then the Puerta del Sol is the hero one night a year. First, the lowest bells chime a bit before midnight on New Year's Eve, then it chimes every quarter-hour before the big bell finally chimes twelve times at midnight. At this moment, in Spain, it is tradition to eat one grape per chime of the bell and they say it is a "sign of good luck. " However, this tradition dates back to when, one year, there was a surplus of grapes and so they were handed out to the people in Madrid to augment their consumption, and it's really unclear how, but this tradition was then maintained through the years.

In the the Plaza del Sol you can find one of the most famous and mythical statues of Madrid, the one of the Oso y el Madroño (bear and the Madroño tree). It was inaugurated in 1967, and is four metres high. As its name indicates, we see a bear with a Madroño tree, which represents the coat of arms with the heraldry of Madird. The coat of arms of Madrid features this very statue.

Another statue in the square is that of the equestrian statue of Carlos III, perched atop a pedestal. It was inaugurated fairly recently, in 1994, and it is nine metres high and features the monarch Carlos III riding on a horse. This image is a reproduction of another sculpture of Carlos III found in the Royal Academy of San Fernando. On the pedestal we can perceive the coat of arms of Carlos III, and just below that an inscription reading “CARLOS III REY DE ESPAÑA” (King of Spain), followed by a long text explaining the monarch, however this is less legible.

Another aspect of this square that has become very famous is the advertisement of “Tío Pepe” found atop one of the square's tallest buildings. It's an ad for a Spanish company that creates wines and other alcoholic beverages. On the logo, we can perceive, above the ad, a figure that appears to be a man, however in reality it is a bottle of wine with a jacket and a red hat. This ad is the only one that remains from all the ads there used to be in the square, and even though this "Tío Pepe" ad was removed for a few years, it was reinstated a few years ago, and for the better! This ad is a symbol f the square, and without it the square would not be complete!

Something curious, is that here, in the square, you can find Spain's kilometre zero, directly in front of the Casa Correos. It's a plaque on the floor on which is written “Origen de las carreteras radiales KM 0” ("Origin of the radial streets, KM 0, " this on the contour of a map of Spain. The Kilometre Zero tends to be located in capital cities, seeing as it serves to measure distances, and is symbolical, it doesn't necessarily mean that it was the first ever kilometre in the country or anything like that.

Other interesting little tidbit is that the metro station in the square was entitled, until recently, “Vodafone Sol”, and shortly before that it was called “Estación Sol Galaxy Note” for a short period of time due to a sponsorship contract. As a Marketing graduate, it seems to me a magnificent marketing strategy, especially seeing as Vodafone sponsored more than just the metro station in the square, but also sponsored the entire metro line 2, thus the Vodafone logo was seen throughout the line. It's a 24/7 ad that cannot be ignored by anyone, however I believe that as a tourist this is awful, as the square loses some history and enchantment due to this.

More than only being the scene for New Year's Eve, the Plaza del Sol was the scene of one of the biggest protests in Spain's recent history, one that is known as the movement of "los indignados" (the indignified), otherwise known as the 15-M. This protest lasted several months, and the firs night of overnight camping out was May 15th 2011, hence its name (15-M). The location these protesters decided upon causes many conflicts due to the heavy traffic of people in the square, since there were many businesses in the area that complained, and because it stalled one of Spain's most important squares. People got hurt, some of them not even participating in the protest, but in the line of fire just for passing by the square.

Apart from all the aforementioned elements, the Puerta del Sol is home to a variety of shops, cafes, kiosks, etc... It's the most important commercial spot in the capital, along with it's surrounding streets. The lottery administration in the square is also very famous, and we can especially see long lineups for lottery tickets around Christmas time for the Christmas lottery. A pretty famous clothes store in Topshop, located in one of the corners of the plaza. I'm only really mentioning this because there are few of these Topshops in Spain.

Getting to the square does not complicate one's life in any way. It is very well indicated, and serves as the intersection of ten streets. And, as I mentioned earlier, by metro the station is called "Sol, " accessible using lines 1, 2 or 3, allowing for easy line changes and also serving as a connection station for the Renfe Cercanias trains.

Similar to with the puerta de Alcalán the Puerta del Sol also has its own song: “Un año más” from the band Mecano.