You have just woken up after a long night of fiesta. Yes, it’s 12 pm! You feel like eating something but you really don’t know what… maybe a coffee and a treat? Or something savoury and a snack? You’re very hungry… Well, we have the answer… what you need is a brunch!

Theatre, ballet, cinema…and the best concerts! you can enjoy this wide offer this summer in Madrid. One more year Los Veranos de la Villa and El Festival de Clásicos en Verano will make you enjoy Madrid at summer time.

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum hosts a big exhibition with the old and most recent work by the Spanish painter Antonio López. This is a ‘must’ in our visit in Madrid during the summer.

Have a breakfast with its clear dawns, with its people, overlooking the Puerta de Alcalá or Botanical Garden, surrounded by books or DVDs, with a delicious chocolate or an antioxidant juice.

The Magic will take the streets and the theatres of the capital during more than ten days, from the 21st of June to the 3rd of July, to devise a unique network of surprises never seen before and to achieve that during the ‘Madrid Mágico 2011’ the art of the conjuring visits each corner of Madrid.

Madrid is famous for its crazy nights but also for remaining faithful to its traditions. Today we tell you the origin of one of the most entrenched of Madrid celebrations that takes place at the Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida (Saint Antonio de la Florida's Chapel).

Robledo de Chavela is famous for hosting the Madrid Deep Space Comunications Complex. But this municipality situated in the Oeste Mountains, half-way between the Guadarrama and the Gredos Mountains, invites you, not only to get closer to the stars, but also to enjoy its architecture, its gastronomy, its landscapes and the peace that you can breathe there.

The Robledo de Chavela's treasures

The old big houses that take many places of this city testify to the historical heritage Robledo de Chavela began to hoard since the eighteenth century, when it overcame its pastoral origins to turn into the seed of what today is.

The facades and the granite walls of the ancestral homes are the main characters of the España and Piedita Squares. There can be seen the emblazoned coats, witnesses of the aristocratic past of this place. The best place to contemplate the Robledo de Chavela’s traditional architecture is the Casa del Cura, located in the España Square.

In these same squares is situated the Town Hall. Former prison, it also opened its doors as a school and as a library some time before to host the City Hall. It is one of the most characteristic buildings of the city.

Although, undoubtedly, the most emblematic building is the Asunción de Nuestra Señora Church, located on the highest point of the downtown and established as a Community of Madrid’s Bien de Interés Cultural (category of the Spanish heritage register). It dates from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Its most valuable piece is the altarpiece, with an Hispano-Flemish aesthetic and 32 planks about the Virgin’s life.

Robleo de Chavela has also three shrines, each one with its own tradition. The Robledillo Hill hosts the San Antonio de Padua Shrine that, during the month of June, celebrates a procession in honour of the saint. From there you can see a rock formation known as the ‘Risco de los Monaguillos’.

Nuestra Señora del Dulce Nombre de María de La Antigua is the name of the second shrine that, each month of August, celebrates its most important festival. Built in the eighteenth century, the building we see today dates from 1971, when it began its reconstruction because the original was damaged and was very small.

The Navahonda Shrine stands very close the Almenara Mountain, among oaks and granite blocks. Four days after the Easter Sunday, it hosts the massive pilmigrage to celebrate the feast of the Navahonda Virgin.

In the outskirts, specifically on the road that goes to Navas del Rey, the visitor can admire the fourteen stops or granite crosses that make up the Via Crucis, also built during the eighteenth century.

An environment to get lost

To get lost and to enjoy the different types of landscapes, that we can find 60km far from the capital. Oaks and pines can be visited while hiking or contemplating them from some of the viewpoints of the area.

Hiking around Robledo de Chavela is possible by following some of the paths that the environment offers: these ones of San Antonio, San Martín or Monteagudillo are just some of the possibilities. You will take from one to two hours to cover one of them. Like this you will come in contact with the nature.

La Cumbrecilla, El Almendro, San Antonio, La Dehesa, Robledillo, La Venta, El Almojón… are some of the viewpoints located in the access roads to the municipality, at places that stand out for the beauty of their views. From these sites you will witness the beauty that surrounds Robledo de Chavela.

The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex

The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex arrived to Robledo de Chavela in 1964 to, with two other bases located in California and Canberra, carry out the tracking of all the vehicles that NASA sends to the space.

It has a visitors centre open from Tuesday to Friday from 10a.m. to 2p.m. for arranged groups and weekends from 10a.m. to 3p.m.

To see a scale model to the Mars Exploration Rover or a suit worn by the astronaut Miguel López Alegría on a space mission are just some of the surprises that you will receive after crossing the doors of the visitor centre.

In its conference hall the main character are the screenings about the space and the three exhibitions hall host an exhibition focused in the activities of the NASA and the MDSCC. It is sure that children will enjoy the close-up view of the antenna of 70m in diameter and 8,500 tonnes which everyday breaks the record of human telecommunications while it comes in contact with the ‘Voyager I’ probe.

Luxury and nature live together at Los Cinco Enebros

Los Cinco Enebros Hotel is located in the outskirts of Robledo de Chavela. Specifically at the number 33 of the Almenara Street, on a small hill, from which marvel at the nature that surrounds it and enjoy few days of rest and relaxation.

Its rooms, a total of 17, have a decor that creates a welcoming atmosphere to make you feel at home. Estándar, Abuhardillada, Superior, Lujo, Suite or Suite Especial: choose the room that best suits your style! All are equipped with mini bar, free Internet access, safety deposit box, hairdryer, bathrobe and air-conditioning.

Relax at the spa as you watch the Oeste Mountains of the Community of Madrid. You can choose different body and facial treatments and try the waterfall, the jacuzzi or the vertical massage.

Besides hiking in the surrounding area, the hotel organizes a wide range of activities for guests. From displays of falconry in which these birds demonstrate their skills to the navigation in the Valmayor reservoir, without forgetting the routes by mountain bike, the archery and the canoeing on the San Juan reservoir.

Mediterranean cuisine in the Madrid Mountains

In the same hotel, the Lavanda restaurant opens its doors from 1.30p.m. to 4p.m. and from the 9p.m. to midnight to make you taste a Mediterranean cuisine elaborated very carefully and with high quality raw materials.

Like this the team led by Rafa Barral achieves that these raw materials were transformed into, for example, creamy rice with urchins and scallops, a suckling pig crystallize at low temperature or a tiramisu. Its sommelier will recommend you one of their Spanish wines or, maybe, one of their exclusive wines of all over the world.

“Sueño” (dream), “libertad” (freedom) and “tú” (you) head the ranking of the most voted Spanish words by over 41.000 Internet users from 118 countries that have gained access to the interactive platform (www.eldiae.es) launched by the Cervantes Institute, on the occasion of the celebration of the Día E (E-Day, the Spanish language day!).