Madrid from the sky: the Moncloa Lighthouse

I am fortunate to live in a city with a lot of history, with a lot of tradition behind it and which is wonderfully well-deserved by a well-deserved slogan, devised in 1992, when it was declared the European Capital of Culture: Madrid.

Precisely, in that same year another of those emblematic buildings was erected, which invite both locals and visitors to know the capital of Spain from a height perspective, sharing, at least in part, that panoramic view that birds have : the Moncloa Lighthouse.

Located in the heart of the University City, this curious construction of 110 meters high, which has the eccentric shape of a flying saucer - a term coined in 1947 by the North American pilot, Kenneth Arnold, after contemplating a supposed squadron flying over Mount Rainier - similar to those others that invaded homes around the world, in countless series B science fiction films, it is another invitation to get to know Madrid in a different and above all, entertaining way.

The building, fully functional and cleared of any furniture, except for a small reception desk, located more or less in its center, as it is supposed that those aforementioned cinematographic dishes should also have it, only serves as a viewpoint.

A viewpoint, which although it does not complete the 360º of its circumference, due to the placement at one of its ends of the panoramic elevators, not recommended for people suffering from vertigo, constitutes an excellent point of view to discover the most significant places in Madrid , both for its notoriety and for its height.

Starting from the closest, such as the aforementioned University City, the Casa de Campo - another of the great natural lungs of the city - the large hospital residences - such as the University Clinical Hospital, La Concepción or the Puerta de Hierro Hospital - there is a splendid panoramic view of the Moncloa Interchange, the Arco de la Victoria –also called Puerta de la Moncloa- and the Ministry of Air, whose shape not only evokes the buildings of that Renaissance Madrid that can be seen in the Plaza de la Villa, in the building that was the old Town Hall, but also, the architectural model on which was based not only the famous monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, ordered to be built by King Felipe II, but also the model that they took as a basis great palaces and royal residences, such as that of the Granja de San Ildefonso.

And of course, a magnificent view of even taller buildings, such as Telefónica, located in the heart of Gran Vía, the Torre de Madrid and the Hotel Ríu, in the Plaza de España, the famous Pirulí de O'donnell - headquarters of the facilities of Radio Televisión Española, to which the singers Víctor Manuel and Ana Belén dedicated a song entitled 'From the Pirulí you see a country'- or the formidable Torres KIO, whose dark color they can remember, letting themselves be carried away by their imagination, the towers of Mordor and even, no less notable and important buildings, such as the Almudena Cathedral and the Royal Palace.

I hope you enjoyed your visit. And remember: from Madrid to heaven.

NOTICE: Both the text and the photographs that accompany it, as well as the video that illustrates it, are my exclusive intellectual property and therefore are subject to my Copyright.

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