Drawing From Nature                                Fine Art Drawings by      Philip J. Leonard iii

The Puerto del Sol (Door to the Sun) is one of the main plazas in Old Madrid. We stayed in a hotel right on the plaza the first two nights in Spain. The mass of humanity that comes and goes through this center during the day and evening is simply astounding. Statues and monuments abound as do restaurants and pubs. The city of Madrid has the highest concentration of restaurants, pubs and bars in the world. I was right at home!

This is the Peurto de Alcala, built in the 18th century as a gateway to the city. It bears the scars of the Spanish civil war, pock-marked with the memory of machine gun fire. It is in the Plaza Independencia that this great gate stands and directly across from the Parque del Retiro, a typical grand park in the Victorian style from the 19th century containing tree-lined boulevards, gardens, cafes, ponds and grand statues.