The Palace has had a long and varied life.
The Palace Hotel under construction in 1912.
Madrid is celebrating the bath today, because the Palace Hotel in
Madrid was the first European hotel with an en-suite bathroom, and that
was 100 years ago.Since then the hotel has been witness to the attempted coup on February 23 1981, and has served as a hospital, and a political home.
The building was completed on October 1912.
It was King Alfonso XIII who ordered the building to be built in 1911 to solve the lack of accommodation in Madrid and in a record 18 months the doors were opened.
In the twenties the Palace was at the centre of the Madrid night-life with dry martinis being drunk under a large glass dome, and couples liked to dance between the columns of Rotonda Restaurant which still remains in service today.
But the night-life at the Palace saw the piano go silent with the arrival of the Civil War. The Republican Government reserved a floor for the Soviet Embassy, and the rest of the building was converted into a hospital, with the rooms becoming infirmaries and halls and corridors becoming operating rooms.
The hotel saw the visits of Europeans with high incomes, but that coincided with the years of hunger.
Things recovered in the late 40’s and 50’s when grand fortunes fled the Second World War and the rooms filled with people in exile and spies.
When Spain turned to democracy, the hotel almost became a political institution. It was the headquarters for journalists, and government formed after the coup.
The hotel guest list includes Einstein, the Dalai Lama and Bruce Springsteen and was an inspiration for Ernest Hemingway.
I wonder how many times they changed the plumbing in the last 100 years.
Hoy arranca la Ruta de Tapas y Cócteles 2012 en San Javier, que
se celebra con motivo de las fiestas patronales, en la que participan
36 establecimiento que ofrecen tapas y bebida por 2 euros, o
sofisticados cócteles por 3 euros, hasta el 6 de diciembre.
El Taller de Ballet de la concejalía de Cultura del Ayuntamiento de
San Javier representa el musical "La Bella y la Bestia" el sábado 10 de
noviembre a las 19:00h. en el centro sociocultural "Príncipe de
Asturias" de Santiago de la Ribera, programado por la concejalía de
Cultura. Las entradas se pondrán a la venta en la taquilla del teatro
antes del comienzo de la representación.
29-10-2012 07:29 
