Madrid & Surroundings Travel Adventures [electronic resource]

The autonomous community of Madrid occupies the geographical center of Spain. With over three million people, Madrid is the bull's-eye on this mostly dry, rolling high plain that is part of the expansive Meseta Central characterizing much of the province and the country around it. The city's elevation, at 2,100 feet above sea level, makes it the highest European capital and the one with the most startling climatic extremes. The Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains, a great mass of granite rising in the north, is a continuation of the country's central mountain range, the Cordillera Central. Just a