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From Madrid to heaven through Instagram. La Villa y Corte has a new point to take a spectacular photo, share it on social networks and start an admiring "Wow. Where are you?". This is the glass walkway suspended in the air at 117 meters high that crowns the brand new Riu Plaza hotel in Spain . Not suitable for those who suffer from vertigo, the sensation of stepping on this transparent corridor that seems to hang in a vacuum and that joins the two parts of the terrace is that of walking through the sky of Madrid.

Since the hotel opened its doors a couple of weeks ago , the small queues at this point of the emblematic skyscraper of the capital are almost constant to take a picture of the moment in the Villa and Court. Since morning, there are well-equipped camera and mobile customers in hand. A hotel employee, mopa in hand, is responsible for cleaning that transparent floor so that the footsteps of Madrid, Andalusian, French, Chinese, Americans do not dazzle the photographs. On one side of the walkway you can read a good size #riuplazadeespana.

The digital era and the trend have burst with remarkable notoriety very close to the statue of Quijote and Sancho, in a building loaded with history that was once the tallest tower in Europe. It was built by the Metropolitan Real Estate Company between 1948 and 1953, under the direction of the brothers Julián and José María Otamendi. With almost 120 meters high, it was made entirely of concrete, which allowed to build the skyscraper on different levels of terraces.

Their functional inspiration was found in the high towers of the high American skyscrapers, conceived as small self-sufficient cities with different functions: a hotel as an emblem, commercial premises and homes. The building was a symbol of modernity of the Spain of the time and has had different fate in recent years until its recent reopening as a four-star hotel under the Mallorcan brand Riu.

Ten years in disuse and different owners in this decade: Metrovacesa, Banco Santander and the Chinese group Wanda. The latter managed to get the team of Mayor Ana Botella to reduce the legal protection of the emblematic building to try to undertake a greater draft reform respecting only the dated. After a long controversy, and given the impossibility of making a new account and blur, Wanda leaves the project and the building is acquired from the Baraka group by Riu, with the intention of making the iconic property of the Plaza de España his first urban hotel in the country and one of its flagships .

Under this new stage, not only the protected elements have been respected, but they also take a leading role in the noble areas of the hotel. The lobby has expanded and retains its famous golden doors as well as the name printed on the window with the same typeface of the fifties .

If the selfie and photo to share on social networks prevail on the roof, on the ground floor you can breathe an elegant, slightly retro 50s atmosphere and a scent of the New York of those years. Its characteristic green marble has been maintained and some original elements have been rescued to give it a decorative use: the bas-reliefs, one of the telephone booths and an original elevator panel where it is observed that the building never had a 13th floor, an idea that has been respected in this stage. There is also no room with this number.

The 'skybar' of the 26th and 27th floors is aptly called From Madrid to the sky and allows a 360 degree tour over that Madrid of the red roofs of neighboring Reyes Street, the Four Towers, the West Park, the House de Campo, the Palacio de Oriente, Gran Vía and even the Sierra de Guadarrama. It is the perfect place to see the Plaza de España under construction and it has undoubtedly become one of the best panoramic terraces in Madrid. The construction of the catwalk allows a 360 degree view of what was previously lacking. The terrace has a separate entrance and can be accessed by non-hotel guests.

Access from 10 in the morning until 6 in the afternoon is 5 euros (which are deducted from consumption) for non-residents and from that time until 1 in the morning doubles the price. It also has a disco in the heights with certain winks to the Madrid movement. The hotel has 585 rooms, which makes it one of the largest in a Spanish city and the largest in the center of Madrid. It has a gym, outdoor pool on the 21st floor, a restaurant and a lobby bar.

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