Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. Residents are called Madrileños.The city is located on the river Manzanares in the center of the country, between the autonomous communities of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha.Madrid is full of green spaces and parkland, in central Madrid the largest park is Parque del Retiro, spreading out to the north-east of Atocha Railway station, which receives the high- speed AVE trains from the south and east as well as Cordoba and Seville.

A former kingdom, Castile  gradually merged with its neighbors to become the Kingdom of Spain. In modern-day Spain, it is usually considered to comprise the regions of Castilla y León in the north-west, and Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid in the center and south of the country. However, there are different versions about the exact boundaries of Castile. Modern Spanish monarchs are numbered according to the system of Castile.