Spain's televised New Year's Eve clock chimes traditionally take place at Madrid's Puerta del Sol.
The square is one of Madrid's central public spaces and contains the clock on the former post office building, now the headquarters of the Community of Madrid. On December 31, crowds watch the clock and try to eat twelve grapes in time with the twelve midnight chimes. National television broadcasts make the moment a shared event throughout Spain.
Puerta del Sol is also known for the plaque marking Kilometre Zero, the conventional starting point for measuring Spain's radial roads. That geographic role is separate from its New Year's importance, but both make the square a highly recognizable national landmark.
The clock's chimes are sometimes described as twelve identical sounds, but Spanish broadcasts distinguish preparatory signals, or cuartos, from the actual twelve chimes. The grapes are meant to follow the main chimes, not the preliminary quarter signals.