The clock at Madrid's Puerta del Sol leads Spain's famous New Year's Eve grape-eating countdown.
Puerta del Sol is a historic public square in central Madrid and one of the city's most recognizable gathering places. Its clock tower became nationally prominent because Spanish television broadcasts its midnight chimes on December 31. Viewers eat one grape with each of the twelve main chimes, following the timing from the square.
The square's name means “Gate of the Sun,” although the former city gate itself no longer survives. Puerta del Sol also contains the famous Kilometer Zero plaque, which marks the conventional starting point for measuring Spain's radial roads.
The countdown is sometimes described simply as the “Madrid clock,” but the landmark hosting the clock is Puerta del Sol. It is distinct from Barcelona's Sagrada Família and Granada's Alhambra, two other internationally famous Spanish attractions that do not lead this national New Year's ritual.