Mad About Madrid

Madrid's Retiro Park In The Snow (January 2009)

Here are some beautiful pictures of Madrid's Retiro Park, completely covered in snow.

Enjoy!

Imagenes de la nevada en El Retiro, Madrid, 9 enero 2009

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: retiro nevada)

Looking For Collaborators For Mad About Madrid

As many of you will have noticed this website has not had many articles published of late!! This has purely been down to the fact that I have dedicated ALL my time to building my consultancy and training company, Marketing Tom Media.

However, in 2009 I plan to change the whole direction of Mad About Madrid and intend to turn it into one of the most exciting travel blogs on the web. It will feature video blogging, Google mashups and a number of Social Media tools.

In order to make this happen I require the help of collaborators from within and outside Madrid. They will have an understanding and love of the city and be willing to write articles, take photos and even add videos.

If you would like to help me realise the potential of Mad About Madrid and make some money along the way, please get in touch with me. I will be in Madrid from the 26th December for 10 days if you'd like to meet up for a coffee (or a beer!).

Google Honour the Birth of Diego Velázquez

The good people of Google have created a Google Doodle out of Velázquez's "Las Meninas" to honour the birth of the great Spanish painter. For those who don't know, the painting can be found in Madrid's Prado Museum.

Suma Flamenca - Flamenco Festival Hits Madrid

For the third year running Suma Flamenca hits the streets of Madrid with a mixture of music, dance, cinema, poetry and exhibitions across not just Madrid Centre but the whole of the Madrid Community. Artists who are appearing include: Estrella Morente, Carmen Linares, Arcángel, Pitingo, Serranito, Miguel Poveda, Eva Yerbabuena and La Moneta. More information can be found on the Suma Flamenca and EsMadrid sites. The festival runs from the 17th May to the 15th June, 2008.

Mad About Madrid Resumes

If you're a regular visitor to this site you will have seen that postings have been a little on the thin side recently!!

I have not posted to this site since February 28th, 2008 - that's 3 months without posting!

Why?

Because I have been developing my own Internet Marketing Training and Consultancy Business in Cardiff, Wales. Over this time I have managed to achieve Accredited Centre status from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, delivered an eMarketing training programme in Jakarta, rolled out some Social Media Marketing courses and done much consultancy. If any of this interests you head over to Marketing Tom Media , otherwise stick with Mad About Madrid

Marketing Tom Media has taken up much of my time over the last few months and shortly I will be working taking the big step to work full-time for my own business. Cool! For those who are REALLY interested, please take a look at the courses I run such as the eMarketing Award and Social Media Marketing Courses.

However, I am going to start to focus some of my newfound time on Mad About Madrid and make it THE best resource for information on Madrid on the web.

My Madrid - Rosa Jiménez Cano

Rosa Jiménez Cano has lived in Madrid since she was a child. She lived in Coslada, a neighbourhood of Madrid, until she finshed Secondary School but once she started university she discovered that "I just slept in Coslada... But I lived in Madrid, the city I love. Right now, I'm moving to a new flat in Tablas de Montecarmelo in the north of the city."

Rosa works as a journalist in El Pais, although she is also known as a blogger. Her interests are reading, internet, photos, travelling, and journalism, and she maintains and co-writes for a number of sites: Les Cent Jours, Periodismo Ciudadano, Ahora Bolivia... With a friendo Paco Polo she has just published a book about blogs, called "La Gran Guía de los Blogs 2008". Rosa intends to make this a yearly edition, telling people what has happened in the blogosphere every year and explaining who's who in, as she puts it "the tiny but pretty world."

This is her Madrid:

What is your favourite bar/Café? La Bardemcilla en Chueca, it's a great place to stay and chat with friends. Tapas has a "home made" taste difficult to find.

What is your favourite dish? A kind of little beans called "Carillas" but just my granma's secret recipe. ;) I don't any restaurant that cooks them. It's a shame.

What is your favourite tapas? Bravas, and they're always a surprise. It depends on the bar you can find a different style. I love them.

What is your favourite restaurant? Picanha,they hace just five or six different dishes, but all them, specially meat picanha tastes so natural and high quality. The service is reakky kind. All them are from Brazil.

What is your favourite shop? Well, more than a shop is a megastore: fnac. But I'm sure it has to be banned. I do always fall and buy a gadget I don't need there.

What is your favourite season? Summer. Definitely, summer in Madrid is great. You have the best of the city with places to leave your car, open air cinema and loads of "terrazas" to have a drink with friends.

What is your favourite barrio? Centro. I love walking in the city. Well, my best friends live between Moncloa and Chamberí, so, i go there very often.

What is your favourite building? The "Metropolis" one, between Gran Vía and Calle Alcalá.

A perfect 'night out' in Madrid would ....be any night, you never know what it's going to happen.

What is your favourite walk? From Atocha to Cibeles, and the all gran vía until Callao. Then Puerta del Sol, and a final walk to Plaza Mayor.

What is your favourite Spanish-related book? La Tesis de Nancy, by Ramón J. Sender, funny and wel written. It's about a young English girl who comes to study in Franco's Spain. She finds lots of cultural changes.

Best Day Trip: Mmm, really  difficult to answer. Toledo or Salamanca, Both are great cities.

What does Madrid mean to you? The place where I'd like to finish my days.

A piece of advice for visitors: Let it happen!

Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas From Mad About Madrid

Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Nadolig LLawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Joyeux Noël et bonne année!

New Year's Eve in Madrid

I have been asked this question so many times now, that I thought I would display the answer on the site. I would also welcome suggestions by other people on the subject, which is:

What can I do and where can I go on New Year's Eve in Madrid?

This is what I normally end up doing if I find myself in Madrid with my wife, her family and our friends.

Many places in Madrid have private parties on that night - especially the nightclubs. Tickets are not that bad - around 40-60 Euros. However, I have only once been to one of these places and I would personally recommend that you do the following: Have a late dinner in a nice restaurant, preferably near the centre of the city as you don't want to be catching the Metro (I do believe it closes for an hour or two). Try and finish around 11.15  - 11.30. Head as near to the Puerta del Sol as you can. Make sure you buy yourselves a bottle of Cava (Spanish champagne) - I would personally ask the waiter in the previous restaurant to keep it chilled for you. You also need to buy twelve grapes and make sure that you eat them on the stroke of each chime at 12 midnight.

I would then head over to Plaza Santa Ana where you will find plenty of nightlife - and in the nearby streets such as calle Huertas. Try the Moderna, Cerveceria Alemana and Naturbier. You may want to explore the bars around c/ Principe, such as Viva Madrid.  Don't be alarmed if the bars are closed - this does happen as it gives waiters and bar staff the chance to celebrate with their families. They will open at least by 1 am!

And finally, try and have a cup of chocolate in Cafeteria San Gines - preferably around 6 or 7 in the morning.

These are just some quick thoughts and I would welcome suggestions from other people on where to go in Madrid on New Year's Eve. Simply add a comment below.

La Bruja (The Witch) at the Teatro de la Zarzuela

According to Wikipedia, Zarzuela

is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance. The name derives from a Royal hunting lodge, the Palacio de la Zarzuela near Madrid, where this type of entertainment was first presented to the court. There are two main forms of zarzuela: Baroque zarzuela (c.1630–1750), the earliest style, and Romantic zarzuela (c.1850–1950), which can be further divided into two, main sub-genres of género grande and género chico although other sub-divisions exist.

Well, if you enjoy opera and can understand Spanish quite well, and you're in Spain over the next couple of weeks, you could be in for a festive treat. The 150-year old Teatro de la Zarzuela is putting on one of the best works of the well-known (in Spain anyway!) composer Ruperto Chapi, La Bruja. If your Spanish is a little rusty and you would like to get the gist of what goes on, here's a site that will offer you some advice. Alternatively, you can download the complete synopsis (pdf), in English and Spanish from the Teatro de la Zarzuela website. As someone whose musical tastes are quite varied, I would certainly recommend seeing this unique Spanish experience.

Dates
14th December, 2007 - 20th January, 2008

Location
Teatro de la Zarzuela,  Jovellanos, 4
Metro: Sevilla

Oh Baby it's Cold Inside!

What happens if you put 250 tonnes of ice, 54 ice and snow artists and empty space in Madrid together?

Take a look at the video on this page to find out.

If you fancy going there, you will also find an ice rink and a couple of giant nativity scenes, amongst other things. The area is probably the heart of Madrid's business district and has a number of shopping centres nearby.

Location
Azca (Metro: Nuevos Ministerios)