Mad About Madrid

Madrid Suffers Heaviest Snowfall for 20 Years

Madrid has just suffered its heaviest snowfall in over 20 years. Many Madrileños, including my nephew and niece, woke up to find the city covered with snow this morning and most roads and rail networks were affected. In some parts of outlying Madrid some 20 centimetres of snow fell.

It does snow in Madrid in winter, and indeed you can go skiing in the mountains around the city, but it is not normal for this amount of snow to fall. Even though the snow caused accidents and inconvenience, it was an opportunity for some beautiful pictures to be taken of the city. Here is a selection of photos that I have come across:

Impresionante nevada en Madrid - El Mundo
La nieve que vieron los lectores (Readers' Photos) - El Mundo
Postales blancas de Madrid (White postcards), by Carlos Barajas El Mundo
Fotos de España nevada - Terra
Tercer gran temporal de invierno - El Pais

Air Madrid to Operate Flights between Buenos Aires and Madrid

Spain's low cost airline Air Madrid will start flights to Buenos Aires from the 5th March. There will initially be 2 flights on the Airbus A330-200, with the cheapest tickets going for US$399 and Club Class costing US$1569.

Gawker Media references Mad About Madrid

Just had to share this with readers! One of Gawker Media's publications, Gridksipper, today referenced this weblog in an article called Madrid’s Muse. This website is part of Nick Denton's blogging empire and has one or two interesting articles about Madrid (you'll find this site referenced at least once).

My Madrid - Beverley Fearis

Travel journalist Beverley Fearis couldn't resist when she was asked to research and write A Hedonists Guide to Madrid for a new series of guides. She spent two months living in the city, getting to know its every corner by personally checking out all of its best bars, cafes, restaurants, hotels and attractions. She returned to her home in Brighton exhausted but a huge fan of the city, to continue with her freelance travel writing. She writes travel features for various publications, including the Guardian, Observer, Telegraph, Evening Standard, Trip magazine and Business Traveller.

Favourite bar/café? I'm going to have to cheat here and mention two - El Perro (Calle Puebla 14, Malasana) on a Thursday night for its upbeat party crowd, and Delic (Costanilla de San Andres 14) for a hot chocolate and a slice of cake on a Saturday afternoon.
Favourite dish(es)? Definitely the tapas dish, pimientos de padron (salted roasted peppers) which are totally addictive, although the last one always seems to be a red hot firey one that brings tears to my eyes. The best place for them is Taberna Maceira (calle Jesus 7 and Huertas 66).
Favourite tapas? As above.
Favourite restaurant? I checked out lots of fancy restaurants for the guide, but I have to say my favourite was the great value La Musa (Manuela Malasana 18 and also Costanilla de San Andres, La Latina). You might have to wait for a table but it's worth it. Go for the taster dish to share - fried green tomatoes with goat's cheese, hot, creamy croquette potatoes with sour cream and guacamole.

Great Value Madrid - Menú del Día (Menu of the day)

If you're want lunch in Madrid, then you should look out for the excellent value Menú del Día (or menu of the day). Most Spanish bars and restaurants offer the Menú del Día which includes a starter, main course and dessert (or coffee). All three courses offer a variety of plates and they also include a drink, be it a beer, coke or sometimes wine - I have been to many places where a whole bottle is offered! Prices are usually very cheap - between 7 and 15 Euros. You should look out for the 'A' signs (boards) which are displayed outside bars and restaurants for details of what's on offer. Even places like the Café de Oriente offer the Menú del Día for around 12 Euros - I love going to the Bar Alameda on C/ Recoletos where you can get a great meal for 7/8 Euros.

Art Goes Out on the Streets of Madrid

For the next few weeks (until the 27th February), the streets of Madrid will become one big art gallery, where works of art will be displayed outside. The reason is to coincide with Madrid's big Art Fair, ARCO, which takes place from the 10th to 14th February. Buildings, taxis, bus shelters, buses, the Metro and even the trees lining the Paseo del Prado will be covered in works of art. One building to certainly look out for is the Círculo de Bellas Artes (pictured left), which is covered with images of Madrid families from the 1970's.

Brücke - the Birth of German Expressionism at the Thyssen

To coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Brücke foundation, one of the main modernist movements  of the 20th Century, the Thyssen Museum and the Fundación Caja Madrid, are putting on an exhibition titled Brücke, the birth of German Expressionism. In total there are 196 exhibits on show, by artists like Erich Heckel, Fritz Bleyl, Ernst Ludwig Kichner y Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Max Pechstein, Otto Müller and Emile Nolde. The exhibition has eleven themed chapters at his heart, 5 of which are displayed in the Fundación Caja Madrid. The exhibition runs until the 15th May. For more details visit the well-presented online virtual exhibition - it can be viewed in English.

Address
Fundación Caja Madrid - Plaza de San Martín, 1
Thyssen Museum - Paseo del Prado, 8
Entrance Price
Fundación Caja Madrid - Free
Thyssen Museum - 6 Euros for Brücke, 10 Euros for Permanent Collection.

Visitors to this Site Come From

Just before Christmas I placed this script on the website (you'll find it in the right-hand column) which tracks where visitors to this site have come from. So, if you're interested to know from which country visitors to Mad About Madrid have come from, click HitMaps. It's quite a neat little tool.