Mad About Madrid

Passing Themselves Off As Mad About Madrid

I was pretty peeved yesterday when I saw that someone was using Google AdWords to try, in my mind, to pass themselves off as Mad About Madrid. Have a look for yourselves on Google - all you've got to do is type in the words: "mad about madrid" into Google. And please let me know when they stop this practice!

9 Propuestas for Summer, 2006

   

Tour of Madrid in August

From the 17th August to 31st August, 2006 I will be organising walking tours of Madrid. They are designed to take people on tours of some of my favourite Madrid haunts, from streets, buildings, plazas, parks, museums and, possibly, a couple of bars! The plan is for the the tours to last around 3-4 hours and will include a couple of refreshment stops.

My intention is to take people to places that they would never have thought of going and to give valuable advice on how to make your stay in Madrid the best possible. This advice will include useful tips and advice which you can use for the rest of your stay in Madrid, from events, venues, bars, restaurants, ways to save money and excursions.

The dates and times are quite flexible and prices will cost 60 Euros, a deposit required beforehand. I envisage that groups will be quite small (probably no more than 5 people) and suggest you email me to book your place.

Advert from Turismo Comunidad de Madrid

I quite like this advert from Turismo Comunidad de Madrid. With the strapline El cielo, la tierra, Madrid, tu mundo - The sky, the earth, Madrid, your world - and with music from the Kings of Convenience playing in the background it gives the tourist a 4 minute journey around Madrid and its surroundings.

Just sit back and enjoy!

Hat tip to: TV Spot

Madrid's Popular Local Dishes, Recipes, Foods and Places to Eat

For those who don't yet know - and there may be some - Madrid is one fantastic, gastronomic experience. Putting aside the Italian, Mexican, Chinese and Thai restaurants that most major cities have, Madrid offers some of the very best "Spanish" restaurants that you will find in Spain.

The costas of Spain may well be renowned for frozen, packaged and processed food but in Madrid some of the only places that dish this sort of food up are the foreign, American burger and fast food joints. Interestingly, one of Spain's top chefs, Ferrán Adriá, opened a new fast food concept called "Fast Good" just over 2 years ago - the idea being to offer fresh, quality, fast food.

I don't have much experience of other capital cities but I do know that Madrid offers a very broad selection of regional food from around the country: from Basque and Galician to Valencian, Andalucian and Madrileño.

Here are some starting points for those who want to sample 'local' cuisine.

EsMadrid offers its guide to Madrileñan cooking, though admittedly it is all in Spanish. Here you can find some of the Madrid region's favourite dishes: Cocido Madrileño (stew), Callos a la Madrileña (sort of tripe with beans), Sopa de Ajo (garlic soup), Tortilla de Patata (no need to translate), Bacalao a la Madrileña (Salted Cod in a sauce) and Potaje de Garbanzos (chick pea stew). The guide even includes recipes and points you in the direction of some typical Madrileñan bars/restaurants, like Malacatín, La Bola, La Posada de la Villa, Don Cocido, Casa Carola and L a Taberna de Daniela.

This site also has some good suggestions about 'asadores' (grill houses) where you can eat the culinary delights of the Basque-Navarre and Castilian regions. Some of suggestions are plain mouth-watering: suckling pig, bream, Basque Hake, sardines and cod, with many of the suggested restaurants frequented by film, sporting and political celebrities.

NOTE: Some of EsMadrid's pages don't work too well in Firefox (like the one above) and you will have to use Internet Explorer to view them!!!

Spain.info is the Spanish Tourist Board website, and a very good one it is, too. The site offers its guide to both food products and dishes from the Madrid region, including:

Olives from Campo Real
Chinchón White Garlic
Anis from Chinchón
Beef from the Guadarrama Mountains
Asparagus from Aranjuez
Madrid virgin olive oil

and some popular dishes from the region:

Garlic soup
Madrid 'cocido' (meat, potato and chickpea stew)
Madrid 'Torrijas'  (bread pudding)
Madrid tripe
Madrid-style baked red bream
Potato omelette

It also has some suggestion, taken from the Campsa Guide of places where you can eat.

By the way if you'd like to try out some of the recipes of Spain's most famous 'TV' chef, Karlos Arguiñano, I would suggest you visit his website: La cocina de Karlos Arguiñano, where you will find at least a few hundred Spanish recipes - be aware it is all in Spanish!

Madrid Challenge
Try not to eat or drink in any of the international chains: Mc Donald's, Starbucks, Burger King, Pizza Hut, etc. The food will be much better and at least you will be immersing yourself in the local culture and food.

Related Articles
Fast Good a new fast food concept opens in Madrid

Madrid Features in New Coke Ad

I was watching an advert on British TV last night  when, suddenly, images of Madrid flashed across the screen. It would appear that the latest advert (only in the UK?) for Coke Zero features some of the prominent buildings of Madrid's business district. I saw Madrid's Torre Picasso and one of the bridges which spans the Castellana. Let me know of any other buildings you recognise.

NOTE: This is not an endorsement of Coke Zero, which contains Aspartame amongst other things. Here are some interesting links:

MP calls for ban on 'unsafe' sweetener
Aspartame: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
EU to Reexamine Safety of Aspartame Artificial Sweetener

I think I'll get off my soapbox now!

Ramón Durán Photo Shoot Madrid

For quite some time I have been aware of, and admired, the photographic work of Ramón Durán, through the popular website Flickr. Ramón is a doctor and urology specialist who works at one of Madrid's hospitals. In his spare time he takes some quite stunning photos. Here are a selection of his Madrid photos which he has edited using HDR (High Dynamic Range Imaging). Clicking on them will take you to Ramón's photos on Flickr, where you can get descriptions on the photos and how he created them.

       

Vegetarian Restaurants in Madrid

Last week El Mundo offered a selection of some of its favourite vegetarian restaurants in Madrid. If you can't read, or can't be bothered to read in Spanish, here is the gist of what they had to say.

Al Natural. Price around 20€. Metro: Banco de España. Just behind the Congress, their most popular dishes are stuffed aubergines and leeks with brie.

Artemisa. Around 25€. Metro: Sevilla Run by Óscar Castro since 1990.
Their most popular dish is Farah Diba, made from mushrooms stuffed with paté, asparagus, aubergines and gouda cheese.

Ecocentro. Price around 20€. Metro: Rios Rosas/Cuatro Caminos. At this restaurant you can enjoy tabuleh with pesto seasoning or baked tofus - they also have a shop where you can buy vegetarian products. The Ecocentro Website for this establishment details all the menus for each day of the week.

El Estragón. Prices around 30€. Metro: La latina.
A tavern-restaurant which offers, amongst other things, soya meatballs, whole and paella of brown rice and gluten escalopes.

La Galette. Prices from 20 €. Metro: Colón.
El Mundo says that it is "perfect for romantic, candlelit dinners". The apple croquets sound interesting at this venue.

La Isla del Tesoro. Prices around 20€. Metro: Bilbao. Given the name of the place, Treasure Island in English, customers feel like they're in a pirate movie! Boletus (mushroom) ravioli and sorbet of mojito (apparently a Cuban drink) are on offer.

Vegetarian Art. Price 20€. Metro: Ibiza. Designed to look like an echanted wood, with gnomes and elves, Vegetarian Art offers dried fruit croquets, pastas and rices.

Festival of San Lorenzo de El Escorial Opens

On the 3rd July, 2006 the Teatro Auditorio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial will open its doors, coinciding with the inaugural Festival de San Lorenzo de El Escorial. For those who don't know San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a town situated around 45 kilometres outside Madrid, at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountain Range, and  home of the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. The complex houses a palace, monastery, library and museum and was built by King Phillip II of Spain. Its Royal Pantheon contains the remains of most of Spain's rulers from the last 5 centuries.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a quiet town set in beautiful surroundings and is the ideal retreat for Madrileños wanting to get away from the intense heat of Madrid. It is also the new home of the Festival de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, whose ambitions extend to being the premier event of its kind in Southern Europe. Judging by the headline performers this year, they could quite easily achieve that in a short period of time.

Here is a breakdown of the top international and national artists appearing from the 3rd July until the 1st August, 2006.

Ricardo Mutti opens the festival with works from Giuseppe Verdi played by Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

The English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner perform Mozart on the 4th July.

The Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, under the direction of Víctor Pablo Pérez, play Mozart and Martín y Soler on the 13th and 14th July.

Rinaldo Alessandrini and his Concerto Italiano dedicates the 18th July to a session of Monteverdi madrigals.

On the 7th, 8th and 9th July the Royal Ballet Covent Garden under the choreography of Kenneth MacMillan and two (rare Spanish) performances by Tamara Rojo (on the 7th and 8th July), perform Romeo and Juliet.

The London Symphony Orchestra and the Comunidad de Madrid Choir, under the direction of Sir Colin Davis, perform Mozart's Opera, the Magic Flute on the 20th, 22nd and 24th July.

For lovers of Zarzuela, there's an opportunity to see the Orchestra and Choir of the Community of Madrid perform Noche de Verano en la Verbena de la Paloma on the 30th and 31st July and the 1st August.

Related Articles
Festival of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (official website).
San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Valle de los Caidos, an article published a couple of years back on this site.
Un festival nuevo para un teatro de estreno (published in El Mundo's Metropoli magazine).
Ópera, ballet y zarzuela para inaugurar el teatro de El Escorial (interesting article from El Pais)