Sunday 29 June 2014

Letters

I noticed a recurring theme across the stalls of the DecorAcción market, letters for decoration. Whether they were painted wooden ones or heavy steel ones lined with light bulbs. I thought, it taking place in Barrio de las Letras ('borough of the letters'), a post focussed around these letters could be cool.









Sunday 22 June 2014

Dodgy menus in Valencia, Valencia

Looking through my Valencia photos I came across these gems. An important part of the year abroad is to develop translation skills...

We have sangría or 'bleeding',


and margarita or 'daisy',


Z A R A

Zara and its Spanish prices together are one of the main advantages of being in Spain for me. I'm not even kidding.

I waited for the opening of the new Zara flagship store on Serrano with anticipation. And then, lo and behold, in April it was revealed from behind the enormous boards.
It's massive, with 5000m² between six floors, five of which are open to the public. Definitely worth a visit; both for the selection of clothes, there'll be that shirt you were looking at, sold out almost everywhere in your size, and to take a look at what they've done to the place. The façade is intact, fitting in beautifully with the rest of the block on Calle Serrano. However, the interior was clearly completely gutted, modernising and Zara-ising it with litres of white paint, escalators and a million hangers.

Be warned, the queues for changing rooms and to pay are preetty long but it is a Madrid experience.



Along with the photo I took one night in April, I thought I'd add a photo from the inside which I found on Google to give you more of an idea,

Monday 16 June 2014

"En la luna de Valencia"

I chose this expression as the title for my blog post just because I like it and it refers to Valencia (the subject of this post). I don't know where the expression comes from but it means to be despistado (distracted, absent-minded, away with the fairies). So there you go, a tid bit of Spanish knowledge on a Monday.

We went to Valencia in May, on the lovely puente those of us in Madrid get, where you have the Thursday and Friday off. It's a four day weekend so we thought we'd make the most of this time off to go to Madrid's nearest beaches, Valencia. Dafydd came down from Barcelona (look out for my post on when we visit him there, coming up this week), and Maria and I took a quick ride on the AVE.


My musts for a quick trip to Valencia (in no particular order):

  • The cathedral - very interesting audio guide included in the entry price and you can also go up the tower but we chose to go up Torres de Serrans for a view over the city
  • The Lonja de la seda - a UNESCO world heritage site
  • The Torres de Serranos - not for those with a fear of heights
  • Tapas and going out in Barrio del Carmen
  • The Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias - we just went for a look around but if you have more time and money, I've heard the aquarium is incredible
  • The port - we were there off-season so it was pretty eery but I imagine a lot of fun on summer evenings
  • Playa de la Malvarrosa - we chose to stay close to here for maximum beach time and there is whole host of restaurants lining the beach next to the port, buzzing both day and night
  • Eat paella and fartons, and drink both agua de Valencia and horchata 
And this is my blog after all, where would we be without photos to back up my recommendations,





La catedral,


El mercado,


 La Lonja,

Ceiling vs. floor,






A Feria Andaluza we stumbled across,






And here are a few photos just to prove I was actually there!






Friday 13 June 2014

Fútbol

Though I'm English, after being in Spain for the last world cup and enjoying that atmosphere, La Roja (the Spanish team) will always be my second team.

Enjoy Spain's game tonight everyone!


Above is the Buena Energía song and video by Maldita Nerea with some players (Casillas <3) promoting the good energy that the team encourages.

Wednesday 11 June 2014

"Como pan comido"

The name of this place is Pan Comido. It's on Lagasca on the corner with General Oraa therefore it really is so close and easy to get to for me, hence my choice of the expression "como pan comido" as a title, meaning the equivalent of "a piece of cake".

It only opened recently, but just in time for Maria to discover it and recommend that we go there for one of her last breakfasts. She has gone now (I cry) but I will go back to the little bakery-café because they have the softest butter croissants.



I miss you, compi de piso,


Tuesday 10 June 2014

Found it

As I mentioned in my post on the Aristocrazy event, I was looking for the Lomography photos and here the Facebook album is.

I'll put up one photo here as a taster of what you'll see. This one is taken with the Fisheye 2 (the same camera I have) but there are others taken with different cameras and on different films.

There's actually a promotional party sponsored by Jameson tonight at Madrid's Lomography store on Argensola, by Alonso Martínez. I need to develop some film anyway so might head over. We'll see.


Monday 9 June 2014

Aristolomo Aristolovely

Oh hey, that's me on the Aristocrazy Facebook page! On the 29th May my friend Carmen, whose flatmate Paula works for the brand, invited me to Aristohour to launch the second issue of style magazine Lovely at the Aristocrazy in el Jardin de Serrano. I brought Maria, who was on the look out for something from Aristocrazy as a way to remember Madrid. 

We crowded into Aristocrazy on that Thursday afternoon, everyone dressed to impress, with the cocktails flowing - albeit very slowly - and music for us to bop along too as we chatted and had a look at this season's pieces.

This Aristohour was sponsored by Licor 43, which makes a great cocktail with lime and ginger ale served over ice, 






All dolled up,


The fashion blogger Dulceida did the DJ set,


The event was also sponsored by Lomography, the amazing brand of cool film cameras - remember, I own one. Some staff went around snapping with a set of golden Lomography cameras, and there was a chance to win this beauty. I wonder when and where they'll publish they're photos, once developed. If you know, let me know.

100% Puro

I've actually had a weekend full of mercadillos with my sister and her boyfriend. I'll tell you about them in due course but for now, a market Maria and I found last weekend across the street from Mama Framboise where we were picking up some cakes.

It's a pop-up market called 100% Puro Market, in an old factory, open from Thursday to Sundays each weekend until the 29th June, by Alonso Martínez metro. It's small but full of clothes, furniture, accessories, even food, and there's a bar and an eclectic mix of chairs.