June 2008


This article/slideshow proposes an excellent tour of Madrid based on the life and art of Francisco Goya. Don’t forget to also visit the Prado Museum, home to many of Goya’s best known works.

The La Carte des Vins is a nice little wine shop on the Vasquez de Mella Square, with a good selection of Spanish wines, and a few imported ones. I nice alternative to shopping at El Corte Ingles.

    photo of  {$surname}
    La Carte des Vins
    Calle Infantas 16
    Madrid , Madrid , 28004 Spain
    +34 91 522 85 17
    Map of La Carte des Vins
    Yahoo Map - Live Map


I strolled by Tepic today, saw the menu which looked good, and the atmosphere looked very chueca-modern. I didn’t get a chance to try it, but if you have, I’d be interested to hear what you thought about it.

Update: I finally managed to go to this place and here’s my verdict: the food was pretty good, closer to real mexican food that most of it competitors, including decent real corn tortillas, friendly service and a pretty extensice tequila menu. My main gripe is the price. Sure its a step up from the usual mexican joint, and a more elegant etc, but its also more than twice as expensive.

    photo of  {$surname}
    Tepic: urban mex restaurant
    calle Pelayo 4
    Madrid , Madrid , 28004 Spain
    +34 91 522 08 50
    Map of Tepic: urban mex restaurant
    Yahoo Map - Live Map



The sign on the door says ‘Drink, Eat and Take Home the Furniture’. The idea is that you do just that, by buying the table you’ve eaten at or the copy designer chair you sat on during your meal. This place is conceived to make you feel your in a trendy restaurant in NY. Bare brick, bare wooden/metal beams, the menu written in chalk on blackboards and the staff ann dressed in black. It works pretty well, the space is very open, large windows, which are open in summer, and tables on the plaza Carlos Cambronero mean you can sit comfortably inside or out. The bar is a nice place for a drink if that’s all your after. As far as the furniture, I thought some of it was quite nice, but I’ve no idea if the prices are reasonable or not. Still it’s a nice idea you actually get to try a chair or table before buying it.

Where this place falls a little short is the food itself, which was a little disappointing. The menu’s a little too eclectic including things like thai soup, nachos, burghers or filet steak with french fries covered in truffle oil. More importantly the food wasn’t as good as I felt it could be. There’s a decent and not too expensive wine menu and a few wines which can be had be the glass. Our meal, in which we shared 2 starters and a main course, had a couple of glasses if wine each, 1 desert and coffee came to 25 euros per person.

Overall I’d reccommend this place. I suspect the food could improve, as it’s only been open for about a month, and in madrid getting even decent food in a terraza is worth recommending. If your a tourist looking for the authentic spanish-tapas experience, this is not the place but if you’re looking for a decent place in a pleasant modern atmosphere including the possibility to sit outdoors then this is a good choice.

    photo of  {$surname}
    Restaurante Lamucca
    Plaza Carlos Cambronero 4
    Madrid , Madrid , 28004 Spain
    +34 91 521 00 00
    Map of Restaurante Lamucca
    Yahoo Map - Live Map


The 33rd edition of the festival that livens up Madrid’s summer season will take place between July 1 and August 24.

Patio del Centro Cultural Conde Duque, the Sabatini Gardens, Teatro Fernán Gómez, Teatro Español, Teatro Circo Price or Naves del Español at Matadero Madrid, as well as the capital’s streets and squares, will once again accommodate music, theatre, dance, circus, zarzuela, puppets or films.

See program

From June 4th to July 27th, Madrid will be hosting 69 photography exhibitions as part of PHotoEspaña PHotoEspaña is back in Madrid. With the theme “El lugar” (The Place), this Festival of Photography and Visual Arts will once again turn the city into a living celebration of photography. All participating photographers, both in the Official Section and the Off Section will face, one way or the other, their visual idea of a “place”.

Amongst the most awaited exhibitions is the one by Bill Brandt. The Home, at Sala de Exposiciones AZCA (Paseo de la Castellana, 81) at the BBVA building. For the first time in Spain, this mythical photographer is showing the series of portraits of the British working class that he took during the 1930’s and 40’s.

Fundación Banco Santander is hosting an exhibition at Teatro Fernán Gómez (Plaza de Colón, 4) with the photographic work by W. Eugene Smith, much of which has been published in Life magazine. The works by this American author show a sincere social commitment.

The ghetto in Lodz, during the Nazi invasion of Poland, is the place chosen time and again by Henryk Ross’s objective, as can be seen in the photographs in the exhibition held at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Contemporary Art Museum, Conde Duque, 9 and 11) under the title Buried Memories.

Museo Reina Sofía (Santa Isabel, 52) also brings two classics: Leonardo Cantero, member of the school of Madrid, whose series Dehesa abulense is a beautiful testimony of the rural world in the 1960’s, and Robert Smithson, one of the most significant figures of Land Art, through which he transforms natural spaces.

Furthermore, PHotoEspaña 08 becomes a springboard for emerging photographers. Descubrimientos PHE will be showing, at Complejo El Águila (Ramírez de Prado, 3) 70 portfolios selected amongst the participants of this contest for young up-and-coming artists. On the other hand, on June 13th La noche de la fotografía (Photography Night) will flood the streets with Canon’s PHotomarathon, Camper Photo-Tours, night screenings in the Literary Quarter and activities organized by Captura.org, a group which makes use of the Internet to spread their creations. This year PHotoespaña places special emphasis in the Programas para los Públicos (Programmes for the Public), a series of guided tours of exhibitions and children’s workshops