Teatro del Barrio stages Lavapiés’ biggest Covid-19 relief effort yet
The same spotlights that once shone bright on the faces of Madrid's rising stars now illuminate food parcels for victims of Lavapiés' Covid-19 crisis.
The art of being a Madrid muse
I don't use the word cool very often, but having your photographs turned into hand-drawn works of art? Now that's cool. Welcome to my first ever art collection of local artists' paintings and illustrations inspired by my photographs of Madrid.
The night Madrileñes took back their city
Saturday 8pm, May 2, 2020 will be a moment I remember for the rest of my life as the night Madrid took back its city for the first time… in decades.
Forget the Alhambra: This is Granada No Frills
Forget the Alhambra. We’re here to explore those places that can’t be found in the guide books, those bars that can’t be found on pretty streets, and those fragments of history that haven’t been moved to a display cabinet but instead remain in situ for us all to see... if we know where to look.
The secret street stickers of Madrid’s people
Madrid-based writer and artist Lauren Klarfeld combines her love for the streets of Madrid with the people who walk them, and in this article, she reveals her secret project, Last Words For The Road.
Captured: The neighbourhood spirit of the Rastro under lockdown
I'd had a tip-off that the neighbours of Calle Carlos Arniches had taken lockdown solidarity to knew heights, so I decided to take a short stroll to see if it was true.
Inside a migrant safe house on ‘the coolest street in the world’
Lavapiés is a neighbourhood of extremes. It was recently crowned the coolest neighbourhood in the world by Time Out Magazine, but is also one of the most multicultural – and poor – in Spain.
10 Madrid No Frills bar backgrounds for your Zoom get-togethers
Over the weekend, I had an idea: to set my Zoom background to one of my favourite no-frills bars. When I joined my meeting, I was met with laughter and bewilderment, with one friend even asking how I got into a bar despite them being closed.
The shrapnel-scarred bungalow challenging Spain’s civil war amnesia
It is only by chance that a small bungalow in Madrid bearing the scars of Nazi shelling still survives. And it is only by pure coincidence that, just a decade ago, this fact came to light when photographer and archeologist Jose Latova stumbled across a photograph taken by the Hungarian war photographer Robert Capa. Its residents share their stories.
Dragon heroes: the Lavapiés lockdown food bank helping vulnerable migrant families
As Madrid remains the European epicentre of the coronavirus crisis, the city's most marginalised groups have been pushed even closer to the edge. Once dependent on charities and local organisations, many migrants are suddenly fending for themselves, but not if the Lavapiés Dragons have anything to do with it.
Spain’s marginalised heroes fight against coronavirus – and racism
While ordinary people with ordinary jobs occupy the headlines, there are people whose hero status has become their only form of survival.
Portrait of an abuelo under lockdown
At 94, Abuelo's physical health is enviable to many who are decades younger. These days, his biggest health worry is not coronavirus-related, but that "estas piernas se me están resistiendo".
The art of war on Coronavirus
The fight against coronavirus echoes something hauntingly familiar in Spain, and it's from this dark period in history that local artist Félix Rodriguez has found inspiration. From the confines of his home in Madrid where he remains, like the rest of us, under lockdown, a renaissance is happening.
Colour and chaos in Catania, Sicily’s ‘other’ city
I'd like to transport you to a place where the streets are paved with volcanic rock that braid the city, and crumbling houses wrap around outcrops of ancient lava flow.
Bodegas Rojo: Carabanchel Alto’s living museum of niche wine and spirits
Bodegas Rojo, like any diamond in the rough, lies unbeknownst to many, tucked away on a residential street. Families and groups of teens walk by but few so much as throws a furtive glance its way.