Relive the old Vallecas in Bar Eutiquio
Vallecas might feel like the Madrid of long-ago, but for Constantino Carral Sánchez, it’s changed a lot.
From Mauritania to Lavapiés: meet Usman, the alternative vegetable farmer
Usman is a Mauritanian organic vegetable farmer with an allotment in the Jarama valley – a beautiful bit of local countryside with clay, terracotta soil, which I know well because I find it in the nooks of my freshly picked purple carrots.
Welcome to Madrid’s underground music scene
What's popular on the Spanish radio is a world away from what's cooking beneath the surface. Funk, flamenco, Latin jazz and trap have all leapt into the limelight, but there's a part of Madrid's music scene that stubbornly resists going mainstream, even if it might be growing.
Miss Beige: “I dare to be who I am”
Meet Miss Beige, a feminist, anarchist madrileña after all our hearts. She's a common girl living in her own beige world, and she'll spit pipas at anyone who tells her to smile.
Artist brings the Spanish Civil War back to the streets of Madrid
Hell's bitter winds have suddenly reversed and the darkest visions of the Spanish Civil War have drifted back onto the streets of Madrid. And for this, we can thank Chicago-born artist Sebastian Maharg, who has made it possible for us to remember what many of us never even saw.
Madrid’s anti-eviction warriors
I’d heard on the radio that there was going to be an eviction at 11 am, just a five-minute walk from where I lived. I turned on TeleMadrid and their cameras were already there. I put on my coat, grabbed my camera and said to my other half, “look out for me on the TV”.
Latest obsession: confessionals
I've got a confession to make: I'm a little bit obsessed with confessionals. I suspect this might be one of the weirdest things a priest could ever be told through a latticed window, but although I have no intention of repenting my curiosity-related sins, an explanation might be helpful…
Faro Vallecano: a beautiful, no-frills diner in Vallecas
The sun pours through the smokey windows of this upstairs diner and is intercepted by half a dozen coconut palms, casting exotic shadows on the terrazzo floor. Everything – and I mean everything – is a shade of brown, as it has been since its last refurb a few decades ago.
Around the world in 10 Embajadores eateries
Emerge from Lavapiés’ metro into the Mediterranean Maghreb. Meander through its narrow, winding streets lined with candy-coloured facades and Juliette balconies, and catch a glimpse of the Middle East and Africa, but also Asia, Latin America and of course, Madrid.
Magic beneath the streets of Lavapiés
In a dark cellar, just around the corner from the Lavapiés dungeon, a young Madrileño is enchanting people with his magic three times a week. His spellbinding illusions may not have been thrust onto the underground stage at all had it not been for hard times, but this sombre era in Spanish history is inspiring a new movement and Carlos Devanti is a driving force behind it.
Secrets of the streets: Madrid’s anti-homeless architecture
Anti-homeless architecture is often disguised as useful features for pedestrians, but it secretly doubles up as defence against rough sleepers. Big money goes into making the most beautiful parts of Madrid hostile towards the homeless, and examples of these disturbing installations can be found everywhere you look.
100 of Madrid’s no-frills bars
I've forever found no-frills bars inspiring spaces. They're gateways to Madrid's working-class soul, and are unpretentiously beautiful, just like the city. They're also where Madrid No Frills was born, propping up the bar with a caña and a tapa and listening to the owner's story.
Discover the dark messages hidden in Madrid’s street art
Although street art is deeply connected with gentrification, it often gives a voice to the precisely the victims of it. The spray-painted murals adorning the walls of Madrid speak truths – truths that the passionate graffiti hunter Gerardo taught me how to read. In the secret messages left behind by graffiti writers, I saw not only themes of suffering and discrimination but also a growing backlash against them.
Madrid’s hidden city slums
Under the first beam of sunlight on 3 October, diggers began tearing through people's bedroom walls. By mid afternoon, around 50 makeshift homes had been razed to the ground, and around 80 people had been moved on.
A miniature ode to Madrid’s disappearing antique facades
Recent exhibition La Tienda de la Esquina (The Corner Shop) celebrates Madrid's beautiful antique facades. But, given these old shops are an increasingly endangered species in the Madrid streetscape, you may find yourself cynically wondering if these sculptures are actually miniature death masks.