Culture

Documentary ‘Soy Tribulete 7’: One block’s fight against Madrid’s housing crisis – out now

Leer el artículo en castellano Spain’s housing crisis has finally come for you. Your home has just been sold to a vulture fund and they want you out. What would you do?  The residents at Calle Tribulete 7 came together and set out on a path of resistance, one that would transform them into a Madrid-wide symbol of the battle for housing rights. The documentary Soy Tribulete 7 (I am Tribulete 7) takes us inside the 107-year-old Lavapiés building and into the lives of an extraordinary community whose looming eviction launched the fight of their lives. The story began in February 2024, when neighbours received a letter telling them their building was being sold to a vulture fund. News spread fast through the barrio and, the moment Leah and Elisa heard, they picked up their cameras and headed straight to the block where over 100 neighbours were still in shock....

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The seafood bar that does the best callos inside the M30

One of the things l love the most about Madrid are the senseless yet beautiful contradictions it serves your way. One of our most famous dishes is the bocata de calamares despite being 350km away from the coast, and ordering ‘un mini’ will get you a litre of beer, to name a couple.

As 12 October approaches, hay algo que celebrar: This.

Each year, in the shadows of the nation-wide parade of the Spanish military, indigenous communities come together in Madrid to celebrate the parts of their culture and history that were never erased during the colonisation of their people and lands.

Madrid EXT: The film about Madrid you need to see right now

Juan Cavestany, 56, was immortalised as a child in the sun-bleached mural in the corner of Plaza Cascorro in El Rastro, painted more than 40 years ago by his dad. Now, after decades working as a journalist around the world, he returns with outsider eyes, able to capture the iconic elements of a vanishing city – the Madrid I’ve also spent the last 10 years documenting.

Portrait of a 500-person Iftar inside Lavapiés’ largest mosque

It’s the rainiest March Madrid has seen in decades, but the downpour hasn’t stopped the steady stream of people heading toward a small mosque near Calle Mesón de Paredes. Just before sunset, the doors of Mezquita Baitul Mukarram open. Umbrellas close, shoes come off and Glovo bags are left by the entrance. Inside, the blue carpet is soft and warm, and the barrio’s chaos fades into a quiet rhythm of prayer and preparation.

“If being homosexual was not a crime in Africa, we would not be in Spain”

Author and photographer: Sou Harris At the age of 10, Ali Useni, who prefers to be called Alex, was forced out of school so as not to “infect” his classmates. He had told his aunt, who he lived with after his mother passed, that when he grew up, he would like to marry a man. This confession would be the beginning of years of physical and psychological abuse that pushed him to embark on a dangerous journey from Cameroon, across North Africa and the Mediterranean, until arriving in Spain in search of safety. Cameroon is one of 64 countries that, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), criminalises homosexuality – almost half of these countries are in Africa. Prison sentences can vary between six months and five years for those who have consensual sexual relations with another person of the same sex. While Sudan repealed...

Celebrating the Crisp Factories of Madrid

Madrid’s fábricas de patatas fritas are the savoury version of Willy Wonka’s sugary realm. Shop windows are piled high with golden crisps, and neon signs and retro toys mingle with ornate ceramic tiles and vintage fonts. These shimmering potato mountains catch the attention of every passerby as they crisp up further in the sun-soaked window display.

‘They will not move us!’: Football fans protest the demolition of Vallecas stadium by creating human chain

A chain of around 400 people surrounded the Rayo Stadium this Saturday to defend its survival in the barrio of Vallecas, and against building a new, bigger stadium outside the neighbourhood. Fans told the press that the club doesn’t need "a stadium of 40,000 people" and that, if necessary, it’s possible to remodel it to adapt it to current times without changing its location.

Did you know that a tiny bit of the Camino de Santiago exists between two Madrid metro stations?

Following the train tracks (and veering off them every now and again) reveals the industrial past of the Jarama Valley: current and disused railway infrastructure, an old fly-tipping zone (with a warning sign in pesetas!), bunkers and abandoned agricultural buildings. Dipping into Arganda, you can also visit a tiny barrio of only casas bajas with traditional door curtains and, of course, lots of storks.

Villa de Vallekas Fiestas in photos: fried food, fairground rides and stormy nights

After the hottest summer on record, the skies are filled with constant lightning and the fiesta grounds are intermittently flooding. But nothing can stop the smoke machines pluming into the neon lights of the fairground rides, or the pounding of reggaeton while families and friends bump each other on the dodgem dance floor. Here's a snapshot of the summer fiestas in Villa de Vallekas.