It will continue to be the fashionable city year after year. That's how it is
We have already written many **love letters to Madrid**. We renew our vows year after year.
This one is special because Madrid is going to have cleaner air, more walkable streets, more public benches and more trees.
In addition, they will continue to open bars, hotels, hotel bars, restaurants here and there, and various projects. The city does not seem to want to calm down and that's fine, because Madrid is a nervous city.
Madrid is not what it is, it is what happens in it. It is all those people that we see walking the streets and giving it color and warmth, the one that fills Malasaña at two in the morning, the one that sits on terraces even on the coldest day; Madrid are the **ladies of the Fuencarral cinemas**, those who watch the Retreat Pond like someone who looks at the sea, those who walk along Gran Vía.
Gran Vía, how beautiful you have become!
GRAN VÍA, WHAT STREET DO WE HAVE IN MADRID
There are people who travel the world to see it and take photos in it taking advantage of its elevation changes and we avoid it ; we don't deserve it.
Now we cannot do that on pain of being expelled from the city because there is a new Gran Vía . The day opened November 23 and has more room to walk, 61 new traffic lights, 110 stone and 34 wooden benches, designed by Marcos Plazuelo; one day we will talk about how public banks portray us as a society.
It also says a lot about us the presence or absence of trees ; in the new street design there is more: 89 Chinese pears , to be more exact.
Furthermore, and this is the most extreme and modern decision, the new Gran Vía has two less lanes for cars. These two measures Central Madrid and Gran-Gran Vía , are controversial as only paradigm-shifting decisions can be. Madrid, moreover, she is talkative and talks about it. It's fine that it is.
This new Gran Vía does not want to be a transit site. Your hotels are activated to attract guests and visitors . The idea is to go to them for an aperitif or dinner; Is there something more Madrid?
The Principal propose what you call infinite vermouth on its sixth floor from Monday to Sunday. There is something better than an appetizer: one with music and above ground . This hotel is one of the beneficiaries of this remodeling of the street because, as stated Myriam Martín, the PR of Único Hotels , to which it belongs: "it supposes a greater influx of people, who can arrive without inconvenience and comfort for those who choose a hotel in the center".
This comfort benefits all the hotels and shops on Gran Vía, as well as one of the last to arrive, ** NH Collection Gran Vía ,** which has its hit on its highest floors, lizard eater .
The **Hyatt Centric** offers until the 6th of January snack with roscón and chocolate. If you haven't taken a photo in one of the Gran Vía hotels at sunset, you haven't been to Madrid.
Parallel to the new Gran Vía, the Loewe Archives . In the basement of his oldest store you can visit an exhibition (which will rotate) of a selection of its historical pieces.
This exhibition brings together a series of historical pieces
Until January 20, the exhibition focuses on bags: Art Decó, the rigidity of the 40s, the colors of the 60s, the Manhattan collection of the 80s and the first gold suede bag objects. You can also see an original bag that belonged to Ava Gardner , who during her years in Madrid did not miss any of the pleasures of a diva; neither buy in Loewe.
Ava she would have to learn today to pronounce the expression Madrid Central. Sure James Rhodes already knows how to do it . These two words are also present in the conversations of many people from Madrid these weeks. This measure aims to reduce 40% NO2 emissions in the city center . This will improve contamination levels and ensure the protection of the health of those who live and visit the city (levels that now exceed those set by European legislation).
This decision will reduce noise and greenhouse gas emissions. Madrid Central should bring us cleaner air and a more humane city; the cities belong to the people or they are not cities, they are decorations. Madrid is not.
Next year we will see another zone reactivated, the so-called Canalejas Center . It is about the rehabilitation of seven historic buildings and will have the hotel as its nucleus Four Seasons, opening in the fall.
The center, designed by Lamella Studio It also includes luxury residences and a commercial area of 15,000 m2. here also plan open a W, the second in Spain after Barcelona . The Canalejas Center comprises an entire block and will have a positive impact on the city. At least that's the idea.
The bathtubs, great protagonists of the rooms
In the surroundings of this macroproject there have already been important movements. Two classics have been recovered there: the Great English Hotel , with its history and powerful interiors, and Long live Madrid , resurrected by an Argentine. Diego Cabrera. This is also very Madrid.
The arrival of the Four Seasons will raise the city's hotel bet even more. Existing hotels continue to improve their offer. **The Villa Magna has opened its Mytha Spa ** and that is appreciated because Madrid is not a city where good hotel spas abound. This one is. It has three exclusive treatments from Natura Bissé and another from The Leg School®, brought from Capri and focused on fluid retention and improvement of blood and lymphatic circulation.
All treatments and spaces are of the standard expected of a hotel like the Villa Magna, but this spa keeps a secret: a hammam. To build it they have brought white marble from Turkey and the therapists have been trained to follow the ritual of that country. Now we no longer have to travel to come out clean and purified.
Let's go back to reactivated zones. ** Lavapiés continues its conversion from a popular and multicultural neighborhood to a directly hip (and more expensive) neighborhood.** Many complain about this turn, but most enjoy it. Some wines at La Fisna , a chocotarta at Adorado , tea at Plántate , some beers at Pavón or a night at the Kamikaze Theater , on the edge of the Rastro, are plans for the new Lavapiés.
The opening of places like these has brought to the neighborhood those who previously only ventured out to parties or to do the exotic exercise of eating chicken tikka massala. Indeed, Eating at Los Indios de Lavapiés is still one of the best plans that Madrid has to offer.
Their Benedictine eggs are a must.
Another area that is shedding its skin is that of Salesas. Foreign investment, mostly Venezuelan, has changed its appearance.
Now he focuses on health: there is Síclo, making you sweat to the rhythm of the music. Also the complex that includes Tracy Anderson's training, as well as the concept-store and healthy (and rich) coffee ** ROOTS Lamarca **. The creators of the latter have plans for 2019; Soon they will officially open the physical space of **another training method called Clandestin. ** Mitschka Capriles, founder, speaks wonders of Madrid. “I love the skies here. I have never seen such a thing in my life. And I have lived and been in many places.” This Venezuelan highlights how she likes to see how the city “is growing and they do not stop opening innovative things”.
But not everything is burning calories, Salesas continues to be excellent for a drink. There are bars like Doce Botellas to confirm the area as quiet alternative to Malasaña or the bordering Chueca.
Not everything happens inside Madrid Central. In Arganzuela, and around the Matadero, the network of bars and restaurants is becoming more and more interesting.
There are places like Macarena , with nods to the south, or Jupiter Drama , where people go to have good coffee. The Only You Atocha, on the edge of the Central Almond, It has one of the most unique hotel offers in the entire city.
Their forte is cocktails
Now Angelita Sky Bar is installed there, on the Seventh floor, known for its good work in wines and cuisine on Calle de la Reina. Your forte here will be the cocktails, made with own product and much from the garden. They are accompanied with tapas from the hotel (salad, squid sandwich in homage to the Brillante, a bar that is very close, ham croquettes, cheese board...). And the terrace is great to enjoy in winter, with a stove and blanket. There are not so many places to enjoy a view without big buildings in front of you.
very close is Independence Square , which is emerging as a new gastro nucleus. There he plans to open a new restaurant Sandro Silva and Marta Seco, that everything they touch turns into success. They don't give clues but it promises to be as provocative as his other projects.
Tahini, from the Cappuccino group, will also open there. Stay tuned to your screens: we will continue to inform you.OK
In Madrid they continue, and will continue, eating very well. **Continues the creative and mestizo offer of markets** such as La Paz, Los Mostenses, San Fernando, Antón Martín or Vallehermoso. Restaurants like Ikigai or Astrolabius demonstrate the level of a lineage of cooks who seek enjoyment in food without ostentation or tension.
Eating in a Michelin star at such a moderate price
The level of the city is high and does not plan to lower. If not, let them tell the travelers who fill La Cabra and who cannot believe that eat so well at such a moderate price. This place has been completely renovated by the Mechanism studio and now offers a menu of tapas and portions with a fairly informal atmosphere considering the rating of the place . It is worth going to try the kokotxas croissant.
Another restaurant that confirms that you can be pretty and give good food Haroma at the Heritage Hotel. The room is decorated by Lorenzo Castillo, winner of the AD Award for Best Decorator 2014. Here they eat dishes designed by two star Mario Sandoval among works of art and silk panels. The upside-down menu served at the A' Barra bar. What is 'backwards'? Will have to go try it.
You also have to try some of the menus (short, medium or long) that it proposes the gastronomic space 7 Craft Bar, of the 7 Islas hotel, in Malasaña. Under the direction of the charismatic Narciso Bermejo and with Xavier Guittard (former DiverXO, Lera and Kabuki), here are dishes and product treatments that, even the most eaten, They surprise and make you enjoy.
Madrid's fondness for certain sweets is unique. Where are we going to find a city that worships so much the chocolate palm tree or the roscón de Reyes? In Madrid there are many and very good ones, but the crunchy palm tree at La Duquesita **and the roscón at Pan.Delirio** do not fail. Ava Gardner did not know them, but today perhaps she would change hers “I love churros” for a “I love palm tree and roscón”.
La Duquesita chocolate palm tree
And how will 2019 be in art and culture ? Intense. **February always arrives loaded thanks to ARCO ** (with Peru as guest), Urvanity, Art Madrid, JustMad and Drawing Room.
Private projects like Wecollect also enrich the city. The year begins on January 8 with the first individual in Spain of Belgian artist Annelie Vandendael, one of the most awarded emerging photographers in Europe. The project by Amaia de Meñaka and Enrique del Río, which has its exhibition space in Castellana, 22 plans a year full of exhibitions, courses and study visits.
in 2019 Madrid will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Prado Museum. The exhibition calendar that he has prepared is spectacular. In the coming months there will be samples of, let's take a breath, Giacometti, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Goya, Fra Angelico, and Sofonisba Anguisola and Lavinia Fontana , two important and, like so many, unknown Renaissance painters.
We will see more artists this year in the museums of Madrid. The rest of the city's great art spaces will be up to the task. we will see Toulouse-Lautrec at the CaixaForum, Chagall, Malévich and Berenice Abbot at the Mapfre Foundation, Balthus and Balenciaga at the Thyssen. This museum is preparing one of the most anticipated exhibitions of the year, the one that explores Balenciaga's relationship with Spanish painting.
Balenciaga, chocolate palm trees and pure air: how not to write love letters to Madrid, right, Ava?
Balenciaga and Spanish painting