The Literary neighborhood according to Walk With Me
Take your eyes off the ground, clean the magnifying glass and reduce the scale, we map Madrid in two ways: the practicality of a map-guide and the aesthetics of a map-art. You choose, cats.
WAU MAPS
"We make maps for the people of Madrid and this is the best way to reach tourists," says **Álvaro Corsini, creator of WAU maps**. A map that is a guide and a guide that is a map. WAU Maps reveals, block by block, all the secrets that lie behind the facades of the capital. In small rectangles the essence of the streets is summarized. A cartographic sneakscope that works with a color code.
But what does a perfect map have to have? “It must be as practical as possible and for that, it must be well designed. We do it because you don't have to turn our maps upside down to find what you need: at a glance you see all the premises ”, concludes Alvaro. So far, they have covered the four major areas: Salamanca/Retiro, Chueca/Malasaña/Conde Duque, Latina/Lavapiés and Downtown.
The Latina with WAU effect
The colors will guide you to what you need, be it a store, a hotel or a pharmacy. This detailed work is complemented by stars , the personal recommendations of the creators of WAU Maps, no ad intoxication , which is always appreciated: “We wanted to make a cool map, with good recommendations and would like to keep it ” (for this, they use the best quality of paper to avoid its obsolescence).
But beyond the stars on the map, Álvaro gives us his recommendations, after having walked all over Madrid and putting it on the map by theme: “Without a doubt, for leisure I prefer Court; a restaurant, between sigh and sigh , the best Mexican in Madrid; the bookstore ** La Central de Callao **, an entire building full of books, gadgets and a spectacular bar; as a fashion store, ** Papaya **, the best women's multi-brand in Madrid on Juan Bravo corner Serrano”.
Madrid Center to the 'WAU'
WALK WITH ME
“Conventional tourism maps are poorly designed, full of advertising, they are not very representative of Madrid's reality and they always end up in the bin or made a mess... They don't represent us! ”. And with this war cry of Pablo Baque de Puig , one of its founders, the maps of walk with me .
What is more different from a tourist map than a map of those of a lifetime? ** Walk With Me ** follows this philosophy, that of the cartographic essence, the return to the traditional layout of the streets, to the aseptic map, little contaminated with references and with a design with all the charm of another era. “The maps we make they are hand-drawn by emerging artists, neighbors or good connoisseurs of the neighborhood in question. We try to capture the genuine character of each area in the design of its map", confirms Pablo, "a map has to correspond to the reality to which it refers but to be perfect it has to be aesthetic ”.
That is why Walk With Me think wall maps , to recreate the streets we walk every day and give them another meaning, an artistic and more aesthetic one. But the information is not lacking and to complete the tours, they also make small guides "which are designed with the hope of returning home with the tourist, as a souvenir of a good trip," concludes Pablo.
The Literary neighborhood according to Walk With Me
His blog is full of good trips and maps, a review of the most artistic and curious cartographic world. “ Cartography is a bottomless well of research . Some of the maps that often guide us in this search are specialized tumblrs like Time For Maps and Fuckyeahcartography”. And of course, he advises us to take a look at the book A map of the World , a vice for lovers of the world on a small scale, in which we have already allowed ourselves to fall.
With three maps for sale ( Malasaña - also with a pocket guide -, the Barrio de las Letras and Chueca ), Pablo admits that this 'mapper' team opts for Malasaña "there is a positive energy running through its streets that is evident". For those who are not residents of Madrid, "you have to go through the axis of Atocha to Neptune : the Prado Museum is our great jewel and entering the Botanical Garden can make this walk an unforgettable experience”. He gives us a pearl: "take some beers and some tapas like the ones in the Tiger or the Breath and in the heat of it try to fix the world with friends”. And, who knows, put another pin on the map of the best moments in Madrid.
_ You may also be interested..._*
- A Map Of The World: the rebellion of beautiful maps
- Guide to Madrid
- The route of the mystery of Madrid
- 100 things about Madrid you should know
- Madrid with magnifying glass
- All the articles of María F. Carballo
Pocket Guide: the Malasañera guide