🍾 The Brief: Weekend Edition
What to do in Madrid and beyond.
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | March 31, 2023 | Madrid
🎉 Welcome to the second issue of The Tapa: Weekend Edition! An English-language newsletter about what to do this weekend (plus memes about Spain).
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👀 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
We know you’re counting down the days to Holy Week(end), when we get to enjoy a mini, four-day vacation and anxiously read the comments from outraged people who still believe these hooded processions are somehow related to the KKK.
Unfortunately we’re still a few days away, so here are fun activities to focus on while you’re counting down to Wednesday evening.
1. Primavera Sound is here! (Just not how you think)
Time to warm up for the popular music festival’s main event, even if we’re still months away. Head over to the Mercado de Prosperidad for the second day of Primavera en los Mercados, where artists take over a city market to perform live and celebrate the arrival of spring. This week’s event features electro pop singer Julia Amor and Chilean DJ and producer Fernanda Arrau. Pop music in a food market is the perfect combination if you ask us. Primavera en los Mercados. Mercado de Prosperidad, C. de López de Hoyos, 81, Madrid. Saturday, April 1, 1 p.m.
2. You think you know Picasso?
Pablo Picasso is quite possibly the most recognizable painter of the 20th century and, while we’ve spent decades researching his life to better understand his art, new things are always being discovered about the dude. This Sunday at Cine Doré, you’ll have a chance to discover a bit more about who he was thanks to the Misterio Picasso film exhibit. The event is a collaboration between the Filmoteca Española, Carlos III University and the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. This Sunday, four short films from the 30s, 60s and 70s will be screened (“Malaga y Picasso”, “Esencia de Verbena”, “Toros Tres” and “Viaje al País Cubista”). “Misterio Picasso”, Cine Doré, Santa Isabel 3, Sala 2, Madrid. Sunday, April 2, 8 p.m.
3. Dance like an Egyptian
“Immersive” exhibits are all the rage. Van Gogh, Monet (or was it Manet?), the list goes on. But let’s put the cynicism aside for a sec. The Matadero does some amazing pop takes on art (remember the “El jardín de las delicias” show?) and the new “Tutankamon, la exposición inmersiva” immersive show about the story of King Tut and his rediscovery is said to be well up to their standard. A bit like a museum, a VR adventure, and a drugless acid trip all at once. Oh, and you might learn something. Matadero Madrid, Nave 16, Plaza de Legazpi 8, Madrid. Through May 14. Tickets start at €10,90.
4. Muestra Gastronómica at Torrejón de Ardoz
Put on your sweatpants, people! We’re headed to Torrejón de Ardoz for its 13th Muestra Gastronómica, in which haute cuisine restaurants offer their most popular dishes at €29. The list of the 26 participating restaurants and their menus can be found here (and yes, there’s a Michelin star in it). So for a little less than €30, you can enjoy a tasty lunch (from 1-4 p.m.) or dinner (9 p.m. to midnight, tonight and tomorrow only). We recommend you try to make a reservation before heading all the way out there, though.
5. The Semana Santa processions
You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the beauty and cultural bigness that the Holy Week processions have in Spain. From April 2 until April 9 (a.k.a. “Easter”), thousands of people will come to the city to marvel at an ancient tradition that includes colorful robes, drums, trumpets, Christian iconography and those hats that look like the KKK but are not. You can download an official map with date, time and location info for the many processions that will be taking place throughout the city starting today. (And if you’re looking for kids’ Easter activities, here’s a comprehensive list of activities from Madrid Metropolitan.) Grab some torrijas and get ready—this will be the first Holy Week celebrations since 2019 without pandemic-related restrictions.
🎙Headlines of the week
These are some of the most ridiculous or viral stories in Spain this week that didn’t make our Thursday edition but we felt deserved a (dis)honorable mention today
🕺Just Dance, parliament edition!
Kids these days… Actually, wait. First, let us present this story without comment so you can be as confused as we were the first time we watched it: here’s a bunch of TikTokers dancing before the Basque parliament in Vitoria this week.
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You want more? Of course you do. Here’s more.
Now, before you think that the Basque government has been taken over by Gen Zers a la Lord of the Flies, the story behind these viral videos is much simpler.
Turns out that the Basque parliament was holding its Open Doors Session to celebrate its 43rd anniversary, when a group of dancers from the Dardara Gune dance academy started dancing to the tune of Rauw Alejandro’s Ron Cola.
Their goal, they later said, was to “break the mold and dance in a room where people only talk instead of applauding.”
🩸Art attack!
Protesters representing various social movements fighting climate change covered the steps and columns (and one of the lions!) of the Spanish parliament in red paint on Thursday, in an effort to protest the government’s “climate inaction” and bring attention the the climate crisis.
🦠 Virus attack!
Quick question: Your regional governor comes to your bedside—in the hospital!—takes off his mask, and starts to serenade you. What do you do?
🧔🏼♂️ Cox attack!
Succession’s Logan Roy (played by Brian Cox) visited the Prado Museum this week. Honestly, there’s no better way to close today’s newsletter that with the clip below.
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We’ll be back next week with more.