👗The Tapa Weekend: September 15
Fashion Week, an Amazonian photo exhibit, a high-end food route and more!
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | September 15, 2023 | Madrid | Issue #21
🎉 Welcome to a new issue of The Tapa: Weekend Edition! An English-language newsletter about what to do this weekend in Madrid (plus memes because why the hell not).
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Here are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
We’re reaching the second half of September, which means we’re entering the season of Pumpkin Spice Lattes and coastal grandmothers. Crazy, right? It’s almost like the summer was come and gone. Swimming pool days are officially over and the sun is setting much earlier (have you noticed yet?) so let’s try to make the best of this last week of fun before the seasonal depression kicks in, shall we?
Also, can you please gives us a like or a comment below? For every like from you, we get a dollar* from a Nigerian prince.
Here are a few cool things for you to do this weekend.
(*We’re definitely not getting a dollar, but we still would like a like from you.)
1. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid (September Edition)
For the second time this year, Madrid becomes the city where leading and up-and-coming fashion designers gather to showcase their greatest creations. Will we wear them? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look at them and appreciate what’s hot this Spring-Summer 2024 season.
Spread over five days, the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid is a beacon of the latest fashion trends created by international designers like Teresa Helbig, Claro Couture, Duarte and Mans, and attracts fashion lovers, the media, influencers and other social butterflies to the biggest shows. (It started on Wednesday so you only have three days left—hurry!)
The 78th edition of the MBFWM features prominent creators and renowned brands with runway shows that “once again highlight the creative boom in Spanish fashion.” So if fashion is your thing (or you have no idea about fashion but still want to look cool on your Instagram stories) you should definitely pay a visit.
Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid. IFEMA Madrid, Avenida del Partenón, 5, Madrid. Through Sept. 17. Tickets start at €45 (if you’re into the catwalk).
2. Apertura Madrid Gallery Weekend: Art Galleries Galore!
Some of you are not into fashion and that’s alright. So we bring you a cool alternative: the 14th edition of the Apertura Madrid Gallery Weekend.
Considered one of the most important Gallery Weekends in the world (second only to Berlin in terms of visitors), this cultural event involves many art galleries and museums in Madrid simultaneously opening their doors with extended hours.
Apertura seeks to bring contemporary art to the masses and it’s a nice alternative to turning into a couch potato while you rewatch Suits in your pajamas on Netflix. So why not partake in it? This year there are 56 art galleries participating and helping promote Madrid’s art scene internationally. Some of them include Galería Elvira González, Travesía Cuatro, Cámara Oscura or Benveniste Contemporary, and feature exhibits from local and international artists such as Nancy Spero, José Manuel Ballester and Elina Brotherus.
There are loads of side activities so check out their program online and start planning! (Seriously, Suits can wait)
Apertura Madrid Gallery Weekend. Multiple locations around Madrid. Check website for more information. Through Sept. 17.
3. Sebastião Salgado’s Amazonia Photo Exhibit
Not into fashion or modern art? Fair enough. How about photography? If that works, we have a very cool multi-sensory exhibit for you featuring award-winning Brazilian photographer and photojournalist Sebastião Salgado, known for traveling all over the globe and focusing his work on poverty in underdeveloped countries.
In Amazonia, Salgado’s exhibit showcases “the beauty of the Earth and raises awareness about the fragility of its primary ecosystem,” as it captures “the grandeur of nature and its relationship with twelve indigenous communities in remote areas of the rainforest”. It is the result of seven years of work, which he spent living with these communities.
Upon entering the exhibit, you find yourself surrounded by over 200 large photographs, seven films, sounds of the rainforest and a soundtrack specially created by French composer Jean-Michel Jarre. Over 1.4 million people around the world have seen the Amazonia project and now’s your chance to do so too.
Amazonia Photo Exhibit. Centro Cultural de la Villa, Plaza de Colón 4, Madrid. Through Jan. 14. Tickets start at €9.
4. A High-End Version of a Ruta: Hotel Tapa Tour 2023
We’re the first to admit we love a good hole-in-the-wall bar where we can grab a tasty pincho de tortilla and a caña. That’s why we include the tapas routes here whenever there’s one. However, that doesn’t mean we are against high-end cuisine. In fact, we love it too (we just love food, we don’t care where it’s from). So now that the city’s five-star hotels are back for the eighth edition of the Hotel Tapa Tour Madrid, how could we not include it?
The Mandarin Oriental Ritz Madrid, the RIU Plaza España, the Four Seasons Hotel Madrid, the Hard Rock Hotel Madrid and many others are joining forces to showcase their great gastronomic options in what’s being dubbed an “informal haute cuisine festival”. In total, 24 iconic hotels in Madrid (plus others around Spain) will be offering some delicious options in tapas format.
The Hotel Tapa Tour is also a gastronomic competition—beyond being a way to promote hotel cuisine—so the hotels will be offering attendees various different pairing proposals.
Just like the Apertura Madrid Gallery Weekend, the five-star hotels here are also trying to appeal to the masses and “break down the psychological barrier between luxury hotel cuisine and the general public.” (Pretty sure it’s more of a financial barrier, but what do we know).
Hotel Tapa Tour 2023. Multiple locations around Madrid. Through Sept. 24. Check website for additional information and participating hotels.
5. La Vuelta a España Bike Race Reaches Madrid
If you’re not interested in fashion, art, photography or food, at least we hope you’re into sports because this Sunday Madrid is once again host of the final stage of La Vuelta, Spain’s premier cycling event (and our very own version of the Tour de France), which has been going on since August 26, in case you hadn’t noticed.
In its 78th edition, La Vuelta once again reaches its climax on the streets of Madrid as cyclists and participating teams enter the city on Sunday afternoon after 21 stages—and people cheer from all sides. The 2023 final stage will begin at the La Zarzuela hippodrome and end in front of the Palacio de Cibeles, covering a total of 101 kilometers.
Cyclists will traverse 35 neighborhoods across nine of the city districts, including Moncloa, La Latina, Puente de Vallecas, Villa de Vallecas, San Blas-Canillejas, Salamanca and the downtown area.
La Vuelta. Finish line will be at Palacio de Cibeles. Plaza de Cibeles 1, Madrid. Sept. 17.
👨🏻💻 Viral Stories of the Week
🚨 Life comes at you fast
How it started: Guy walks up to a Cuatro TV reporter speaking live to camera and…gooses her.
How it’s going:
👙 Not your typical ‘A … walks into a bar’ story
A woman walks into a bar in Torremolinos…and destroys it. Oh, did we mention she did so while naked?
😘 Will cats and dogs be friends next
A Catalan separatist politician and another from Vox—you know, like sworn enemies—prepare to fight. Then the separatist woman calls him (the Vox guy) ‘guapo’. Hilarity (sorta) ensues.
🔔 A Message From Our Sponsor
Secret Kingdoms is your English bookstore in Madrid. It specializes in Spanish history and literature, contemporary and classic novels, books for children and young adults of all ages, history and historical fiction, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, poetry, biographies and much more.
Located on Calle de Moratín 7 — a few blocks away from the Prado Museum — and with over 20,000 new and used books, Secret Kingdoms has something for everyone.
Find out more at www.thesecretkingdoms.com
🙏 Once again, please remember to share this newsletter with your friends on social media. The more we grow, the more information we’ll be able to offer each week.
We’ll be back next week with more.
I don't even live in Madrid, but your call for likes was so plaintive! So, here you go.
I love the Tapa Newsletter. Thank you so much for keeping me informed about all the headlines and fun stuff to do in Madrid :-)