visit Malasaña and Lavapies.
Malasaña, a neighborhood just north of the center of Madrid, is made up of narrow streets lined with charming restaurants, hip bars, cozy music venues and hidden plazas rife with flea markets and vintage pop-ups… and it’s been doing this way before it was considered “brooklynesque”.
check out open mic night at cafe la palma, try the house-made burrata at bar amor, have a cocktail in a dreamland at el jardin secreto, and paruse the peddled goods in the plaza del dos de mayo. Have a refreshing Cibeles beer, “de grifo” or on tap at almost any bar. it’s made in Madrid and was one of the first micro-breweries in the city.
oh, and there’s a place there called Madklyn. I don’t feel the need to explain, just go there. you’ll feel right at home.
Lavapies, pronounced “lah-va pee-ays,” literally means footwash and is the grungy up-and-coming neighborhood located between the tourist hub of Sol and El Paseo del Prado (or madrid’s museum row) just east of the center Madrid. If you’re lucky enough to be there for the “tapapies” tapas food festival, have a drink and tapa at every bar and restaurant you stumble upon. any other day of the week, check out la playa de lavapies and tribuetxe for tapas and drinks, la escalera de jacob for live music, and la fugitiva for books, coffee, and engaging conversation among the city’s artist community.
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