🍷 The Tapa Weekend: February 2

A produce market, a royal opera and an exhibit for love in the time of social media.

Feb 02, 2024

By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | February 2, 2024 | Madrid | Issue #39

🎉 Welcome to a new issue of The Tapa: Weekend Edition! An English-language newsletter about what to do this weekend in Madrid (plus memes!)

🤑 The Tapa is now offering paid subscriptions, and we’d be deeply thrilled if you purchased one to help build this enterprise we’ve had so much fun creating. And a big THANK YOU to those who already support us!

🇪🇸 If you haven’t subscribed at all yet, hit that button below so you have some fresh ideas in your inbox every Friday about where to go and what to do.

🫶 And if you have, please share this with your friends!

The cold weather is back! That brief summer was good while it lasted. And now that we’re (sorta) back to wearing large coats and leather gloves, it’s time to look for options (most of them indoor) so we can hang in there for seven more weeks until that sweet, dewey spring is here.

We’ve tried to give you the best options out there (as usual) but if you ever come across a cool enough event that you think is worth mentioning do not hesitate to send it our way (especially if it involves eating—we need to try it before we recommend it, of course).

Now enjoy!

1. Dido & Aeneas at the Royal Theater

Welcome to the opera!

Based on the romantic relationship between the Queen of Carthage, Dido, and the Trojan Aeneas, this story begins when Aeneas and his troops shipwreck in Carthage.

However, out of envy for Dido, some witches conspire and make Aeneas believe that his destiny is to rebuild Troy and depart to do so. Dido laments that she cannot live without his love. However, when Aeneas decides to stay, she rejects him for having thought of leaving her and ultimately—spoiler alert!—takes her own life. So very operatic!

Backed by the Il Pomo d’Oro orchestra and choir, Joyce DiDonato takes the stage at the Teatro Real once again to perform as Dido. The American mezzo-soprano is one of the most prominent voices of her generation and currently among the greatest. She has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious stages such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Paris Opera, and the Royal Opera House in London.

Premiered in 1689 and likely conceived to be performed by the students of the girls' dance school of Josias Priest in London, Dido & Aeneas has become one of the most performed operas of its time in modern days. Its success is attributed to the “sensitive portrayal of its female protagonist—who reduces her antagonist to the status of an anti-hero—and the immediacy, conciseness, and beauty of its score”.

Get your tickets while they last.

Dido & Aeneas. Pl. de Isabel II, s/n, Madrid. Feb. 4, 6 p.m. Tickets start at €189.

2. Noemi Iglesias Barrios’ Love Me Fast Exhibit

The Thyssen Museum presents the "Love Me Fast" exhibit by Noemi Iglesias Barrios, the seventh installment of the Kora program, which annually showcases an exhibition that is conceived from a gender perspective.

The current project revolves around the work of Iglesias Barrios and features some 20 pieces that engage in a dialogue with some paintings from the museum's collections. The works are crafted in bronze, glass, video, photography and, primarily, porcelain.
The Asturian artist uses this exhibit to discuss romantic love in the era of social media—an idealized love on a plane of consumerist happiness, juxtaposed with the toxic relationships that often arise. The result is a series of pieces that simultaneously challenge the distinctions between art and craft in art history and contemporary art in the 21st century.

Noemi Iglesias has brought ceramics “back into the center of the art world” and the “tenacity and patience required to learn and work with porcelain seem to serve as an antidote to the fast love that the artist analyzes, critiques, and judges unequivocally in her work”.

Love Me Fast. Thyssen Museum. P.º del Prado, 8, Madrid. Through April 28. Check website for opening hours and ticket fees.

3. A Photo Exhibit of Christer Strömholm

Christer Strömholm was a world renowned Swedish photographer whose amazing work reflected his unwavering empathy towards human suffering and the complexity of existence in general. His “compassionate and subtly humorous outlook on life gave rise to a truly singular body of work with an unmistakable aesthetic”. And now you have a chance to see it in Madrid at the Strömholm exhibit at Fundación Mapfre.

Born in 1918, Strömholm’s “significant contribution to the renewal of photographic language” came late in his life (in 1968, with the exhibition "Nine Seconds of My Life" at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm). Since then he is considered an “indisputable reference in contemporary photography” due to the “original subjectivity he introduced into the existential documentary tradition”.
This extensive retrospective covers all aspects of his extraordinary production, from his involvement in the German group "Fotoform" in the early 1950s to the assemblages of found objects in his later years, including his numerous travels, street photography, and portraits of artists.

Christer Strömholm Exhibit. Fundación Mapfre, Sala Recoletos, Paseo Recoletos 23, Madrid. Feb 2 to May 5. Check website for opening hours. Tickets: €5.

4.Street Market: Los Sábados de El Rastro

Did you know that the Rastro street market comes alive on the first Saturday of every month as well? Yes, we’ve all been there on Sundays but if you’re a contrarian, here’s your chance to go against the current.

At the Plaza del General Vara del Rey, you can not only find vintage items, collectibles and antiques but also street food options, amazing cocktails, arts, craft, music and much more!

Back in the 70s there was something called the Feria de Desembalajes (“the unpacking fair,” we guess) and the Saturday edition of this classic Madrid destination tries to recreate its original allure. So if you think it’s just like every other Sunday, you should know you’re wrong. Head there tomorrow and you will find:

Feria de Desembalajes: antiques, collectibles, and vintage clothing on display.
Gastro Circuit: a route to savor traditional and innovative Madrid gastronomy.
Shopping Circuit: a route to discover the best neighborhood shops.
Family Circuit: a variety of family activities at La Glorieta de Puerta de Toledo.

Seriously—what more do you need?

Los Sábados del Rastro. Plaza del General Vara del Rey, La Latina, Madrid. Feb. 3, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free admission.

5. Food Market: Eat Something Fresh at the Mercado de Productores Planetario

This popular fresh produce market offers high quality products from growers’ farm straight to your table the first and third Sunday of every month. All fruit and vegetables sold have been grown in nearby locations, which reduces energetic consumption, respects the environment and supports the farming sector.

So if you want to eat healthy while buying local, this is a great option for you. It also looks great on your Instagram stories.

Mercado de Productores Planetario. Av del Planetario, 16, Parque Tierno Galván, Madrid. Feb. 4, 10 a.m. Free admission (just remember to bring a bag).

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Story of the Week

👸 The Royal Family: They’re Just Like Us

We’ve often thought that royalty these days are treated a bit like slow children. Because nobody is quite sure what they do, now that they don’t have any power, anytime that they manager not to botch something is just screaming for a compliment (that said, Felipe VI and Letizia are such snazzy dressers people just can’t stop gawking).

The “low bar for royalty” meme hit a new level this week when Queen Letizia’s diamond bracelet fell off at a diplomatic reception and she bent down, picked it up, and put it back on ALL BY HERSELF WITHOUT CAUSING A SCENE. She didn’t even need a team of servants for the task. Not even one mayordomo.
Seriously, this was a BIG deal is Spanish media. The article about the momentazo in La Vanguardia was titled “Letizia pierde la pulsera y ella misma la recoge del suelo”—yes, literally, “Letizia loses her bracelet and picks it up from the floor herself.”
😱 Honestly, let the royals be people. We think they need it.

🔔 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.