🦕 The Tapa Weekend: July 19
A reggaeton festival, a dinosaur exhibit and a new tapa route!
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | July 19, 2024 | Madrid | Issue #63
🎉 Welcome to a new issue of The Tapa: Weekend Edition! An English-language newsletter about what to do this weekend in Madrid (plus memes!)
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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
Happy Heatwave Friday, everyone!
We’re officially in the first heat wave of the summer! However, fear not because we at Tapa have been working around the clock to make sure that you have some fairly decent options to escape the asphalt-melting temperatures that are going to pummel us all this weekend.
Do you love reggaeton? We have a plan for that. Want to eat and drink until you drop? We also have a plan for that. So grab your friends, create a WhatsApp group called “Heatwave 2024” and get ready to make the best of this (historic?) weekend.
At least until the next heatwave in two weeks.
Enjoy!
1. Reggaeton Beach Festival
If you don’t like reggaeton, look away.
After last year’s drama, which saw Madrid’s Reggaeton Beach Festival canceled only three days before it started, it looks like this year it’s definitely going to happen.
The largest “Urban Beach Festival” in Europe (*rolls eyes*) is taking place this weekend, featuring a large beach with inflatables and water attractions, food stalls and workshops, and of course, performances by the best in reggaeton. To us writers of Tapa, this is quite possibly our worst nightmare, but we don’t judge you if you like it.
RBF is celebrating this edition in Madrid by bringing together reggaeton lovers and top global artists with a festival that returns to the city full of new features, surprises, improved areas, and a unique experience created for reggaeton fans, along with world-renowned artists who will make up a great lineup.
“Who?” you ask. Well, we don’t know them but we hope you do. This edition features artists such as Anuel AA, Farruco, Bryant Myers, Tiago PZK, El Alfa, María Becerra, Tainy, Lunay, De La Ghetto, Álvaro Díaz, Noriel, and Chimbala, as well as top-level DJs like Albert González, DJ Martino, César Novero, Biel Castell, and Anthony Ready & Yeigo.
Woohoo! Also, there’s an “urban beach” so you can cool down while not leaving the comfort of the city. See? Sometimes we feel like we spoil you.
Reggaeton Beach Festival Madrid. Camino de Perales 23, Madrid Río. July 20 & 21.Check website for schedules. Tickets start at €80.
2. Dinosaurs From Patagonia Exhibit
If you’d rather stay home watching Jurassic Park III than listen to De La Ghetto, then you’re going to love this one.
CaixaForum Madrid invites you to join them on a journey of a lifetime, as thanks to the miracle of DNA engineering they’ve managed to clone dinosaurs and bring them back to life.
Lol, kidding. But admit it, you were excited there for a second. No, unfortunately, this event is a lot less exciting than having a real-life T-Rex munching on humans, but we guess it will have to do.
Discover the great dinosaurs that once roamed the Patagonian region (currently Argentina and Chile) through the work of paleontologists. This exhibition consists of several replicas and fossils of dinosaur skeletons found in the area and features 13 modules focused on the main dinosaurs discovered in the region, grouped into carnivorous species, giant sauropods, and smaller herbivorous species.
It also includes 15 casts of dinosaur skeletons and a selection of original fossils that reveal how evolutionary changes occurred in different dinosaur groups. The star of the exhibit is a replica of a Patagotitan mayorum, a 30m-long specimen that will leave you saying “damn, that’s one big-ass dinosaur”.
So, if you’re on the fence about this, think of it this way: Pros? The dinosaurs will not try to eat you. Cons? The dinosaurs will not try to eat you. You decide.
Dinosaurios de la Patagonia. CaixaForum Madrid, Paseo del Arte 36, Madrid. Through April 6. Mondays to Sundays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets: €6.
3. La Casa Encendida’s Magnetic Rooftop
Considering it’s like a million degrees out, why not watch a movie in a rooftop with a bunch of strangers? This is what La Terraza Magnetica offers tonight, if you care to know.
La Terraza Magnética (the magnetic rooftop) offers a bunch of cultural and fun activities in the summer, as you can see from the video above. Many of them (like tomorrow’s live concert of Tomoko Sauvage) are sold out, but you still have time to buy tickets for tonight’s screening of Petite Maman, a French movie by Céline Sciamma from 2021.
The plot revolves around Nelly, “an 8-year-old who just lost her grandmother. While helping her parents empty the house where her mother grew up, she explores the surrounding forest with intrigue, where her mother used to play as a child. The journey becomes an exciting adventure for Nelly, who marvels at discovering her mother’s universe as a child, allowing her to connect with her in a magical and unusual way”.
If Sciamma’s last name rings a bell, that’s because her film Portrait of a Lady on Fire won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019.
If you’re into cool films and cool locations, do not miss this one.
Petite Maman at La Casa Encendida. La Casa Encendida, Ronda de Valencia, 2, Madrid. July 19, 10:30 p.m. Tickets: €4.
4. Ruta de la Tapa Fría
It’s been a while since we had a tapas route, isn’t it? Well, they are back. And this is a cold tapas route, which makes it perfect for this heatwave.
The fiestas del Carmen are ending this weekend (don’t worry, we totally forgot about them too) and Calle Ponzano, one of Madrid’s most popular gastronomic streets, is celebrating in the best way you can imagine: tons of tapas.
With the Cold Tapas Route, foodies can enjoy the best fresh and creative tapas offered by the bars and restaurants in the area, such as Casa Fonzo or Los Arcos de Ponzano.
Also participating in the tapa route are Taberna Riverita, El Secreto, El Decano, La Máquina, Casa Tino, Candeli, La Florería and many more, all of them on Ponzano. All of these establishments have prepared creative and refreshing offerings, a selection of cold tapas that you can pair with a drink, and they only cost between €3.50 and €6.
You’re very welcome.
Ruta de la Tapa Fría. All along Calle Ponzano, Chamberí neighborhood, Madrid. Through July 20. Check Instagram page for additional information.
5. Dolla Selmouni at the Casa Arabe’s Jardín Secreto
Casa Árabe (the Arabic House) is that beautiful building in Salamanca across the street from the Retiro Park that you always drive by but have probably never entered. Well, this is your chance to do so.
This summer they have again put together an amazing program filled with cultural activities such as music, comedy, and other performances, and this weekend is your last chance to partake in it.
El Jardín Secreto (the secret garden) is their outdoor bar, and it’s amazing. And tomorrow night it’s time for the soul voice of urban street artist Dollar Selmouni, who throughout his career has demonstrated his versatility, seamlessly blending elements of R&B with urban flamenco.
On top of that, you can try the gastronomy and cocktails in the garden. So if you’re looking for a chill evening of good music and drinks to escape the heat, get your tickets while they last.
Dollar Selmouni at Casa Arabe’s Jardín Secreto. Calle Alcalá 62, Madrid. July 20, 9 p.m. Tickets: €10.
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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
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