⛪️ The Tapa Weekend: March 29
More processions and torrijas, a Jesus puppet and a Eurovision music festival.
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | March 29, 2024 | Madrid | Issue #47
🎉 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 (Good) Friday, everyone!
Before you flood us with hate mail over how we’re promoting a specific organized religion, please remember that our goal is to approach this as an opportunity to eat torrijas and chocolate eggs. The rest is up to you.
We’re right in the middle of a super long weekend with tons of activities that include eating, drinking, dancing and singing so put on your Sunday clothes and go out to the streets.
And for the love of all things sacred, if you run into these guys, remember: it’s not the KKK.
Enjoy.
1. The Holy Week Celebrations (Part 2)
Yes, this is still going on because this ain’t over until metaphorically (or literally, depending on who you ask) the Messiah resurrects, and that’s this Easter Sunday. Which means that there are still a few more days of processions, haunting church music, reenactments and other mysteries of Christianity.
This is also your best opportunity to enjoy some of the fantastic live saetas around the city this weekend (a saeta is a form of Andalucian religious song), with many of them taking place from balconies (because that’s a thing here).
There’s one happening tonight, in one of the balconies of the Madrid Casino, and another happening tomorrow from the balcony of the Plaza de la Villa, a couple of blocks away from the Plaza Mayor.
And don’t forget about the Resurrection (aka Easter) Sunday tamborrada (drum parade) happening at the Puerta del Sol to celebrate (spoiler alert) Jesus’ resurrection. This will be the first time ever it’s celebrated there (instead of Plaza Mayor) so it will be fun to see the Pikachus and unlicensed Disney characters that can usually be seen stumbling around the area dancing to the marching sounds of hundreds of drums.
Oh, and don’t forget that the ruta de las torrijas is still happening so get them while they last!
Holy Week in Madrid (Part 2) Multiple locations around Madrid. Click on the link to download the official calendar for activities and schedules.
2. Wet Dreams: An Exhibit on Water and Other Stuff
Boy, that was a weird transition, wasn’t it?
We leave behind the world of Catholic contrition to delve into a strange—yet intriguing—exhibit named Wet Dreams that “explores the role of water as a catalyst for ecosocial relationships”. If you’re lost, don’t worry. We are too. But hear us out.
This exhibition is the opening act of the third Madrid Design and Architecture Biennial MAYRIT 2024, and it brings together the works of around 30 international creators and collectives. It includes design devices, models, drawings and architectural projects, photography, ceramic pieces and a lot more,.
Wet Dreams “highlights design practices that adopt decolonial, queer, and hydrofeminist (new concept alert!) approaches, emphasizing forms of embodiment, solidarity, and desire in relation to bodies of water and fluid matters”.
The exhibit’s official website says it also “invokes the world of hoses and pipes” as well as “the orifices that allow entry to the liquids that saturate our worlds, as well as the leaks, drips, and occasional overflows of the repressed”. We’re confused, and quite possibly intrigued. So we’re going. Check the event’s brochure to check out the visuals, instead you’re still on the fence.
Wet Dreams. CentroCentro. Plaza de Cibeles, 1, Floor 3, Madrid. Through Aug. 25. Check website for opening hours. Free admission.
3. El Misterio del Cristo de los Gascones
Oh, OK. Guess it’s back to Jesus.
This one is not related to the Semana Santa festivities, but it’s still worth checking out because it combines fantastic acting, Jesus and the art of puppetry (now that’s a line we never thought we’d write, yet here we are).
This production by theater company Nao D’Amores presents a mix between “theological content and personal reflection” that “offers and exploration of the origins of modern theater”. There’s also a giant wooden Jesus puppet that looks like something out of The Conjuring franchise, so that alone is already a great excuse to buy a ticket.
On top of that, the play is based on texts and music from the 15th century and “presents a free recreation of the liturgical ceremony that was to be performed in the church of San Justo, in Segovia, during medieval times. This ceremony was associated with the carving of the Christ of the Gascons, one of the most significant pieces of Castilian Romanesque art”.
Check out the video above and get your tickets ASAP. They sell out fast.
Misterio del Cristo de los Gascones. Teatro de la Comedia, Calle del Principe 14, Madrid. Through March 31. Check website for schedule. Tickets start at €6.
4. PrePartyES Eurovisión 2024
As you all know (and if you don’t, you should), Eurovision, also known as the gay Super Bowl, is less than two months away and at least 50% of the people who write this newsletter is extremely excited about it.
And because the hype is real, here comes the eighth edition of the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which brings together a bunch of the singers and bands selected to represent their countries in Malmö, Sweden, for this May’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The Eurovision Pre-Party is an extremely popular “promotional tour” that takes place all around Europe in the months previous to the big final and features some of the main contenders, along with past winners and competitors.
This year, the Madrid edition will feature Spanish synth pop duo Nebulossa and their iconic song “Zorra,” (of course) along with other participants of the Benidorm Fest. It will also feature this year’s competitors from Belgium, Poland, Moldova, Albania and others.
If you don’t know the songs, don’t worry. Most people don’t either. But jumping up and down to the chorus of Zorra is already worth the ticket. Get them ASAP too. This event, as the kids say, is “lit”.
Pre-PartyES Eurovision 2024. La Riviera, Paseo Bajo de la Virgen del Puerto, 3, Madrid. March 29 and 30. 10 p.m. Tickets start at €50 (single day tickets).
5. Funbox Madrid: The World’s Largest Inflatable Park
Look, we gotta be honest here. We always for the high-brow, cultured options here. But this is a freaking inflatable park that not only is the largest in the world but is also adult friendly.
So this time you don’t even have to pretend you’re there because you “had to babysit”. This time you’re going because you want to, and you are owning it. Good for you.
The park features 4,000m² of fun and includes jumping areas connected with ten different play areas. There’s seven-meter slide, an obstacle race, a battle beam and a mountain challenge.
And that’s not all! There’s also a ninja wall, in which you must run as fast as you can and climb the slides through different levels of difficulty and a “gumball gallop”, in which you have to run and cross to the other side without falling from platforms. Pretty much like Super Mario Bros. without the lava pit or the racist Italian accent.
Funbox Madrid. Escenario Puerta del Angel, Avenida de Portugal, Madrid. Through May 5. Check website for opening hours. Tickets start at €11.
(If you’re appalled by the inclusion of this option because it’s too working class for you, then here’s your fifth option: the Beti Jai fronton is opening permanently and you can now visit it for free. It is a remnant of a city that no longer exists, bla bla bla you know the drill. You go there. We’ll be waving from the inflatable park. See you all next week!)
👨🏻💻 Viral Stories of the Week
🛹 This Easter, we give you Skateboarding Procession Man!
Who said the church isn’t modernizing? Oh, and of course, obligatory warning: No, he is not a member of the KKK.
🚐 “You sure it’s down this street?”…”That’s what the GPS says.”
Ever have Google Maps tell you to drive down a street that’s not wide enough for a bicycle? This bus driver knows the feeling. He tried to take a double decker bus down a residential street in Chueca and hilarity ensued. Well, not hilarity for the balcony, wire, trees and all that he hit. But hilarity for us.
🔔 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
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Thank you! And welcome (soon) to Spain!
Just discovered this newsletter 😉 will come super handy in planning my upcoming trip! Thanks!