🐈 What's on in Madrid: January 17
The San Antón Festivities, a croquetas route and cheap plants for your apartment.
Madrid | Issue #128
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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
It’s Friday again!
Madrid in mid-January feels like someone hit shuffle on the city: priests blessing poodles in Chueca, contemporary textile theory in El Retiro, and croqueta routes diplomacy in La Elipa.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because this city has so many things to see and do (and drink) that one weekend is never enough.
It’s also the last call for Robert Capa at Círculo de Bellas Artes (you have 9 days), plus we have two solid places to eat and drink your way through the cold. You have no excuse to be bored for the next 48 hours.
So grab your friends and/or love interest and step outside. Yes, it’s cold, but it’s worth the sacrifice.
Happy weekend!
1.🐶 San Antón 2026: Bless your pets, buy the bread, do the vueltas
If your dog/cat/weasel has been speaking in tongues and vomiting projectile-style lately, it’s time to grab them and make your annual pilgrimage to Chueca!
This weekend, like every January, Madrid throws one of its most chaotic cute neighborhood fiestas: San Antón, the celebration of San Antonio Abad, patron saint of animals, which basically turns the Chueca area into a parade of dogs, cats, rabbits, parrots (and the occasional iguana wearing a puffer vest because it’s cold outside).
This weekend’s edition includes all the greatest hits: blessings at the San Antón Church, the traditional vueltas (loops) around the church, dog-unit exhibitions, kids’ workshops, and open-house tours at the municipal animal center.
In case you were wondering (you weren’t), yes, the famous panecillos (little bread cookies!) are being sold at the church (10 a.m. to 8 p.m.). Tons of people queue for them (don’t ask, just do it).
The official festivities kick off today around 5 p.m. at Palacio de Cibeles, where there will be live music, workshops, and games.
Tomorrow (Saturday, Jan 17) is the main event, with pet blessings at 10 a.m. at San Antón, mass at 12 p.m., and the traditional loop around the church at 5 p.m. with hundreds of pets
trying to murder each otherhappily walking with their owners.If crowds aren’t your thing, Cibeles runs parallel programming all day with canine exhibitions from the Municipal Police, Guardia Civil, National Police, Defense Military Canine Center, and others, plus workshops and a joint demo by DogCity + ASR Animal Soul Rescue.
All masses are streamed live on the official San Antón website (useful for cats who refuse to leave the house).
🖥️ What: San Antón 2026, Patron Saint of Animals Festivities
📍 Where: Iglesia de San Antón (Chueca), Palacio de Cibeles, and various locations
📅 When: January 16-17, check the official program for schedules
🎟 Tickets: Free admission
2.🧵 Andrea Canepa wraps the Palacio de Cristal at El Retiro
Those of you who like to go for a run at El Retiro Park have probably noticed that the Palacio de Cristal is currently closed for restoration, but instead of staring at a sad white construction tarp, visitors now get a full-scale artwork.
Peruvian artist Andrea Canepa has been invited by the Reina Sofía Museum to design the second intervention on the temporary covering, and the result is, well, pretty awesome (and visually striking).
Canepa’s piece grows out of a research project on Paracas funerary textiles (pre-Columbian fabric bundles used to wrap the dead) and the cultural idea of covering, protecting, and encoding memory through cloth. She connects that ancient ritual to the 19th-century modernity of the Palacio’s iron-and-glass architecture, which in turn is linked to early optical devices and proto-cinema.
The building becomes a kind of contemporary praxinoscope, turning its façade into a sequence of “cover–uncover” moments that change as you walk around it. In other words, the artwork isn’t just printed on the tarp; it happens as you move.
Canepa’s approach translates an ancient Andean logic into a very Madrid context, and makes the restoration process itself part of the experience rather than an interruption.
If you needed an excuse to wander through El Retiro this week, this is a good one (also, the piece will remain up for almost a full year, which is rare for temporary urban interventions of this scale). If you hate the cold, maybe wait until the summer.
🖥️ What: Andrea Canepa: Intervention on the Palacio de Cristal façade
📍 Where: Palacio de Cristal, El Retiro Park, Madrid
📅 When: Jan.13, 2026 to Jan 1, 2027
🎟 Tickets: Free admission
3. 🤤 Croqueteando por La Elipa: the neighborhood croqueta route
If your New Year’s resolutions had anything to do with eating light, ignore them immediately because La Elipa is currently hosting a croqueta pilgrimage. (Also, another resolution should be that you walk across the M-30 beltway and leave your comfort zone because, let’s face it, you had to look up La Elipa on Google Maps).
From now until January 18, bars and restaurants in La Elipa are serving two homemade, delicious croquetas plus a caña or soft drink for €3.50. Honestly, that’s civic service.
This croqueta route is called “Croqueteando por La Elipa” and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a chance to hop between local spots and compare béchamel density, crumb texture, and whether seafood croquetas should be legal (La Elipa typically votes yes).
Participating bars include classics like Las Gárgolas, Bar Felipe, Bar Lanchas, La Santa, La Lonja, Dos Hermanos, Bar Gladis, and a handful of others spread across Marqués de Corbera, Montejurra, San Emilio, and the surrounding streets.
Guys, La Elipa is literally across the street from Las Ventas. This route is a fun way to explore a neighborhood that often gets overlooked in favor of more, ahem, “Instagram-friendly” districts and a reminder that Madrid’s bar culture is still one of the city’s greatest democratic institutions: two croquetas, a drink, and a good excuse to argue about which ones were best.
🖥️ What: Croqueteando por La Elipa
📍 Where: Multiple bars in La Elipa (Marqués de Corbera, Montejurra & surrounding streets)
📅 When: Until January 18, 2026
🎟 Prices start at: €3.50 (2 croquetas + drink)
4.🌿 Huge plant sale in Madrid starting at €0.99: Turn your apartment into a jungle!
If all the plants in your apartment have died (as per ush), we have some good news: the biggest plant sale of the season lands in Madrid this weekend with thousands of plants starting at €0.99 and more than half under €10. That’s cheaper than most coffees in Chamberí.
The format is simple: plants everywhere, staff that’s ready to help, and a steady stream of people trying to decide whether they can keep a fiddle-leaf fig alive (you can always try a cactus).
There are more than 150 varieties, including pet-friendly, shade-tolerant, “indestructible”, and big statement plants from €19.90 for those who want instant décor gratification.
There are also pots, planters, and soil, so you don’t end up repotting into an old yogurt container (and finally fulfilling the prophecy of becoming your mother).
Entry is free, but you need to reserve a ticket online so the organizers can estimate how many plants to bring and avoid waste. Also: card payments only, accessible, and dogs welcome, which means you will almost certainly see a bulldog evaluating a calathea (probably after being blessed at San Antón).
🖥️ What: Gran Venta de Plantas (Massive Indoor Plant Sale).
📍 Where: Espacio 23, Calle del General Oráa 23, Madrid
📅 When: January 16–18, 2026
🎟 Tickets: Free (reservation required, so check website)
5. 📸 Last chance to see Robert Capa: the war photographer who defined the 20th century
If you’ve been meaning to see the massive Robert Capa. ICONS exhibition at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, consider this your friendly nudge: it closes on January 25, which means you have 9 days left to catch the biggest Capa retrospective ever shown in Spain (and judging by the crowds, a lot of people left this for the last minute).
The exhibit brings together more than 250 original pieces from the legendary war photographer: vintage prints developed by Capa himself, historical magazine spreads, contact sheets, and personal objects like cameras, notebooks, and his typewriter.
It’s a chance to see not just the images (Normandy, the Spanish Civil War, Indochina) but the way they traveled through the media long before digital files existed, when photos went from front lines to darkrooms to newsrooms by train, jeep, or plane.
And it’s not all trenches and helmets: one of the biggest surprises here is Capa’s color work, rarely shown and full of travel, cinema sets, fashion, and portraits that reveal a much more playful and modern side than the mythic war correspondent suggests.
If you’re a photography nerd, there’s an extra layer of satisfaction in seeing the actual vintage prints; unretouched, imperfect, and much more alive than the cleaned-up versions in books.
Long story short, if you care about photography, journalism, or 20th-century history, this is one of those exhibitions that won’t come around again anytime soon, and you are officially running out of time.
🖥️ What: Robert Capa. ICONS
📍 Where: Círculo de Bellas Artes, Calle de Alcalá 42, Madrid
📅 When: Through January 25, 2026
🎟 Tickets: €12
📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…
🖥️ What: La Suerte (Fate) | Miniseries | 2025
📍Where to watch: Disney+
❓What’s it about: Taxi driver David becomes the chauffeur for a famous bullfighter known as El Maestro, who is attempting a comeback after years away from the ring. El Maestro's perspective changes, and he starts seeing David as a good luck charm.
🤩 Why you should watch: Because what starts as an unlikely friendship becomes a kind of accidental buddy story about masculinity, ego, working-class dignity, and the slow collapse of old Spanish myths.
💬 English Subtitles: No
💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…
🍷 Vinoteca Vides: the most interesting Spanish wine bar in Chueca
What’s it about: A modern, unpretentious wine bar in Chueca showcasing the full Spanish wine ecosystem (nearly 200 bottles across 72 DOs and 65 grape varieties) plus cheeses and tapas that actually match what you’re drinking.
Why you should go: Because it’s the rare place where Spanish wine isn’t dumbed down for tourists or overexplained for sommeliers, just poured with knowledge and humility. Foreigners and locals love it. Trust us, you’ll leave knowing Spain is way more than Rioja and Albariño.
Bottom line: A small, serious-but-fun “sacristy” of Spanish wine where the adventure is in the glass.
Address: Calle de la Libertad, 12, Madrid
🥐 Cuadra: the Buenos Aires bakery winning over Chamberí
What’s it about: A Buenos Aires–inspired bakery-café in Chamberí with its own glass-walled obrador, serving sourdough, medialunas, sandwiches, and pastries made fresh with masa madre and classical techniques.
Why you should go: Because the neighbors are obsessed (for good reason), the vibe is low-key and warm, and the food ranges from perfect milanesa sandwiches to genuinely elite cheesecake (the kind that makes people queue on weekends).
Bottom line: Café culture and bakery with Argentine soul and Madrid swagger. Come for breakfast, stay for the cheesecake.
Address: Calle de Cardenal Cisneros 40, Madrid
👨🏻💻 Viral Memes of the Week
🗣️ Well, there have been complaints
🥘 Jamie Oliver should watch this (plus, we wanted to use the paella emoji)
🏡 How to identify the social class of a Spanish kitchen
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You have really outdone yourself with this one. I am crying laughing!
These 3 gems are the stand outs:
"Jesus, look at the size of that cat..."
"...with hundreds of pets (*trying to murder each other*) happily walking with their owners."
"...old yogurt container (and finally fulfilling the prophecy of becoming your mother)."
Thank you for the Friday morning laughs whilst I sip my coffee.