Sightseeing in Madrid - City Guide

Until July 5th the area surrounding Chueca will celebrate the Gay Pride Parade. The activities start with a speech held by some popular Spanish stars followed by concerts, the Mister Gay Pride Contest and a lot of fun. These events will take place in Chueca, Plaza Vazquez de Mella and Plaza de Santa Maria Soledad Torres Acosta.

Also several venues will offer activities during these days. For more information have a look at the program.

On July 2nd, at  Las Ventas , the 7th MTD Day 2009 Festival will take place, with Kylie Minogue.

The last and most popular event of these days is the Gay Pride Parade. In the last years over two million people have taken part in the parade. The parade starts at Puerta de Alcala, passes La Cibeles, calle de Alcala, Gran Via and ends at Plaza de España, where a big party will be held with many artists.

From Thursday, June 25th until Sunday, June 28th Plaza Mayor will become a meeting place for gourmets.

From 11:00 until 22:00 different stands will offer typical products from Spanish regions and also from Morocco, special guest to this event.

This year and for the first time several chefs will teach visitors how to prepare traditional and modern Moroccan dishes.

In two jaimas we can see a craft market.

On Friday and Saturday night several groups will perform dances from the regions of Tanger, Marrakech and Tetuan.

During the Book Fair many author are invited to participate and sign their books. Among the most popular ones is Spanish author Almudena Grandes, who attended the Fair on June 7th.

From today, June 4th until next Sunday, June 7th you can taste all kinds of tapas at the Tapas Fair which will be held at the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid.

The Palacio de Deportes is located at Avenida de Felipe II and the Fair will be open from 12:00 to 16:30 and from 19:00 until 23:00.

The entrance is free and the price per tapa is €1. Also a beer costs €1.

The Prado Museum offers the greatest exhibition ever dedicated to the Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla.
Over 100 paintings can be seen, including those the artist painted for the Hispanic Society of America.
Based on photographies that showed how Sorolla liked to present his paintings, some of the frames have been changed in order to follow the artist´s essence.
The exhibition starts with the paintings he made while working in Italy thanks to a grant and those with a social background. These first works are followed by his paintings dedicated to the sea,which already show why he is considered the painter of “light“.
The exhibition then turns to Sorolla in the XXth century, in Paris, where he started making portraits in a more traditional style, and again his paintings of the sea. Many of them will remind us of photographies regarding how the light enters the scene and the angle from which the painting is observed. We should not forget, that his father in law was a wellknown photographer and Sorolla himself was very interested in the new art, which gave him a particular way of observing reality. Probably his most famous paintings are those of the children playing at the seaside or the women wearing white dresses sitting at the beach.
In 1911 he was asked by Archer Milton Huntington to paint several works with the central idea of offering “Visions of Spain“. In these big paintings, over 3m high, he should present typical activities and costums of the country. It took him over eight years to finish the task and finally, instead of painting historic events, he portrait images of contemporary Spain. These paintings belong to the Hispanic Society of America.
Apart from this exhibition the visitor should not forget that the painter´s home is located in Madrid and worth visiting not only because of its paintings, but also for the house itself, which shows us how wealthy people lived last century.

The yearly Book Fair is going to be inaugurated next May 29th and last until June 14th. It will be located in the Retiro Park and is open from Mondays to Fridays from 11:00 to 14:00 and from 18:00 to 21:30, and on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 to 14:30 and from 17:00 to 21:30.
This year it celebrates the International Year of Astronomy, the bicentenary of Darwin´s birth and also of the Spanish writer Mariano Jose de Larra.
The first Book Fair took place in 1933.
Here you can find stand from publishing companies, but also from bookshops, so that the book offer is immense.
All kinds of novels, encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. can be bought and not only in Spanish.
If you are visiting the Retiro Park it is a good idea to have a look at the fair.