Bohemian, cosmopolitan and gay-friendly, Chueca is the neighborhood with the most attitude and personality. This area is ideal for having drinks with friends at night, discovering the latest fashion trends, or experiencing Madrid’s gay community. Malasaña, the most rebellious neighborhood, is cheerful and carefree, where you can walk the quiet streets during the day, or wander the clubs and bars at night.
The gay community of Madrid has chosen one of the most traditional areas and the once elegant city, with buildings from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; many of them restored. They have set up many quality shops, especially fashion shops, as well as many catering establishments with excellent design. Salesas, in the Chueca area, has important stately buildings and a certain legal and business area, where there are many art galleries. It is adjacent to Paseo del Arte and the lively Gran Vía and Sol.
The Salesas area, between Chueca and Recoletos, houses streets related to the dynasty of the Bourbons, as Fernando VI and Barbara de Braganza, drivers Reales Convent Salesas. After the Dos de Mayo Uprising of 1808, the population of Madrid had to accept as king Joseph Bonaparte, nicknamed by the locals “Pepe Botella” for his fondness for drink. Despite popular opposition, José I tried to win the people organizing numerous free events: bullfights, food festivals and religious processions. the nickname “King Squares” also won for demolishing churches and convents to create places, such as Santa Barbara, and promote the Viaduct Segovia. During his reign the public health is also improved and cemeteries on the outskirts of the city moved.
Salesas, called by some the Soho of Madrid, is an area where you can lose yourself in its majestic streets and breathe in its bohemian, intellectual and chic atmosphere. Our tour can start at the end of Recoletos, at the height of the Plaza de Colon, bordering the Barrio de Salamanca, where the Wax Museum brings together portraits of more than 450 characters, national and international, from the Beatles and Bart Simpson to Cervantes.
From here we can take the street Fernando VI to get into the neighborhood of the Salesians, up to the Convent of the Royal Salesians, current Supreme Court, and Church of Santa Barbara, attached to the complex, which keeps inside the tombs of the kings Fernando VI and Barbara de Braganza.
Another building on the street Fernando VI is the Palacio de Longoria (1902), a spectacular modernist building that currently houses the headquarters of the SGAE. It is open to the public the first Monday of October (International Day of Architecture) and during the White Night.
Our next stop is the Plaza de Santa Barbara, a pleasant space which owes its name to the Convent of Santa Barbara. Down the street Gran Via Hortaleza, you can visit the Museum of Romanticism in San Mateo. Housed in a mansion of the late eighteenth century, the Marquis de Matallana houses a magnificent collection of nineteenth-century pieces, from painting to furniture and decorative objects that illustrate the lifestyle of high society in the mid-nineteenth century.
Reales Convent Salesas
Going down Hortaleza, you will arrive at the Plaza de Chueca, nerve center of the area. On Augusto Figueroa street is the Mercado de San Anton, recently restored as a sustainable and chic market. The current building consists of three floors where different types of products are sold. You can even cook yourself in La Cocina de San Anton, restaurant on the third floor of the market.
Down Barquillo street, you will reach the Plaza del Rey, where the House of Seven Chimneys is, a mansion of the XVI century which owes its name to the seven chimneys that crown. It currently houses the Ministry of Culture. It is a building surrounded by loving legends – it said that,some nights, the ghost of one of the lovers of Philip II still roams the halls.
Heading for the Infantas on Hortaleza street, you wll find the Plaza Vázquez de Mella, the epicenter of the neighborhood and umbrella from the activities of Pride festivities. The square is surrounded by a combination of nineteenth-century facades. Under it a modern car park, work of Teresa Sapey, whose entrance is decorated with a big red bow (symbol of the fight against AIDS) while its interior is made up of a series of spaces colorfully decorated with quotes from Dante’s divine Comedy.
Continuing along Princesa, you arrive to the street Fuencarral, the boundary between Chueca and Malasaña, and one of the main axes of the youth fashion and alternative scene of Madrid, focused on the Fuencarral market, exhibitor of new trends. A little further north, up to the Tribunal Metro is the Museum of History, former Municipal Museum and old Hospicio de Madrid.
Chueca fashion lovers will be able to roam, covering local governed by international firms or tienditas charming small designers. Some stores are a must-see, such as Luxenter, where you will find bold pieces of jewelry; Zadig & Voltaire, with its knitwear and shirts, or even Elsa, a French store installed in Piamonte that focuses hats for women.
For a small rest, we recommend making a stop at Cafe Bethlehem or the Bristol Bar and then, and now finally complete our visit to the neighborhood with a tour of art galleries, among which two deserve special attention: the Moriarty Gallery, which was during the “Movida Madrileña” one of the city’s most important meeting of culture and counterculture of Madrid, and Juana Aizpuru Gallery that since he was installed in Madrid in 1983 remains one of the flagships of Spanish private gallerism.
In Chueca and Salesas, there are a wide range of hotel services because it is one of the busiest areas of the city. In the streets there are boarding houses, hostels and hotels of different category with the added attraction that, generally, prices in this area are slightly lower than those of its neighboring areas. A few meters from the Gran Vía, is the Hotel Lusso Infantas, a cozy and centrally located establishment with well-appointed rooms and catering services distributed in a restaurant and several lounges. Near this is the Room Mate Oscar hotel featuring modern design, with rooms designed for comfortable stay of its clients, and a terrace where a drink or enjoy the view. In the Petit Palace Ducal Chueca Hotel room are given all kinds of extra services like bike rental or ticket to different shows of the capital; also pet-friendly. Almost identical conditions has its sister hotel, the Petit Palace Santa Barbara, north of the neighborhood.
There is plenty to eat in Chueca and area Salesas because it has become over the years in an area characterized by design and sophistication, with a creative and innovative cuisine and a strong interest in creating a fresh cuisine and healthy. Almost everything you eat in Chueca is possible to find in the newly refurbished Mercado de San Anton, where there is not only exclusive fresh, high quality products, but many stalls where delicious tapas and snacks are offered. In addition, many of these positions offer the opportunity to test their products cooked at the time. In the building itself, the restaurant is situated on the roof of market offers a daily menu at an affordable price. In this area the offer of delicatessen products such as oils, cheeses, chocolates or wine is combined with O.D. Wines of Madrid, with traditional shops or creameries. the kitchen preparing Salesas in Chueca and is endowed with strong contemporary elements but overall, its essence is traditional.
The dining options in Chueca and Salesas are numerous. One of the most popular in the neighborhood is Bazaar, a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant with some oriental touches within a room decorated with classic taste. Merimee is another recommended local to the area. It has two distinct spaces between restaurant on the ground floor and gastro bar at the top; It offers traditional cuisine inspired, but with modern touches in the presentation and preparation. Divine Kitchen offers its customers a wide menu based on traditional cuisine of high quality. Its spacious rooms make it a perfect crazy for holding all kinds of events. Another restaurant to consider Babel and its proposal for market cuisine composed of quality ingredients and classic recipes. The Saporem restaurant has a sunroom and sometimes enliven the meal with live music; decor and cuisine are two strengths. Paris Tokyo is another popular restaurants to eat in Chueca. Your kitchen is the result of a successful fusion of European and Oriental culinary tradition. With several years behind the Bocaíto restaurant is another classic in the area. Divided into several areas, both local and traditional cuisine are cut; bar also serving different tapas and toasts. You can not speak of eating tapas without mentioning Chueca El Tigre, one of the most recognized not only in the neighborhood of the capital but also local. Overall, Chueca and Salesas is full of bars and taverns where tapas or portions; Other recommended establishments are the back room and Pinchos Elcano.
In recent years, Chueca has distinguished itself as one of the most vibrant nightlife areas of the capital. With a marked character of the neighborhood by night, the gay community is the primary audience of the night in Chueca. However, its streets are open to all kinds of people, regardless of their musical tastes or sexual orientation; honoring the theme of diversity and freedom that prevails in the neighborhood. Quiet night can start with a drink in the New Troje. Then a wide range of possibilities opens against those who want to spend a sleepless night in one of the many locals who are in the neighborhood. Some of the most popular, where you can find good atmosphere and sometimes live music, are Fulanita Tal, Long Play, Stunt, Why Not ?, Delirium or Black & White.
There are numerous historical places in Malasaña and Conde Duque, as well as some unfrequented interesting museums in Madrid. A mixture of shops of all kinds and varied hospitality establishments are other attractions of these two typical areas of Madrid. The good – value of its hospitality and hotel do destination of visitors to Madrid travel watching their euros. It is a few neighborhoods that wander and go entering traditional and alternative venues as well as pleasant local hospitality and care, with the main areas of cinemas in the city and some of the most traditional streets.
The urban layout of the Conde Duque environment dates from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, although few significant buildings of that era are preserved. Its past is linked, no doubt, to the world of science because, besides being formerly in this area Central University (forerunner of the present University Complutense), concentrated most of facilities and scientific laboratories in Madrid during the second half nineteenth century.
Plaza del Dos de Mayo, in 1890
There is much to see in Malasaña, consisting of an exciting maze of short, narrow and irregular layout streets that lead to places that give them air and allow us to visit the masses of shops.
In addition, many of the names of the streets of Malasaña are related to the uprising against the French in 1808. Ruiz, Malasaña, Monteleón, Daoíz and Velarde are good examples; also the Plaza del Dos de Mayo which opened on the missing Headquarters Monteleón (last resistance on May 2, 1808) and on part of the site of the former convent of Wonders, which currently only church preserved, the parish of Our Lady of Wonders, also known as Church of Saints Justo and Pastor (the s. XII, renovated in the XVIII). It is a building of Latin cross and line classicist houses inside the image of Our Lady of Wonders, which many miracles are attributed. In the central part of the square stands the Monument to Daoíz and Velarde, located under the archway of the old artillery barracks, designed by the neoclassical sculptor Antonio Solá in 1822.
From here you can stroll to the south and the Gran Via, walking the narrow streets that harbor an intense commercial life. After a short walk we find the Church of San Martin, baroque building whose cover is attributed to José de Churriguera. The temple, brick, presents great decorative austerity. Inside stands a relief representing San Martin de Tours with the beggar, the work of Ricardo Bellver (s. XIX).
The Cuartel del Conde-Duque rehabilitated
From this temple we can go into the street San Bernardo, one of the most important arteries of the city until the mid-nineteenth. It contains the old building of the Central University (now Complutense University of Madrid) and its Historical Library Marqués de Valdecilla. Above the Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of Montserrat, founded by Philip IV in 1642 to accommodate the Castilian monks who came from Montserrat during the uprising of Catalonia is. is famous for its church, a Baroque work of Sebastián Herrera Barnuevo and Gaspar de la Peña, as amended by Pedro de Ribera in the eighteenth century. Opposite is the neoclassical Monastery of New Salesas (finished in 1801). Very close to San Bernardo Convent Comendadoras of Santiago, founded by Felipe IV, in 1650, and reorganized by Francisco Sabatini in 1773. The convent church has a Greek cross, crowned by a beautiful dome over is pechinas. The square of the same name is an ideal place for a drink or coffee in one of its terraces place.
Near the convent we find the Cuartel del Conde-Duque, commanded by Philip V in 1717 to house the companies Royal Guards Corps. It is a large rectangular building, structured around three patios. In its long façade is particularly striking churrigueresca cover the eighteenth century. Today is a great cultural center that houses the archives of the Villa, three libraries, the Municipal Newspaper Library, the Madrid Imaging Center, the Craft Printing and the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (with its collection of Spanish modern art, especially painting and printmaking). During the summer, the center becomes one of the main stages of the attractive offer of the Veranos de la Villa.
Near here we find another more modern building, the ABC Museum (2010), built on the skeleton of the former brewery Mahou to house exhibitions of illustration and design. Its collection consists of more than 200,000 drawings and published by the newspaper ABC and illustrated magazine Black and White illustrations. On the border with Princess Street Liria Palace, surrounded by a magnificent English garden hides. It is a neoclassical building erected in 1773 Sabatini and Ventura Rodríguez on behalf of the Dukes of Alba. Part of its facilities are open to the public upon request, and among them we can appreciate the great ballroom, the room Goya, the main staircase and hallways, decorative sumptuousness of the building and the impressive collection of the family, It includes works by Rubens, El Greco, Goya and Zuloaga.
If the traveler prefers the night, it is essential to have a drink in the Milky Way and El Penta. It may also be funto go to Madrid Me Mata, a bar-museum on the move that has opened its doors against El Penta. If, on the contrary, we just want to relax and enjoy coffee or tea in peace, we can opt for The Secret Garden, a romantic corner in the light of the candles, or the Commercial Café, which worked since 1887 for a clientele consisting by intellectuals, politicians, comedians and officials and was one of the first cafes in Madrid to hire waitresses.
It is possible to find different places to sleep in Malasaña and Conde Duque and at a great price. An example of this is the Court apart, located near the Puerta del Sol, Gran Vía, Plaza de Colon and Spain. If you want something intimate, this area is the only hotel in Madrid where every room is different both in its architecture and decoration: Relais & Chateaux Orfila. You can also opt for the Hotel Sterling which offer value for money it is ideal for a trip to the capital. For whom seeking tranquility, situated in a landscaped area, the Gran Hotel Conde Duque offers all facilities to make the stay as calm as possible even though it is a few meters from the busy street Alberto Aguilera.
The Malasaña – Conde Duque is known for being the most daring, cosmopolitan urbanite where most of the entertainment district is concentrated. These characteristics are reflected in each of the local dial style and personality among which you can choose among the most modern, inspired by the latest trends and the original pubs in the neighborhood. The Dos de Mayo Square and surrounding streets Conde Duque are for a good snack and glass of wine. The area is packed with bars and outdoor terraces, is the cocktail hour, lunch or dinner. You may also want to continue with a drink in any of its nightlife because, at night, the neighborhood becomes the drinking area of the Bohemian youth who filled the streets to drink and chat, both inside local and squares.
La Palmera, castiza old tavern with art deco design, is today a tapas bar where people drink beer and vermouth especially. Bodegas El Maño, with enormous original jars, the logo of the wineries in a mosaic floor and marble tables. Warehouses in Rivas have caves with huge vats where the wine was stored.
Of course, we find many pubs and clubs in Malasaña and Conde Duque: Sala Maravillas, concerts and theater; El Perro de la Parte Atras del Coche, concert hall and nightclub; Madklin, nightclub, bar-cafeteria; Weirdo Bar, musical performances; Wurlitzer Ballroom, concerts; Mercury, classic rock bar 60 and 70 … they are encouraged from the one in the morning; Taboo, concert hall, multidisciplinary shows, a collective of DJs. Tupperware, bar with a striking decor and coloristic already visible on the facade; The Pentagram, legendary bar street Palma, known as the Penta, where groups acted “Movida Madrileña” and Milky Way, alternative local legendary 80s where Almodóvar was walking. Topics of the 50s, 60s, 70s, rockabilly and more extreme rock’n’roll, punk … Siroco. concert hall, residents Djs, parties and cocktails; Fotomatón: bar concert hall; Café La Palma: concert hall; Goodfellas Rock Bar.
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