I have lived in Madrid for 30 years. It was my mother who caused our migration from Oviedo. She had studied here for a degree and was right in thinking that somehow we would have more or other opportunities to see, share, learn… It is an open, welcoming and dynamic city. There are many of us who have been allowed to build a life in the capital. I have just returned from Paris and it is really curious to see with enthusiasm that people admire and let ourselves be stunned by foreign architectures and societies and when we pass through our cities we lower our eyes and our interest fades. Years ago I decided to look at this city like all those I admire. Don't stop surprising me and liking me even more.
In Madrid you can radically change your plan with ease.
I am an open person who has very eager friends who always come up with appealing plans. You take a walk through the Casa de Campo or the Retiro or the Berlin park that is nearby. You walk around, which is the best way to get to know the city. There is always an appetizing expo or concert... and lunch or dinner in any of the infinite places where you can eat well, and very well, in Madrid. I always propose to put children to discover a new place.
laura put on
The gone discovers the city little by little. At first you go through the parts that place you easily. Then you let go. You have to get lost in the cities. It is the way to know them. It is very good to know the most propagandistic culture, but cities are made by the people who live in them, and Madrid has been growing and integrating other cultures that, coexisting with ours, have enriched some neighborhoods even more. I have an electrified car and that allows me to easily move around the city without worrying about the weather, since I can park without time limits and enter areas restricted to normal traffic. I love to drive and I'm not lazy to pick up family and friends all over town and drop off at new places.
Whichever way is recommended, I start with Carabanchel, a neighborhood that we discovered years ago because we participated in the creation of a studio, a kind of community that included artists from different disciplines and we organized exhibitions, which we called Urgel3. Today I recommend, visit and, above all, enjoy Casabanchel, a house and space for contemporary creation where I always find inspiration and contact with the most creative and free world. Everything is collaborative, generous and based on the gift economy.
We also invite you to visit the Nave Oporto and Malafama studios to have the opportunity to see very interesting and well-known artists at work... and the good atmosphere that is generated there. If you are in the area, you can go to Martino's (Calle Zaida, 83) national food with an exceptional product; at Matilda (C/Matilde Hernandez, 32), a pincho bar that surely has tryo rooms; in Abrazzas, a very rich Peruvian (C/ De la Oca, 26, in Legazpi). In addition, the Mercado de Guillermo de Osma, in Arganzuela, is super interesting at a multicultural gastronomic level.
In Sales, you have to keep an eye on all the activities of the CAR, Center for Outreach to the Rural (Calle del Buen Gobernador, 4), headquarters of Campo Adentro and a building from the 30s, donated by the Community of Madrid, where generates workshops, performances, exhibitions and cuisine that connect the rural with the urban through creative and social processes.
In Lavapiés I usually go to the San Fernando Market and it is a great plan with family, friends or alone El Rastro, where you should not miss the stores El Ocho (C/Mira el Río Alta, 8) and El Transformista, both have been my perdition and it is always good to look out, even if it is not spent.
La Casa Encendida, in Ronda de Valencia, 2, is always a good place to bring avant-garde art to the family through exhibitions, courses and workshops. I can also recommend, in Las Letras, the José de la Mano gallery (C/Zorrilla, 21) to rediscover the first artists as conceptual Spaniards, and, in the Barrio de Salamanca, the Abbatte store (C/Villanueva, 27) with home linen and handmade textiles. It has its headquarters in Segovia, in an old abbey, and all its products are natural, sustainable, ecological and try to recover the old crafts of the looms.
In Chamberí I like to have dinner at La Parra, I will never stop going. In Prosperidad, I visit Andrea Zarraluqui's workshop, with its hand-painted plates and crockery, where I don't want to leave, his studio is wonderful, and I want to take it all with me.
When I take a walk through the Parque de Berlin I usually eat at La Ancha, have a wine in the Cavatina in the sun and go to the Auditorium.
I have more favorite places, like the lingerie atelier Le Bratelier and El Estudio de Isabel y Elena Pan de Soraluce, where I am engrossed with their sculptures.
As for events, I invite you to attend the Madrid Design Festival, until February 13 with exhibitions, meetings and workshops; to see the play 'How We Have Arrived Here' at the Teatro del Barrio, with Nerea Pérez de Las Heras and Olga Iglesias (absolute recommendation) and Ana Nance's photography exhibition 'Fables and Vanishing Flags' at Casa Árabe.
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Laura Ponte is a designer, in charge of her bespoke sewing and jewelery atelier for brides, after having triumphed as an international top model. She is also an ambassador for the Citroën C5 Aircross Hybrid SUV.
