Populart - Jazz Café

The idea of going to a proper Spanish jazz café has been in my head since choosing Madrid as the destination for my year abroad. There's just something really romantic about sitting in a dark bar with a drink in your hand and watching a good jazz group playing away in the corner. On the plane out I was leafing through my guidebook and made a note to visit Populart. This jazz bar is somewhat overshadowed by its more famous (and expensive) neighbour Cafe Central. On the way to Populart I passed Cafe Central and there was a queue out of the door and along the pavement! I got to Populart...and there wasn't a single person there.

 

 

I stuck my head through the open door and realised that most of the little tables had "reserved" cards placed on them. The barman noticed me and asked if I wanted one; with a quick scribble on a post it note I had reserved a table for 3 and set off on a wander until the show began. Catriona and her boyfriend Matt, who was visiting from England, had agreed to meet me at about 9pm for the concert. I came across them having tapas down the road and we waited together eating albondigas (meatballs). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got to Populart and by about 9.30pm the tables started to fill up as people arrived to claim their reservations. I'm not sure if it was because it was a Sunday or because it was the last night of the Canal Street Jazz Band's run at Populart but there was no chance of not getting a table. There were even a couple left over as the band started to play.

 

 

 

The Canal Street Jazz Band are known for their own style of traditional New Orleans, Dixieland jazz. Made up of a piano, double bass, drums, trombone and trumpet, they launched enthusiastically into "When You're Smiling" and the whole place was tapping along with the beat.

 

 

They played an hour's set with the only other tune I knew being the "Pink Panther" which everyone loved. My favourite was Pepe the trumpeter who sang a throaty spanish love song whilst playing the trumpet with one hand. I managed to record one of their numbers and have linked it below for your delectation - enjoy!

Entry to this Jazz Café is free (unlike Café Central where it's about 10-13 euros to get in) but they do ask you to buy a drink. This means that drinks are fairly pricey; a coke cost us 5 euros while a gin and tonic cost 8. This is well worth it, however, as for less than the price of the entry fee to Café Central you get to enjoy both a drink and the live jazz.

Populart has live music every night of the week and is located at 22, Calle de las Huertas, the nearest metro stop is Antón Martín.

http://www.populart.es/



Getting Started with a Spanish Mobile

Once you arrive in Spain one of the first things you'll want to do is get your phone sorted. If you don't have a Spanish SIM card giving your number out to new friends or getting started on a flat search is so much more difficult and expensive. There are plenty of networks operating in Spain; the largest of which are Movistar, Vodafone, Orange and Yoigo. I have friends that use these networks but the service I chose is a much smaller one called Tuenti which is provided by Movistar.

In my first week I spent so much precious time faffing about because I didn't really know what I was doing. I honestly went to at least 7 different Movistar stores and failed at getting a SIM at each of them for various reasons. I don't want this to happen to you so just follow these steps to take the stress out of getting a spanish SIM.

1. Have a phone ready for your new SIM. Some people buy a really cheap brick phone in England to take abroad as their posh smartphones are tied into English contracts. Whatever you want to do make sure that the phone you take is unlocked meaning it will accept a new SIM card. Being the technophobe I am I had only just joined the 21st century before I set off so had a new unlocked smartphone all ready and waiting.

Something to bear in mind is that EVERYONE in Madrid uses WhatsApp so you may want a phone with internet access.

2. Go to the Flagship Movistar store on Gran Vía. I faffed about for days going to small stores that told me they'd run out of the SIM I wanted, didn't stock SIMs as they were inside the Corte Inglés or that I needed to create an account online beforehand (absolute rubbish). Go to the main store where they'll have everything to hand - if your Spanish is rusty there'll also be someone ready to help you in English.
 
Things you will need:

- Your Passport
- 25 Euros (in cash or card it's up to you)

3. Ask for a prepaid Tuenti SIM (Una tarjeta prepago de Tuenti). In Spain you can't get a phone contract for any less than 18 months. As the majority of us are going to be abroad for around 9 months a prepaid plan is the best option.

For 7 Euros a month Tuenti offers:

- 1 GB of data
- 50 minute of Vozdigital (Vozdigital is essentially a way in which people who have a Tuenti SIM can talk to each other over the internet via the Tuenti App)
- It costs 18.15 cents to establish a call (within Spain) but then the first 30mins are free. You could hang up at 29 mins and redial meaning that an hours phone call has only cost about 37 cents (sneaky!)

You pay 25 euros to get the SIM card and the first month's payment is taken away leaving you with the excess as credit. So for the first month you would have 18 euros worth of credit to make phone calls with etc. The next month's 7 euros is automatically taken from your remaining credit. Once this is all gone you can top up at any ATM or inside Movistar stores.

Once you've put the SIM in your phone I'd wait 10-15 minutes inside the store to check that it's working. Make sure you have WIFI disabled when you try to access the internet or you may think it works when it doesn't...this definitely didn't happen to me... In the end I had to get the settings on my phone changed by one of the engineers so it would accept a foreign SIM.

In Movistar stores and on their website you'll be able to find other slightly more expensive options that offer more data/minutes etc. Unfortunately as foreigners buying the card using a passport as ID the only option available to us is the 7 euro plan.

As I said there are plenty of other options but this is the cheapest and most practical one I found. I hope this has helped you if you're wondering how to go about getting a SIM on your year abroad.

The flagship Movistar store is located at Gran Vía, 28.

El Parque Retiro

Over the weekend we've been experiencing what the Spanish call a Veranillo de San Miguel which we know better as an Indian Summer. When I arrived it was pretty chilly but on Sunday it was about 26 degrees here in the sunshine - bearing in mind it's the end of October! I was feeling a bit down despite the weather and was planning on just staying in and relaxing in my room. When Isabel asked me if I wanted to take a walk in the park I was all ready to say no but then I remembered that we're supposed to say yes to everything now we're on our year abroad. I'm so glad I agreed to go! We drove to El Retiro which only took a few minutes from Paseo de la Habana and parked up in a side street.

The park itself is beautiful; an oasis of greenery in the middle of the hectic city. It's the only place so far, except the shower, where I haven't been able to hear any traffic!

The wide avenues are full of children scooting about on hired go-karts, young professionals jogging, couples taking a stroll and families out for a picnic.

Despite the crowds around the lake the park's so large you're almost guaranteed to find a space to yourself away from it all.

The lake itself is dotted with hired rowing boats which bob about in front of King Alfonso XII's monument. Inaugurated in 1922, this consists of a huge bronze statue of the king mounted on an enormous plinth and surrounded by a magnificent colonnade. 

El Retiro is a lovely place to go for a walk at the weekend or after work. It doesn't really have an off day as during the week, in the summer months, the madrileños eat lunch there and take a siesta under the trees and families fill it at weekends.

There are plenty of buskers along the paths around the lake adding a soundtrack of light jazz to your stroll.

Isabel was keen to make sure I had a photo next to one of the street vendors in his traditional flat cap and waistcoat. They sell roasted chestnuts and other wafer or pastry snacks.

After our walk Isabel and I went for a drink in a nearby tapas bar called La Casa Del Abuelo. Opened in 1906 and a little pricey, this beautiful space was pretty much everything you could want from a tapas bar. We each ordered a caña (a small glass of beer) and it came with a tiny plate of paella.

The food was gorgeous but I'm afraid I'm still not a fan of beer - where is the cider in this city?! There's so much in this park I haven't seen, including the Palacio Cristal, the art gallery and the many hidden corners and manicured gardens, that I'm sure to be back sometime in the future. It'll be interesting to see how it changes with the seasons.

El Parque Buen Retiro is a little to the east of the main city behind the Prado museum and can be accessed via various metro stations including Retiro and Ibiza

Microteatro

On Thursday night I was lucky enough to be invited to the theatre by my flatmate Christina who was going with her boyfriend Thomás, Laura a friend from work and her partner Miguel. There are plenty of traditional theatres in Madrid but we were going to a Microteatro called Por Dinero. The idea is that above ground the bar serves drinks as usual but that in the rooms below short plays of about 15 minutes each are performed all night. We waited in a queue outside to book our tickets (4 euros per play) and then went to have dinner before the shows we'd reserved started.

Here we are waiting outside:

Once our time slots had appeared on a TV screen above the bar we were ushered downstairs in silence to wait for the show to start. A man in underpants, vest and socks and covered in lipstick marks stuck his head round a door and the night began! Each show contains about 2-3 characters and the tiny rooms (and they are tiny - only about 3 metres square) in which they're performed all branch off a dark corridor. I wasn't sure what to expect to be honest but we all really enjoyed it. The two shows that we saw were both comedies which often meant that the lines were spoken really fast so at times it was hard to keep up. The actors were brilliant; just because the plays only last 15-20 minutes doesn't mean they're any less good than a full length show.

You can have a look online beforehand to see which shows interest you or you can just wait until you're in the queue where you can pick up a flyer. It is very popular though and the capacity of the room for each show is only about 10 people so if you're in a group like we were you may have to arrive early or wait until they have space later on. There were five of us so we ended up booking the 10.45pm and 11pm slots and going for dinner beforehand.

Por Dinero is located just off Gran Vía in Calle de Loreto Prado y Enrique Chicote

microteatromadrid.es

El Café Comercial

During my year abroad I have to complete an extended project for my university called a Year Abroad Research Project or YARP. I've chosen to focus mine on the café culture of the 1920s and the reasons why cafés were so important to the avant garde movement in Spain during this decade. This means I get to spend lots of time in old cafés listening to jazz and watching the world go by (whilst doing important research obviously...) I thought it would be nice to keep a record of the cafés I visit so here's the first on the list.

El Café Comercial claims to be Madrid's oldest café; officially it first obtained its licence in 1887 but there's evidence to suggest that there's been a café on this spot since 1870. It's been in the Contreras family since 1909 and is currently being run by the fourth generation. In the past it was a favourite meeting place for many famous artists, writers, musicians, poets, toreros (bullfighters) and journalists. Now its marble tables are still likely to be occupied by a pretty diverse crowd with an internet café upstairs and long-standing chess club meaning it's popular with both young and old.

A friend from Southampton, Catriona, and I decided to visit the café as we'd heard there was a language exchange going on between 1-3pm. Once we'd arrived, however, it was obvious that this particular exchange wasn't really what we were looking for as the majority of the small group were retirees. Knowing there are plenty of other exchanges dotted around the city that cater for younger people, we decided to just have a coffee and a look around.

The café has a great atmosphere with everyone, from students on laptops to families and groups of friends out for a drink, enjoying the space and a snack or two.

Drinks are served by waiters in old fashioned uniforms which is nicely nostalgic and doesn't make them any less friendly.

The walls are lined with books which I think are part of some sort of mobile library/bookshop initiative. Even if you don't buy one it's still nice to have a quick read with your coffee. On the whole I heartily recommend this place. The only thing that lets it down is the soundtrack; admittedly you can only really hear it round at the bar, but who wants to listen to trashy pop while sipping their café con leche?

El Café Comercial is located just opposite Bilbao Metro Station at Glorieta de Bilbao

My First Night In Madrid

After 10 months of paperwork, 2 days of frantic packing and a bleary-eyed 4am start I am finally here in Madrid! I arrived early this morning and by 10.45am I was in a taxi, nodding and smiling at everything the taxista said, hurtling towards my new home for the next few weeks. I decided back in England that I wanted to live with a Spanish family in a homestay at first so that I'll have time to find my feet in the city and have the chance to practice my Spanish before starting work. Isabel, the lady whose flat I'm staying in, met me in the street with kisses and smiles and we lugged my suitcases into the lift to the second floor.

Also staying in the flat is an Austrian girl called Christina who's very friendly and is here on an exchange programme from Paris. At lunchtime Isabel took us both on a trip to the plaza mayor to try un bocadillo de calamares in a teeny tiny bar which was packed to the rafters with madrileños shouting and laughing. We wandered round the streets of La Latina in the sunshine just soaking everything in. 

Isabel agreed that I could eat with her this evening if I paid her a little extra so I waited...and waited...and waited...until 11pm. I can see that it's going to take me a while to get used to the timings here. Isabel is lovely and eager to help me in any way she can but after that dinner of courgette pureé, microwaved tinned sausages and an incredibly salty fried egg I think I'll be cooking for myself from now on! 

It's now very late at night and I'm sitting in my new room:

Although I'm in Spain the rain is drumming on my window and has turned the road outside into a river!

I'm looking forward to the next few weeks with a mixture of excitement and (I'm not going to lie) fear. For a first day though I don't think I could have asked for more: a lovely host and flatmate, a guided tour of the centre and a comfy new room.

My Street - Paseo De La Habana

I've been here a few days now and I thought I'd go on a little photography spree in the local area just to show you what it's like where I live. My street, Paseo de la Habana, is in an area a little to the north of the city centre called El Viso. It's a very built up area but still manages to be quite open and green.

We're right next to the world famous football stadium Santiago Bernabéu which is also what my nearest Metro station is called.

Santiago Bernabéu is on metro line number 10 and it's only 4-5 stops right into the centre of Madrid. It takes as little as 20 minutes to get to Gran Vía.

Paseo de la Habana runs into Paseo de la Castellana which seems to be the main roadway from the centre and is packed with traffic. You can catch the bus from the opposite side of the road to the metro station and it's a straight run into town. Paseo de la Castellana is lined with huge business towers and offices:

This area is really great to live in as it's so easy to get into town and yet is quite quiet and full of supermarkets and cafés. I'm going to catch the bus for the first few days to get to work in the Museo Sorolla but I'm hoping to get a flat that's a little closer in the Chamberí area for the rest of my time here.