This week some students will travel to Andalusia as part of their program. Others who do not belong to that cohort will probably travel to other places. We wish them both a happy trip!
However, other students will stay in Madrid, and the ideas of this post are for them 💕:
On the first Saturday of every month from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. you can visit the Museo del Prado for free. On February 1st you can visit the exhibitions: “Shaking hands. Sculpture and color in the Golden Age”, sponsored by the AXA Foundation, and “Sigmar Polke. Revealed affinities”, the painter’s first solo exhibition in Madrid, presented by the Museo del Prado and the Fundación Amigos Museo del Prado, in collaboration with the Madrid City Council. In addition, you can enjoy the exhibition of the Resurrected Christ, the first work by the artist Giulio Clovio in the collections of the Museo del Prado, thanks to the recent donation from American Friends.
Radio 3 will liven up this evening event in the Sala de las Musas with the station's DJs María Taosa, José Manuel Sebastián and Nacho Álvaro El Patillas Dj, highlighting the uniqueness of the proposal. Visitors will be offered the chance to pose in a photocall designed for the occasion by Samsung, and Café Prado and the Museum shop will also be open.
The celebration of the Chinese New Year, which has more than 4,000 years of history, coincides with the beginning of the crop cycle, despite the winter, and welcomes a new season, hence it is also known as the “Spring Festival”. In 2025, the Year of the Wooden Snake is celebrated (which begins on January 29) and as in previous years there is a complete program of activities (Jan 29 to Feb 15) to celebrate it (mainly in Usera, Madrid's Chinatown).
You can find all the activities in https://madridchino.com/distrito-usera-madrid-chino/ (it is only in Spanish and Chinese, but I am sure that you can figure out what it is said).
Also, in https://www.esmadrid.com/en/whats-on/china-taste, we can learn about the Chinese gastronomy for these celebration days:
"Celebrating Chinese New Year, which begins on 29 January 2025, the eighth edition of China Taste will be taking place from 20 January to 16 February. This ground-breaking culinary event promoted by the Chinese Embassy, the China Cultural Centre in Madrid, Madrid City Council and the Regional Government will be celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Snake in 2025. In addition to this culinary celebration, there will be several show cooking sessions at the China stand of the FITUR fair from 22 to 26 January.
To celebrate and promote China’s rich culinary tradition, this festival is being held in conjunction with Chinese restaurants throughout Madrid that are known for their use of high quality ingredients, excellent wine menus and efficient service. They have designed a special menu for the occasion that you can enjoy at all participating restaurants for a month at very reasonable prices.
In the 2025 edition of this event, 30 restaurants throughout Madrid and Mallorca will be delighting diners with Chinese haute cuisine guaranteed to satisfy even the most discerning food lovers. The Dim Sum Market is one of the unmissable venues taking part in this edition, known for its modern and authentic approach, which takes the art of dim sum to another level, combining tradition and creativity in each dish.
Other exceptional restaurants taking part include "Le Chinois", which prepares delicious dishes based around duck; "Soy Kitchen", a restaurant known for its creativity where chef Julio Zhang has created a dish known as Fire Fish especially for the occasion; and the restaurant "Chi-La" specialising in dishes from the province of Hunan, offering flavour and spice in equal measure. They also participate "Asia Té", "Bao Li", "El Buda Feliz 1974", "El Bund", "China Crown", "Chunli", "Cocina Lú", "Gran Café Shaghai", "Indochina Brasa", "Kököchin, Kzen", "Lelong Asian Club" and "Xiaolongkan".
China has a broad culinary culture classified into eight culinary styles or schools (Sichuan, Shandong, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan and Anhui). China Taste aims to make people more familiar with Chinese cuisine through the participating restaurants.
This culinary festival has also partnered with the Spanish Red Cross, which gives it even greater added value. For each menu, China Taste will make a donation to projects run by the charity organisation."
Have a nice weekend wherever you are!
