I don’t recommend anyone to go anywhere near this "housing development". Taxi drivers won't take you there and the police only go there in extreme cases, usually by the dozen (of vans), but on Sundays there´s a great market in "The Alameda de Hercules". Try the food in Los Robles (calle Argote de Molina), it’s not cheap, but the food is great.
On Thursdays there´s a street market called “El Jueves”. On Wednesdays they put a sign on the church door which says "tomorrow is Thursday", just in case you forgot it's Wednesday.
Some things may have changed in the 20 years since I lived there but the art school dance goes on forever. Avoid if possible La plaza de la Pulmareja, which is close to La Macarena, but try to visit La Plaza de San Romanand and the bar of the same name. They have a blackboard which counts down the days to La Madrugá, the night between Thursday and Good Friday when the Cristo de Los Gitanos goes out for a walk. I once saw and heard Cameron de la Isla singing Saetas there, spinechilling.
c/ Argote de Molina is one minute from the cathedral
A Sunday street market something like a cross between Portobello and Brick Lane ... not to be missed, but be very careful with valuables; a friend of mine had the back pocket of her extremely tight jeans cut off with a razor without her noticing and lost 2000 pesetas ... and she's Madrileña ... that was years ago, they're more sophisticated and violent these days...
Metro: Tirso de Molina
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first submitted a tip on 6 October 2005
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