°, originally uploaded by Annelogue.

I just spent four days in Madrid with my hubby, where we rented an apartment very close to Dos de Mayo in Malasaña, a super pleasant neighbourhood close to the University, with loads of small cafes and tapas bars. I especially loved Ojala, a cosy tapas bar which served up all kinds of goodies. The streets in this area were filled with nice street art which is a huge bonus for me. I bumped into pieces by Noaz, Chincheta and Yatusabes…nice stuff. During the weekend police restricted access to the plaza at Dos de Mayo due to the riots on May 1st and 2nd where 3000 people got into street fights with an unknown number of cops. In all, 80 people got hurt and 20 people were arrested. Apparently this outburst of anger was a reaction to the plans of the city council wanting to turn Malasaña into a consumer paradise and destroying the free spaces in this part of the city. It’s interesting how much of a parallel story that is to the riots in Copenhagen where the diversity of spaces is under serious threat these days. Anyhoo, it was lovely for a street eater like myself to walk around the city at night photographing the gorgeous streets. It wasn’t a very long vacation, but enough to make me feel refreshed. I have to remember to get away like this more often.