Sex on Ice

For those of you who are planning on going to Canada, we have to proposals for all budgets. The first is simply incredible, it’s one of these places that you can visit once and remember it for the rest of your life. It’s been a while since we’ve been keeping track of Ice Hotels around the world, but this one is simply amazing.

This is the Hotel Glacé, it opens this month and it’ll be available until April.

This next option is more appropriate for those who are planning a study or business trip to Toronto. The design is beautiful and the price, affordable, if it’s for a few days.

These are the Hotel Drake studio-apartments.

In either of these, if you travel alone or with company, you can check out the second edition of Khalo Ali’s new book, Tuamo.net (Your Master). Very accordingly to the book’s content, they hired Spanish porn star Macanao Torres for it’s campaign. Too hairy for our taste, but we know that many love him.

It was sold out the first two weeks after its launch, so that means that sales through the internet are more and more effective every day. This is their website.

Source: Modernica y Universogay.

Gay Madrid: Out for Drinks

Aside from an extense cultural offer by day and by night, Madrid has an infinite array of places to go out for drinks. Here are our suggestions:

Girls / Lesfriendly:

Fulanita de Tal. Conde Chiquena Street, 2. Chueca (Take the Green Line on the Underground, L5) Website.
La Ochenta. La Sombrerería Street, 8. Lavapiés (Take the Yellow Line on the Underground, L3) Website.

Classic Night Clubs:

Escape. Gravina Street, 13. Chueca (Take the Green Line on the Underground, L5) Website
Ohm. Callao Square, 4. Callao (Take the Green Line on the Underground, L5) Website.

Guys / Leather, Army Men, Nude and Bears:

Eagle Bar. Pelayo Street, 30. Chueca (Take the Green Line on the Underground, L5) Website.
Leather Club. Pelayo Street, 42. Chueca (Take the Green Line on the Underground, L5)
Odarko. Loreto & Chicote Street, 7. Callao (Take the Green Line on the Underground, L5) Website. Nude Night.
Bears Bar. Pelayo Street, 4. Chueca (Take the Green Line on the Underground, L5) Website.
Copper Bar. San Vivente Ferrer Srteet, 34. Tribunal (Take the Blue Line on the Underground, L1) Website. Nudist.

La Vía Láctea, another Rock'n'Roll classic at Malasaña

This guide is updated thanks to your contributions, as well. If you like, you can recommend some other bar or club. Write to us: gaynest@gmail.com.

The guys at Nighttours have a list with more suggestions. Here.

Photos by Alejandra Gómez S.

We’re expanding

You can find our content on Gaypedia, with whom we’ve begun to collaborate, (you’ll also find a version for your mobile) so shortly our Spanish speaking readers will have more content about travelling around Europe and a broader Spanish version of the best places for the LGBT community.

Plus, we’re getting started on The Shop. It’s just what we thought, a good idea to get all the other work we do out there. In only a couple of weeks it has been one of the most visited places on our blog next to Madrid and London. We hope that with all this we can gain new experiences that’ll help others that dare to open new paths for the future.

W Barcelona

For those of you who already know the chain of W Hotels in NY you just have to add one more of these to your list. It’s in Barcelona and, along with the imminent opening of the London complex and the one already running in Istambul, it completes the presence of the chain of Hotels in Europe.

Double room: 199 € +Tax

Madrid: “Cañas” & Bars

Sunday is the perfect day to enjoy good food and drinks in Madrid, although the city will be ready for you any day, Sundays have a little something special. People take advantage of the day to go out and have a nice meal and a few beers (they call them cañas) and meet up with friends and it’s easy to end up bar hopping until late at night.

The best way to start the day is to meet at “La Latina”.

Our suggestions are:

• “El Viajero” (The Traveller), in the “Plaza de la Cebada”. A 3 story bar in which, if there’s good weather and you feel like letting loose, you can end up having a couple of Gin & Tonics at around 5pm on the terrace.
• “El Tomas”, in the “Cava Baja”. A great place to start a tour. They have good prices and it’s sometimes a little “too” full of people, but it’s got the typical atmosphere that you’ll find on the streets of Madrid.
• “Los Caracoles”. “Casa Amadeo” (also known as “Los Caracoles”, The Snails) is a classic in Madird. It’s in the “Cascorro” Plaza, The Rastro main Square, very close to the “Tirso de Molina” Square (La Latina or Tirso de Molina metro stations). It was founded in 1942 and the specialty of the house are snails in soup .

NOTE: Madrid is big on eating meat, but if you’re a vegetarian and prefer something a little lighter, in La Latina you’ll find “El Estragón”, vegan cusine, at Plaza de la Paja.

Chueca

From there you can to the gay neighborhood of Madird, just a few minutes from the metro station (green line, no. 5). If you have some time, you can find a gay map of Chueca available on paper in almost every store or bar on Hortaleza Street.

We suggest you try the vermouth at “Bodega Angel Sierra”, right in fron of the underground station exit, on “Calle de la Gravina” or Gravina Street. Country deco, drunks and excellent “tapas”, thier specialty are the anchovies and filled pickles. Delicious!

Bodega Angel Sierra

If you want to have a bite in Chueca any day of the week, there are other LGBT restaurants that we recommend:

Divina de la Cocina. Colmenares, 13. TFN. 91 531 37 65. For Gourmets.

El Armario. San Bartolomé, 7. TFN. 91 532 83 77. Good food, fine looking waiters.

El Rincón de Pelayo. Pelayo, 19. 91 521 84 07. Good food, modern and good prices.

La Dame Noire. C/ Benito Pérez Galdós, 3. 91 531 04 76. Excellent.

Momo. C/ Libertad, 8. 91 532 73 48. Cocina creativa.



On our next post: Dining and going out. Parties that you cannot miss in Madrid.
Photos by Alejandra Gómez S.

More Applications for Travellers

We’re taking a break from Madrid right now to talk about cell phone applications for travellers. Just a few days ago , if you recall, we were talkng about PinkMap for iPhone, now there’s another novelty for those of you who own an iPhone, this time sponsered by Nike.

We’re talking about True City, it works in Barcelona, London, Berlin, Paris, Milan and Amsterdam. Of course, the company benefits from all the information they get from their target market about tastes and preferences, but for the user it’s a fast way to choose a place to have dinner or go have a beer at the nearest bar if you’re in a city you don’t know very well.

In the case of Barcelona, they upload your information to a group of 7: Aryz (graffiti artist), the Delorean music group, Joan Soley Perea (general coordinator of Primavera Sound), Marc Mascort (editorial, art and events), Scannerfm.com, designer Cruzcastillo, and Vice Magazine of which we are fans.

Here’s a promo video…

The following, also for iPhone, is Google’s idea. It’s the old “What about me?” in a much more accessible way on the final terminal. For now only on iPhone and Android and within The United States, as they explain in the oficial blog.

Google Mobile

The other Madrid of Austrias

The well known MADRID of AUSTRIAS is one of the oldest and most beautiful areas in the Spanish Capital. Its architecture is medieval and dates back to The Austrias Empire (XVI cen.)

We started at Plaza Mayor, located in downtown Madrid, a few minutes away from Puerta del Sol. Its construction, as it is today, began around the XVI century. You can reload at any of its café terraces with a typical “caña” (glass of beer) accompanied by a delicious slice of bread with calamar topping or “bocata de calamar”, as they call it here. You can also feast your eyes around the stands that have a display of antique seals and coins. On Sundays, you’ll always run into the philately and numismatics street market.

Beside The Plaza Mayor, you’ll see The “Mercado de San Miguel” (Opera metro station). This is the only one of the three markets in Madrid (Latina, Mostenses) that has kept its metalic structure and that has been recently remodeled, therefore it’s a must see.

The Mercado de San Miguel was inagurated for the first time in May, 1916. It’s a single floor building that was declared Cultural Asset. It has a ceramic decoration that crowns the outside.

The highlight of the new Mercado de San Miguel are its 33 stands which are mostly wine cellars and bars, every single last detail is cared for. Plus, they close at 2am. It’s a bit expensive but, it’s worth buying something there. There’s a french butchery, bakeries, cheeses, fair commerce and a stand where people pile up to savour oysters and champagne at noon.

Following this itenerary, after filling up on good food, you’ll get to Plaza de Ramales. It seems that there was an ancient church here, demolished by Napoleon, that dated back to roman times. Inside was the body of Velázquez, the painter. On one side you’ll see the “Café de los Austrias”, located on the first floor of a small square from the beginning of the XX century.

From there, you can walk to La Latina neighborhood, (we were expected to continue filling up on goodies, hey it was reaally cold! We had to keep our stomachs full!)

Next Post: Places to eat in La Latina and Chueca, the gay area of Madrid.

All photos by Alejandra Gómez S.