in 1808, the citizens of madrid rose up against the french who occupied their city. it sparked the spanish war of independence. the above photo was taken at the plaza de dos de mayo in malesaña, the neighborhood in madrid where we stayed and explored in depth.
wikipedia says :
The 2nd May was chosen as a public holiday in the region of Madrid. The place where the artillery barracks of Monteleón was located is now a square called the Plaza 2 de mayo, and the district surrounding the square is known as Malasaña in memory of one of the heroines of the revolt, the teenager Manuela Malasaña, who was executed by French troops in the aftermath of the revolt.
Several memorials to the heroes are located over the city, including the Monumento a los Caidos por España.
more photos in and around malesaña on this national holiday of independence, and (go figure) one of the largest parties in madrid.
this is the plaza during the day. we stopped by to have a beer but it was packed so we ended up going to a cervezeria just off the plaza on a side street.
this picture has little to do with dos de mayo, but looked too cool to miss. i love old lady pedestrians in any city, but old lady pedestrians on cobblestone, with canes and a graffitied pig in the background saying something like “eat me!” is priceless.
again, little to do with 2 of may, but doesn’t this storefront look sick? i’m sure it’s a dinky junk store or bodega, but i just love the blocks of color on the awning. i feel like there will be massive over-arching euro design critique posts upon my return to the states.
this building looked so cool. and shoes! ok.. i promise i’ll get back to the festivities now. i’m sorry, i’m a design geek.
that’s more like it. dj’s on the street, red vermuth on tap. who could want more?
right… then this happened. so sean was in town on his way back from doing his first leg of the camino de santiago and came out to shake some ass with latz and i.
girl, don’t worry. i worked it out too. this was taken at our first crazy gay bar stop.
then we stopped by this charming haunt. packed!
oh yeh, and there are all these chinese people on the streets selling cervezas. so we bought some…
from this lady!
on the way home these super trashed girls asked me to take a picture of them with this pile of hair near a tree. then they let me take one with my camera too.
fun times?
yes. believe it or not. ;-D
Tags: cerveza, dos de mayo, independence, madrid, may, party, sean, war