I didn't go out last Friday night, which meant that on Saturday morning I was feeling spritely enough to take in a bit of culture (By spritely I mean that I was simply awake and vertical, I was not doing star jumps or anything of ther sort). Well, I took a walk down to the Caixa Forum, a cultural centre funded by the bank La Caixa (in other words funded by you and me). If I fancy a bit of art I prefer to go here than to the nearby Prado and Reina Sofia museums because it's free to get in but mainly because I never tire of looking at the building and its wonderful 'hanging garden' - the photo taken with my mobile phone above really doesn't do it justice. It's also quite a small gallery, and I can 'do' it in about an hour, thus avoiding the 'museum dizziness' that I tend to get if I'm walking round an enormous gallery for the whole aftenoon. This time round, the main exhibition was the Aga Khan collection (I have to admit, I didn't know who he was until my boyfriend told me) of Islamic art and antiquities gathered from all over the world - it was really interesting to see side by side Korans from China, Indonesia, Turkey, Syria and elsewhere. Also on display were tiles, jewellery, engraved doors, tapestries and more. The exhibits were also explained in perfect English which was a nice touch. Definitely worth a visit (on until 6th September 2009).
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4 comments:
Do you live near El Prado and that awesome hanging garden??? Wow! That's a beautiful place, right?!
Can I ask somthing, though? Is it very expensive living around there?? I'm a portuguese girl and econsidering to go there for studying the end of my degree, and I love that area... Could you give some advice?!?! :S
Love! Anna.
Hi Anna!
The area round the Prado is lovely, it's strange because the Prado itself is in a really expensive area, but the area I live in, Lavapies, is only 10 minutes walking from there... Lavapies, is, errr, an 'interesting' area, little old streets, very hippie, bars with alternative music and people either love it and find it very cultural or they hate it and find it a bit scary and dirty (it's very cheap though, to give you an idea, a 1-bed flat around Lavapies would cost about 650e, but around the Prado may cost 1000+). Hope this helps!
ok, thanks! I was just looking a map and I see LAvapies is very near from there, and I like what you say about the atmosphere of the place (except that of 'scary'... a lot of burglary???). I'll bear your advice in mind if I finally decide to come over (which I would loooove)!!! ;)
Thanks a lot! Anna
Personally I never feel scared in Lavapies, the streets are always so full of people that I feel it's hard for something dangerous to happen, and I don't know anyone here whose been robbed, to be honest it's mainly Spanish people that say it's dangerous, Brits etc seem to think it's quite safe... The main problems for me is that it can be dirty and a bit noisy, but at the same time the place has a lot of personality - it's quite a mix of people Spanish, immigrants from all over the world - a bit of everything really. Good luck with everything!
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