A Niemeyer arts centre in Asturias, Ferran Adri�'s new bar in Barcelona, a stylish retro train and the reinvention of M�laga ? Spain is still at the cutting edge of European design
Art in Asturias
In Asturias, Avil�s's new arts centre ? designed by Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer ? opened last week. The building is stunning, with a grand auditorium 26m high, a massive dome exhibition space (currently showing Luz, film director Carlos Saura's exploration of light) and a programme of art, music, cinema and exhibitions. It has involved collaboration with Woody Allen, who is the honorary president of the film centre, and Stephen Hawking, Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho and Vinton Cerf, one of the inventors of the internet, who are all on the centre's international advisory board. Sadly the website (niemeyercenter.org) is only in Spanish at the moment.
Paramount comes to Murcia
It's a long way off completion, but a Paramount Pictures-branded themepark is set to open in Murcia in 2015. The plan for the park was announced last week, revealing that zones will be themed on Paramount movies, such as Star Trek and Mission Impossible, on a site between Mazarr�n and Alhama de Murcia, 15 minutes from the beach and the marina resort of Puerto de Mazarr�n. At least five hotels will be built on site, along with shopping malls, bars, clubs and an auditorium that will take 15,000 people.
Reinventing M�laga
Another boost to M�laga's reinvention as a hip cultural city-break option comes in the form of the new Carmen Thyssen Museum (carmenthyssenmalaga.org), which opened last week in the restored 16th-century Villal�n Palace in the centre of town. It features 230 works ? worth around ?700m ? from the collection of Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, the widow of the Dutch art collector Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. She said she was "in love with" her new museum. The first temporary exhibition opens on 11 April, with classic 20th-century Spanish artists including Picasso, Antonio Saura and Francisco Bores.
Retro railway journeys
Journeys on the new luxury, vintage-inspired La Robla train have been included in a choice of new "railway cruise" itineraries in northern Spain from Kirker (020-7593 1899, kirkerholidays.com). A week including three nights on the train's Bilbao to L�on route costs from �1,149 including meals on board and excursions.
Seven-star luxury
The development of Spain's first seven-star hotel is under way in Almu��car, and is set to bring some high-class glamour to the Costa Tropical, the Costa del Sol's less famous eastern sibling. The Bah�a Fenicia resort (bahia-fenicia.com) and spa will be operated by the Banyan Tree group, but won't be ready until 2013 (it takes a while to source all those scented candles and Thai masseuses) and is estimated to cost ?230m, with 200 rooms.
Barcelona's mega tapas bar
Is there life after El Bulli? The famous restaurant is due to close this July to be turned into a creative cookery foundation school, and isn't taking any more reservations. If you never managed to get a table, turn your attention instead to Ferran Adri�'s new tapas bar in Barcelona, Tickets (ticketsbar.es), run with his brother Albert. Its bars and eating areas include La Presumida, doing Mediterranean cooking: Galician oysters, Joselito ham, grilled crabs. Nostromo 180286, a futuristic bar, serves xuxis ? small dishes that go down in three bites, with typically wacky Adri� flare. Manchego cheese ice-cream, hedgehog (!) with avocado and mint jelly, and salads featuring almond blancmange or grilled watermelon feature here. There is also the 41? (41grados.es) bar serving snacks (mini-mozzarellas with basil, Parmesan with lemon), oysters and caviar. Reservations necessary, even for drinks.
Green Madrid
The banks of the Manzanares river in the capital have been reclaimed for a new urban park area, Madrid Rio (west8.nl/projects/parks/madrid_rio). A four-mile stretch south of the city centre that was once wasteland now features landscaped gardens and sandy "beach" areas.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/apr/02/spain-new-gallery-museum-bar-train-hotel
Housing market Household bills Post-traumatic stress disorder Soap opera Comedy Doctor Who
No comments:
Post a Comment