>Rosa Jiménez Cano has lived in Madrid since she was a child. She lived in Coslada, a neighbourhood of Madrid, until she finshed Secondary School but once she started university she discovered that "I just slept in Coslada… But I lived in Madrid, the city I love. Right now, I’m moving to a new flat in Tablas de Montecarmelo in the north of the city."
Rosa works as a journalist in El Pais, although she is also known as a blogger. Her interests are reading, internet, photos, travelling, and journalism, and she maintains and co-writes for a number of sites: Les Cent Jours, Periodismo Ciudadano, Ahora Bolivia… With a friendo Paco Polo she has just published a book about blogs, called "La Gran Guía de los Blogs 2008". Rosa intends to make this a yearly edition, telling people what has happened in the blogosphere every year and explaining who’s who in, as she puts it "the tiny but pretty world."
This is her Madrid:
What is your favourite bar/Café? La Bardemcilla en Chueca, it’s a great place to stay and chat with friends. Tapas has a "home made" taste difficult to find.
What is your favourite dish? A kind of little beans called "Carillas" but just my granma’s secret recipe. 😉 I don’t any restaurant that cooks them. It’s a shame.
What is your favourite tapas? Bravas, and they’re always a surprise. It depends on the bar you can find a different style. I love them.
What is your favourite restaurant? Picanha,they hace just five or six different dishes, but all them, specially meat picanha tastes so natural and high quality. The service is reakky kind. All them are from Brazil.
What is your favourite shop? Well, more than a shop is a megastore: fnac. But I’m sure it has to be banned. I do always fall and buy a gadget I don’t need there.
What is your favourite season? Summer. Definitely, summer in Madrid is great. You have the best of the city with places to leave your car, open air cinema and loads of "terrazas" to have a drink with friends.
What is your favourite barrio? Centro. I love walking in the city. Well, my best friends live between Moncloa and Chamberí, so, i go there very often.
What is your favourite building? The "Metropolis" one, between Gran Vía and Calle Alcalá.
A perfect ‘night out’ in Madrid would ….be any night, you never know what it’s going to happen.
What is your favourite walk? From Atocha to Cibeles, and the all gran vía until Callao. Then Puerta del Sol, and a final walk to Plaza Mayor.
What is your favourite Spanish-related book? La Tesis de Nancy, by Ramón J. Sender, funny and wel written. It’s about a young English girl who comes to study in Franco’s Spain. She finds lots of cultural changes.
Best Day Trip: Mmm, really difficult to answer. Toledo or Salamanca, Both are great cities.
What does Madrid mean to you? The place where I’d like to finish my days.
A piece of advice for visitors: Let it happen!