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WIZZ MAGAZINE
S UMM E R C I T I E S
MADRID
Up-and-coming singer Lowell is the
vocalist on album
If You Can, Solve
This Jumble
with mostly Scandi
supergroup Apparatjik
Madrid is my pick for amazing food in
2013,
proving that traditional tapas can
be fresh and innovative, and that you
can eat simple, good food in cool and
kooky interiors that wouldn’t look out of
place of somewhere like New York. Take
the new NO restaurant (
Calle Puigcerda
8,
norestaurant.es
),
which
carves out the space in
stripped, and white-washed,
timber beams, black-and-
white graphic prints of
pioneers (the first female
aviator, the first gay activist)
and studded throne chairs.
Try the unpretentious burger
and fries, and apple pie and ice cream
after a gig at Sala Arena where I played on
my spring tour this year – it hosts new, and
big-name, artists. I’ll also go back to an old
cider house restaurant called Casa Mingo
(
Paseo de la Florida 34, casamingo.es
)
where the speciality of the house is roast
chicken, served by ancient, but still very
flirtatious, waiters.
VENICE
Ursula Lake, swimwear designer
and founder of Violet Lake, worn by
Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Watts and
Olivia Palermo
2013
is the return of the Venice Biennale
(
labiennale.org
);
every two years the
contemporary art scene provides a cultural
contrast to the gorgeous classical backdrop.
Running until November,
it’s probably the world’s
most prestigious art festival.
May sees the Dance
Biennale perform its short
choreographies in San Marco
and the Arsenale, taking over
the courtyards, cloisters and
other intimate city spaces for
the last three days of June.
Venice being Venice, there’s a high chance
if you go with your partner that you may have
amorous thoughts in mind – and it doesn’t
get much more romantic than the Riva Rosa
restaurant on the island of Burano. Book
ahead to reserve the roof terrace table for
two. It overlooks the brightly painted houses
and canals, and serves delicious, light,
traditional Venetian food with an emphasis on
fish. From here, you are perfectly placed for
a stroll around the island taking in the lace
shops for which the island is famous for (and
a fashion designer like me swoons over!)
