Madrid’ s Holy Week
To visit Madrid during the Spanish Holy Week is a very common plan. The city has during these days a very special feel, somewhat between the religious and the festive, the divine and the humane, transforming it into something unique. The Holy Week in Madrid is half way between the exuberance and the exaltation of the Easter celebrations in the south of Spain, and the sobriety of those of the north. This time of the year is, without a doubt, ideal to get to know one of the most important and rooted traditions in Spain in general, and Madrid in particular.
Holy Week processions in 2016
The centre of Madrid is the place where the most processions and Holy Week activities take place. The festivities officially start the 20th and finish the 27th of March. Two of the most distinguished parades are on Friday the 25th : The Procesión del Silencio, starting in the Santísimo Cristo de la Fe church (Calle Atocha, 87), and the one of María Santísima de los Siete Dolores, starting from the Santa Cruz parish (Calle Atocha, 6).
In addition to the different processions, in Madrid’s Holy Week you will be able to enjoy several acts, concerts and sacred music performances in various churches and Basilicas. One of the best to revel in this type of music is the Basílica de Nuestra señora de Atocha.
On Resurrection Sunday (27th of March), you will be able to delight in the great tamborrada (drum performance) in Plaza Mayor.
Holy Week’s gastronomy in Madrid
Like any traditional holiday, the Spanish Holy Week brings with it some very typical dishes. Some of the ones you will find in Madrid are, of course, the famous torrijas (sweet bread soaked in milk/bread, fried and covered with cinnamon and sugar), or chickpeas with spinach and cod.
If you plan to stay in Madrid enjoying and admiring this very important Spanish festivity, we suggest you don’t eat too many of these typical dishes, as you might match the amount of calories your body needs in a month. Of course, if you stay in our apartments in Gran Vía Capital you will be capable of wiping out that feeling of remorse using our gymnasium, swimming pool and solarium facilities.