Malasaña: the movida quarter
The square that started a cultural revolution, the record shops, and the old painted pharmacy. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Plaza del Dos de Mayo
Start here, on the square that named the *movida* (the post-Franco cultural explosion). The arch of the old artillery barracks still stands at the north end. Sit on a terrace late afternoon and watch the neighbourhood fill the benches.

2. Calle de la Palma
Walk the long cross-street west to east — bars, secondhand shops, the slow drift of people. This is the spine that holds Malasaña together. Browse without buying; nobody's selling hard here.

3. Calle Velarde
Duck down the short street the record shops cluster on. Vinyl, vintage gear, a couple of guitar dealers. Flip through a crate even if you've nowhere to play it.

4. Calle del Espíritu Santo
The thrift-and-vintage run — racks of old denim, retro frames, the odd bookshop. Cut along it slowly; the good things are in the windows of the places that look closed.

5. Farmacia Juanse (Calle de San Andrés)
A tiled corner pharmacy with painted glass and a carved wooden front, the kind Malasaña kept when the rest of Madrid modernised. Stand outside and read the old enamel signs; the facade is the thing.

6. Mercado de San Ildefonso
End at the three-storey food market on Fuencarral — *croquetas*, Iberian ham, a *vermut* (a chilled fortified wine, the Madrid aperitif) on the upper terrace. Bilbao Metro is a short walk north.

Malasaña: the movida quarter