KYLIE MINOGUE, ANDRES VELENCOSO AND TOSSA DE MAR, A TRIO OF BEAUTIES

Andres Velencoso is a Spanish male model born in Tossa de Mar (a beautiful and picturesque small town near Barcelona in Catalonia) in 1978 and is the boyfriend of gorgeous Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue, since July 2008.

Before he started dating Kylie, he was best known for ad campaigns such as Channel Allure Homme, H&M, Loewe, Jean Paul Gaultier, Sports Fragrance and Louis Vuitton campaign with Jennifer Lopez in 2003, among others And he has been on the covers of many top fashion magazines such as Vanity Fair or Elle.

Though his journey to success was not easy, in fact it was filled with frustration and ejections in the beginning, a buzzed haircut and a muscular body didn’t seem to be the ideal image that European market demanded. When Andres went to Milan, almost every agent thought that he was too big and goofy. But Natalie Kates, an agent from N.Y. based Q Model Management opened the door to Andres, who finally landed in N.Y. in 2001. In 2003 he was the subject of French Vogue’s first male model profile and that launched him to the eyes of fashion and catapulted him to become the new male icon.

His mother Lucia died in 2002 and since he was very close to her, he tattoed his name on his arm (very touching). His father and two sisters live in Tossa de Mar and there he goes very often with Kylie, where she has got involved very much with the family, attending the restaurant of Andres’s father even!

She says she would like to get married and have children with him. Good luck to them and let’s hope their relationship will last forever!

 Below I enclose a video with their romantic kiss in the last show of Kylie in Barcelona, last March.

Source:
mostbeautifulmen.com
wikipedia

REAL MADRID FOOTBALLERS TELL YOU HOW THEY SEE MADRID

(please, pause the Ipod first)

A touristic website about Madrid has just made a film with the Real Madrid footballers telling us about this city and what they think and like about living here. Since the quality of the film is very good and perhaps some of the readers of this blog are planning to come to Madrid in short, here I leave you the video, it is 2 minutes long and you can also have it in French, Italian, German (and Spanish, of course jejeje).

It is interesting to see Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Kaká, Marcelo, Xavi Alonso and others to explain to you what to see and not to miss if you come here. I am sure they will tell you better than me! I hope it can be useful for you and you can enjoy it! 

Source:
http://www.infoesmadrid.com/

NEW AND STYLISH ANCIENT SAN MIGUEL MARKET

One of my current favourite places in Madrid to have tapas is San Miguel Market, in the centre of the city. It is one of the most ancient markets in the city and recently it has been transformed in a gourmet area, very attractive for locals and tourists.

It is located in a remarkable turn of the 20th century building which seems somewhat out of place among the stone and mortar buildings that surround it. And it is a beautiful example of iron-made architecture with a beautiful roof, columns and decoration that have been able to stand on foot. Now this ancient market has been transformed in a gourmet area.

Before it was a market there had been a church, which burnt down and was finally demolished in the times of Jose Bonaparte. Afterwards a market took place in this area. It was dedicated to fresh products, especially fish.

In 1909 the current San Miguel Market was built following the style of the markets in Paris with big glass and iron buildings. During the Civil War the market was closed but fortunately not destroyed. In 1951 it reopened selling mostly products from the areas surrounding Madrid and provided many well known restaurants with its goods like Lhardy, Casa Botin o Edelweis.

In the last year of the XXth century the activity of the market decreased and in 2003 the building was bought by a group, El Gastronomo de San Miguel, and the restructuring began. The building itself redesigned in order to maintain the historic aspects and also fulfil the needs of today.

The market is set up by means of two central mall kiosks with high tables along the place and there are 33 stands in hands of professionals that not only sell their their products, but also offer their advise to the clients. There is a flower shop, a fishmonger, a butcher, a bakery among many other stands offering all kinds of food and also kitchen utensils and even a bookstore related to cuisine. The offer is really wide: Swedish tapas, oysters, bulk fruits, cold meats, chocolates, ice creams, fresh pastas, a great variety of cheeses, handmade, organic baker’s shops, etc.

In short, it is a wonderful place to have some tapas or drink some wine or beer. A place not to be missed if you are visiting Madrid, it is really worth to step inside if you are by the Main Square (in fact, it is located just 60 meters from it). And like I was telling you in the beginning of the post, it is one of the places I love most in Madrid, really yummy!

Sources:

Spaintravelblog.com

Travellinginspain.com

Sightseeingmadrid.com