Forever young in Madrid

published 4 May 2018

894-Madrid-Bar-634 — The Only You boutique hotel: hip, with funky charm

Her cheek is turned, her eyebrow slightly raised. It is 1909 and Elena Sorolla is a girl on the cusp of womanhood. With her elbow resting on the arm of her chair, she is wearing a long, golden Delphos gown clothing at the height of fashion. Her father, the Spanish painter Joaqun Sorolla, picked it out for her in Paris as a present for his fun-loving daughter. And she, like any teenager, is posing for her picture.

Elena's portrait (pictured below), along with the other Belle poque paintings by Sorolla, paired with the dresses that inspired them, are on display at the Sorolla and Fashion exhibition at the Thyssen-Bornemisza museumin Madrid. They just go to show: when it comes to innovative style, Spain never goes out of fashion.

A walk through the Letras neighbourhood

As a succession of savoury tartlets wing their way out of the kitchen, Joanna enthuses about Spanish life: the food, the wine, the culture. Only her Yorkshire accent gives her origins away. Then we fall silent as chef Javier Bonet's masterpiece arrives: a meltingly soft beef Wellington in flaky pastry.

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Barely had I wiped the crumbs from my chin than I find myself at Sptima, the seventh-floor restaurant at the Only You Hotel Atocha, loosening my belt for dinner. Jon Giraldo, from Colombia, and Jaime Lieberman, from Mexico, chefs from Spoonik in Barcelona, had moved into the restaurant for the evening. Think beef cooked sous-vide and served with a rich, chocolate mole sauce a reflection of Lieberman's Mexican heritage, that was no less present in the chocolate tamale, his unique take on the traditional Mesoamerican dish of maize flour, steamed in a corn husk.

Cava therapy

Actress Mnica Cruz opened the Hotel Atocha just over a year ago. From the moment you walk in, you are confronted with a trendy New York-style urban aesthetic that is no less at home within its 19th century walls. If you think this is cool, visit Atocha's wild little sister, Only You Boutique, in the hip downtown area of Madrid.

A former mansion (the old metal lift cage still runs down the middle of the creaking staircase), this hotel displays its funky charm with abandon. Faux animal heads watch over guests, and the library (pictured below) is seemingly found in the lift, both the product of designer Lzaro Rosa-Violn's fertile imagination.

Down below, Thai Room offers spa treatments, from a traditional Thai massage "Royas-style" to the YOUultimate massage, involving a steam bath, coconut body scrub and a Thai-Bali massage. Another kind of therapy can be found in the glitzy bar upstairs, where the cava flows freely all evening.

A few glasses later, I met up with Joanna again and headed to the Mercado de San Miguel a covered food market that comes alive at night. There, cast adrift amid a sea of grazing people, Joanna went about collecting little dishes of Iberico ham, marinated anchovies and dried sausages from the food stalls dotted around the market I clung to the wine barrel at a wine merchants, that happily doubled up as a table.

An evening of flamenco

Here, moodily lit nightly displays of the highly charged dance are performed atop the clickity-clack stage to the cries of "Ol!" and strumming of Spanish guitar. I sat mesmerised with my glass of Rioja. Had I been the ever-youthful Elena Sorolla, I probably would have got up and danced.

Double rooms are priced from £160 at Only You Hotel Atocha and £210 per night at Only You Hotel Boutique (prices are per night and based on two people sharing). The Only You Atocha is offering an Art & Fashion Experience, which includes entry to the Sorolla and Fashion exhibition until 27 May 2018.

For more information visit www.onlyyouhotels.com/en or call 0034 910 05 27 46

Corazon Travel runs specialised hosted tours through Spain www.corazontravel.com

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.