What's happening in Madrid this week?

Madrid's week has a fixed anchor. Every Sunday, El Rastro flea market takes over roughly 20 blocks along Ribera de Curtidores in La Latina, from about 9am to 3pm. Get there by 10am if you want to browse the antique stalls along Calle de Fray Ceferino González before the crowd density makes it hard to move. The smell of old leather goods and secondhand books mixes with frying churros from the stands near Plaza de Cascorro. After El Rastro winds down, the tapas bars on Cava Baja fill up around 2pm. You'll hear the clatter of small plates and cañas being set down on zinc counters for the next 3 hours. La Latina on a Sunday afternoon is likely the most social scene in the city. Retiro Park draws runners and families on Sunday mornings too, with the puppet theatre near the Estanque Grande typically putting on free shows around noon.

The three big museums along the Paseo del Arte sit within a 15-minute walk of each other, and each has its own free-entry window. The Prado, which has held its collection since 1819, currently offers free admission Monday through Saturday from 6pm to 8pm and Sundays from 5pm to 7pm. The queue for the free slot tends to build from 5:30pm on weekdays. Reina Sofía, home to Picasso's Guernica since the museum opened in 1992, is free Monday and Wednesday through Saturday evenings from 7pm to 9pm. Mind you, Reina Sofía closes all day Tuesday. That's the day to default to the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which is free on Mondays. Monday is also the weakest day for restaurants in the centre, so treat it as a museum-and-siesta day.

Madrid eats late. The midday meal lands at 2pm, and the menú del día (a 3-course set lunch with bread and wine, typically 12 to 16 EUR in non-tourist neighborhoods like Chamberí or Lavapiés) is the best-value meal of the week, served Monday through Friday. Dinner rarely starts before 9:30pm. On Thursday through Saturday nights in Malasaña, the noise from open bar doors along Calle del Espíritu Santo carries a full block in each direction. The terrazas along Paseo de la Castellana and in Plaza de Olavide are at their best in June, when the dry air cools to about 22°C after sunset and the light holds until nearly 10pm. If you're adjusting from an earlier timezone, the late schedule works in your favor for the first 2 or 3 days. Your body wants to eat at 8pm, which gets you a quiet restaurant with no wait.

Mid-June days in Madrid tend to reach 33 to 35°C by 3pm with almost no humidity. This morning read 19°C at sunrise under clear skies, which is typical for the season. The heat peaks Tuesday through Thursday when the meseta plateau traps warm air over the city. The practical rhythm that creates is simple. Do outdoor sightseeing before noon or after 7pm. The hours from 2pm to 5pm belong indoors, whether that's a museum, a long lunch, or the air-conditioned Mercado de San Miguel near Plaza Mayor. The vermouth at the stand near the east entrance is fine, even if the market itself runs touristy. Sunset currently falls around 9:48pm. That gives you a second window of warm golden-hour walking that most visitors from northern latitudes don't expect. The Templo de Debod in Parque del Oeste, an Egyptian temple given to Spain in 1968, has become Madrid's default sunset spot. Expect company.