Berlin. 72 hours. No sleep.

Jeudi 22 novembre

Dans l’avion, une jeune fille se lève. Elle aborde l’hôtesse de l’air pour savoir si elle peut garder son portable allumé. Elle a oublié son code pin. La réponse est non. Elle se rassoit. Elle n’aura plus de téléphone. Berlin.

22h - Intersoup à Prenzlauer Berg. Bar, club, resto, on ne sait plus trop. Les jeunes berlinois, s’assoient sur les canapés vintage, discutent, fument et mangent soupes thai et dim sum. Certains se préparent pour une grosse soirée, d’autres estiment que c’est leur grosse soirée. Rien ne presse. On est bien, au fond de ces canapés, à observer l’atmosphère lynchienne de ce bar décalé. L’enchaînement de radio on/off peut surprendre, mais on s’y fait. Les musiciens du club au sous sol montent jouer une chanson, une version folk de working class hero de John Lennon. Ils veulent qu’on descende. Car ils sont tous seuls à jouer en bas, dans le club –club c’est beaucoup dire, cave où les canapés ont pris la place du dancefloor. C’est gratuit répètent-ils. Mais personne ne descend.
www.intersoup.de


00h - White Trash Fast Food à Prenzlauer Berg. On arrive pour le concert de The Bishops. Ancien resto chinois converti en club. Temple de l’indie rock à Berlin, petit club intimiste au plafond voûté. Le bar est caché sur le côté et les barmans protégés par une sorte de grill. Direction vestiaire. Non! c’est un club de rock ici, pas de vestiaire, prend une bière plutôt et pose ta veste sur les banquettes. L’ambiance rappelle le Madame DoJo’s d’autrefois et le style des nanas sort tout droit des friperies de brick lane. Du Londres à Berlin.
www.whitetrashfastfood.com


02h - Cookie’s à Mitte. Le jeudi, c’est une peu le code secret du hype berlinois. Le club change d’adresse tous les six mois, les jours d’ouverture varient et la communication se limite au bouche-à-oreil. Introuvable si ce n’est que pour les quelques jolies filles qui patientent à l’entrée. Pas de porte, pas de noms, juste une physio, assise, dans le froid, sur un tabouret, qui décide si vous passerez derrière le rideau. Assez rangé et peu éclectique, c’est un peu ce que le yuppie new yorkais rêverait d’avoir. Un djoon en mieux et en sous sol. Une grande salle haut de plafond, deux longs bars, et le DJ au milieu. Ca mate, ça se montre, ça bouge. L’homme au chapeau emballe la femme aux lunettes de soleil. Lui, c’est Stern, elle Universal. Merde, qui a dit qu’il n’y avait pas de thunes à Berlin. Deuxième salle. Petite, plus alternative. Le DJ passe du hip pop et ça fume des spliffs. En haut, un restaurant, classe, secret. Le cookie’s cream. C’est nouveau. On demande au DJ quand il passera à la minimale. « I hate that shit » il répond. On s’en va.
www.cookies.ch

Vendredi 23 novembre

00h - Antje Oeklesund à Friedrischain. Difficile de faire plus alternatif que ce bar semi clandestin. Voilà comment il nous a été décrit. « dans Rigaerstrasse, entre dans la cour terrain vague en face du Lidl, tourne sur la droite, passe entre les bâtiments, et rentre dans la maison effondrée » C’est un peu l’ambiance d’un squat, avec un mix d’étudiants, d’artistes fauchés et d’expats enthousiasmés par l’osmose berlinoise. Les groupes, qui jouent sur la petite scène, sont souvent les potes des potes des barmans. Mais en fait ne le sommes nous pas tous ici. Tallons aiguilles, s’abstenir.
www.antjeoeklesund.de

02h - RAW Tempel à Friedrischain. Passage éclaire dans ce petit club typique d’un berlin artistique et ouvert à toutes formes d’expressions: un soundsystem branché sur un générateur dans une ancienne gare de triage. Le résultat est étonnant, les DJ excellents… fort à parier qu’on en entendra parler bientôt des dj du RAW tempel. La faune, hétéroclite, varie en fonction de l’heure. Car le Raw Tempel est ouvert toute la nuit et tous les jours. Ce soir c’est drum&base. On écourte.
www.tapeberlin.de

03h - Maria am Ostbanhof à Ostbanhof. On longe le mur de Berlin. On passe Ostbanhof et on se dirige vers la Spree. Terrain vague puis Hangar. C’est bon, on est bien là. Trash (dancefloor) mais class (fauteuils loungy à l’arrière) le Maria rappelle beaucoup ces clubs de Zurich, le supermarket ou le hive. Pas trop de monde, on circule facilement. Mais le son est très mal réparti. Et le bar n’a plus de redbull ! En backstage (façon de parler, salle super glauque, neuf mètres carrés, éclairé à l’halogène et meublé de deux canapés), on discute avec Leonard de Leonard. Paris c’est bien, Berlin c’est mieux. On est d’accord. Il aime la Java à Paris. On ira donc le voir au Paris Paris le 15 décembre. DJ Mehdi aux commandes. C’est trop violent. On sort.
www.clubmaria.de

05h - Panorama Bar à Ostbanhof. C’est vendredi soir, le Berghain est fermé, y’a pas trop de monde. Il y a une sorte de frontière invisible les 30 dernières mètres. Les taxi s’arrêtent là, l’air de dire, « moi je ne peux plus continuer, je tiens à ma vie ». On marche les 30 derniers mètres. L’ancienne centrale hydro-électrique, aujourd’hui mythique pour tout clubber européen, devient réalité. C’est imposant. C’est la fameuse Cadenza night. Mike Huckaby mixe une électro calme. On s’agite pas trop sur le dancefloor. Non, il semblerait que les orgies dans les alcoves danoises aient pris le dessus sur la danse. On me demande de la coke, on m’en propose. Pas la peine. Les chiottes sont pleines de poudre blanche. Sur le PQ, sur la cuvette, sur la chasse d’eau. Partout. Je m’enferme avec un groupe de trois dans les toilettes. Le glamour trash. Bienvenu à Berlin. Chacun fait ce qu’il veut, tout le monde s’en fout. On ne sait plus quelle heure il est. On reste avec les freaks du panorama. On rate Ellen Allien au watergate et zip au tresor. Le soleil se lève.
www.berghain.de

Samedi 24 novembre

23h - Dr. Pong à Prenzlauer Berg
Et si j’ouvrais un club dans ma cave. Ah non, pas possible, y’a ma table de ping pong. Et j’ai la flemme de l’enlever. Bon, je fais le club quand même. Et voilà l’histoire de Dr. Pong. Un petit comptoir, quelques fauteuils et la salle phare avec la table de ping pong au centre. Bière dans une main, raquette dans l’autre, on tourne autour de la table pour frapper la balle chacun à son tour. C’est vite ennuyeux, mais diable, que c’est alternatif.
www.drpong.net

00h - Klub der Republik à Prenzlauer Berg
L’underground ovreground. On se croirait chez un pote. L’escalier de la cour mène à une grande salle à baie vitrée. Du monde au bar, mais surtout beaucoup de monde sur les canapes. En fait, les seuls debout sont les DJ. C’est l’heure de pointe ; on attend qu’un fauteuil se libère. C’est la règle ici. Les plans pour la soirée tournent et entre table et canape on se fait facilement de nouveaux amis en taxant une chaise. C’est branché, mais juste ce qu’il faut. Oui, ces australiens expats étaient bien au resto japonais à Mitte toute à l’heure. Et c’est comme ça tous les soirs, et jusqu’à 5h du matin. Et merde, même la house est bonne à Berlin. On se prépare.
http://www.berlinatnight.de/locationdetail/703/klub-der-republik.html

02h - Tape à Hauptbanhof.
Le tape est arrivé après la construction de la nouvelle Hauptbanhof, la plus grande gare d’Europe. Quel plaisir pour les clubbers européens de pouvoir descendre de train, marcher cinq minutes, entrer dans ce qui pourrait être le meilleur club d’Europe et ressortir 12h plus tard, complètement déshydraté. Miss Kittin (seule date avec The Hacker à Berlin) et Tobias Thomas jouent ce soir. Y’a du monde, beaucoup de monde. Le club rappelle les clubs de King’s Kross. C’est grand et on s’y perd. Le son est parfaitement équilibré dans la grande salle. Kittin est complètement perchée. Elle est dans son élément. Sur le « minifloor », un DJ mix dans un bocal entre les chiottes. 10 personnes max peuvent y rentrer, mais on est déjà cinquante. Une fille, 1m80, lunettes de soleil et chignon m’aborde « I need pills » ; et sourit. Dans la troisième salle, on revient plus à la réalité. Un grand bar et de l’électro. Ouf, back to normal. Tout d’un coup, c’est la cohue. Miss Kiitin a finie. On ne peut plus bouger. 2000 personnes s’aventurent dans les couloirs large de 2 mètres pour changer de salles. On ne peut plus avancer. Ou est Tobias Thomas ? Je lève la tête. Il est à quinze mètres de hauteur, sur un échafaudage. Et il continuera à mixer là jusqu’au petit matin. La soirée commence. On rentre se coucher.
www.tapeberlin.de

Dimanche 25 novembre

Burger King dégueu, passage express à Copenhague pour faire les provisions en poisson fumé. Dans l’avion, une pensée. Un week end à Berlin, mais sans minimal. Aurai-je tout raté ? Aéroport. Pas la force d’aller voir la première du Kararocké de Nicolas Ulmann au Paris Paris, c’est l’heure de la descente. Dodo.

Merci à Perrine, la fille au téléphone bloqué.

48 hours Warsaw clubbing revealed

I was once told that the uglier a city the more progressive and alternative it would be. So off to Warsaw, which apart from a provincial looking rebuilt old town, which looks more like a Dysneyland meet small Poland, the city is ugly ! Long grey charmless avenues, surrounded by long grey charmless sovient looking building blocks.

The clubbing world positions Warsaw as a posh wannabe London house scene. The looks, the money, the notorious bouncers, and of course a bit of eastern exuberance. Well, unlike Berlin or Prague, whoe alternative scene is rough and undelicate, Warsaw’s reminds you that nearby a whole other clubbing world is going on.

18:00
Start the night at the semi-legit bars behind 22-28 Nowy Swiat (one of Warsaw’s most luxurious streets). About 10 one-room bars, mostly identical make up this part. None have names or even open windows to peek inside. If it weren’t for the hip youth socializing inside, you’d bet they were hooker bars : redish lights, gates hiding the windows and limited noise outside. Well it may be thanks to that discretion that they haven’t been busted by the ubiquitous policie. It’s crowded, friendly and cheap. And once you’re in, you’re bound to argue whether Lech Walesa was right or wrong. And it won’t get you out before 10 !
Beer 1 € // drugs we don’t need it // flirt teach me some polish baby!

22:00
Head to Dobra, as the locals call it. Hidden in an alleyway off 33 – 35 Dobra Ulica, you’ll find a handful of small chill out clubs that perfectly fit into the eastern spirit. Hell you could be in Prenzlauer Berg or Metelovka. Electro tunes spinned in a low key fuck life I’m from the east” spirit. And the reddish loungy Diuna is feet away from the rougher Aurora – one of the most progressive clubs in town. You cold easily stay put till the wee hours of the morning, but once the midnight oil rings, let’s rock.
Beer 1 € // drugs let’s have a joint // flirt just relax, you’ll do it later

00:00
We all read about things, and then check them out. Well Organza seems like the place to be. Formerly über trendy and now nice and popular, with three levels of fun. Well that bar downtown, on ul. Sienkiewicza 4 is a miss rather than a hit but important to understand the clubbing scene. The bouncer thinks he’s smart, the waitresses cute and the clientele hip…well I tell you, go to Charlettenburg or Chelsea for that stuff…you’ll heare the same remixes and drink the same vodka.
Beer 1 € // drugs fuck no not here // flirt how much do you earn ?

01:00
Time for the notorious Luzztro (al. Jerozolimskie 6), THE after party club and the kind of club you’d love to have in any city. Drum and base in one room, minimal in the other. Half the people are dancing, the other half are laying dead on theotherwise cute leather couches. Oh, and the third half is snorting in the toilettes. And that’s just the beginning of the evening. It gets wilder and wilder, no one care who you are or where you’re from. You’re in Luzztro and we’re all equal when it comes to drugs and electro
Beer 1 € // drugs how much// flirt let’s fuck

BED TIME

18:00
Far, far away, in the middle of 200 meter long apartment blocks and in an area where weeks or months may go on before anybody noticed anything is a dirt road leading to some sort of high security complex and a weirdo looking TV tower. What’s strange is that 5 hip bars are standing there, right before you. And how the hell did they get there ? Music ranges from electro (at Pruderia) or salso or hip hop (at the famous Klub Balsam). Dance and drink with the city kids…but you shouldn’t stay too long if you want some alternative action. And all that is somewhere, best described as ul. Raclawicka 99 (don’t ask how to get there).
Beer 2 € // drugs no we’re city kids// flirt well, gotta speak some polish

22:00
Saturator is Warsaw’s new alternative clubbing. And alternative it is. Set in Praga, Warsaw’s answer to Zizkov, this place rocks. Two floors of socializing hip café and one small basement (a basement is really what it is, nothing more) where soon to be famous DJs coming from Poznan or Wroclaw mix their latest drum and base to an exuberant party youth. Wow is this place cool. And to get there, as usual, follow the alleyway at 11 Listopada, 22, then ring the door bell.
Beer 1 € // drugs if you’ve got extasy// flirt why not ?

00:00
M25. Firs things first. The address (Minska 25) is totally wrong ! The guys must have been hoocked on something to actually give this club a wrong address. Or else, they just didn’t want anyone to find it. A huge two story wharehous space, opened most weekends (but not all) spinning the electro-trance-minimal eastern Europe raves. One word of advice though : more commercial music has been heard recently and they’ve started sponsoring events. The word out, it may the end of what used to be a fucked up rave party
Beer 1 € // drugs it’s a rave party man // flirt it’s a rave party man

03:00
They call it Klubo but it’s actually Klub Kawiarna. Centrally located it’s the Paris Paris or Beatrice Inn –but in eastern europe. Small, velvet couches and old lamps coming from the ceiling. It’s young mega-hype and gorgeous, though unpretentious and ready for a good time, dancing on the sofas or even the bar ! It’s the kind of place you remember…and the music isn’t that good.
Beer 2 € // drugs it’s hit or miss // flirt let me give you a polish kiss baby !

Geneva, cooler than you think

When I speak about Geneva to virtually anyone outside the private banking and jewellery crowd, I hear one word : BORING. How wrong could they be; granted it's not London or New York, but Geneva has quite a lot to offer -and that is for the non jetsetting crowd. Apart from the food, astonishing (it is harder to get a bad meal in Geneva than in Milan or Paris !) the music scene gest this city going way far beyond a provincial status. The squat area calle l'Artamis, a stone's throw away from the world's richiest banks, has a few bars a an indie-cinema that's far more alternative than Copenhagen's Christiana. Set in a huge parking lot, the space, spread out over 200 m is filled with graphitia, burnt cars and hidden reggae and electro bars. A couple blocks away is l'Usine, a cultural centre hosting two clubs, one bar open practically 24/7 that ressembles a hip bar in Prague or Budapest, and a few other areas I don't know about. Naturally all the local deals about around that area, and anytime of day of night you're bound to get whatever you're looking for. Other than these two concentrated areas you find a few bars. Around the Université district, le Calamar sets the pace with great hamburgers and loungy bar; the café Bizarre, right behind the fancy Mandarin hotel is one of those bars you'd like to have in every city : cool, unpretentions, cheap and with the fussball table in the back beergarden. For the more upmarked crowd, the Shakers, Palladium of Java will satisfy those tastes. All in all, at least one good party, every night of the weel .

3001, Dusseldorf

This spacious club is where the cute looking girls and guys, students and yuppies come hang out on the week end. As you'd expect from a wealthy rhine city, this place has class and structure. Music is good, people courteous, and the girls can shake it up. The secret room upstairs, by the toilet, for the more alternative reggae or hip hop crowd is definitely a plus. So is the first floor where you can just watch all the people dancing. The space is awsome, vith very high seelings, a good soundsystem and great projections on the wall. This is Dusseldorf's club, not unbelievable for european standards, but a good club out there. .
Open Thursday 8 to 3, Friday and Saturday 11 to 5
3001
Franziustrasse 7 // Dusseldorf
www.d-3001.de/

Showcase, Paris

The setting is astonishing, along the Seine, housed within the Alexandre III bridge. The space is spectalcular - and can easily compete on the world scene for that. Entrance is discreet, below the bridge; inside it's one long roomroom, full of beautiful looking people split out between three spaces ample spaces : dance on the left, sit at the bar in the center and sip your expensive champagne in the lounge on the right. And a beautiful fancy parisian club is all it would be if it weren't for the couple fussball tables in the back - where extasy stoned ravers play. Well the tables themselves don't make the difference, it's rather the symbol -showing how to mix two trends, two clienteles and two parties. On one hand, the super hype parisians call this place home on Saturdays - it's the typical Baron, Paris Paris or Néo crowd, the guys who eat at Kong and drink at Maison Blanche, those same guys who've never set food east of the Marais. On the other had, the club has good music and attracts the rest of the crowd - well those who can get past the doorman or manage to be on the guestlist,that is the media, artsy, electro crowd, those who'd go to La Fleche d'or the day before and the Rex the next day. And this mix is certainly quite unique. The first crowd usually empties out their wallet in the middle of the night, and slowly, the music shifts from general house to serious minimal. By then, the partiers stay and congregate around the dancefloor - leaving the rest of the club practically empty. The vibe starts to relax, and the people keep it real. By that time, you could be at the Fabric or Ministry of sound accross the channel - apart that even on a busy Saturday night, the select entrance ensures the place isn't too crowded. The showcase is definitely fancy, but it's a hit.
Le Showcase
Under the alexandre III bridget - rive droite // Paris // France
open Friday and Saturday from 10 till morning
www.showcase.fr

Can Paris party?

Every one agrees. Paris is a global city and one of the world’s most dynamic, whether it be for architecture, culture, cinema, theater, fashion and some would say, party. From electro temples to indie-rock bars, from gypsy festivals to impromptu jazz gigs, Paris has it all. You can spend the first part of the evening in Abesses listening to a seventy year old French singer mumbling words of Edith Piaf, then head to a trendy rock concert around the canal st Martin, incidentally find yourself taken to an ultra select club in Western Paris and end up dancing to drum and base in a converted bus station right off the Périphérique. And anyone who has a name, from Seattle’s latest grunge band to Berlin’s minimal rising star, has Paris’ venues on top of his European touring agenda. No question, you can see anything here. But watch and listen is often all you do.

Though London and Berlin’s diversity are slight in comparison to Paris’, the city of lights seems to have lost verve and cool. The next working day often takes over the present fun. Parisians watch but don’t play and count the hours before the alarm clock will ring or the minutes before the famous last metro.Take any Sunday evening. Apart from Ullmann doing his karaorocke show at ultra select club le Baron, where only a lucky few will eventually get in, or the Flèche d’or occasionally hosting Sunday gigs, the city is void of any action. Meanwhile, across the channel, the disco-queer boombox party is rocking Hoxton bar and Berlin’s Moskau café is having that after after party for serious clubbers. Both parties have nothing in common other than decadence and total debauchery. The Boombox, though more often than not associated with lousy music is more fun than any club event you could think of with boys and girls or girls and boys finishing the night half dressed, fully drunk and totally out of their minds. Moskau has a chic edge to it. Take the glamour of a channel fashion show after party without the buzz and the hype surrounding it. What’s missing in Paris nightlife? For the first part, a fashion-party spirit that hasn’t the words vip guestlist spelled to it. And a general willingness to let it loose and have a good time.

Though you won’t find Berlin’s panorama bar freaks at the Paris Paris or Maxim’s, all is not quite lost just yet. Look away from the clubs and towards punctual party organizers and word of mouth. The most established are perhaps the “we love” parties, taking place every several months in an unconventional location in or around Paris such as a giant swimming pool, a wedding room in the nearby forest or the futuristic Cité de la sciences at the Vilette park. Massive crowds make the trip to the suburbs for the party and the electro DJ lineup. However, with a twenty euro entry and additional tenner for a beer, the crowd is rather euro-trash prude jeunesse dorée than dancing machine. Picture cute but prude girls quietly waiting by the restrooms with their Dior bags and the guys trying failed pick-up moves with their white shirts and polo outfit. You call that a rave? Another group, Dimuschi, rely exclusively on word of mouth hoping for more spontaneous behavior. The parties take place twice a year in some odd places, be they parking lots, warehouses or the catacombs. Lastly, les ambassadeurs have their yearly frantic party. And with a trash-glamour, decadent chic and incredibly hip atmosphere, this is what resembles most those London or Berlin nights. But it’s once a year only. So for the fun, just get yourself an easyjet ticket to the party scene.

Boombox
www.myspace.com/familylondon

We love art
http:www.weloveart.net

Dimuschi
http://www.dimuschi.com/

Les Ambassadeurs
http://www.lesambassadeurs.org/

Stall 6

Stall 6

There are two free parties on Monday nights in Zurich. One is the underage Cool Mondays at X-tra, off limmatPlatz, the other : Stall 6.
So first odd thing of the night : Zurich west is the alternative, dock style wharehouse neighbourhood. If Zurich were Europe, it’d be the first city to have it in the west, not east. Fast forward to cool Mondays. Well it’s cool to see how young kids can have fun –it is a cool place, but half an hour is way to much. I’m told then to go to Stall 6. It’s in a wharehouse complex right out the main train station (perfect setting, it works for Berlin and London). The harder I it is to find, the better I feel. Far away I see a guy laying on the floor and two Jamaicans trying to help him up. I look up : here I am. Inside reggae and raga, a mix of rastas and pure zurich blood; you’re high from just smelling the interior; it’s hot, it feels tropical, the couches, the fussball, we’re all high all chillin’ around the bamboo bar. No this is not Europe.

Stall 6
Gessnerallee 6 // Zurich

glaz'art -the alternative Paris

Paris may be back ! Out of style for the past ten years, Paris mixes London with Berlin and adds its own personal touch. Young expats are back and now that the eurostar is as established as the subway, parisians discover London and want to bring it back to Paris. Welcome to the glaz'art, a big red rectangle on the outskirts of town. The setting feels just like east Berlin, and nothing around does remind you of Paris. To get in you have to circulate around it - the small entrance is in the back. The best club music in town (from minimal, d&n to reggae) and the best party-goers made up of well travelled twentysomething out of a good time. The tropical bar in the back is a true find and lets you relax in chit chat in a typical parisian style while you gain your energy back. One warning though, bring pills as they're hard to find.

Glaz'Art
7 - 15 Avenue Porte de la Villette
75019 Paris // France
www.glazart.com

glaz'art -the alternative Paris

Paris may be back ! Out of style for the past ten years, Paris mixes London with Berlin and adds its own personal touch. Young expats are back and now that the eurostar is as established as the subway, parisians discover London and want to bring it back to Paris. Welcome to the glaz'art, a big red rectangle on the outskirts of town. The setting feels just like east Berlin, and nothing around does remind you of Paris. To get in you have to circulate around it - the small entrance is in the back. The best club music in town (from minimal, d&n to reggae) and the best party-goers made up of well travelled twentysomething out of a good time. The tropical bar in the back is a true find and lets you relax in chit chat in a typical parisian style while you gain your energy back. One warning though, bring pills as they're hard to find.

Glaz'Art
7 - 15 Avenue Porte de la Villette
75019 Paris // France
www.glazart.com

Mascotte brings out the best of Zurich

You'd think of banking, wealth and perhaps food... but not alternative nightlife. Well that's right, but in all wealthy cities, you have an alternative crowd, loud and boiling, ready to shove it off. Mascotte, housed in one of the cities most beautiful buildings, the Corso, welcomes this urban vibrant youth. Punks, students, hippies, we're all there, enjoying, having a good time, and yes, right accross from the world's most exclusive private banks. Tuesday night is the big night with the hard rock karaoke -which reminds you somehow of Germany-. It reflects Zurich : relaxed, elegant and multicultural.

Mascotte club
Theaterstrasse 10 // 8001 Zurich // Switzerland
www.mascotte.ch

Dick Turpin's, Bordeaux

It's funny, every time I come to Bordeaux, I somehow tumble upon this bar and spend a great evening, every day of the week. At first, Dick Turpin's looks like all these english pubs in France and other european provincial cities. but the place is cool, authentic, from the walls to the bar. Barstaff are a mix of old and new expats - so is the crowd, a bunch of students, locals and foreigners, a few ex-parisian artist types and the ever existing english and aussies hanging around. The music is as good as it gets with an unparalleled selection of beatles and the beach boys. Dick Turnpin's is the place to go.

72, Rue du Loup (by the Hotel de ville)
Bordeaux, France

Cafe de la Palma, Madrid

Madrid lacks the kind of artsy relaxed bar. but La Palma definitely makes up for it. Set up a few blocks away from the Malasana hip neighbourhood, La Palma has it all in its three rooms. The front room is an artistic cafe with art on the wall, the back a middle eastern style lounge and the third room hosts the week's alternative DJs. The crowd reflects this mix.

La Palma cafe
c/ la palma 62
www.cafelapalma.com

Kafe Antzokia Bilbao

Restaurant by day, wild club at night, set in a former theater. An altnerative club in an alternative city. The hip young crowds come here when the old town bars close down ready to party on a mix of spanish tunes with minimal electro. It's all relaxed, folks coming back from hiking with the huge backpacks, gorgeous models and a few odd expats mingle around. Atzokia may be the best place in Spain.

Kafe Antzokia
San Vicente, 2
Bilbao, Spain
www.kafeantzokia.com

Christiana and Metelovka : fail to impress

Both areas, that naturally compare to each other, fail to impress. Granted I was not in my best shape to judge, so take this as first impression judgements.
Christian. Well perhaps I was expecting too much, with all the buzz going on around there. I felt like I could've been in any squatted part of east Berlin (don't take me wrong, that's very good but then I'd rather be in Berlin). And I was disappointed to find a rather fancy restaurant is one of these buildings - again, quite cool in fact, but far from my expectations. The crowd seemed the ordinary street bar crowd, and the bars, slightly above ordinary bars. Basically, I was expecting somekind of neighbourhood and all I found was a large squat.

Metelovka. There's not much talk about Metelovka (Ljubljana) which is why I was expecting something great, somekind of alternativ nightlife within an alternative city. Well, forget about alternativ city ! Although I may be wrong it doesn't seem much is happening in that town. And Metelovka is just a smaller version of Christiana, with fewer bars.

All in all, these two pseudo neighbourhoods just appear very provincial. And that's what they are.