Joyful and Colourful

NICE TO SEE PEOPLE TAKING PRIDE IN THE PLACE

While it is great to see people taken pride in the place, and when I took this picture of a building on Calle Atocha, there were already plans in place for a very colourful Bloomsday in the barrio, (neighbourhood in Spanish) with events nearby including readings in El Ateneo theatre like in other years but this year including the Lord Mayor of Dublin Alison Gilliland

who was joined earlier in the day by the vice mayor of Madrid for a Bloomsday breakfast joined by Spanish journalists and influencers, and Tourism Ireland.

With numerous events spanning the city, the aim was to recreate Bloom's journey across the city and I was disappointed I missed out on much of the early morning activities even though I did get to hear the Lord Mayor of Dublin speaking Spanish in El Ateneo before enjoying readings in Spanish and English from Ulises and Ulysses before finishing with Molly's Soliloquy by Magüi Mira, an actress who has been performing Molly's part beautifully since the 1980s.

Much as changed in Madrid since the 1980s when Molly's uncensored soliloquy would have been very controversial in a post-Franco world, so it is great to see such a colourful representation of rainbow flags in shops and restaurants as Madrid celebrates gay pride.

I'm sure everyone was very gay in Joyce's time and I think I will have to look up the etymology of the word gay as Madrid celebrates pride, known here as Orgullo Madrid.

LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN Alison Gilliland speaking at EL Ateneo on Bloomsday.

RED CARPET: Great to see Spain rolling out the red carpet for James Joyce, this picture was taken inside Palacio de Cibeles which is opposite the James Joyce pub in Madrid.

COLOURFUL: The Spanish Congress with a splash of colour for Orgullo Madrid.

Supported by

UNESCO City of Literature