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Author: Ben
…you are going to get hurt. Yes, it’s the start of the goring bullfighting season again!
From Reuters:
In Valencia, Spanish matador Fernando Cruz remains in a serious condition after being gored twice during the fourth bullfight of the Fallas season in Valencia, Spain. The bull left a 20 centimetre deep incision in the bullfighters left buttock leaving his femur bone open to the air, while the second broke his scrotum.
Ben and Marina talk to Scott and Sheryl who gave up everything for a year on the road, and have just spent two months in Andalusia. To follow them as they continue on their adventures check out the great posts and podcasts at ayearineurope.com, and Scott’s photos on Flickr. The image above comes from Scott’s La Cartuja Flickr set, taken at the semi-abandoned Seville Expo site we discuss on the podcast. Would you consider giving up everything to make a trip like this? Let us know in the forum or comments below…
Scott also came up with an entry for our 500 things competition (keep the entries coming in!):
La Mesquita in the Morning
Experiencing one of the jewels of Mudejar Andalucia is something you’ll never forget. Make your way to Cordoba and visit La Mesquita first thing in the morning, right at opening time. As you walk through the courtyard you are teased by the bricked up Moorish arches that were originally open to the interior. When you enter through the tall wooden doors, and once your eyes adjust to the darkness, you’ll see what makes this place so breathtaking. Stretching seemingly into infinity is a forest of columns, connected by graceful white and red arches and dimly lit by hanging chandeliers. Wander through the streams of morning light, splashing pools of color onto the marble floor. If you’re lucky, you’ll pass through a wisp of orange incense in the air. Inside La Mesquita, you are transported to another time where you experience a special piece of ancient Spain. It is magic.
Photos above © Scott Andress
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I am not a tourist!
The best way to avoid being pick-pocketed, ripped off, abused even more by taxi drivers etc is, conventional wisdom would have it, not to look too much like a tourist. How do you achieve this? According to Dave Hall (aka Pepino) in a must read forum post on the subject:
“Avoid the absolute worst fashion crimes below, and you’ll be well on your way.
- Dress for the season you’re in
- Don’t have too much flesh on show (unless you’re on the beach)
- Bikini tops are for the beach only (not for walking around shopping centres)
- Wear subtle jewellery or single pieces of funky large accessories (not dripping in gold)
- Try to avoid the typical British "combats/trainers/white socks/vest top†look (although, one individual part combined with something else can be absolutely fine)
- Be careful with Burberry checks. Burberry’s still a great brand, but their famous check pattern has been hijacked by Chavs, so don’t touch it.
- If you’re American, avoid the "nautical†look and DO NOT wear a plastic sun visor…. Ever! jeje
- At the moment, big sunglasses are still very cool (Posh Spice’s are bigger than her head these days!)
- No cheesewire knickers on show.”
What’s your top tip for blending in whilst in Spain?
Categories
An open letter to Easyjet
Dear Easyjet,
I am generally very happy with the service you provide between Madrid and London Gatwick. You even seem to have the ridiculous queuing system under control these days, with far fewer examples of the undignified and totally uncontrolled rush to get on the plane that were so characteristic of many of your flights last year. I suppose that since you introduced the ‘Speedy Boarding’ concept (money for nothing, great business idea), with people paying extra to get on first, you have to be careful about ruffling feathers.
Last night I sat with my wife on the 4.55pm Gatwick-Madrid plane, amused that we had missed our take-off slot as the stewards couln’t work out why there were four too many people on the plane. Turns out your check in staff were to blame, they let four more people through at the last minute but didn’t tell the gate dispatcher… could happen to anyone! Still, we were relaxed enough, pleased to see the captain giving passengers a quick tour of the cockpit until it was time to turn the engines on and head off once air traffic control gave us the all clear.
So far so good, just one request. If possible, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use catering firms who put caterpillars in their sandwiches. It quite put me off my red wine and mini-cheddars. In fact, having got two mouthfuls into my ‘soft cheese wrap’ before I discovered the bright green little fellow in the middle of the packaging (he had had a couple of bites of my wrap too by the way), I nearly had to reach for that little-used waxy paper bag found in the pocket behind your occasionally readable in-flight magazine. Thanks for the £ 3.50 refund and the offer, declined, of the replacement sandwich, but if it would be possible to do without the caterpillar next time, I’d be grateful.
Best wishes,
Ben Curtis, frequent easyJet traveller
Arpi Shively, who runs the excellent Andalucid blog on life in the Alpujarras and beyond, sent in this entry for our “500 things to do in Spain before you die” competition (you can win and iPod Shuffle and get in a book!). Apparently there is somewhere in Spain that you can get away from all the noise:
“Retreat from ‘la ruida’ at Osel Ling in the Alpujarras: Noise, cars, buildings and people gradually melt away as you wind up the long steep track to this Tibetan Buddhist monastery, whose name means ‘Place of Clear Light’. Its rugged stone buildings and stupas are perched at the top of the Poqueira gorge above Pampaneira in Andalucia’s High Alpujarra foothills. Retreat to one of the simple huts on the herb-scented hillside, attend lectures on Buddhism and drink in the silence that is sweeter than any music.” – Photo: © Fred Shively who has some wonderful photos of Spain.
Have you got a silent Spain secret you are willing to share? Enter the competition! Details here!
The Catalan regional government has decided to fund a series of blue movies after deeming them useful for spreading the Catalan language.
[Found by Guapo in the forum]
The entries are pouring in for our ‘500 things to do in Spain before you die’ competition (you can win an iPod shuffle!) When I sent details to my Spain-dwelling friends I never expected to get two entries on the same experience, proving that this must indeed be one of the most memorable things to do in Spain before you die…
The NFS Flickr Group is still going strong, feel free to add photos whenever you like! Today’s image was taken by Scott from ayearineuopre.com (lots of great podcasts from Spain on the site!) Scott explains:
“It was taken in Cordoba in the Caballerizas Reales. The Cordoba Ecuestre club was assembling there for a parade in celebration of Día de Andalucía. Once assembled, the horses, riders and carriages then proceeded out of the stables and onto a route through the streets of Cordoba. We felt really lucky to stumble upon the event!”
…how I long to be in Andalusia…
It’s competition time! But this is a competition with a difference. The aim is it come up with 500 of the very best things to do in Spain, be it eating that tapa in a certain restaurant in Seville, taking a special train ride, or swimming off your own little-known deserted beach… I’m sure you all have one amazing tip to share! At the end of the competition on March 31st we hope to have a list of 500 amazing experiences, and one lucky winner, who will receive a brand new iPod Shuffle and a CD of great Spanish music to put on it.
But there’s more… once we have the list of 500 we will be putting it to good use, sharing it with the entire Notes from Spain community: the 500 experiences will be listed here on the website for a limited period after the competition ends, begfore being turned into a book that can be bought in downloadable pdf or actual book format, with all proceeds going to the Spanish Red Cross or another Spanish charity of your choice.
How to enter/Rules:
The theme of the competition is ‘Things to do in Spain before you die’ (and we hope that with your help the list will reach 500!) Your entry can be about any experience available to travelers anywhere in Spain, but the more specific you are, the better. For example, naming a certain bar, restaurant or harbor to eat seafood in will be better than just saying ‘eating prawns in Galicia’. The more details the better, but try to keep within a maximum of around 75 words. See my examples below and take your time, all entries are going to end up in a book remember, and the better the book, the more we can raise for charity!
Entries must be sent in to Ben by email. Please include your name and location. You may enter as many times/things to do as you like. The winner will be announced on March 31st 2007, and we will get to work on putting the book together after that (N.B. By entering in the competition you agree that your entry will be published in the book afterwards and that some entries may be edited for grammatical correctness!) In the meantime, all entries will appear here on the blog throughout March.
Here are some examples of the format we are looking for, but remember, your entry might be about a stunning train ride in Huelva, an unmissable tapas experience in San Sebastain, or an often-overlooked village just outside Cuenca, whatever you think everyone should do once in Spain before they die…:
Climbing the giant sand dunes in Bolonia, Andalusia: This is one of the wildest beaches in Spain, with random cows, dogs, and fisherman wandering up and down the white sands with no particular destination in mind. Climb to the top of the giant dunes at the far end of the beach for an eye-watering view across the glistening Straits of Gibraltar to the shores of Morocco, the very edge of Africa.
Walking down the Cares Gorge: This spectacular six hour walk between the hamlets of Poncebos and Cain in the Picos de Europa mountain range, follows a narrow footpath that clings to the sides of a 1,500 m deep ravine. Not for the faint-hearted, as the drops are severe and, being Spain, there isn’t a safety railing in sight!
Eating freshly bought sea snails out of a paper cone with a pin, on the harbour in San Sebastian, while trying to spot the friendly dolphin in the bay!
Right, it’s over to you, our inbox is waiting!
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 