I know the Spanish are supposed to have invented the lolly pop, but isn’t this going too far? They’ll sell anything in Barcelona’s Boqueria Market!
More random Boqueria photos here.
Author: Ben
With ETA so much in the news as Spain’s major national terrorist threat, it is easy to forget that there is another theoretically active terrorist group operating here as well: GRAPO. The Grupos de Resistencia Antifascista Primero de Octubre formed in 1975, aiming to drive American forces out of Spain, to otherthrow the post-Franco government, and to install in its place a Marxist regime.
So rare is GRAPO activity these days, that it was only an article in yesterdays newspaper about the capture of one of the group’s members, that reminded me of their existence at all. Their last major ‘attack’ involved the hold up of a Caixa Galicia bank in Santiago de Compostela, on July 4th 2006. Two young members of the gang accosted the director of the branch on his way to work, gaining access to the bank by holding a pistol to his head. They got away with just 20,000 Euros.
More info on GRAPO can be found in the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, and Wikipedia (Spanish).
A wander through the back streets of Barcelona. Who needs Gaudi?
So much of the city was left unpodcasted, and I am really keen to return. The city cast a spell on me this time, and I think it was because we didn’t once think about doing anything really touristy (no Sagrada Familia for example). Being a good tourist can be so exhausting – Florence nearly killed me when I tried! – but just wandering around the back streets of any unfamiliar city is one of the greatest joys on earth.
To see all the fantastic Barcelona recommendations sent in by you lot, click here.
You really have to see the full size version of this image to do it justice. Richardksa took it on a dull, overcast day, from the 8th floor of an office building on Gran Via, in the centre of Madrid. Looking out towards Moncloa, you see the peaceful city roofs, a privileged site that’s hard to come across as you move about in the hustle and bustle below.
Thanks to all of you that submitted pictures to the NFS Flickr Group this month, please keep them coming! The standard was very high as usual, and it was very hard to pick a favourite!
Marina and I are off to the other capital of Spain (no offence to the Catalan nationalists) soon, what shouldn’t we miss? (We’ve done most of the Gaudi stuff in the past). What we really need is a list like the one below 😉
Update: Wow, I never knew Barcelona was so popular, just check out all the great recommendations in the comments below. No guidebook is as good as this! Thanks to all and keep them coming!
After receiving another e-mail asking for recommendations on things to do in Madrid for the weekend, I thought I should post the answer here on the blog, then the world and their Google will be able to benefit from it from now onwards as well. Before we get to the list, do you live in or have great knowledge of a city/place/area in Spain? Would you like to help make NFS really useful by sending in a list of “Recommendations for 10 (or less) things to do in… (your place in Spain)”. Just (roughly) follow the format below and e-mail me the text, or a link to a post on your blog. I’ll post your list, and link to you on the web of course, and, well, the world and Google etc will be a better place!
Recommendations for 10 things to do in Madrid – More details and maps in your guide book! (Time Out Madrid is great.)
1. The No-Brainer
Visit at least one of the big three art museums, the Prado, the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen. If in doubt pick the Reina Sofia and see Guernica.
2. Tapas Grazing
Start on Cava Baja, stopping at will on this bar-packed street, then head into the depths of La Latina for more.
3. Something Different
Take a trip on the Teleferico, out into the depths of the Casa de Campo.
4. A Walk
Go to Plaza de la Villa and take one of the small alleys on the left hand side or at the back of the square. Wander aimlessly, follow your nose, change course at will, check out the churches – it’s the best way to see Madrid de las Austrias, the ancient city centre.
5. Everyone misses
Malasaña – a really charming Barrio centered around Plaza Dos de Mayo. Check out the lovely tiled shop fronts, ignore the graffiti, and have a drink at Manuela Cafe, on Calle San Vicente Ferrer 29.
6. A Park
The Retiro: for people-watching, romance, rowing, and relative peace and quiet.
7. A Shop
Antigua Casa Talavera, an incredible ceramics shop on Calle Isabel la Católica, 2
8. A trip out of the city
El Escorial or Toledo. It’s a toss up as to which is best. If you really can’t decide, try Chinchón instead.
9. A reasonable restaurant
Taberna Miranda, at Plaza del Conde Miranda, 4, is local, cheap, has amazing food, and is generally very Spanish. Our favourite in Madrid. Arrive 9ish at weekends if you don’t have a reservation. Otherwise do snacks at the lively bar.
10. Hidden Culture
El Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, at Plaza de las Descalzas Reales, 3. A closed order of nuns still live in the private quarters of this monastery. Amazing treasures lie within.
10+1. Last thing at night
Ward off a hangover with Chocolate con Churros at Chocolatería San Ginés, on Pasadizo de San Ginés, 11. Things lived up after 3 a.m., when locals gather to dip thick battery churros sticks into gloopy hot chocolate.
Add more Madrid recommendations in the comments below, and do e-mail me a similar list for your favourite corner of Spain!
There was lots of furore last week over the autobiography of the Presidenta de Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre (you know, my mate Espe, who wants to let everyone start smoking in Madrid again). Despite being from a very rich family, marrying a very rich husband, and earning 100 grand a year, the poor thing has trouble making ends meet. She writes:
“The worst thing is the electricity bill. I’ve got very high ceilings and the heating is electric, what a nightmare! … It’s not as if I’m counting my pennies at the end of every month; sometimes I’ve completely run out of money by then.”
Apparently she has even been forced to buy her clothes at Zara, like, well, her normal middle-class subjects. Anyway, all is well, as the internet is once again to the rescue. 1 Euro para Espe is (nearly) ready to take your donations.
Categories
A drunken invocation
For ten points, who knows when this Galician verse is chanted, and what it’s called?
Mouchos, coruxas, sapos e bruxas.
Demos, trasnos e dianhos, espritos das nevoadas veigas.
Corvos, pintigas e meigas, feitizos das mencinheiras.
Pobres canhotas furadas, fogar dos vermes e alimanhas.
Lume das Santas Companhas, mal de ollo, negros meigallos, cheiro dos mortos, tronos e raios.
Oubeo do can, pregon da morte, foucinho do satiro e pe do coello.
Pecadora lingua da mala muller casada cun home vello.
Averno de Satan e Belcebu, lume dos cadavres ardentes, corpos mutilados dos indecentes, peidos dos infernales cus, muxido da mar embravescida.
Barriga inutil da muller solteira, falar dos gatos que andan a xaneira, guedella porra da cabra mal parida.
Con este fol levantarei as chamas deste lume que asemella ao do inferno, e fuxiran as bruxas acabalo das sas escobas, indose bañar na praia das areas gordas.
¡Oide, oide! os ruxidos que dan as que non poden deixar de queimarse no agoardente, quedando asi purificadas.
E cando este brebaxe baixe polas nosas gorxas, quedaremos libres dos males da nosa ialma e de todo embruxamento.
Forzas do ar, terra, mar e lume, a vos fago esta chamada: si e verdade que tendes mais poder que a humana xente, eiqui e agora, facede cos espritos dos amigos que estan fora, participen con nos desta queimada.
If you have absolutely no idea, or feel like cheating, Sal DeTraglia knows the answer 😉
Damn that’s a fine (and veeeery dangerous) drink! Dangerous because on the one hand you are exposed to the possibility of third degree burns, and secondly because it is one of the strongest alcoholic concoctions known to man. I wonder how we can fit one of these into the Great Madrid Escape?
Categories
Book launch Madrid-style
Marina and I were at a book launch last night, in a night club here in Madrid. The launch coincided with the inauguration of a new publisher, Drakul, run by one of Marina’s work mates, Javi, who promised us a memorable evening. The whole event went well, with a series of speeches about the book, followed by a comedy sketch involving four men dressed up as bullfighters. Javi then declared the launch party events complete, and the club was opened up to the general public.
As the place started to fill up, a young Spanish belly dancer took to the stage and started a wild dance routine to some Eastern-style disco music. Soon she was running into the crowd, grabbing young men and involving them in her routine, which meant sitting them on a chair and finding interesting ways to wrap her legs around them. With each new man grabbed from the audience, off came something else, until, finally, with a swish of her veil, she stood center-stage and completely naked (un desnudo integral).
‘And now,’ came a voice over the PA, ‘it’s the ladies’ turn!’ And on came a very large black guy, who basically repeated the routine, picking young ladies from the audience. On one of his victim-seeking forays he even grabbed Marina, but she clung so hard to my arm that he had to give up and choose someone else. Lucky for her, as the next part of the routine involved the lucky young lady sucking an ice-cube out of his mouth. I’m not sure whether Javi planned this last part of the show or not (I think it was for the benefit of the singles club that came in when they opened the doors to the public), but he was right about one thing, it was certainly a memorable evening! I wonder if all Madrid book launches end like that…
Categories
The Ex-pat Manifesto
In response to the previous post, and to a call on Gaping Void for manifestos:
The Ex-pat manifesto: to be signed by all those people who have decided to go and live somewhere else by their own volition.
1. I live here because I want to. Just because I could be paid better for the same job back home does not give me the right to complain about it. In fact, just because anything at all is different here, I do not have the right to be rude about those whose country it really is (“the locals”).
2. Having infinite patience means it goes on forever, or, no matter how long those #*&¿#@ Spaniards (insert other expletive/nationality as appropriate) take to process a form or fix the plumbing, I’m the only one that cares if I loose my patience.
3. Even if I am conned, robbed, humiliated, lonely or homesick, it is worth remembering afterwards that I decided to step out of my comfort zone in the first place.
4. It really doesn’t matter if I hang out with the locals or with other ex-pats, as long as I am happy…
5. But those who continually complain about their new surroundings are to be avoided. It’s contagious.
6. Wow, everything is… new… it’s not the same as where I came from! What a chance to stimulate my senses! I will take photographs, maybe write a blog or keep a diary, produce podcasts, videos – I’m enjoying the fact that my new point of view is necessarily different, I’m revelling in these new opportunities to feel creative!
UPDATE: 7. When living somewhere you don’t originally come from, don’t resign yourself to the differences, just smile and get accustomed to them.
Please feel free to sign, or add to the ex-pat manifesto in the comments:
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 