A while ago in the forums I asked you to name the first three things that come into your head when you think of Spain. Thinking about it today, a new question sprang to mind, and possibly the one I really meant to ask originally:
What is it that draws you to Spain? What do you like so much about the country?
I think I’m interested in exploring the essence of Spain in the eyes of others, in your eyes to be precise. Please comment here, or better still, in this post in the forums.
Marina and Ben are in the UK for the weekend marveling at the amazing number of England flags draped everywhere in honour of the world cup. Why, they wonder, are there none to be seen on the streets of football-loving Spain?
Discuss/comment on this podcast here in the forums.
Nadal wins the French Open (pics here), Alonso celebrates another F1 victory at Silverstone… Can they make it a triple on Wednesday?
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Book review by Marbella, with our thanks: “…I found it quite uncomfortable reading at times. If anyone remembers the initiation ceremony in the Richard Harris film, A Man Called Horse? Well, if you still love Spain/the Spanish after reading some parts of this book then you’ll see what I mean by the analogy. I passed the test but it wasn’t easy.
It is a real rollercoaster ride through the civil war, ETA, catalanismo, drugs, tourism, corruption, flamenco…the list goes on. Giles Tremlett has an easy going, quite punchy style which made the coverage of so many subject areas achievable. I’m not sure if it is a good or bad thing that after reading it I have more questions than answers. Before reading this book, I thought that Spaniards were being shifty in not confronting their past in relation to the civil war. I think now that if Spaniards want to forget then outsiders (like me, like Tremlett by his own admission) should let them do so.” |
This is just a quick hello, update kind of a post. First of all, an apology for the slow-down in the rate of podcast output recently. Over the last two months we have been coming back and forth to the UK a lot to visit a member of my family who has been very unwell, and this has made it difficult to record as many podcasts as we would like, as often as we would like. Thanks for sticking around, life is slowly getting back to normal again.
So worry not, all the Notes from Spain podcasts are definitely here to stay! We have a new Notes in Spanish ready to go out as soon as I can finish the transcript (hopefully tomorrow), and we have endless plans for all three podcasts and the website. The forums are going so much better than I first imagined and I want to thank everyone that is involved in keeping them so busy – as I hoped they are turning into a really interesting resource for anyone that wants to know about all aspects of Spain – a perfect complement to the blog and the podcasts.
More tomorrow… ¡Hasta entonces! Ben
Greg Gladman has posted a great Flickr set that really captures the essence of Santiago de Compostella. The image of the wheelchair-bound woman arriving at the cathedral is particularly striking.
Here’s a quick tip for a tapas-grazing evening in Spain. Don’t order your food with your very first drinks in a bar. In many bars your beers/wine will arrive with a free tapa, but if you ordered food at the same time, the tapa gets left behind the bar. So, wait and see what you are given for free, then order something from the menu.
The biggest exceptions to this are Granada and San Sebastian. In Granada you get so much free food with your drinks that you simply won’t need to order any food all night! In fact, after your fourth drink you’ll be pleading with the waiter to keep his food behind the bar and leave your bulging waistline in peace!
In San Sebastian it’s a different story. Here the Pinxos (tapas) are exquisite, practically art-forms, and it’s very unlikely they’ll be giving these away for free. So, take what you like off the bar top, and pay up at the end. (Photo: pinxos bar in San Sebastian).
Telefonica’s takeover of 0-2 was pretty impressive, and now this:
“Directors of airports operator BAA have backed a takeover by Spanish building group Ferrovial, the BBC has learned. Following a secret “auction”, BAA has agreed to a 950p a share offer, which values the firm at £10bn.”
We get quite a few e-mails and requests for podcasts about studying in Spain for a year or more, maybe as part of a university course. Derek (roadrunner08), for example, asks in the forums:
“Myself and a few others will be studying in Spain for the 2007-2008 school year and we are beginning our initial preparations. As all of us are cookie-cutter American college kids we really don’t know anything about Spain beside what can be read in travel books. I was hoping that someone could inform us on what locations would be the best to study abroad, maybe strengths and weaknesses of some popular study abroad cities? (i.e. Granada, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Salamanca…)
I would love to hear some personal experiences, i.e. something that frommer’s guide couldn’t tell you about Madrid, Seville, etc.”
If you can help, then do reply to his post in the forums! (You have to register to post of reply, but this is just to keep the spammers away – we will never pass your email address on to anyone else).
If you are in Madrid before July 23rd keep an eye out for black on yellow PHE06 signs dotted around the city – the signs denoting an exhibition forming part of the 2006 Photo España festival. 20minutos has a sample of what’s on offer (some are more inspiring than others) – this year’s theme is Nature.
Meanwhile, how up are you on 20th Century Spanish Culture? Take a look at this photo gallery in El Pais and see how many of the names portrayed you are familiar with… I score a poor 8/15!
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 