Category: notes

While they were busy having gang wars (when did Spain get like this ?!) in the suburbs of Madrid this weekend, in Barcelona they decided to make one hell of a statement against fur coats!

For all those that are planning to or interested in meeting in Madrid for the NFS April Great Madrid Escape, please read the post in the forum about accommodation. Look forward to meeting all of you in April!

A very Happy Christmas to everyone, we are off to the UK for a few days so things will be a bit quiet around here until New Year. We will still be popping into the forum regularly over the Christmas holidays though, so hope to see you in there.

¡Felices Fiestas! Happy Christmas!

Ben and Marina

The idea behind NFS has always been to make one of the best websites on the net about Spain. And to involve you lot as much as possible – hence the forum and the Flickr group. With this in mind there was one clear winner in the recent forum discussion on a new motto for this site: Notes from Spain – “Spain Shared”. Thanks Greytop! I’ll add it to the header pic soon.

You may also notice that this post now says who wrote it. That’s because Marina and I recently decided that another great way to keep moving in the right direction was to get more talented people involved in putting great posts on this, the front page of the site. After all, much as we’d love to, the two of us can’t give you an idea of everything that’s happening in this wonderful country all on our own – we just don’t get out of Madrid enough!

So, we’d like to welcome our first contributor, Dave Hall, who will be sending us his own notes from Barcelona. Dave, who many of you know as Pepino in the forum, recently arrived in Barcelona and has a great eye for the fascinating side of life in Spain. Keep an eye out for Dave’s first post later today, and for more contributors in the coming months.

1. It should be a lovely sunny weekend so it’s a great excuse for a walk around the wonderful barrio of Malasaña…

2. … where you’ll find a great little market run by local shops from the barrio, at Calle la Palma 69, full of wonderful home made clothes – far classier than anything you’ll find at on the Calle Serrano.

3. It’s open from 12 pm until 11 pm, until Sunday 17th

4. Say hi to Chris, a friend of mine, at the Frutas de Estacion stall, and get some more of your Christmas shopping out of the way!

Nicholas Mead points to a particularly amusing bit of English Translation from the toursit office on the island of La Gomera:

IT IS OUR DESIRE THAT TRAVES OF THESE PAGINAS CAN KNOW THE ISLAND THE GOMERA, ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, ARTESANIA, GASTRONOMIA BETTER AND LIKE NO, OUR SUPPLY TURISTICA AND OF COMPLEMENTARY LEISURE

Meanwhile the Guardian comments on the usual Franco celebration nonsense in Madrid this weekend:

Hundreds of right-wing supporters, many making stiff-armed fascist salutes and chanting insults against gays and immigrants, gathered Sunday to mark the 31st anniversary of the death of Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.

Puerta del Sol mentions an essential new dictionary we Spanishofiles might want to get our hands on.

And finally, you probably have to be Spanish to understand all the humour in this one, but this take on Franco’s death is particularly fine, just before the minute mark, in the announcement for the BBC 🙂

(video direct link)

Want to sharpen your Spanish fluency and speaking skills? For the next three weeks Marina will be offering exclusive one-to-one conversation classes over the telephone/internet. Read more here…

A quick P.S. on the Madrid weekend: you don’t have to be a forum member to come along, or a long-time NFS listener, but the forum will be the best place to discuss the weekend as time goes on. We really hope this will be a collaborative effort, a great weekend discussed, planned and decided upon by all those that want to come along. You’re all very welcome to join us in April. See you there 😉

It’s really going to happen! A long time ago the idea was put forward that when we reached 1,000 forum members we should organise a big pary in Madrid for Easter 2007. Well we are nearly there, so we have picked a date so you can all start booking your flights! (And you certainly don’t have to be a forum member to come along!)

So here’s the plan: As many of you as can make it (the more the better!) will come to Madrid from Friday April 20th until Sunday 22nd, 2007. On the Friday night we’ll organise an informal get together (tapas til late? 😉 ). On the Saturday we’ll organise a trip around Madrid or a trip out to one of the beautiful nearby towns, it’s up to you. And on Saturday night we’ll have a big celebration meal. Then maybe a trip to the Rastro on Sunday.

The point is that anyone who listens to the podcasts, or drops by the websites, is very welcome. It’s a chance to meet Marina and I, and all of you, and to see some of the best bits of one of the most exciting cities in the world!

Everybody will be responsible for sorting out their own flights and accommodation (though we may be able to sort out a discount somewhere if enough of you are interested in coming!) We will obviously help with ideas on where to stay, and sort out the place for the meal on the Saturday night. The idea though is to plan this all together in a special part of the forum, where you will also find a list of who has signed up already.

Come and join us for a great weekend in Madrid! Just e-mail me (Ben) if you are interested in coming along!

UPDATE: Please read the important post about accommodation in the forum.