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.
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Beer and free tapas
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).
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Photo España
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!
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Rocio Jurado dies
‘La Sexta’, the Spanish TV channel with the rights to show the world cup in Spain, has commissioned ‘El Koala’ to rewrite one of his chart-topping songs, to provide a fitting theme. Here it is, “Opa vamos a por el Mundial” (Let’s win the world cup!) (direct link):
And here, in turn, is a (much better) overdub/rewrite, showing the real faith the Spaniards have in the chances of their national team. Presenting, “Opá, no viavé el mundial” (I won’t be watching the World Cup!) (direct link):
I’m surprised the World Cup hasn’t been mentioned in the forums yet, oh well, here goes!
I pick up most of my on-line news on Spain from three sources: El Mundo (one of Spain’s biggest daily papers), Expatica, and Newsvine (all fed into my RSS reader, Bloglines). Are there any I’m missing? Do you have a favourite source of Spanish news?
Comment below or in the thread I’ve started on this in the forums.
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NFS Flickr Group Pic of the Month
Look at the colour of that earth! This was taken in the Ribera del Duero region, but you see striking soil colours all over Spain, especially the rusty reds you find on the way down to Valencia from Madrid. Thanks to Cata Vino for posting the image (you may want to check out his great site on Spanish wine too.)
Honourable mentions should also go to Enrique NYC for his Semana Santa pics and Pau.cc for his panoramics (click through to his site to see them move – very cool!) There were many more excellent images posted this month, but I can’t choose all of them!
Keep ’em coming, the NFS Flickr group is really getting going!
Technorati Tags: photography, Spain
As the temperatures rise in Madrid, Marina decides it’s time for that summer classic, Gazpacho!
Ingredients (4 people)
1 Kg of Ripe Tomatoes
1 Italian Green Pepper
1 Cucumber
1 Medium Onion
1 Medium Garlic Clove
1 Slice of bread
1 Small glass of water (Wine size)
1 Teaspoon of salt
2 Dessert spoons of Vinegar
6 Dessert spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Preparation
Place all the tomatoes (except one), cut into quarters, in the blender, with a slice about 5 cm wide of green pepper, a slice about 5 cm wide of peeled cucumber, half of the onion and the garlic. Then blend for 5 minutes or until the mixture is completely smooth. Then add the water and salt and mix again. Taste to check that the salt is ok, then add the vinegar and mix again. Finally when the vinegar level is ok, add the olive oil and mix in at a slow setting until it mixes in completely.
Let it cool in the fridge for a few hours before serving. It can be served either as a drink in a glass or as a starter in a bowl with garnish or "pispirrisâ€. To prepare the pispirris cut the tomato, the remaining green pepper and cucumber, half an onion and a slice of bread into very small cubes then place each in a separate bowl. Take these bowls to the table in a tray and let each person choose what they want to add to their own Gazpacho.
Comment on/discuss this podcast in the forums.
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 