When you come to a city, you want make sure to see all the main sights and experience all the culture - monuments, museums, shows; maybe take a few hours checking it out, and getting orientated, from the comfort of a bus (top deck, back row); or get an alternative view, from a boat - also much…
Late last year, I did a post about Seville's positive tourism figures - airports and hotels were seeing record numbers of visitors. It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that boosts such as these are more needed now than ever.
In fact, recently it was announced that 2011 was the city's…
When I saw in the newspaper last week that a replica 17th-century galleon had arrived in the port of Sevilla, I realised it must be the same one I had seen some time previously, just before it left on a 6,000km voyage.
Looking back through my posts, it took me a while to find the one about the…
In a recent newspaper poll, 25% of people wanted construction of the Torre Pelli to be halted (it currently has 15 storeys out of the planned 40, and measures around 60 metres). However a massive 62% preferred that the project continue as planned.
This highly controversial building in Seville,…
The Casa de Alba - whose head, the redoubtable Cayetana, 18th Duquesa de Alba, recently wed for the third time in her Seville palace - has one of the most important private art collections in the world.
Amassed over the centuries, starting in the 16th, it consists of a staggering 50,000 works,…
One of the most famous parts of the Alhambra, the Patio de los Leones, has finally got its central feature back in full working order after ten years.
The 14th-century sculpture in its centre, of 12 white marble lions holding a duodecagonal (12-sided) basin, was returned to its rightful spot last…
If you live here in Spain, you'll be used to seeing Chinese shops in every town. They are stacked high with ridiculously cheap goods, from clothes to toys to garden furniture and household crockery. Much of it is poor quality - I call it "CCC" - cheap crap from China. A high percentage of the toys…
At the end of last year, the Andalucian government named nine new natural monuments, including five in Malaga province. This means that these beauty spots - such as peñas (hills), fuentes, meandros and riberas (sources, loops, and banks, of rivers), tajos (cliffs), and cuevas (caves) - are…
At this very moment, small children all over Spain are excitedly awaiting a glimpse of the Reyes Magos, the Three Kings (or Wise Men) who, according to Spanish tradition, bring children's presents tonight.
Depending on the size of each town hall's budget (deficit), the Reyes arrived in stately…
So we’re now a couple of days into 2012. The extended break struggles on to Reyes later this week.
The news is full of pay cuts, taxes and freezes, so I thought it might be more positive to focus on one of 2012’s important anniversaries here in Spain: La Pepa.
On 19 March 1812, Spain’s first-ever…