May 17, 2013

The Song of the Eight Winds – a Review Peter Kerr is best known for his quartet of humorous travel books set in Mallorca as well as the Bob Burns comical crime series, a novel and an early memoir. However, in this epic tale, he has now turned his consummate writing skills to an important period in medieval Spanish history, the reconquest of the country...

May 16, 2013

An Angel sings in Santiago de Compostela I recently undertook a 5 day tour of Galicia with members of the UK’s National Trust and the International National Trusts Organisation which was organised by Tesouros de Galicia.  Naturally, this included a visit to Santiago de Compostela where the pilgrims’ journey along the Camino de Santiago ends. Our...

May 15, 2013

Meeting with catalan author Jordi Punti @CervantesLondon  SPANISH REPRESENTATIVE AT EUROPEAN LITERATURE NIGHT 2013 When: 28th May at 6:30pm Where: Auditorium of Instituto Cervantes, London Jordi Puntí is considered one of the most promising voices in Catalan literature. His first novel, Lost Luggage, has been translated into 15 languages and won the...

May 14, 2013

Books set in Madrid Madrid is not seen to be as cosmopolitan or “exciting” as Barcelona,  primarily because it is “new” city which was made the administrative and political capital of Spain by Philip II in his attempt to centralise authority in a country which until then had had a travelling court.  On the other hand, Barcelona had been...

May 12, 2013

Meet San Isidro in Madrid this week! San Isidro the Labourer is the patron saint of Madrid and he was a poor farm labourer who worked for a nobleman called Ivan Vargas and while he prayed angels came down from heaven to drive his plough.  His son fell down a well but was miraculously resuscitated. He shared his meals with the birds and even with the ants....

May 11, 2013

The R&A donate 150th anniversary flag to MND Charity Event Thanks to Neil White, whose mother also died of Motor Neurone Disease, The R&A have very kindly donated the flag from the 8th green used at the 150th anniversary of the Open at St Andrews in Scotland for auction at the 5th Spence Clarke Charity Golf event to be held on 18 May at San Roque Golf...

May 8, 2013

Walking – the steepest island in the world Herman Melville observed that the best places aren’t on any maps and for many years this was pretty much the case as far as tourists were concerned when it came to La Palma in the Canary Islands. It was, therefore, a leap of faith when Discovery Walking Guides published Walk La Palma . . . that and an act of...

May 8, 2013

José Pizarro at the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts From: 23 May to 2 June 2013 At this summer’s Hay Festival visitors will find a rather unusual food emporium nestled amongst the books and crowds  in the form of a pop up tapas bar hosted by José Pizarro and created by the Spanish Tourist Office. Tapas España by José Pizarro will...