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This is yours truly with another episode of some news from Spain !!! thanks to you all. There is lots of things going on in my beloved Spain, and we are in Summer and already very hot to 43C in Andalucia and 38C in Madrid! I am eagerly looking forward to be back to Spain soon !! Let me tell you the latest tidbits of news chosen by yours truly, By the way CL is old Roman numeral for 150, Enjoy it as Spain is everything under the Sun!

Carmen Sevilla , the actress passed away on June 27 2023 at the age of 92 at the Jiménez Díaz Foundation in Madrid, her only son, Augusto Algueró, has issued a public statement to thank the health workers who have treated her mother since she began her disease, She was one of my parents’ favorites all her life RIP, María del Carmen García Galisteo, her real name, was born in Sevilla on October 16, 1930, although the artist always remembered that, in reality, she did it in 1931 ,For two decades, she participated in The Ed Sullivan Show when the presence of any Spanish artist on American television was a chimera and she was present in 60 films together with the greatest artists of her time, from Jorge Negrete to Luis Mariano, from Jorge Mistral to Vittorio de Sica, and came to film under the orders of Nicholas Ray and to be a partner of Charlton Heston. She had suffered from Alzheimer’s since 2009, when she was still presenting Cine de Barrio, a program in which she made her last appearance on television in December 2010. Carmen Sevilla made her debut in Spanish cinema in 1947, with a brief role in Serenata Española, directed by the then mythical Juan de Orduña. Only a year later she shared the screen, as equals, with none other than Jorge Negrete in Jalisco sings with Carmen Sevilla. The explosion of popularity achieved that same year with Violetas Imperiales, in which she shared the screen with the then untouchable Luis Mariano with whom she had already worked on El sueño de Andalucía and with whom she would coincide again in La bella de Cadiz, In 1957, She surprised viewers with a notable dramatic character in the stupendous La Venganza (the first Spanish film nominated for an Oscar for best foreign-language film), directed by Juan Antonio Bardem, already exalted thanks to films of the stature of Muerte de un ciclista ( Death of a cyclist), and Calle Mayor. She lived long but will sorely be missed by son and movie goers in Spanish like me, Thought fitting to have this news in my post on Spain,

The Teatro Español or Spanish Theatre, the oldest in Europe, celebrates its 440 years of life , On September 21, 1583, the first performance was held in the Corral del Príncipe, built in the same place where the Teatro Español is today, which makes it the oldest theater in the world in terms of continuous representation , It will be celebrating with a program that will present fifty-eight shows in six different spaces: opera, dance, document theater, family theater, circus, café theater, music, exhibitions, puppets, readings dramatized, text theater and educational actions make up the offer, Twenty world premieres, five national premieres, seventeen premieres in Madrid, five own productions, thirty-two co-productions and twenty-seven exhibitions make up the menu with the Naves del Español in Matadero. Webpage : https://www.teatroespanol.es/en

The last comedy by Cervantes, yet to be staged, La casa de los celos or the house of jealousy, is included in the « Eight comedies and eight hors d’oeuvres », a book published in 1615. The staging originates from the invitation of the Fundación Juan March to participate in this Guest Playwright project, Webpage : https://www.march.es/es/madrid/conferencia/casa-celos-selvas-ardenia-miguel-cervantes

650 unique pieces: Velázquez, Patinir, Goya or Caravaggio. The Royal Collections Gallery opens, the new great museum in Madrid reveals the collecting and patronage zeal of the Spanish monarchy from the 15C to the 20, The new museum , next to the Royal Palace and the Almudena Cathedral, has been presented this past Wednesday, and today Thursday, will open its doors. The other three free days are July 5, 6 and 7. Inside the 40,000 square meter building of gray granite, concrete, oak and glass, carved into the rock, Webpage : https://www.patrimonionacional.es/en/actualidad/galeria-de-las-colecciones-reales

The smallest town in Spain ; in Alquézar, in 1987, there were 140 residents left ,The Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, at the top of the hill where one of the most beautiful towns in Spain has been resurrected, Alquézar, where everything seems perfect, it is one of the gateways to the Sierra de Guara, a kingdom of canyoning in Spain that was discovered by the French in the late 1970s. Actually, adventurers from the neighboring country have always loved these mountains. Ramond de Carbonnières crowned Monte Perdido (3,348 meters) in 1802, and the writer, photographer and explorer Lucien Briet was key in the creation of the National Park. In the case of the Guara cannons, an essential figure was Pierre Minvielle. When he published ‘Los cañones de la Sierra de Guara’ (1979) no one on this earth seemed to appreciate the natural treasure they had at home. The first stop on this route of towns could be one of the largest in the province, Barbastro. they visit the ‘Bodega del Vero’ shop-restaurant, an old mansion full of charm that at the beginning of the 20C belonged to the family of the mother of Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (born in this town in 1902, the founder of Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church. He was canonized by John Paul II on October 6, 2002.). The slender pillars, which accentuate the sensation of height of the temple, and the base of the main altarpiece, made of polychrome alabaster, make a visit essential. From Barbastro to Alquézar there is barely half an hour, we continue to Boltaña, a large and little-known old town in the Pyrenees, where one of the most luxurious hotels in these regions stands, the Barceló Monasterio de Boltaña, which occupies a well-restored 17C building in a beautiful environment. In Aínsa, another jewel of the Pyrenees (yes!!). A walk through Aínsa takes us back to the middle of the 20C, to a town in frank decline, with the streets still made of dirt, with many houses on the verge of ruin, in the 70s the streets were cobbled, and from then on many private individuals – also some French-invested in the recovery of almost all the houses. Now, about a hundred residents and thousands of visitors enjoy another peak town, full of charm, with a square where many walkers come from Ordesa, and the Church of Santa María (12C), You do well to taste good wines at the Bodega Pirineos ; a good option to discover and taste Somontano wines in Barbastro, Webpage : https://www.turismodearagon.com/en/ficha/guara-somontano-y-entorno/

Uncharted, the first indoor roller coaster with a side drop in Europe, has just opened in PortAventura. The entire route takes place indoors, based on the film of the same name, and offers two exciting minutes of drops, launches, some inverted, and twists PortAventura Park, extends over 105 hectares divided into six thematic areas (Mediterranean, Polynesia, Mexico, China, Sesame Adventure and Far West), it has more than 45 restaurants, more than 40 souvenir shops and 13,500 shows a year. In addition, it offers more than 40 attractions for all ages, a list to which this summer one of the most exciting roller coasters of the moment is added: ‘Uncharted: the enigma of Penitence’. The attraction is built on a base of 4,800 square meters of surface area and 16 meters high and presents a 673-meter route completely in the dark that is completed in approximately two minutes and in which the different special and audiovisual effects, as well as the experiences immersive events that take place in 29 key moments, all of them based on the film released in theaters in 2022, multiply the sensations experienced by visitors to the maximum. The real speed that is reached is about 50/60 km/h although being in the dark the speed that is experienced is much higher. Webpage : https://www.portaventuraworld.com/en/rides/uncharted

The spectacular fortress by candlelight, a granite labyrinth and a sweet sea full of birds are the three settings of this Madrid getaway with an unbeatable backdrop. Manzanares El Real rises at the foot of the Santillana reservoir, on the other, La Pedriza, the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares Regional Park and the peaks of the Guadarrama National Park embrace it. But there is more, although only 50 km separate it from Puerta del Sol, we are immersed in one of the two Biosphere Reserves of the community of Madrid, The former Cañada Real Segoviana crossed here, one of the (toll) highways of the Middle Ages through which herds of cattle, highways of merchandise and travelers passed daily, prior payment of the pontazgo. It was charged at the same Old Bridge over the Manzanares River that we still cross today at the exit of the town. Beside it, the Old Castle appears cut as with a knife. Nobody wants a fortress next to their own and, in the mid-15C, the Mendozas, the new lords of Manzanares El Real (Royal Manzanares), built a second one to their liking. The Mendozas built the new castle as a letter of introduction to their power over this territory. Today it continues to be an emblem, as well as the best-preserved fortress in the region.It was in the 16C, when the castle became a palace, and knowing all the jokes, the history and the characters that inhabited it, It was Íñigo López de Mendoza, II Duke of Infantado, who transformed his father’s defensive building into a residence of great lords , Hence the deployment of large halls, towers and luminous galleries in Elizabethan Gothic , Although all this extension was left unfinished when the nobleman transferred his family court to Guadalajara The obligatory walk through the different rooms runs between Flemish tapestries and armor , between four-poster beds and old chests, between patios and windows with benches, Sublime! Memories forever !! webpage: https://manzanareselreal.org/es/que-visitar

Memorable Viveiro, the medieval and festival-going pearl to the north ,The pearl of A Mariña, as this Galician region in the province of Lugo is known, becomes a more popular tourist destination every year. Enclosed in a wall that still preserves three of its six medieval gates, its historic center invites you to walk unhurriedly along a route of stone alleys with the aroma of saltpeter. The monumental Puerta de Carlos I welcomes us in front of the bridge that crosses the estuary, with turrets and battlements from the mid-16C,. And in the upper area of the old city, we are bid farewell to O Valado and Porta da Vila, from the 12C and 13C. Moments after crossing this Puerta de Carlos I, the visitor receives a pleasant surprise: Like the pearl that is hidden under the oyster shell, before our eyes a wide and luminous Plaza Mayor is discovered. The Renaissance façade of the Casa de Los Leones, so called because of the two large stone animals that flank a beautiful coat of arms from the 18C with four family crests on a cross of Santiago, banner and flag of a nobleman of the order. Sitting on the terrace of a bar, tavern or restaurant, sometimes on a wooden barrel that serves as a table, and enjoying tapas in this old street, you can discover the existence of the so-called “rowing houses”. These narrow stone constructions, with long corridors and tiny rooms that seek the light between street and street, stand proud displaying minimal facades with white windows and small wrought iron balconies. Webpage: https://www.viveiroturismo.eu/

The landscapes of Soria: Laguna Negra and the Circos de Urbion, This mysterious lagoon of glacial origin is one of the most beautiful images of the province. Embraced by infinite pine forests and granite walls, it is located at 2,000 meters above sea level. What is black is, indeed, because of its dark and gloomy appearance, and because there are many legends that accompany it. The best known is the one written by Antonio Machado in the poem La tierra de Alvargonzález in which his children are swallowed by their water, when in reality the lagoon is 8 meters deep, Webpage : https://www.turismocastillayleon.com/en/countryside-nature/park-visitor-centres/park-house-laguna-negra-y-circos-glaciares-de-urbion

The Castillo de Gormaz on the banks of the Duero, where the longest fortress in Europe stands. The castle of Gormaz is a defensive feat that is scattered along a hill in a key place on the border of Al Ándalus. Hence, it changed ownership, between Muslims and Christians, since its construction began in the 10C. With a walled perimeter of 1,200 meters, 446 meters long and 28 towers, the Colossus of Castilla is worth exploring. Webpage : https://www.sorianitelaimaginas.com/monumentos/castillo-de-gormaz/

About 45 km from Madrid is Talamanca de Jarama, a town that has served as the setting for dozens of films and series. Its 17C Cartuja has been used on many occasions as the setting for various productions, Its distinct Romanesque jewels form an incomparable setting. . the Roman bridge, the wall or one of the best preserved capitals in Madrid where you can contemplate a true harpy, You can reach it as I on the N-320, which connects the A-1 (Madrid-Irún), at the height of Venturada, with Guadalajara and continues towards Cuenca , ending in La Gineta, province of Albacete, all in Castilla La Mancha region. Webpage on movies : https://www.talamancadejarama.org/informacion-de-interes/talamanca-de-cine-2/

The Summer Nights in Aranjuez an initiative that brings music and cinema outdoors in different sessions that will take place throughout the month of July. All the musical performances and the film sessions of this cultural program will take place in the second patio of the Isabel de Farnesio Cultural Center, with access from Calle Capitán street, and whose tickets will be totally free until the permitted capacity is reached. The programming will officially begin next Friday, June 30,2023 at 20h30. Likewise, the cultural and leisure offer will be completed with two summer film sessions, Webpage : https://www.aranjuez.es/actualidad/la-mejor-musica-y-el-mejor-cine-para-las-noches-de-verano-en-aranjuez/

Hoyo de Manzanares resumes its summer visits to the Visigothic village of La Cabilda, with a guided tour on July 9 2023 to the site on the ground where the first inhabitants of Hoyo de Manzanares lived, around the 7C. The land is located just over a km from the urban area, in which the expert archaeologists who will lead the day will “reel the history” of Hoyo de Manzanares from the current urban landscape to the beginnings of the town, back in the the 7C , Attendance is free Webpage reservations : https://www.hoyodemanzanares.es/eventos/visita-a-la-aldea-visigoda-de-la-cabilda/

Son Bunyola, a farm located in the Sierra de la Tramuntana that has a central building from the 16C, has been converted under the baton of the British businessman Sir Richard Branson into a luxury hotel, Son Bunyola is a traditional country house dating from the 15C in a farm of more than 200 hectares located in the town of Bañalbufar (Banyalbufar), in the mountains of the Sierra de Tramuntana (about 40 minutes by car from Palma de Mallorca), The Hotel Son Bunyola, surrounded by vineyards, citrus fruits, almond trees and olive plantations, is a small luxury establishment with 26 rooms inaugurated on June 16. The event was attended by its owner and promoter, the British businessman Sir Richard Branson, and many of his collaborators, including Vincent Padioleau, director of the hotel, and James Bermingham, CEO of the Virgin Hotels Collection, a collection of hotels, islands and retreats in privileged places around the world. The defense tower that is preserved, of medieval origin with a complex is made up of a main building, a tafona or oil mill, and various outbuildings. Prices this summer range from 950 euros per night (Sea View room) to 2,850 (Tafona Suite). Webpage : https://www.virginlimitededition.com/en/son-bunyola

The Sienna Narvaéz is located next to El Retiro park, it is a 100% Italian classic with more than 40 years of experience behind it, where you can go for an ice cream or order it directly to take away. They are passionate about innovating, experimenting and creating new flavors; that is why it is not uncommon to find news regularly At Calle Narváez, 62, Webpage : https://www.siennanarvaez.es/

The Maison Glacée an establishment already known as one of the “finest ice cream parlors in the city.” Cult ice creams with succulent flavors made with organic milk; a waffle prepared at the moment and pure cocoa from Venezuela, honoring Moulin Chocolat, a pastry shop located next door with the same owner. At Calle de Alcalà 77 : webpage : https://maisonglacee.com/

The elBulli opens its doors converted into a museum and surrendered to innovation. What was the most famous restaurant in the world under the baton of Ferran Adrià has been transformed into a knowledge center. His elBulli restaurant was the first in our country to obtain, in the 2000s, three Michelin stars. The Cala Montjoi, a 4,000-square-meter venue that will include, in addition to the restaurant, 69 artistic, conceptual, and audiovisual installations whose purpose will be to fulfill the triple mission of elBullifoundation. The museum can be visited for only three months a year in 2023, from the 15th of June to September 16, and tickets (27.50 euros) , Once there, the venue is divided into four different areas. In the outer space, you can follow an itinerary of installations that offer different reflections on cooking and innovation, which includes the presentation of Sapiens, the methodology they used to connect knowledge and understand reality from a holistic vision. . This way of working was included in the Bullipedia, the first encyclopedia of gastronomic restoration in the West. Webpage : https://elbullifoundation.com/en/

There you go folks, another dandy tour of my beloved Spain! We are in Summer !! Time to enjoy my some news from Spain  once again, and we are gear up for it! Again, hope you enjoy the post as I.

And remember ,happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!