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, I was just there in mid July ,and already looking forward to be back !! Let me tell you the latest tidbits of news chosen by yours truly, By the way CLI is old Roman numeral for 151, Enjoy it as Spain is everything under the Sun!
Spain is no longer a postcard country. A century and a half after the first shipment, the famous card has become an object for collectors. The mailbox cannot compete with the immediacy of WhatsApp and Instagram, Indeed !
The transparent bottom of the pool at the VP Plaza de España Design hotel allows you to see a metal sculpture that runs eight floors. And not only because of the 360 degree views of the center of the capital, with the Plaza de España (and its summer cinema), the Royal Palace, the Sabatini Gardens, the Casa de Campo or the Senate looming on every corner. From its transparent bottom you can see a monumental metallic waterfall over 25 meters high, one of the longest and straightest sculptures in Europe. Not surprisingly, it crosses eight floors of the VP Plaza España Design, with a collection of nearly 300 works of art. This one in particular starts on the fourth floor and reaches floor 11 through the interior atrium. Once up, you can not only enjoy the fall of the waterfall from inside the water, but also through the glass walkway that gives access to the Ginkgo Restaurant & Sky Bar. There is a reason why we are facing one of the most outstanding hotel-museums in Spain by distributing its 300 treasures in every corner, from the common areas to the rooms. As an example, the ceiling with floral motifs inspired by Mesopotamia and painted in Chinese ink in the breakfast room, the paintings that rescue the seabed in the Junior Suite or the Japanese-style latticework at the entrance to the Biloba spa, located almost at street level, stand out. , on one side of the Plaza de España itself. Webpage :https://www.plazaespana-hotel.com/en/
In addition to the seven stars of the Osa Mayor or Big Dipper that can be seen from the Sierra de Guadarrama, Madrid has another seven stars that illuminate the best of the region: gastronomy, primary sector, economic engine, cultural tourism, cinema and theaters, nature, and heritage and literature. The documentary ‘Madrid 7 Estrellas’ takes a tour of each one of them. The Community of Madrid is a vibrant region full of life, with countless unique places, nature, cultural events, art, gastronomy, tradition and heritage that make it stand out for its exceptionality. It is the capital of heritage, of museums and it is the third metropolis in the world with the most musical shows on the bill. In some of its streets and emblematic places, countless films have been recorded- such as some scenes from Doctor Zhivago in La Casa de Campo, Terminator 6 or Conan the Barbarian,among many others, and it has even been the home of illustrious writers such as Cervantes and Lope de Vega, who came to share a neighborhood in the illustrious Barrio de la Letras. Madrid is the fifth capital of the theater world after New York, London, Paris and Buenos Aires, with more than 300 theaters registered at present, and it is known as Broadway in Spanish. It also centralizes the film industry, among other things , due to the attractiveness of its natural light. Its more than 3,200 hours of sunshine a year is one of the incentives to shoot in this autonomous community. The fashion sector, which has more than 6,000 points of sale ! The Paisaje de la Luz an urban space delimited by the Paseo del Prado and the El Retiro park, which has made this city appear on the UNESCO World Heritage Humanity list. They also stop at the Madrid de los Austrias, the Royal Palace, the Sabatini Gardens, the Barrio de Las Huertas and the many literary cafes from the late 19C. It has 24 Michelin-starred restaurants, the 12,000 hectares dedicated to grape cultivation in this autonomous community, 8,900 belong to the Denomination of Origin of Madrid and are spread over 51 wineries, where the Tempranillo, Garnacha, Malvar, Albillo, Torrontés, Viura and Parellada. The best natural corners of the region, ranging from the Siete Picos massif (7 peaks, the highest peak has an altitude of 2,138 meters above sea level) to the San Juan Reservoir, built in 1955 and has 650 hectares, passing by the town of Cercedilla, Yes yes Madrid, do read my blog !
Since the Romans, and especially in Arab times, the ditches and irrigation in the Vega de Granada region created a network to supply water to an extensive area around the Andalusian city, with intense agricultural activity, surrounded by several mountains, such as that of the Alfaguara or that of Elvira, and the imposing Sierra Nevada to the south, furrowed by rivers such as the Genil, the Darro or the Monachil. Much more recent, however, and linked to these irrigation channels, is the cultivation of tobacco, introduced at the end of the 19C, coinciding with the loss of the American colonies,(Cuba) although its moment of expansion dates from the 20C. As is known, the tobacco plantation was prohibited in Spain. Apparently, the first seeds were brought to Europe in 1509 by Francisco Hernández Boncalo, a Spanish doctor, ornithologist and botanist.. Depending on the construction material, there are five types of dryers: Straw. The oldest. Small in size (about three meters in length), cemented in limestone and highly ventilated, they allow the leaves to be dried in optimum temperature and humidity conditions. Of sticks. They are larger than the previous one and more resistant. Also founded on limestone, the building is mainly made up of a series of porticos forming a network of poplar sticks —the poplar—, which is the other typical planting in the landscape of La Vega: the large rows of poplars destined to be felled for the construction. Of bricks. Built with solid Arab brick and cemented with mortar. They are more expensive. For example, you can see the drying room of the Gallardo farmhouse. Of reinforced concrete. Not very frequently. metallic. The most recent, unusual and unsightly ; few photos of Federico García Lorca smoking have been preserved. One of them shows him together with the Argentine actress and singer Lola Membrives and the also writer and poet Eduardo Marquina in Madrid, in 1934. García Lorca came from a wealthy family thanks to the sugar beet business, also a consequence of the cut in the supply of cane sugar from America at the end of the 19C. The link to the Vega de Granada region of the poet tragically murdered in 1936 is well known, due to his poetry and biography. Born in the heart of Vega, in Fuente Vaqueros ,where today you can visit his birthplace , a few kilometers away is Valderrubio, called Asquerosa (corruption of the Latin Aqua Rosae) until 1943, when he changed his name for obvious reasons in honor of tobacco (Valley of blond tobacco), where the author of The House of Bernarda Alba spent part of his childhood and subsequent summers between 1906 and 1926, and there is a museum house that can also be visited. (see post).
More on one of the nicest City of my Spain, Valencia has diverted the course of the Túria river to the south of the city and, on the other hand, has come closer to the Mediterranean. Not long ago the Cabanyal and Malvarrosa beaches were far from the urban center and were almost considered to be from another world. A world of salt and fishermen, illuminated by a light that the painter Joaquín Sorolla turned into his inspiration, in his geography. This 2023 is the centenary of his death. Today, Valencians and tourists run, walk and pedal along the old Túria riverbed. along the boardwalk. A walk through which a bike lane runs, just as another does through the channel without water. El Carmen, very close to the triangular Plaza del Ayuntamiento, the Mercado Central Market and the Lonja de la Seda. Architectural heritage seen from outside. If you want to see the Valencian Sistine Chapel, you have to enter the Church of San Nicolas and look up to see the Baroque frescoes that decorate its vaults and apses. The urban channel through which the Túria flowed and overflowed until the 1950s is today a narrow park about 9 km long. A garden with the physiognomy of a snake in which, from west to east, the Bioparc, the Cabecera park, the Serranos Towers, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Palau de la Música, the Gulliver children’s park and the City of Arts and Sciences. This reptilian garden of Túria is a useful, practical and beneficial domestication of nature for the city and its citizens. Before reaching the Museum of Fine Arts, you pass under the Madera and Trinidad bridges. From here and up to Gulliver Park, after passing through the Palau de la Música, more bridges are crossed: del Real, de la Exposición, de las Flores, de Aragón, del Ángel Custodio y el del Reino , flanked by such large gargoyles like photogenic. The City of Arts and Sciences, within the old bed of the Túria, is a complex whose buildings look like gigantic sea creatures straight out of a Jules Verne novel. This fictional city is made up of Les Arts, a cultural center that hosts opera, dance and concerts; the Hemisfèric, with the IMAX cinema and the planetarium, which houses interactive exhibits on science and technology; the cultural center Caixa Forum; and the Oceanogràfic, a succession of aquariums that house the most important marine ecosystems in the world. Avenidas Blasco Ibáñez and Los Naranjos avenues lead to Cabanyal and Malvarrosa beaches. Mediterranean sandbanks that the Valencian painter Joaquín Sorolla turned into the motif of his painting and mapped his emotional geography. Not far away, alien to that atmosphere of that disappeared world, is La Marina. A leisure center in the port known as Veles e Vents and which coexists with the old port sheds and the historic Reloj or Clock building. Enjoy it !
The aquatic parks are fun especially in Summer and in Spain ,everything is under the Sun, Two of my favorites are : In Tenerife there is the Siam Park water park located in Adeje, in the south of the island of Tenerife,the largest water park in Europe This complex, which has been named ‘The Best Water Park in the World’ by Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best for nine consecutive years, among its attractions include the Mai Thai River, a tropical river that runs through the park with slow and fast sections offering the best views of it; The Wave Palace, a pool that includes the largest artificial wave in the world (three meters); Tower of Power, a 28-meter-high slide where you can reach a speed of 80 km/h and whose route ends up seeing a giant aquarium of sharks and manta rays; Vulcano, a slide through which you descend in absolute darkness in floats for four people and that falls inside the volcano where a laser light show takes place, and Saweasdee, a children’s area that includes the best attractions for adults adapted to the size of the little ones.
Also, located in Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, is the Aquopolis, a park with more than 2,000 square meters of fine white sand beach, wave pools, and relaxation areas decorated in the Hawaiian style that transport you to a true paradise. It has more than 15 attractions, including Kangaroa, made up of 6 slides over 10 meters high with a route full of curves; Black Hole, an enclosed meandering slide to awaken bodily sensations, and Boomerang, a V-shaped installation that simulates the ramps down which ‘skaters’ and skiers slide down.
The sublime Camino de Santiago and some rituals that the pilgrims must make, The Hug of the Apostle is back !! Pilgrims and travelers coming from all over Spain and the world will arrive at the Plaza del Obradoiro, enter the cathedral, go to the main altar, climb the steps that give access to the dressing room, and embrace the stone image of the Apostle Santiago that was carved by the master Mateo. Silence and emotion fill that moment. A hug that after three years prohibited by sanitary measures everyone will be able to give again, and which is one of the most popular rituals on the Camino de Santiago… but not the only one. I will condense here : We will enter the temple through the Holy Door, if it is a Holy Year, or through the Platerías Door. For centuries it was accessed through the Portico de la Gloria, where pilgrims knelt down, placed their hand in the Santo dos Croques, located in the mullion, and struck three times with their heads, a ritual that today can no longer be done for heritage protection . After embracing the apostle, we will go down to the crypt to show our respect to the Holy Ark, which holds the remains of the apostle, and later we will go to the Corticera Chapel, where we will leave a wish written on paper in a basket, which is then burned in the botafumeiro during the pilgrim’s mass.
In Cebreiro, at the Puerta de Galicia, at an altitude of 1,500 meters, in Los Ancares, is the Church of Santa María, one of the first hospitals and monasteries for pilgrims. There it is a tradition to put a candle in the tomb of Elías Valiña, the backbone priest of the modern Camino and creator of the Yellow Arrow, today a universal symbol, as well as in the Chapel of the Miracle Chalice, and attend the blessing of the pilgrim that friar Paco. Under the Song of Ultreia, he delivers a small stone painted with the yellow arrow that recalls the values of the Path. In Sarria, at the entrance to the city founded by Alfonso IX, we will find a Peto de Ánimas , in which a candle was once placed and today a small stone is left as a offering to the deceased. The ‘Short Route Path’, which begins, as is tradition, climbing the steps of the Escaleira da Fonte, the ‘Pilgrim’s Stairs’ that leads to the Magdalena Monastery and the Ponte de Ápera, departure from the town, Finally, in Finisterre, The path ends at the old End of the World, where the Romans built the Temple of the Sun, the Ara Solis. We will enter the Templar Church of Santa María, if it is a Holy Year, through the last Holy Door of the Jacobean route, where we are received by the ‘Devil’s Capital’, which sticks out its tongue at all who enter, and in which it is tradition to leave a candle to the Christ of the Golden Beard, an articulated carving, made with buffalo skin and human hair, which according to legend came floating through the waters. Then we will ascend to Piedras Santas and hermitage and tomb of San Guillermo ,a lithic sanctuary with a curative and healing tradition ,and later, to the lighthouse, to the Km 0 milestone, to the ‘Burners’ where In the past, clothes were burned following a Celtic tradition, to carry out the last two rites of the Camino de Santiago: caressing the ‘Bota del Fin del Mundo’ contemplating the sunset and then bathing in the Atlantic beaches, letting seven waves pass, which will purify the body and soul to embark on a new path, that of life. Sublime !
I give you a delicacy in my Spain, and very much alive in my dear Madrid, The cheese pies or cheesecakes !!!
The cheesecake that for days has been considered “the best in Madrid“, after winning the contest organized by the Association of Chefs and Pastry Chefs of the region , (ACYRE) ,Go to Poncelet, Calle de Argensola, 27,
The restaurant of the hospitality group of Rafa Nadal and Cristiano Ronaldo, among others, is not immune to this almost ubiquitous cake either. In fact, the one that is dispatched here won the ACYRE contest for the best in Madrid last year. Tatel Madrid Paseo de la Castellana, 36.
An essential cheesecake in Madrid, with two locations, one in Las Rozas and the other in the Salamanca district. The jewel in the crown is still the traditional “Basque style” Álex Cordobés, Calle de Velázquez, 60
A meeting point for several generations for a reason this iconic establishment has been in existence for more than 130 years !, updated recipes with authentic and traditional flavor prevail in this classic, Café Comercial Glorieta de Bilbao, 7.
And how about those wonderful terraces in my Madrid, great especially in good weather which they have !
Recently renovated, the exclusive space in Plaza de Colón opens to the public for the first time so that you can enjoy its incredible 2,800 m2 terrace, divided into two floors, and spectacular 360-degree views. the cocktail bar from the late 1800s and early 1900s, before Prohibition, Club Financiero Génova, Marqués de la Ensenada, 14. 14th and 15th floors, Do come recommended,
This iconic space, built in the style of literary cafes of the 20C, reopens with a beautiful terrace surrounded by trees, with japandi-style rope chairs (fusion of Nordic and Japanese minimalism). Gran Café El Espejo, Paseo de Recoletos , 31, A must another of my old hangouts, recommended,
This large terrace of the Casa de Campo with 600 square meters with views of the lake and the Madrid skyline offers a new gastro experience on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at sunset. Every night and until the end of summer, El Cenador will host 60 diners by candlelight Villa Verbena, Paseo María Teresa, 3, Another tops
More private classy ,located in the Sabatini Building of the Reina Sofía Museum, El Jardin de Arzàbal, Calle Santa Isabel, 52.
Live music, DJ sessions, signature cocktails, food trucks and spectacular views is what the Hard Rock Hotel rooftop offers in summer to take advantage of the afternoon right in the center, RT60 by Hard Rock Hotel-Madrid, Ronda de Atocha, 17.
There you go folks, another dandy tour of my beloved Spain! It is time to enjoy my some news from Spain once again, Again, hope you enjoy the post as I.
And remember ,happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 