In my new life as retiree my blog is my biggest entertainement and before anything else, I like to thank everyone of my readers and followers to stay with me over the years since November 26 2010 !!! Thank you !!! Especially my first likes from former travel forum friend Jeannette I decided to trim some of my older posts in my series Some news from Spain and condense them as not to lose the most important parts, me think, of them, Therefore, this is my new work, the condense news of my dear Spain, Hope you enjoy it as I.
Some news from Spain XXXIIII January 6, 2017
Aerosmith. Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer, Brad Whitford had been seven years without dropping by Spain and Madrid it has been 20 years , but Aero Vederci Baby tour with an air of farewell is well deserves a visit . The Boston boys have extended their end (originally planned for July 5 Zurich) to finish it on July 8 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. June 29 in Madrid (Rivas auditorium) July 2 in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Barcelona (Parque Can Zam Rock Fest Barcelona) and July 8 Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Estadio Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez). Bruno Mars World Tour, April 3 in Madrid (WiZink Center) and 7 April in Barcelona (Palau Sant Jordi). David Bisbal Hijos del Mar tour, after the concert of Almeria (june 2) have been confirmed, at the moment, performances in Valencia, Murcia, Barcelona, Tarragona, Alicante, Malaga, Puerto de Santa Maria, Sevilla, Madrid, and Bilbao (the latter, October 7). Deep Purple. Considered a legend of the hard rock, the British band says goodbye to the scenarios after nearly a half-century of existence (formed in 1968). Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice (the only remaining original picture), Steve Morse and Don Airey will come to Spain in midsummer on their album tour , inFinite. It will come out by the beginning of 2017 (the first single will be released on 20 January) The Long Goodbye Tour, June 30 in Barakaldo, Bilbao (Bizkaia Arena BEC), 1 July in Barcelona (Rock Fest) and 3 July in Madrid (WiZink Center). Guns N’ Roses. Axel Rose, Slash and Duff, founding members of the legendary rock band, returned to the stage in mid-2016. Not In This Lifetime Tour comes to Spain. Tickets for Madrid flew in just seven hours, but it still available at San Mamés, Bilbao ; the first big rock band to play at Athletic Bilbao stadium. May 30 Bilbao (San Mames Stadium) and June 4 Madrid (Vicente Calderon stadium), Sting. Three years after the release of The Last Ship, the former leader of The Police , published 57th & 9th streets , which owes its name to the crossing of the streets of Manhattan that crossed on the way to the study, a more rock album. the British will only offer a performance in Spain, in Barcelona, for which entries have flown. March 21 in Barcelona (Sant Jordi Club).
Where do you left me with France in Madrid. You heard of José I Bonaparte (Joseph) or Pepe Botella oldest brother of Napoleon I. Despite the fact some experts argue that he did not even taste a drop of alcohol. The nickname of ‘King of squares or Rey de Plazuelas. Since his arrival in the summer of 1808. He found a sealed city with an intricate urban layout that was stifling for the French. Orders went out to open spaces, demolishing churches, convents and complete housing blocks, resulted in squares hence his nickname ,well known as the Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace. The squares of San Miguel, Santa Ana, Mostenses or San Martin is also the Gallic King heritage Palacio de Linares, originally named Palacio de Murga – by their owners, José de Murga y Osorio Raimunda; Worked started in 1877 following the style of Adolf Ombrecht French. It is located in the plaza de Cibeles, one of the essential for every lover of architecture, because it is home to the Palacio de Buenavista . José I (Joseph) chose it as headquarters of the Museum josefino , seed of the Museum of the Prado – and the Banco de Españathat, despite the Venetian Renaissance style responds to the European model that was intended by the French monarch to Madrid. The Calle Alcalá Street stop at corners as spectacular as the building of the Instituto Cervantes. The old Banco Espanol del Rio de la Plata located right in front of two palaces that could perfectly be located in a city like Paris. They are the mansions of Urquijo and Fontagud 47 Alcalá and Barquillo 5, streets respectively; nowadays are seat of the National Commission of markets and competition, occupying practically the entire block until Plaza del Rey square.
Enjoy Spain and Madrid especially, just wonderful to celebrate the 3 Wise Kings parade or Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos, those that came from different corners of the world to provide gifts of their regions to the new born Child in Bethlehem , Jesus. Thereafter, sort of, traditions hold we give our kids the toys/gifts on Epiphany day.
Some news from Spain XXXV January 27, 2017
You reach the Puerto de Navacerrada, in the sierra de Guadarrama, (my first ever try at skiing and it was not good at all , fell all over the place lol!) ; it is the closest station to Madrid at about 60 kms by the road A6, as well as cercanias train and buses. It has about 10 kms of skiing surface with a family ambiance with trails for different levels of experience. Next comes the Puerto de Cotos where you see Valdesqui with 19 kms of skiing surface and 27 trails with forest pines all around it. The farther at about 115 kms from Madrid by the road A1 and in the province of Segovia, you will have La Pinilla in the Sierra de Ayllôn . It has 20 kms of skiing surface with trails of some difficulty , you can do dogs carriage rides, snow bike, and snow running. The area is nice where you can visit Riaza and the medieval towns of Maderuelo, Sepûlveda, Pedraza, Ayllôn and Burgo de Osma. Also, get to walk in natural spaces like the Hayedo de la Pedrosa, and the banks of the river Riaza and Duratôn.
Parque Estelar Starlight , in Iruña de Oca; you will see wonderful heavenly stories with planetarium, telescopes, and several galactic space gadgets to see the galaxy like never before. And to out to sea to scuba dive between 300 sculptures under water. You come to the recently open Museo Atlántico de Lanzarote, the first with underwater arts in Europe. It is located in Playa Blanca, Yaiza,at 12 meters deep. Exactly on the Bahía de Las Coloradas, with 2500 square meters of museum, easily reach by scuba divers , or snorkerls enthusiasts. Museo Atlántico. El Berrugo, 2, Puerto Marina Rubicón. Playa Blanca, Lanzarote And further away in Bilbao Museo de Bellas Artes (beaux-arts museum) until February 6 you have the expo “La Cultura del Vino, Maestros del grabado de la Coleccion Vivanco”; all about in 75 works of art from masters of the time from the 15C to today. The culture of wine represented by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies, Andy Warhol, Paula Rego, Eduardo Chillida, Manolo Valdés, Miquel Barceló , and Eduardo Arroyo.
The famous historical painting of ‘Guernica‘ of Picasso, icon of the contemporary art and symbol of the horrors of war is 85 years old and 25 resting at the Museo Reina Sofia. There are political moves to get it over to the Prado, that would be sad me agree; the idea is to put it in the Kingdom room (Salon de Reinos) been renovated in the Prado museum to enlarge its pinacoteca but hopefully not, stay tune. Theater in Madrid at El Cartografo, until February 26 in Matadero, with great performers of tablas and bring them to current Warsaw. Here discovered an old leyend on the ghetto of Warsaw during the Communist oppression.
Cuenca has the honor of few cities in Spain to be considered world heritage site by Unesco, only 15 other cities bear this distinction. You have the wonderful hanging house or Casas Colgadas, dating from the 15C and one of them now housing the Museo Español de Arte Abstracto, with a purchase of a ticket you can see the whole of the hanging house. In its walls you will see painting by Fernando Zobel that also the train station bears his name. The museum is all part of the Foundation March, ou see nearby the Casas Colgadas the Puente de San Pablo bridge. The kings of Spain were photographed here during their honeymoon trip. It rises above the Huécar river early in the 20C on a steel design and construction. The original was made of stone to communicate the convent of the same saint (San Pablo=St Paul) . Today there is a parador or hotel here and the cells of the old monks are now the hotel rooms; however, it is still good to enjoy the cloister with lateral confessions and you can come to Mass service in the convent’s Church.
Some news from Spain XXXVI February 22, 2017
The Mudéjar style is evident in Teruel , a town we passed by many times and have visited couple times over the years, we will be by it again this coming summer. To see it you must come to the Catedral de Santa María de Mediavilla; the tower or Torre and Church or Iglesia de San Pedro or in the towers of the Churches of San Salvador, and San Martín. The most famous monument of them all is the mausoleum done for the the lovers of Teruel. There is a long legend that tells the story of the lovers of Teruel. It goes that Juan Martínez de Marcilla and Isabel de Segura were in loved in 1217,however ,the family of the lady did not allow the relationship because the future husband (name as Diego in some texts) did not have enough money to provide a good life for the girl. To gather fortune the young men left far from Teruel while the bride to be waited. Destiny had that the father of the lady married her to a rich men in town. Juan returned to Teruel and found the lady with another men, and he ask her to kiss him before he died. Isabel for not failing fidelity to the new husband refused , as this Juan died on her footsteps. The other men and the lady took Juan to the house of the father so no one could tell she killed him, however ,the pain that Isabel had was so great that she decided to kiss Juan before they buried him. Like this , the lady attended the Church of San Pedro where the body of Juan laid, and kiss him ,quickly she died next to him. It was here in this Church that the bodies of both Juan and Isabel laid while discovered in 1555 until 2005. It is now about 12 years the bodies lied in the monument done in their love story.
Slippery, faker, seductor, bon vivant, bohemian, and scrounger these are some of the adjectives of the life of drama and comedy of José Zorrilla(1817-1893), the last romantic that is celebrating 200 years of his birth in Valladolid, on February 21 1817. He was born in the old house of the Marquis de Revilla, located in the street calle Ceniza and rented by his father that arrived in 1816 to Valladolid to filled the post of reporter of the Royal Counselee . In this house converted into the museum in 2007 on a Romanticism and the poet, exposition hall, conference center, plays and permanent home of the book fairs or Feria del Libro de Valladolid .
The exhibition is name Masterwork from Budapest, and will be shown to the public from now to May 28 in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza of Madrid. Amongst the 90 art work you will see the schools Italian, Flemish, German, French, such as Rubens, Van Dyck, Gossaert, Giaquinto, Carracci, Tiepolo, Guardi, Canaletto, Ricci, Manet, Kokoschka, Cézanne, Monet, Gauguin, and Pissarro, also, Hungarian artists. Some of the chosen ones to come to Madrid are a Velázquez -‘El almuerzo’-, a Zurbarán -‘La Inmaculada Concepción’, a Murillo -‘La Virgen con el Niño repartiendo pan a los sacerdotes’, an Alonso Cano ‘Noli me tangere’, a Mateo Cerezo -‘Ecce Homo’, and 3 Goyas: ‘Retrato de Manuela Camas y de las Heras’, ‘La aguadora’, and ‘El afilador’.
Some news from Spain, XXXVII February 27, 2017
A great movement in the 1950’s comes back to Madrid north, a open air cinema Autocine Madrid RACE with 300 places for parking and a screen of 250 meters! The place is located in the Chamartin area, C./Isla de Java,2 and has a capacity of 1500 persons. There will be different movies shown as well as shows, operas, new films as well as classics. The sound will be done through your FM radio and will have as well an authentic American diner with terrace and several food trucks.
Carnaval de Las Palmas, here they come until March 5, the best in several locations in the hot Islas Canarias; and just watching TVE tv of Spain and getting ready to see it at 22h30!! see the Gala de la Reina (Queen gala) , Carnaval al sol (Carnaval of the Sun), the Children contests on costumes and the two nights of Carnaval. The lidia bulls have increase in Extremadura to 32.101 in 2016, almost a thousand more tan last year and the biggest number in five years ,even with the crisis in the business; this is as per the last census done by the Ministerio de Agricultura y Pesca, Alimentacion y Medio Ambiente (Mapama) , Andalucía (250) and Castilla y León (178), Extremadura,108, are the region with most farms of brave races. From the 32 101 heads in Extremadura, 19.697 are females and 672 males data gathered by agency Efe.
Antonello Dellanotte, has excellent photos of his adventures and has created a page for them call Retiro Experience. Why ,I am putting this here, because the Retiro is where I used to lived close in Madrid ,and it is sublime. Here, he compiles hours of investigation from archives and libraries as well as anécdotes on the park. Most of the data base comes from the city of Madrid ,and the library or Biblioteca Nacional; or Works like ‘Historia del Buen Retiro’, from Rosario Mariblanca, and the Casón del Buen Retiro (Prado).
The story of explorer Hernando de Soto. Or Spain in the USA. Hernando de Soto abandoned everything and gave his fortune obtained from the conquest of Peru on orders of Pizarro in exchange for a royal license to discovered and populate new territories. Following swamps, rivers, forests, with alligators snakes and deadly insects to what before was a rich young men , well married in Sevilla with an aristocratic young women, Isable de Bobadilla, and his future secured. The royal license came with a title of Capitán General y Adelantado de La Florida or Captain General and noble of FLorida. In 1538, he set sail with about 1000 men to explore new lands and lands in Tampa, Florida. He quickly come into indians Warriors attacks ; during months he explore and has only one friendly encounter with the princess Cofitachequi (Sp) that offered him pearls from the river. The indian chief Tascalusa (Tuscaloosa) invite him for a few words with good deeds to his village of Mauvila, enclosed town and once the Spanish come inside they are attacked by the Indians. This is a feroce combat that last for 9 hours of which De Soto fights standing as already wounded in the backside that dont allow him to ge ton the horse; this was the biggest battle in the history of Spain in the new territories with several dead on both sides and only to be cure from the carcass of the dead. Exhausted and hungry, demoralize they received news of ships arriving from Cuba to picked them up They have already travel and obey the queen Isabel la Católica, to follow it and to convert the locals into the Catholic faith. They decided to continue to find other towns and territories. They arrive to the Mississippi river in 3 years of pilgrimage and they go down to Mexico coming back with families States of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Illinois, Carolinas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas. Destiny did not allow that the future USA was an extension of Hispanic America. Only an insignificant mosquito stops him from following up the dream. He died on May 21, 1542, in Ferriday, Louisiana Remember him, from Extremadura, Spain, Hernando de Soto.
There you go folks, a big task but a work of love to keep the best, me think of these wonderful older posts over the years, These are what I think worth keeping of my older Some news from Spain series, and I thank you, Again, hope you enjoy this post as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 