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 LVIIII January 8, 2018
GEt up my friend and come this is the words in the tomb of María Zambrano. The theatrical showing of her work is coming at the sala Francisco Nieva in the teatro Valle-Inclán until February 11 2018. A women who together with Ortega y Gasset,is probably the best of the Spanish philosophy in the 20C . The presentation is entitled La tumba de María Zambrano» full of ideas,philosphical hymns but a work of theatrical dimensions with drama of two worlds. nice to see indeed
Let’s stay with arts into the La Bohème.Composed in 1896 and shown first at Turin in 1896. The success is on the story of a young bohemians that live day in day out routines with little resources and find themselves the reality of life and maturity. The showing here comes from the Royal Opera House, in London and with some changes here on the scenery with decoration on background even snow falling during the entire presentation. See it at the Teatro Real, Plaza de Isabel II, s/n
The dual expo on Goya and Buñuel. The dreams of reason or Suenos de la Razon, that can be visited until next march 2018 in the museum or Museo Lázaro Galdiano. LAter it will continue its journey to Zaragoza, México ,and the United States. Looking at about 55 Works from portraits engravings, books, postcards, photograms, etc coming from museums like the Lazaro Galdiano ,Prado, Reina Sofía, Thyssen, Filmoteca Española,etc pretend to show the works of these deaf artists, frenchisize and genious. Some of the works showing will be a Virgin and the Child by Goya that will be shown for the first time in public! Also works like the struggles of the war by Buñuel. The celebrated sefl portrait of Goya and a photography showing of Man Ray. Museo Lázaro Galdiano , Calle Serrano, 122.Until March 4 2018.
Some news from Spain LX January 28, 2018
Ski stores in Madrid abound , over the years and I tried my at Navacerrada when I was 10 and boy did I tumble down like a yo yo; oh well; my sons have done better ::) The one that over two decades have supply Madrid with more than 700 m2 of space divided in three floors with all you need is Ski Market . It does not rentals but has a repair shop. The owner is a former Champion of Spain Luis Ruiz Muradas, Calle Mónaco, 47. (P.I. Európolis, Las Rozas).tel +34 91 626 61 51. Best by car as public transport takes over an hours on metro line 3 and then bus 661 dir San Lorenzo de El Escorial; Others pretty good ones, and recommended by folks who does skiing in Spain a lot including my cousins are Tornal Moya est 1985 offering all lines of ski and all types including snowboard. Located at Ronda de Valencia , 8 , Metro: Embajadores line 3 and cercanias C5. And one with other sports in it as well is Deportes Alaska with over 25 years offering all the lines for ski you need in all disciplines. You have brands here like ATomic, Polaroid, Descente, Fischer, and Mammot etc. They offered rental service for a complete set,and a small shop for repairs etc all in one shop. Corner of the very popular neighborhood Prosperidad at Calle Cartagena 174, metro Cruz del Rayo line 9/Prosperidad line 4,
Something to fill that empty stomach on a winter day in Madrid, the wonderful dish cocido Madrileño. Where to have it best! My opinion of course. La Cruzadaat Calle Amnistía, 8. In what was the oldest tavern in Madrid founded in 1827 and with the same name you now have this restaurant with the same old good cooking philosophy. Offering a real cocido Madrileño in three dishes for a price of about 30 €. La Bola at Calle Bola, 5 my all time place in Madrid for a real cocido Madrileño and of course reservations are a must. A family tradition and doing it with individual vases of terracotta and slow fire on wood with three dishes for about 30€.
And why not paired with a wonderful Castilian wine from Marqués de Griñón Graciano ,Dominio de Valdepusa,Castilla La Mancha of 2012 Tinto/red, with the grape Graciano , to drink now to 2021 . A very dense black wine with a toasted oaky and vegetal flavors later it comes out with the blueberries and prunes to have in your mouth with warmst maturity all delicious. This is a prefered property for my wines from Spain. Just out at the property they still show the 2010!
A historical fact now to be told. the memory of the basque Blas de Lezo who at Cartagena de Indias, Colombia defended the Spanish main against the biggest naval fleet ever assembled from England in 1741, and kept the whole continent for Spain. He was ordered to return to Spain by King Felipe V but he refused staying at Cartagena until his death in September 7, 1741. The Fundacion Blas de Lezo has prepared an exposition to tell of this marine in various parts of Spain. call the “Blas de Lezo y la Guerra del Asiento” showing with 400 miniatures the English assault on the castle or Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas. Shown at Casa de las America, plaza de Cibeles Madrid;
Something I have always known: “La Nación más fuerte del mundo es sin duda España. Siempre ha intentado autodestruirse, y nunca lo ha conseguido.” El día que dejen de intentarlo, Volverán a ser la vanguardia del mundo. ….cosa que a muchos no interesa. by Otto Von Bismark (simply translated it means the strongest nation on earth is without doubt Spain; always tried to auto destruct herself and never have been able to do it. The day that it stop trying will return to be the vanguard of the world something that many show no interest. Otto Von Bismark chancellor of Germany) .
And another historical fact I like. In the spring of 1877 at the Plaza de la Barceloneta, Barcelona was surprise to assist for the first time a bullfight from Madrid and observed that no music was played unless the matador pin pole flags on the bull banderillas or a cape movement something close that was done by Lagartijo el Grande. It was here in Barcelona on May 13 1877 where for the first time music was played on a show by Lagartijo. He left the plazas on May 21 1893 with six bulls of Duke of Veragua. All written on the book ” Toros en Barcelona” by Rafael Lopez Chacon. And the story on the Spanish newspaper ABC here: http://www.abc.es/cultura/toros/abci-barceloneta-primera-plaza-toros-sono-musica-201801250155_noticia.html
Some news from Spain LXI February 14 2018
One of the few women who, at that time, had the honor of entering as an academic of merit for the painting of History at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in San Fernando. A unique artistic career that the National Library recovers through the exhibition ‘ Drawings of Rosario Weiss(1814-1843) ‘, open to the public until next April 22nd. Rosario Weiss was born in 1814, being the third daughter of Leocadia Zorrilla and Isodoro Weiss, a German Jewish jeweler based in Madrid. But it was not until 1817 when her mother decided to settle down as housekeeper of the Quinta del Sordo or farm of the deaf.” The farm owned by Francisco de Goya at that time on the outskirts of Madrid. Goya loved her as a daughter: in a letter to Leocadia refers to her as “My Rosario”, in another wrote to his friend Ferrer asks him to treat her as his daughter . ” In the autumn of 1824, following in the footsteps of Goya, Leocadia Zorrilla and his two sons arrived in Bordeaux. Months after settling down with him, Rosario entered the public school of drawing that led by the master Pierre Lacour . The death of Goya in 1828 left Leocadia, who at that time was considered his sentimental partner in a difficult position. Although she recounted in letters after the death that, in her last moments, the Aragonese painter wanted to make a testament in her favor, the hatred that professed to each other with the only surviving son of Goya condemned her to spent some difficult years. According to friends they were able to sustain themselves thanks to a pension that Leocadia obtained from the French government as political exiled and to the support of his circle of friends from exiled Spaniards and of Pierre LaCour, the professor of Weiss in Bordeaux.” The hardships ended in 1833, when amnesty for the exiled liberals allowed Leocadia and his children to returned to Madrid. At that time, Rosario, at the age of 19, began working as a copyist at the Prado museum and then at the Academy of San Fernando ;after 1840 Rosario Weiss got to be admitted as an professor in San Fernando, an appointment that, provided personal and professional prestige and she used it as collateral in her request to occupy the position of Master drawer of the daughters of king Fernando VII as he had died seven years earlier. The arrival to the power of the Liberals in March 1841 led to the renovation of the personnel responsible for the education of the heir to the throne and his sister, who sought to keep away from the interference of his mother, exiled in France. Rosario Weiss was selected thanks to “her good training, her liberal profile and also for the fact of being a woman”. She did drawings for Queen Isabel II and Luisa Fernanda of Bourbon as shown in the exposition in the Biblioteca Nacional or National Library. Delicate health did not allow Weiss to have time to teach the Queen much more, and just a year after she had started practicing as the “royal teacher” she died of cholera. However ,as told by many her legacy has been preserved intact to show, in an exhibition like the National Library, that one day not too long ago an artist as few knew in Spain was a pupil of one of the greatest masters and teacher of a Queen.
Consuelo Ordóñez, president of the Collective of victims of terrorism and sister of Gregorio Ordóñez (murdered in 1995). The “What happened” of his words refers to the history of violence and social exclusion that has been experienced in the Basque Country for the last 50 years. And Patria is obviously the novel by which Fernando Aramburu picked up last Monday the Fundacion Umbral Award for Best book published in Spain in 2017, and promoted by the newspaper El MUNDO, the newspaper that the writer chose for his Years of fulfillment. “For me, the value of the novel is the way we calls each of us, the way we asks us where we were and what we did, whether we look to the other side or not, “explains Gorka Maneiro, former parliamentarian of Union Progreso and democracy in Basque Parliament and victim of an attack of the Kale Borroka in the year 2000. You have to read Patria; really, you have to read it because there are things you will not understand until you read the novel, because it is not the same to be a victim of ETA in Seville than in the Basque Country ‘. And here comes a description of vexations that will sound to any reader of Aramburu: The human pack, the graffiti on the walls, friends who cease to be friends, victims become guilty… and movies? Not much, actually. Only Fuego (fire), of Luis Marias, appears in the memory. The cinema still awaits its Patria (motherland)
The rumors of a definitive closing were only that, rumors, because the Casa del Libro Gran Via has already communicated to its partners that will make “a temporary closure (six months) to undertake a reform work” starting last Friday. Taking advantage of the works that will be carried out in the building so that Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) can raise his first hotel in Madrid, the bookshop will be reformed to «offer a new model and a new concept the Casa del Libro will be fired up with two days of frantic activity ;Literary starting tomorrow Wednesday afternoon with the visit of the mouse Geronimo Stilton (17h30 ), character protagonist of the series of books homonymous written by Elisabetta Dami. An hour later, the presentation and signature of copies of the book “Make Up” will be held with her author Silvia Quirós, who also teaches a special effects workshop open to the public the turn for poetry will arrive on Thursday from 18h30 pm. , when the bookstore will receive Luis García Piedehierro, Victoria Ash and Carlos Salem to share an evening of recitals. Also on Thursday, from 19h30 on the ground floor will be held one of the activities star of this farewell with the signature of samples by a large troop of fashion writers such as Lorenzo Silva, Blue Jeans, nurse saturated, Angela Quintas , Sara Herranz or Margarita García. To finish the day, from 21h30, will offer a icing only reserved for the members, a very special surprise literary event before closing the doors of the Casa del Libro until after the summer. The bookshop, the oldest in Madrid occupies the first three floors of the building located at number 29 of Gran Vía. With this reform the third floor will be eliminated to obtain a much more spacious second level. That third floor will be left by the future Cristiano Ronaldo Hotel. In return will yield more space in the second floor.
There are 101.397 bars in Spain or one for each 458 inhabitants! , according to the Federación Española de Hostelería y Restauración (Spanish federation of hotellery and restaurants) . The most expensive city to have a beer is Madrid, at 2,93 euros, while Cádiz is the cheapest at 1,25 euros. These are the results of a survey by Cuponation. Taking into account 103 bars in the 51 provincial capitals and two autonomous cities where it was also found the average price for a glass of beer in Spain is 1,87 euros . By community, Madrid once again is leading with the most expensive beer (even thus I paid 70c for a caña in Alcalà de Henares::)) followed by País Vasco, 2,29 euros, and Baleares, 2,25 euros. At the other extreme , it was found the cheapest region to be Extremadura with an average price of 1,38 euros; follow by Murcia 1,60 and Castilla-La Mancha at 1,75 euros. And you are thinking of having a free tapa with the glass of beer , well that custom is coming down too as only 58,5% of the 103 bars in the survey claims to offer it
Some news from Spain LXII May 26, 2018
This is always a great event we love, the book fair in Madrid or the La Feria del Libro de Madrid starts today and runs until Sunday June 10; this is the 77th edition and will have 363 stands and almost 5000 houses of printing as well as Romania as the country of honor. It is at the magnificent Retiro park or Parque del Retiro,exactly by the road of Paseo del Duque de Fernán Núñez, locally known as the carriages promenade. You need to check the hours as many writers will be there to sign autographs and explain their books to you.
Talking about the Malaga Painter. He visited the Prado museum for the first time when he was 13 yrs old and copy some of the works there such as the boy from Vallecas etc works by Velàzquez ,Goya,and El Greco. As shown by his 58 versions of the Las Meninas portrait. The fine arts circle or Circulo de Bellas Artes of Madrid is proposing a trip for these marvelous examples of the master where he found the inspiration for his work. He found the excuse of been in the Louvre to get lost for hours in its rooms like a hunting dog according to accounts of the times. Paris was the city that gave him the opportunity to encounter the Olympia of Manet with the great Odalisque of Ingrés together with others that cherished it like Courbet or Delacroix, of which portrait women of the angels also made into more than 10 versions. All this is shown in the Círculo de Bellas Artes with about 200 works including portraits done by his muse and second wife Jacqueline Roque, of which the painter drew on a pigeon in his home with chalk and giving her a rose every day until finally she went out with him 6 months later. Oh yes forgot, I am talking about Pablo Picasso,
You know about the Dadistes and later Surrealists inventing a new world, as they broke with the past. They created one of the most creative revolutions in history and today proof of that arrives to Madrid from Jerusalem and the Museum of Israel. See the exposition Duchamp, Magritte, Dalí. Revolucionarios del siglo XX. Open in the Palacio de Gaviria until mid July 2018 with works from the masters such as Duchamp, Magritte, Dalí, Ernst, Tanguy, Man Ray, Picabia, Calder, Schwitters, Höch, Blumenfeld, Janco, and others. Innovating genious that will have a retrospective of more than 200 works such as the precision and color of Picabia in Music is Like Painting (1916), The Dream of Venus (1939), of Salvador Dalí and Horst P. Horst; the philosophical experience of Goethe and the Metamorphosis of Plants (1940), by André Masson, and the liences of Joan Miró from the serie of Women and Birds (1940) are just some of the work on display. The gigantic rock crown by a castle in the middle of an ocean of which Magritte tried to ask for the mysterious and apparently impossible. The castle of the Pyrenees (1959), is one of them. Next is the Surrealist essay (1934), by Dalí; Main Ray (1935),by Man Ray. All brilliant discoveries of the these revolutionary arts from the 20C. It will be on display until July 15 2018.
Some news from Spain LXIII July 8, 2018
The new exhibition of the Thyssen Museum explores for the first time the connection that was established between the life and work of the disciple and his teacher. The paths of Claude Monet and his master Eugène Boudin crossed for the first time in the spring of 1856 almost by chance, when they coincided in the stationery store Gravier, in Le Havre. It was just then that Boudin, 16 years older than Monet, wanted to congratulate him on his work as a caricaturist, and encouraged him to continue studying and painting, inviting to do it with him. As Monet himself once wrote, “If I have dedicated myself to painting, I owe it to Eugène Boudin “. The show is until September 30th 2018. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Paseo del Prado, 8.
After its exhibition in Sevilla, Valencia and Valladolid, the Sorolla Museum in Madrid hosts the exhibition Sorolla. Un Jardin para pintar or a garden to paint, which crosses the evolution of the painting of the Valencian artist while designing and seeing the growth of his own garden. The exhibition contains more than 170 oil paintings, sketches, drawings, sculptures, tiles and photographs related to his passion for the gardens. Sorolla painted on numerous occasions Andalusian gardens such as the Alcazar of Sevilla and the Alhambra in Granada. These inspired him to start building his in 1910. It is a Mediterranean garden where the features of the gardening of the Italian Renaissance are mixed with the Hispanoárabe. Museo Sorolloa Calle General Martínez Campos, 37, in the Chamberí district , metro Rubén Darío
Some news from Spain LXIIII July 27, 2018
According to a study conducted by Holidu in which we analyze the kilometers of pedestrian roads that have each Spanish city, the best city in Spain to visit on foot is Granada, which has 91 kilometers, but in the ranking also enter Vitoria-Gasteiz, or Valencia. Besides the Alhambra and all its treasures Granada also keeps the largest pedestrian area in the country in proportion to its size. This Andalusian city has 21% of its pedestrian-only use streets. In fact, in the center of the city is restricted the road traffic, so you visit on foot the area where the cathedral is located, the royal chapel or the monastery of San Jerónimo is very comfortable.
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 