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This is yours truly with another episode of some news from Spain!!!. I have come back to the series with new work on in my dear Spain. Let me tell you my latest news chosen by yours truly, By the way CLVI is old Roman numeral for 156, And Happy New Year to my contacts and followers in my blog !!! Hope you enjoy this post as I.

The Benidorm Fest 2024 will start on La 1 on Tuesday, January 30 2024 with its first semi-final, which will be broadcast from 22h50. The second can be seen on Thursday, February 1, while the final of the competition will arrive on Saturday, February 3. The three presenters who will be in charge of this third edition of the contest are Ruth Lorenzo, Marc Calderó and Ana Prada. A bit late but keep in mind in your schedule if interested, Webpage : https://eurovisionworld.com/national/spain/benidorm-fest-2024

Why the Guggenheim is tourists’ favorite museum:The city of Bilbao/Bilbo and the museum feed each other in the year of its 25th anniversary. It is the museum with the largest foreign audience: 60%, even above the Prado. Webpage : https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/plan-your-visit

This will be the return of Enrique Ponce in 2024 , the bullfighter with his “goodbye tour”: from the return in Nimes to the farewell in Valencia, his homeland, after the summer border, on the date of October 9,2024 day of the Valencian Community, Webpage : https://arenesdenimes.com/torero-enrique-ponce.html

The Association of the Most Beautiful Villages in Spain, a club of 116 members that has exceeded all expectations of rural tourism. Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, that is, The Most Beautiful Villages of France, is the mother of all these associations (there are currently 13 in the world). In Spain it was born in 1982 and it was soon seen that their towns attracted people from all over the world. webpage : https://www.lospueblosmasbonitosdeespana.org/en/pueblos/

La Zarzuela, just name an Intangible Cultural Heritage by Royal Decree, Almost four centuries have passed since Pedro Calderón de la Barca defined in ‘El laurel de Apolo’ what was then a newly born theatrical genre for its intrinsic musical value that has turned it into a identity element of the sound imaginary of certain territories. In addition to this musical value, it has become part of the national collective imagination through its characters, melodies and texts, many of which have ended up becoming expressions, sayings, popular sayings, etc. The Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid ( erected in 1856) appears in the declaration as “part of the history of the genre”, and it is added that for this reason “it plays a fundamental role in terms of the space linked to the very expression of this Intangible Cultural Heritage” the ultimate purpose of this declaration by the Government is to achieve recognition by UNESCO of Zarzuela as intangible heritage of humanity. The candidacy was promoted by the theater itself in the processing of the candidacy before UNESCO. The declaration by this international organization will take, they think in about two or three years. The official Cultural Ministry of Spain on the theater: https://teatrodelazarzuela.mcu.es/es/quienes-somos/historia

In addition, the Madrid tourist office on the theater: https://www.esmadrid.com/en/tourist-information/teatro-zarzuela

The legendary house of Vicente Aleixandre goes to judicial auction today Velintonia, in the Vallehermoso neighborhood in the Chamberí district where the great poets of the last century met, has gone to judicial auction today, January 30 2024 as announced in the BOE. The property was built in 1930 and has 630 square meters spread over three floors. The plot measures 799 square meters and has a garden where Aleixandre planted a Lebanese cedar, as a symbol of rebirth after the Spanish Civil War. The Friends of Vicente Aleixandre Association (Aava), which has been demanding for years that the house be protected and that it be converted into a study center and a house of poetry. From this group they regret that one of the residences with the most history in all of Madrid could fall into the hands of any speculator. The house can now be transformed into a clinic or a restaurant!! Sadly,

Salustiano García works by the creator of the Holy Week poster in Sevilla, Salustiano García (Villaverde del Río, Seville, 1965) was chosen by the General Council of Brotherhoods and Brotherhoods of Seville to create this poster. One of the controversies of recent days is being the poster for Holy Week in Seville, which represents an image of the Resurrection of Christ. The approach, which presents a young Jesus Christ with a semi-naked torso , The creater after a long career that has led him to exhibit his works in many countries on different continents, selling some of them to public figures who have praised his work such as the Dalai Lama or Barbra Streisand. The artist graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Seville, and has been making his work known in different museums, galleries and fairs around the world for three decades. He has obtained a good number of awards and recognitions throughout his artistic career, among which the Focus-Abengoa Painting Award and the National Plastic Arts Award from the Rafael Botí Foundation stand out. Official webpage: https://visitasevilla.es/en/holy-week-2024/

Ana Belén and Los Javis (Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi), presenters of the 38th edition of the Goya Awards, have assured this Tuesday January 30 2024 that the script of the gala, which will be held on February 10 in Valladolid, has undergone some changes after the publication last Friday of an investigation by El Pais newspaper in which three women accuse filmmaker Carlos Vermut of sexual violence. Vermut, winner of the San Sebastián Golden Shell with the film Magical Girl (2014). They are a film student, an employee of one of his productions and a worker in the cultural sector, who told this medium that the filmmaker allegedly took advantage of his fame and position to have violent sexual relations that they did not consent to. Yikes another one but this industry is full of them ! Official webpage : https://www.premiosgoya.com/38-edicion/

Ideas for your in depth look of my dear Spain !!!

One reaches 300 per hour on the AVE (well me of course is was will be the car!) and appreciates, for a change, this quiet, almost sleeping city, where the bars don’t open until nine in the morning and where the few people in Huesca greet each other and stop every two minutes to “grab a carrycot”, to have a long speech. The preferred place for this is the Cuatro Esquinas, the center of the city, where the Porches of Galicia are located, the two Cosos, the Upper and the Lower, which supported the old walls and the Calle Duquesa de Villahermosa . A sculpture by Carlos Saura looks with love at the heart of his small homeland. at Ultramarinos La Confianza is the oldest active grocery store in Spain, dating back to 1871. Everything is preserved the same as then, from the hydraulic tile floor to the still lifes that León Abadías painted on the ceiling. See the monastery of San Pedro el Viejo, from the 12C, one of the most important complexes of the Aragonese Romanesque, with a cloister of enchanting capitals and a royal pantheon where Alfonso I the Battler and Ramiro II , the monk lie. In the Gothic cathedral, you must admire the main alabaster altarpiece by Damián Forment and climb the 178 steps to the tower! to see the city from the view of a starling, a multitudinous bird in Huesca. And in the Huesca Museum, pay attention to room 8, dedicated to Ramón Acín, the artist who designed the monumental bowties in the Miguel Servet park, and to the Campana room, where Ramiro II beheaded a bunch of nobles. Six kilometers from the center, in the Walqa technology park, is the Aragón Planetarium, where, in addition to observing the very clear sky of Huesca with two telescopes (during the day, the sun, and at night, the rest), you can travel Ganymede in a 3D simulator. Next door is the Mathematics Museum, one of six in the world. The idea is to touch mathematics, learn by playing and laughing. You can, for example, assemble Leonardo’s Dome by joining 250 pieces of wood without using a screw or any tools other than your hands. Both visits are guided. To visit in the afternoon, two buildings separated by 30 km and 10 centuries of history. On the outskirts of the city is the undulating and fluid volume designed by architect Rafael Moneo to house the CDAN Art and Nature Center, impressive works of land-art. In addition, its rooms house the Beulas-Sarrate collection, with paintings by Mir, Redondela, Bores, Juan Gris, Ortega Muñoz, Benjamín Palencia, Zabaleta, Saura, Tàpies, Feito and Millares, among others. The Loarre Castle, the best preserved Romanesque fortress in Europe, which 20 years ago no one visited, but since it appeared in Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven (2005), it is a non-stop busload of tourists and schoolchildren who come to discover treasures with a map or to participate in a medieval tournament. For the same price (6 euros) you can visit the beautiful Bolea Collegiate Church. Official webpage : https://www.huescaturismo.com/en/inicio/

The new European Green City is the city of Turia or Valencia ,the first Mediterranean city to receive this title. It has the largest market in Spain and the number one market for fresh products in Europe. It is also home to the largest freshwater lake in our country. And they even say it’s the Holy Grail. It was a Roman colony and its name comes from that time. And one of its symbols is a bat. More curiosities: some towers of its old wall hid Las Meninas de Velázquez during the Spanish Civil War because they were believed to be safer than the Prado Museum. It is the city of Fallas, paella, horchata and the Turia river, even though it cannot be seen. It has been given the distinction of the European Green Capital 2024, granted by the EU to cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants committed to “environmental innovation, sustainability and the improvement of the urban environment” ,Even the Fallas and the marathon December 2024 will be green. The tour would consist of nine stops and would start at the Bioparc, one of the largest animal parks in the world, until ending at the City of Arts and Sciences, the famous architectural complex designed by Santiago Calatrava. In between, there would be the Cabecera Park ,so called because it is located at the head of the old Turia riverbed, so that it recreates its original landscape, giving prominence to water; the Bosque Ciudadano or Citizen Forest, planted in the 1980s by popular initiative; a meadow that encourages biodiversity or the Alameda metro station, also the work of Calatrava, as well as four of the 18 bridges that cross the garden, some from the 15C and 16C and others, such as the Arts Bridge, signed by Norman Foster. The route also ,includes the Gulliver Park, a children’s area in the form of a gigantic 70-meter sculpture of the character created by the writer Jonathan Swift, as well as the floral shields of the Aragón Bridge or the Palau de la Música. There is more, since the objective is to expand the garden with an underground access channel that will bury the train tracks, replacing them with a large boulevard. It will also be connected to the sea through the future Desembocadura Park. It is the turn of the last tour, the garden, the sea and La Albufera, the pantries of the city, since that is where the fruits and vegetables, fish and rice that so characterize the area come from. A proposal is completed with a visit to the Rice or Blasco Ibáñez museums, two of the 10 locations on the route, available by public transport or bike from the northern orchards and south that embrace the city to the Albufera Natural Park. Webpage : https://www.visitvalencia.com/en

There is another Madrid beyond the City indeed, that has more and more tourist attraction every day. At Madrid “that you don’t expect”, as the motto of MadRural says, the project that brings together all the rural tourism experiences that we can live in the four large territories of the region: Sierra Norte, Sierra Oeste, the Las Vegas area and the Alcarria and Sierra de Guadarrama. We know Puebla de la Sierra, one of the most isolated towns in the community and the furthest in kilometers from the capital, for its landscape and its outdoor sculptors. This year promises to make people talk about short films. After the success of the first edition of the Puebla Film Festival, its creator Rebeca Alemañy has presented a cycle of short films at Fitur that starts this February 10 2024 ,and will tour all the towns in the Sierra Norte of Madrid. The Sierra de Guadarrama National Park is a favorite recreational place for Madrid residents, but there are still many unexplored corners. Webpage : https://www.adesgam.org/comarca/

Through the Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid or University City of Madrid, you come to a miniature universe: architecture, and utopia, access on foot is not entirely comfortable: you have to go down a long slope from Moncloa while, behind the walker, remains the Arco de la Victoria or Moncloa, with its severe appearance. A historical spot in my Madrid worth the detour for more of what is Spain today, I will try to condense this worthy experience, Once inside the campus (shared by three universities: Complutense, Politécnica and UNED), everything will seem possible. The esplanade between the Hospital Clínico and the Museum of America offers an even steeper access for those who want to soak up history. The entire University City is full of vestiges of the Spanish Civil War because, between November 1936 and March 1939, its unfinished buildings became barracks and some of the bloodiest battles of the conflict took place against its walls. The front divided the campus itself in two and the troops from each side remained entrenched at distances as short as that separating the School of Agronomists (Nationalists) from the Faculty of Dentistry (Republicans): 87 meters at the Higher Technical School of Naval Engineers finished in 1948, whose façade features a reduced version of the Tower of Hercules. The first surprise appears in the side meadow, which displays one of the few complete sailboats that, for obvious reasons, can be seen in Madrid. The Hydrodynamic Test Channel, in which scale models of ships and ocean platforms are studied, is a very long pool capable of simulating storm surges. The Cardenal Cisneros roundabout is an obstacle that can be overcome by the corner of the Casa do Brasil, finished in 1962, made up of four concrete blocks and inspired by the works of Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer in Brasilia (Brazil). We will cross again and head to the Museo del Traje or Costume Museum. It is worth contemplating the collection ,it was inaugurated in 1975 as a Museum of Contemporary Art. If we continue going down, on one side there will be the School of Architecture and, on the other, the Complutense sports fields. At the end of the street, and at the height of Physical Activity Sciences, we will turn left. At this time it is advisable to have contacted the Colegio Mayor Argentino Nuestra Señora de Luján (very strict regarding visits as it is the home of the schoolchildren) or, if it is summer, to have brought a swimsuit and flip-flops to enjoy the Complutense Pool, If it is not possible to access its interior, we must go around the Colegio Mayor Argentino to, from the side, glimpse its patio, drawn by terraces at five heights that accompany the unevenness of the terrain. A little further down, the UNED Central Library ,finished in 1993 appears to have nothing to offer behind its dull brick envelope, but, inside, there are six floors with direct access to the backgrounds and some study stations arranged around a large empty cylinder that crosses all heights and diffuses natural light. Furthermore, from the cafeteria on the top floor you can enjoy one of the best views of the Madrid skyline: very close, the Puente de los Franceses and the Casa de Campo; In the background, the Almudena, the Royal Palace and the Viaduct. Now it’s time to walk the Senda del Rey for just over a km through the grounds of CEIGRAM, an environmental research center. We will cross thick cornfields that hide the M30, we will see harvesters and implements and, finally, we will come across the fence of the Moncloa Palace (govt house) that will mark the path to Fine Arts and the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain. This institution is based in the Crown of Thorns finished in 1985, perhaps the most spectacular building among those selected. Guided tours take place, by reservation, every Thursday at 12h noon. The Faculty of Fine Arts ,a labyrinth with workshops full of plaster hands, horror vacui on the walls and a solvent second-hand bookstore with references on aesthetics, cinema or art history. The path to the Faculty of Pharmacy (part of the original 1927 project) takes us to the central area of the campus and, inside the enormous building, we will immediately find the Hispanic Pharmacy Museum. You will have to have booked a guided tour; There are given every school day and they last an hour and a half. In addition to a collection of scientific instruments, pestles, mortars, and ceramic and porcelain pieces, this museum exhibits five historic apothecaries, rescued and relocated, and recreations of an Arab apothecary, an alchemist laboratory, and a 17C hospital apothecary. Just follow Avenida Complutense avenue to find the Faculty of Philosophy ,finished in 1943. In front of its facade, a bust of Omar Jayam, the 10C Persian poet whose verses invite you to get drunk , This faculty, built during the Second Republic,(1931-1939) is one of the best examples of Madrid’s rationalist style. We will head towards the School of Forests finished in 1948. Here, they make it easy at Christmas to buy a natural fir tree, but throughout the year it is possible to tour the Arboretum (an exhibition with more than 400 tree species from all over the world) along paths detailed in several signs. We will leave Ciudad Universitaria as we had entered: along a rather hidden and uneven path whose beginning we must look for in the corner where the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry coincide. This path will take us, bordering the AEMET,(the national weather service of Spain) to the Cerro de los Locos, a mound of the crazies, so called because at the beginning of the 20C the pioneers of gymnastics practiced their exercises on it, very extravagant in the eyes of those who found them up there. From it you can see the places we have just visited, the Monte del Pardo and a spectacular sunset over the Sierra, which seems much closer than the city. In any case, it is advisable to return little by little, through the old Metropolitano neighborhood. They are the streets in which Durruti died and Vicente Aleixandre lived, who, in his Ode to the children of Madrid killed by shrapnel, wrote: “Throughout the city a river of pain screams and summons.” Nobel Prize in Literature 1977, in addition to academic of the Royal Spanish Academy and National Prize for Literature in 1934 and Criticism Prize in 1963 and 1969. There you go you need at least half a day + but worth it inmerse yourselves in the modern history of Spain and get to know it better, me think, The official Ciudad Universidad Moncloa de Madrid webpage : http://www.campusmoncloa.es/es/campus-moncloa/bienvenida.php

In addition in the official Universidad Complutense you have a nice map you can print out : https://www.ucm.es/encuentra-tu-centro-en-el-campus

The Madrid tourist office on the Universidad Complutense : https://www.esmadrid.com/en/tourist-information/campus-de-la-universidad-complutense

And finally, some hotel/restaurant news of Spain worth mentioning me think,

The hotel sector in Madrid continues to be in full swing, adding new accommodations every season. The latest project to land in the capital comes from Coming to Town, the company of Ignacio Catalán , and his partner Salvador Torrens. Yesterday,January 30 2024 , the plenary session of the City Council of Madrid approved a special urban plan to implement a hotel in an old church, located in the Huertas area. His father Antonio Catalán, is one of the great hotel entrepreneurs in Spain, after founding the NH chains and, later, AC Hotels by Marriott, of which he is president. And Ignacio already launched the Toc Hostels chain in 2014, specializing in modern hostels aimed at younger people. Now, Ignacio Catalán is embarking on a new adventure in two plots located between the streets of San Pedro and Verónica, which belonged to the San Vicente de Paul Society, a charitable organization of lay Catholics. The renovation works will maintain the façade of the temple , but they plan to carry out partial demolitions and new works, a single property of 2,363 square meters, which will have 24 parking spaces. The main entrance to the new hotel will be on Calle San Pedro, the ground floor of which will house the reception, administration and common rooms. Through this access you can also enter the garage and the 65 rooms on the upper floors. The reception will have access to the patio, where the common areas such as the terrace, garden and pool will be installed. The establishment is located behind the Paseo del Prado towards the Huertas area, in a neighborhood that has been booming since the Landscape of Light , which includes the Retiro and the Paseo del Prado , were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But this is not going to be the only hotel that opens in this area. Just 700 meters away, at 5 Calle Ruiz de Alarcón, the City Council has given the green light to build another luxury five-star establishment in the Jerónimos neighborhood. Behind the initiative is the Catalan company Inverbuilding. The original building was built in 1905 in order to house the offices of the Sociedad General Azucarera de España. The property ,owned by Barclays Bank that merged with CaixaBank , underwent two extensions in subsequent years, giving the property a height of six floors and a basement. The remodeling includes restoring the protected facades and building 14 rooms per floor, in addition to a swimming pool and a jacuzzi for clients.Estimated termination is for 2025, These two projects are added to the new openings planned in the coming years. Next to the Madrid Casino, in Calle de Alcalá, 17, the founders of Prosegur will open another luxury establishment with 60 rooms. And finally, a short distance away, Pescaderías Coruñesas together with the UMusic record company will inaugurate another new five-star that will unite three historic buildings: the Teatro Reina Victoria, the Meneses Building and the Casa Allende.Madrid is booming go for it !!! Stay tune here for more,,,,,

Rhudo Madrid, the restaurant of Paco Roncero, chef Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Álex González, (actors) Marcos Llorente and Antoine Griezmann (football players) that was born from an after-dinner meal Last Thursday night, January 18, 2024 it opened packed to capacity , Rhudo Madrid, a spectacular establishment in Calle Velázquez, 64, designed for gastronomic enjoyment that, when dawn arrives, dresses up as a party, with music, drinks and more food. A project whose idea was born almost a year ago, half jokingly, half seriously, over a table at Paco Roncero Restaurante. Once they have greased the machine well, they set up all the spaces (the upper floor in a few weeks and the private club for members will follow with a very exclusive menu) and start offering snacks until 04h30, Here you will find very Mediterranean cuisine, with Latin touches that they have known in their travels and through the restaurants they have set up. So in Rhudo Madrid there is a lot of Mexico, a lot of Venezuela and a lot of Colombia, Webpage: https://www.rhudo.world/en

There you go folks, another dandy tour of my dear 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 !!!