Articles
Spain - General culture
>> Top four city museums in Spain
Spain , with its myriad of influences and epic history, is a country with a diverse gamut of sights and sounds to offer its 45 million tourists who visit every year. An area where this can be seen in particular is in its museums and galleries, a rich history of art and culture has left Spain a huge legacy in this department with names such as Dali, Picasso and Miro leading the list. Read more...
>> Blood and sunshine - bullfight in Malaga
On a blisteringly hot day in Malaga in the summer of 2001 whilst away learning Spanish in the Andalusian city, I resolved to see my first bullfight. With my father being a long time Spanish teacher I had often heard about his trips to the bullfight with his students and I also had vague recollections of a television programme watched whilst on holiday in northern Spain commemorating the death of a matador – a horrific goring was a shocking sight to an eight year old boy and had left me with mixed feelings about ever going to a bullfight. Part of me attracted by the spectacle and what it symbolises in Spain’s cultural heritage, and part of me reviled slightly as a young man with a fairly weak stomach for gore and blood. Read more...
>> A guide to some of Spain’s quirkier festivals
Spaniards seem rarely to need much of a reason for a fiesta or festival of some sort and you can pretty much guarantee that wherever you are in Spain there will be some merrymaking going on somewhere in honour of a patron saint – I’ve decided to look at some of Spain’s quirkier, slightly less known festivals and enlighten readers as to some of the stranger practices which take place at various times around the country. Read more...
>> More Spanish festvals
Tamborrada, San Sebastián. Every year on the 19th and 20th of January, the Basque city of San Sebastian prepares for the noisiest festival in the whole of Spain. Read more...
>> San Fermin festival
Known locally as “Sanfermines”, this raucous festival takes place in the Basque town of Pamplona between July 6 th-14 th in honour of the city’s patron saint, San Fermin. Read more...
>> Camino de Santiago
El Camino de Santiago, or as it is known in English, the Way of St James, is one of any number of pilgrimage routes to the cathedral set in the town of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia – situated in the north-western most part of Spain. One of the apostles, St James the Great, is said to be buried there. Legend has it that St James’ remains were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain where they were discovered in Compostela. Read more...
>> Christmas in Spain
Rather refreshingly, Spain doesn’t seem to start gearing up for Christmas until they get into the month of December. It’s not the huge commercial circus that is in the US and the UK ; the lights and decorations won’t be seen until the start of December and gradually Christmas markets start to appear and trees can be bought in the streets. Read more... |
