Sep 14th, 2011 at 3:30PM:
If you like a good castle, Spain is one of the best countries in the world to visit. One of Spain's finest castles is at the town of Manzanares el Real and makes a good day trip from Madrid.
El Castillo de los Mendoza was built in 1475 for Don Pedro González de Mendoza as both a palace and fortress, although he never actually lived here. It shows an Islamic flair, as you can see from ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
spain posts
Madrid day trip: a classic Spanish castle at Manzanares el Real
Sep 14th, 2011 at 3:30PM:
If you like a good castle, Spain is one of the best countries in the world to visit. One of Spain's finest castles is at the town of Manzanares el Real and makes a good day trip from Madrid.
El Castillo de los Mendoza was built in 1475 for Don Pedro González de Mendoza as both a palace and fortress, although he never actually lived here. It shows an Islamic flair, as you can see from ...Naval Museum in Madrid: an overlooked treasure
Sep 12th, 2011 at 12:00PM: After six years of living in Madrid, I've finally made it to the Naval Museum.
It's overlooked by most tourists. In fact, it's overlooked by a lot of madrileños. I've met some locals who didn't even know it exists. Perhaps being so far away from the sea they don't expect there to be a major naval museum downtown. It also doesn't help that it's tucked behind a modest facade that's easy to ...Five things I'll miss about Madrid (and four things I won't)
Sep 9th, 2011 at 12:00PM: After six years of living part-time in Madrid, my family and I are moving to Santander, a port in northern Spain. Leaving a European capital of three million people for a regional city of less than 200,000 is going to be a big change.
Santander is in Cantabria, part of the rainy northern part of the country commonly called Green Spain. Stay turned for articles about this often overlooked region ...Video of the Day - Paragliding over Spain
Aug 30th, 2011 at 5:00PM:
Want to film a catchy music video without a massive budget? Consider grabbing some of your most adventurous friends, getting them to do some outrageous outdoor activity, and then hire a talented editor to overlay some snazzy effects & motion graphics.
Madrid-based editor Jorgiatos recently posted this music video that was shot in and around Castejón De Sos, a town near the ...
Brits behaving badly abroad
Aug 4th, 2011 at 8:30AM:
Today the Foreign Office released British Behaviour Abroad 2011, with detailed figures on British nationals in trouble overseas (read: Brits behaving badly abroad). The period surveyed: April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011.
There are lots of interesting tidbits in the survey. British nationals request consular assistance in greatest numbers in Spain and the United States, though since both ...Top 5 MTV music videos that inspire travel
Aug 1st, 2011 at 12:01PM: If you're as old as or younger than MTV, which turns 30 today, then you probably can't recall when MTV (short for "Music Television") played music videos and nothing but. MTV launched on August 1, 1981, with a handful of videos filmed mostly on stages or sets tricked out with some lighting and a few props. As MTV grew in popularity, more and more musicians went on location to shoot miniature films ...
Knocked up abroad: the baby-friendly difference
Jul 29th, 2011 at 11:30AM:
Me in Istanbul on Mother's Day, 7 months pregnant, with Dalin baby product mascot
Just over two weeks ago, I made the leap from pregnant American in Istanbul to expat with child. My decision to have my first baby in a foreign country has been met with reactions from friends and strangers ranging from surprise and curiosity to outright disapproval. The transition to new parenthood is a ...Tossa de Mar: Spain's charming little coastal secret
Jul 29th, 2011 at 10:00AM: The streets are curiously empty for this time of night. After all, this is Spain, land of the 10:30pm appetizer and bordering-on-midnight entree. Though only 9:45, I realize I'm the lone pedestrian wandering these ancient streets. With a cobbled staircase beneath me and imposing stone walls rising on each side, the swath of stars overhead reminds me that I'm not in Roses, or Lloret de Mar. Though ...Treasures of Teotihuacan go on display
Jul 28th, 2011 at 10:30AM:
Teotihuacan is the New World's most impressive city. Founded in the second century BC, it was a center of civilization for 800 years. Its Pyramid of the Sun has a greater volume than even the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt. Teotihuacan is located in modern Mexico just outside Mexico City. In a country filled with amazing ancient ruins, it's one of the best.
An exhibit at Caixa Forum, one of ...Top ten tapas and free eats in Madrid
Jul 24th, 2011 at 2:00PM: In Spain, the "tapa" is the traditional free snack that often accompanies a drink in a bar. There is something unusually delicious about free food, especially when presented alongside a glass of red wine or an ice-cold "caña" (small glass of beer). "Tapas" are sensible – no drinking on an empty stomach. They also serve to whet the taste buds before a meal. Some even call tapas an ...Drugs and travel don't mix (in most places)
Jul 24th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Flying out of Madrid's Barajas airport last week I spotted this curious poster. Sorry for the crappy photo, but there was a light right in front of it. The poster asks, "Do you seriously believe that being around drugs overseas would be fun?"
The message is one to think about. Most recreational drugs are illegal in most places, and going to jail isn't fun anywhere, yet I have to wonder about ...Photo of the day - Plaza de Toros
Jul 22nd, 2011 at 5:00PM:
Millions of Americans are suffering through an almost intolerable heat wave. So why not add fuel to the fire this Friday with an image that speaks to a dry and unyielding summer heat?
In addition to suggesting extreme warmth, this image of the Plaza de Toros (properly the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla) in Seville, Spain by Flickr user magnusvk is ...Madrid day trip: Romanesque churches and a Gothic cathedral in Segovia
Jul 20th, 2011 at 9:00AM: Segovia is an easy day trip from Madrid and has plenty of medieval and Renaissance buildings to capture the imagination. Yesterday I talked about the Alcázar, the city's castle, and today I'm looking at Segovia's many churches.
Most of the churches are Romanesque in style, like Iglesia de la Veracruz, which was actually built outside the city walls in 1208. The signage says this church ...Madrid day trip: the Alcázar castle in Segovia
Jul 19th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
As I mentioned yesterday, Segovia makes a great day trip from Madrid. One of the highlights of any visit is the Alcázar, or castle. Rising from the highest point on the promontory on which Segovia is built, it dominates the town and looks impossible to attack. The architects cut away part of the bedrock to make a dry moat cutting off the castle from the rest of the town, so to get in you ...Madrid day trip: Segovia
Jul 18th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Madrid offers a wide range of interesting day trips, from a Renaissance castle and Spanish Civil War bunker to challenging hikes. My personal favorite is the ancient town of Segovia just on the other side of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains. With a beautiful cathedral and castle, one of the best preserved Roman aqueducts anywhere, winding medieval streets, and delicious cuisine, it's a great ...Couchsurfing: more than just a free place to stay
Jul 9th, 2011 at 2:00PM: Here at Gadling we've talked a lot about Couchsurfing, a very cool organization where members host each other. It's an amazing example of how the world can work if you have a bit of kindness and trust. Millions of people have slept for free on millions of couches and made millions of friends in new places. I've been a member for a year and I've gotten a lot out of it, yet I've never once surfed a ...Green Spain: Exploring Iberia's Celtic north
Jul 6th, 2011 at 10:30AM:
When people think of Spain, they tend to think of a sun-soaked, dry land with a hot climate and beautiful beaches. For the most part that's true, but Spain's northern region is very different and equally worth a visit.
Spain's four northern provinces are often called Green Spain. From west to east, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country are a verdant strip between the North ...Paris: where Picasso got his inspiration
Jul 2nd, 2011 at 10:00AM: Sometimes stereotypes live up to expectations. Paris has long been known as a city of artists, where aspiring painters/poets/writers go to light the spark of creativity that will make them famous. Of course most of them fail, but some succeed, and that feeds the legend. Pablo Picasso was one of the success stories.
Picasso went to Paris in 1900, when he he was 19, unknown, and striving to find ...Five overlooked art museums in Madrid
Jun 30th, 2011 at 9:30AM: Madrid is famous for its art. The Spanish capital boasts a "Golden Triangle" of world-class museums: the Prado, the Reina Sofia, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. While these are all worth a visit, Madrid has dozens of other art museums that are generally overlooked by the casual visitor. Here are five local favorites.
Museo Sorolla
The house of one of Spain's most famous painters from the turn of ...Watching bullfights with my five-year-old
Jun 9th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
One of the facts an immigrant has to accept is that your children aren't going to grow up in the same culture you did.
When I want to give my five-year-old son a treat, I take him to dinner at El Brillante here in Madrid. You can't get more traditional than El Brillante--an old-school cafeteria/bar that hasn't had a remodel since forever, with hefty waiters who scream your order back to the ...
