19 SPANISH PLACES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE

In one of my last birthdays I received a very nice present from my sister: a book titled "1000  places to see before you die" written by Patricia Schultz. From time to time I read a different chapter in order to dream a little about places to visit in the future and sometimes to remember about places I have already been to, of course, most of the places named in the book I haven’t still been to! But well, I hope before I die that list can be reduced just a little bit, luckily!

Last time I reread it I felt very curious to know how many Spanish places there were in it and I counted 19. If you, dear reader, feel curious as well…….these are the places:

- Arcos de la Frontera

- Cordoba Mosque

- The Alhambra (the most visited monument in Spain) and the Parador of San Francisco in Granada

- Sevilla

- The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

- San Sebastián

- Altamira Caves and Santillana del Mar

- Avila

- León Cathedral

 - Salamanca's Main Square

- El mesón de Candido (Candido's Inn) in Segovia

- Toledo Cathedral

- Cataluña National Museum of Art

- The Holy Family in Barcelona

- Picasso Museum in Barcelona

- Cadaques and Figueres villages in Gerona

- The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago de Compostela and the Cathedral

- Madrid

- Deia's Residence (Mallorca)

Of course there are many other places I would have suggested Patricia Schlutz to add in this list, but a reference to new visitors to this country, I think is OK. By the way, I have to confess that I haven’t been to four of these places……yet! Have you ever been to any of them? Would you make any suggestions to add to the list? Perhaps any charming place which has never been named in any famous travel list so far?

Source:

"1000 places to see before you die"

by Patricia Schultz

MORE SUGGESTIONS!

October 16th, 2011

I add today several suggestions kindly made by "An expat in Spain":

1) Cova d'en Xoroi in Menorca
2) Binibequer in Menorca (I just got back from there, so it's fresh in the mind)
3) Far de la Mola in Formentera
4) Albarracín (Teruel)
5) Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (y the River Turia park), Valencia
6) L'alt Penedés wine region during la vendimia

Thanks for them!!


October 16th, 2011

A suggestion made and shared by Steviedeluxe and Jo-Ann in the British Expats Forum:

1) Cuenca

Thanks to both!


October 24th, 2011

Another suggestion made by Ashleigh:

1) Canary Islands

Thanks Ashleigh!

THE DUCHESS OF ALBA GOT MARRIED IN THE END!

As couldn't be otherwise, Cayetana de Alba has taken the world by storm once again and at 13.00 pm today, has married the civil servant Alfonso Díez, in the little chapel of Dueñas Palace of Seville, which is the third wedding of the Duchess.

The age difference, she is 85 and he 60, also aroused the misgivings about the Duchess's suitor in her closest friends circle who did not believe the purity of his love, nevertheless this has not been an obstacle to a woman who always has done her will. In order to this wedding could take place, last July she donated all her assets (valued at one thousand million euros) to her six children, but until the day she dies she will continue to manage that.

"I'm Catholic and that is why I am going to marry," she said two days ago in an interview. And it happens that despite her free spirit she has always been well adjusted to the weight of tradition and so, a few days ago, she travelled to Madrid to visit King Juan Carlos to ask for his approval (a process from time immemorial, that all the nobles should do and rarely do nowadays).

For her wedding Cayetana was wearing a nice pale pink dress designed by designers Victorio and Lucchino from Sevilla and Pilar Burgos shoes. The groom, who wore black morning coat and vest with gray, was accompanied by the godmother, Carmen Tello, wife of the bullfighter Curro Romero, who was very elegant in a red dress and cream-colored mantilla.

The dress was made in romantic silk chiffon pink and lace in the same tone, with a hint of color at the waist that is fitted with a velvet ribbon lime-green silk and chiffon gown with jasmines on the sleeves. The shoes were manoletinas made in pink lace.

The wedding menu consisted of cold appetizers with mint gazpacho, Spanish omelette and salad with eels and caviar. After, rice style Provencal which was served along with white shrimps from Huelva and lobster garnished with American sauce, then "tournedos" of beef with bearnaise sauce and garnished with Padrón peppers, onions and potatoes style French Ducal. And the menu was completed with bird with lemon juice with grilled mixed vegetables and salad mimosa, the desserts consisted of coconut cakes, almond pie with sauce of condensed milk and chocolate bomb with hot sauce nougat.

Lunch was served by employees of the palace, which before had eaten the same menu as the guests.

Around 30 people have attended the simple religious ceremony, including children, grandchildren and their children's previous partners (all of them are divorced). There has been the incident that her only daughter, Eugenia, finally could not attend the wedding because of a sudden chickenpox  yesterday. And another son, Jacobo, has not come because of a trip abroad (there is the fact that in recent weeks the Duchess has starred a controversy with him and his wife, due to the division of the inheritance).

The Duchess’s two previous marriages took place in October 1947 in the cathedral of Seville with Luis Martinez de Irujo and Artacoz, with whom she had her six children. And after her husband died in 1972, she remarried in March 1978 in Madrid with former Jesuit priest Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zárate, who died in 2001.

Alfonso Diez in a recent interview said that he has always had three erotic myths: Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor and Cayetana de Alba. The Duchess met him 30 years ago when one day he went with his brother to visit the second husband of the Duchess at the Palacio de Liria (a great lover of antiques and a good friend of his brother). That day the Duchess appeared to him to greet majestic, free spirit and friendly, though distant. Alfonso Diez was very impressed by this woman.

Time passed by and they met again in a Charity Market, until three years ago, when they both met again in a cinema (both are big fans of cinema, especially him) and then decided to take a coffee to remember old times, from that moment they began a story of friendship and love that finally has culminated in this wedding today.

Congratulations and every happiness for the new marriage!

SANTIAGO RUSIÑOL, THE SOUL OF THE MODERNIST CATALAN MOVEMENT

Santiago Rusiñol was a painter, writer and ideologist of the Catalan modernist movement, and a popular figure in the bohemian life, life of the Modernist Sitges Movement.

He was born in Barcelona (1861 - 1931) but soon he lost his father, after his studies he worked in the family business of textiles, but left too early, breaking the industrial tradition of the family and against the will of his grandfather, who always opposed to devote himself to painting, but he drew in secret: copying pictures in books and drew sketches of the bearded sailors from the port of Barcelona.

Although it was initially self-taught in art, formed in the center of Barcelona's watercolor was one of its founders. After a trip to Paris, his painting became strongly influenced by the impressionists and later traveled to Andalusia, where he began to paint gardens. Once back at Barcelona he became one of the greatest entertainers of the modernist movement.

At that time he held in the company of the painter Ramon Casas a car trip through Catalonia: travelers drew sketches of types and landscapes, painted, talked with everyone and roads and inns displayed their human sympathy and his extraordinary sense of humor.

In 1887 he went to Paris and settled in Montmartre with other Catalan artists. After visiting Italy, especially Florence, where he spent four months. Occasionally made trips to Barcelona and other cities of the Spain, in Granada he painted his first garden, the starting point of his choice in the subject painting. Three times exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Independants.

He died in Aranjuez Royal village, while he was painting its Palace gardens.