Alhama’s name says it all…that is of course if you speak Arabic. Just a mile or two upriver from this quiet town astride a vertigo-inspiring canyon, a hot spring has been soothing aches and pains for two millennia. The town’s name comes from the mineral-rich water bubbling out of the ground at a toasty 116.6…
Imagine the Caliph’s entire army hot on your tail and you with around a hundred guys on your side. Where would you want to hole up? The answer is here. High atop a mountain smack in the middle of one of Spain’s most productive wine regions lies the ruins of a castle where, back in…
In Bosra at a crossroads in the desert just an hour and half south of Damascus, the Roman world intersects the Arabic in an ancient theater turned fortress. You can imagine watching a classical play while a battle rages beyond the massive walls that were built around the free-standing amphitheater. Every summer international concerts are…
The Sierra Morena wrinkles behind off into Andalusia while the patchwork plains of Badajoz merge with the sky in front. Depending on your perspective, this is either the beginning or end of Extremadura. The Romans would arrive at this crossroads (complete with amphitheater entertainment, good luck finding it open) while trying to catch a ride to…
More than 20 centuries ago, Aristotle wrote that ethics and therefore happiness lie somewhere in the middle of extremes…where that somewhere exactly is has been debated since his Nicomachean Ethics came out, but few people would dispute that, to a certain extent, some truth lies in his premise. The Iberian peninsula and Spain in particular…
In Bosra—a crossroads in the desert just an hour and half south of Damascus—the Roman world intersects the Arabic in an ancient theater turned fortress. You can imagine watching a classical play while a battle rages beyond the massive walls that were built around the free-standing amphitheater. Every summer international concerts are held in less…