Malaga means grapes, and has for a long time. While the ancient Greeks were spreading philosophy and art throughout the Levant, they thankfully left behind the art of viniculture on the Costa del Sol. The pious Muslim traveler Ibn Battutah, who passed through in 1350, may have frowned on it, but even centuries of Muslim…
Damascus, Istanbul and…Cáceres. Wind up the narrow lanes of Europe’s third biggest intact medieval city and emerge from the labyrinth near the Plaza de las Veletas. Scan for the palace with the strange ceramic gargoyles and enter the museum. Breeze past Roman statues, Visigothic tablets, and prehistoric pig carvings that prove Spaniards have always had…
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…
Soft and sweaty in the deliciously warm early May sunshine…Gorgeous, round, curvy and even just a wee bit pungent. The Feria del Queso, a culinary beauty pageant takes place in the very town that Pizarro left off from on his way to conquer Peru. These creamy contestants sport names like Tortas del Casar and la…
If you’re walking the ancient Via de la Plata on your way to Santiago, by now your blisters have hardened into calluses and you scoff at a mere 15-mile walk. You’ve sung in the Romans’ amphitheater, crossed their bridges, seen that cork actually does come from trees, and figured out that olives can’t be eaten straight…
Writing in the local paper. Local issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. Long before San (saint) Obama’s time and the recent thaws, I recall sitting at a café in one of the posher neighbourhoods of northern Tehran. Heavy snow still sat…
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…
And just where do you think you’re going?
Mention Marbella and what automatically comes to mind are gaudy images of Saudi princes, building-sized yachts, Ferraris, and the sweet smell of… corruption. This is the poster child of the infamous concrete Spanish coast where, according to who you believe, more than 30,000 buildings lack the proper permits. Golf courses grow where it rarely rains,…
Just when you thought you were getting the hang of the way Spaniards lisp their Cs, they go and change the language on you. More discreet than their more famous Catalan, Basque, and Galician cousins, speakers of Mañego in this hidden green valley have been ‘falaing’ (falar=hablar=to speak) their curious mix of Spanish, Latin, Gallego,…