Paella Westerns is what they should have been called. Forget all that nonsense about Spaghetti Westerns. They were filmed in Spain so from this day on you should refer to them as Paella Westerns! The incorrect nomenclature was actually a…
Alicante Hogueras 2018
Alicante is in full-on festival mode at the moment. As you walk around the city you’ll notice that there are numerous colourful statues blocking many squares and junctions. Huge marquees have been erected so that the groups who built these…
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San Isidro Murals 2018
I say this every year, but the new murals painted on the walls of houses in the barrio of San Isidro, Orihuela, never fail to impress. Every year new tributes to the town’s famous poet, Miguel Hernández, are created giving…
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Casa Museo Miguel Hernández
Orihuela was the birthplace of one of Spain’s finest poets, Miguel Hernández. He may well have died from TB in a post-civil-war prison cell, but his memory is very much kept alive in his home town. His childhood house still…
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Albi – A beautiful book by Hilary Shepherd
I’ve just finished reading Albi and I feel all emotional! Albi tells the story of a small village in the north of Spain during the civil war. It is seen through the eyes of Albi, a little boy growing up…
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Caballos del Vino – Wine horses in Caravaca
Set in a stunning location half an hour’s drive from the city of Murcia, Caravaca de la Cruz is a picturesque town with meandering cobbled streets which enjoys a pretty peaceful time for most of the year. That all changes…
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Back to the 80s in Elche
The 1980s in Spain must have been a bit like the late 1970s in the UK, judging by this excellent exhibition at the Centro Municipal de Exposiciones de Elche. It’s not in the Contemporary Art Museum (MACE) no matter what the…
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El Escorial
El Escorial, or rather the monastery and royal palace of the same name, is located in the Sierra de Guadarrama about 50km to the Northwest of Madrid. It is a magical place to wander around, and should be on everyone’s Madrid…
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Sagunto Castle
Anyone driving between Valencia and Barcelona has probably glanced up from the AP7 and seen the castle occupying the long hilltop of Sagunto. If that’s you, make sure you leave a few hours to stop off next time you pass…
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Puerto Sagunto’s Industrial Heritage
The plan had never been to explore Puerto Sagunto (Port de Sagunt in Valenciano) as we hadn’t anticipated finding much to get excited about. How wrong we were. Before checking in at the NH hotel (cheap, comfortable, blissfully quiet and…
