Spain Travel News 02/18/2011

I’ve been on best behaviour all day, wishing all and sundry a Feliz dia de San Valentin. I’m single and happy, you’ll find no bitterness or malevolence here…

But I do think this video is bloody marvellous! You don’t need to understand Turkish to get the gist.

This winter in Madrid is proving to be particularly enjoyable; not too cold this time round, plenty of home-cooking and good wine, browsing art galleries, day trips (Aranjuez in the photo) and staying in and watching Caprica

In January 2008 a friend of mine, Mike Monroy, started a series of Friday evening meetings in which anyone from anywhere with a will to improve their conversational English could come and meet with native speakers and do just that. By the end of the month he had roped me into helping him (he’s very good at that!), and later the team expanded to include a number of wonderful people. A year later we have just celebrated our first birthday.

As promised here now the video of La Cridà 2009:

The Junta de Andalucía has ruled out any political resignations over the new scandal which is being referred to as EREgate. It’s an alleged fraud, investigations into which have found irregularities in 14 companies of the 39 where people have been paid early retirement payments when in fact they have never worked for the company concerned.

Every artist has to start somewhere. Perhaps as a design experiment, Antoni Gaudi, stirred in all his ingredients for the Casa Vicens house, many of which appear in moderation in his later works. On the façade of the famous architect’s first completed building (1888), he combined rough stone, iron, dark red bricks,  flowered ceramic tiles, culminating into a dizzying, corbelling cake.

THE European Commission is being called in to inspect pollution levels in the Bay of Gibraltar.
The demand comes after the CEPSA refinery in San Roque doubled its output in a year. Gibraltar MEP Ashley Fox asked that the EC looks at pollution levels after “years of concern”.
“There have been repeated concerns about the pollution. If CEPSA have simply boosted output without tackling this problem then even more pollution is entering the bay,” he said.

There’s a huge difference between visiting a place and living there. On vacation, you’re in well, vacation mode; everyday is new and exciting, full of exotic sights and interesting people. However, when you stay long enough, the summer fun fades away, the tourists go back home and you’re experiencing life as a local.

This riotous, raucous, annual ten-day celebration of music and humour is what Cadiz looks forward to all year. It's the biggest carnival on mainland Spain (top spot nationally is taken by Gran Canaria's). Dating back to the 16th century, it was the only carnival which Franco couldn't ban.

You can see processions, concerts, comedians, children's shows (puppet theatre) and fireworks, as well as plenty of spontaneous singing in the street. Dance, drink, laugh, make merry and enjoy Spain's biggest party with the famously witty Gaditanos. Saturdays are when people arrive from all over in groups of fancy dress, and the streets are thronged with thousands of ribald revellers all night long – not for the faint-hearted.

There are so many activities for kids in the Costa Blanca, both inland and on the coast. Here we have divided your recommendations into the four sections of Benidorm, Torrevieja, Alicante & Javea

Travel to Barcelona and you’ll see that Estrella Damm is the most popular beer in Barcelona and is regarded as the “drink of Barcelona”. The history of Estrella Damm can be traced back to 1876. Until now, Estrella Damm is the only beer brand that is still produced in Barcelona.

The prestigious chef Santi Santamaria has died of a heart attack in Singapore. He was the first Catalan chef to achieve three Michelin stars and won the National Prize of Gastronomy in 2009, he was  totally against the use of chemicals in the kitchen.

Santamaria was born in 1957 in Sant Celoni (Barcelona), where he opened the restaurant "El Raco de Can Fabes" in 1981, together with his wife. At the time of his death he was presenting his new restaurant, Santi Restaurant, to the international press, when he suddenly collapsed. He had developed its business in the East recently.