Worldcrunch
For a fistful of dollars (actually, pesetas), I was able to visit Tabernas and its movie sets that were used in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns in the 1960s. Cue some chords from Ennio Morricone …
The Palmeral of Elche in southeastern Spain is the biggest palm grove of its kind in Europe. Its shades of green made it the perfect place for me to experiment with color film for the first time.
MADRID — The political gridlock in Spain is getting just a bit silly: two general elections and endless soap-operatic negotiations since December 2015 have yet to produce a stable government among the bickering parties. No doubt, as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy searches in vain for a ruling majority, there are real-life ramifications across the country. […]
After seven years of research, a determined academic says he has definitive proof that Capa’s legendary Spanish Civil War photograph ‘Falling Soldierâ’ was a fake.
Some 800,000 Catalans used Sunday’s annual La Diada, national day in Catalonia, to renew demands for independence from Spain. “Another spectacular Diada,” read Monday morning’s front-page headline of the Barcelona-based La Vanguardia daily. The newspaper noted the separatists’ determination to achieve independence, with Catalonia’s regional president Carles Puigdemont proposing that the government hold a secession […]
We drove to Spain several times in the 1960s, back when General Francisco Franco was still leading the country. This is a Spanish peseta coin representing El Caudillo (“the Chief”) that I kept from our trip all the way down to Santiago de Compostela.
Spain’s political crisis has deepened, after the country’s acting prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, lost a parliamentary bid for a second term in office. “84 times no,” daily newspaper La Razón wrote on its front page, referring to the socialists who refused to back Rajoy’s attempt to stay in power. The leader of the opposition, Pedro […]
Brazil struggled to complete the sporting venues needed for the Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro. But what about the brand new stadiums that were built especially for the FIFA World Cup, just two years ago? Although they cost billions, most of these stadiums now have a very low occupancy rate: The Arena Pantanal only […]
This is a reproduction of an Aztec calendar near Huelva in southern Spain. The original lies in a museum in Mexico City. Based on meticulous astronomical observations, the Aztecs used this sunstone to determine whether the end of the world was near. They found out it would happen on Dec. 21, 2012 — and weren’t […]
Boasting astounding collections of artists, both Spanish (Velázquez, Goya) and international, (Rubens, Rembrandt …) the Museo del Prado in Madrid is one of the most visited museums in the world. When I went there more than 50 years ago, there was no queue in sight.
La Voz de Galicia, June 27th The Monday edition of Spanish daily La Voz de Galicia features a victorious Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy kissing his wife, Elvira Fernandes, after winning the most seats in Spain“s parliamentary elections. Sunday’s vote followed an inconclusive election in December, when the parties failed to agree on a coalition. […]
The penitent on the right-hand side of this picture was having a hard time breathing under his capirote, during Easter processions in southern Spain.
In our own modest way, we contributed to Spain’s economic boom in the 1960s, back when the country, then led by Gen. Francisco Franco, opened up to tourism. This is Toledo’s wonderful Alcázar, with the Tagus River in the foreground.
MARCA, June 1, 2016 “Didier Deschamps has bowed to the pressure of a racist part of France,” French soccer player Karim Benzema told Spanish sports daily MARCA, less than 10 days before the beginning of the European championship in France. Benzema’s remarks echo comments made a few days ago by French soccer legend Eric Cantona, […]
If you’re eating paella in a restaurant in Valencia, there’s a good chance you’re eating the real deal: The authentic paella valenciana was born there.
GIBRALTAR — There is a troubling side story jutting into the Brexit debate from this tiny British territory at the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula. Madrid-based daily El Mundo reports that in Gibraltar — affectionately known as “the Rock” — locals and the government alike are opposed to “Brexit”, a British exit from the […]
VALENCIA — Supporters of traditional bullfighting are seeing red in Spain, with tens of thousands taking to the streets this week in Valencia to protest cuts to government subsidies for the controversial sport. Attendees chanted “liberty” as they gathered in front of the local city hall, with the march culminating at the nearby Plaza de […]
The Alhambra palace, in southern Spain’s Andalusia region, is a jewel of Islamic architecture, a testament to Moorish culture in the country. There would have been even more beauty to admire had my fellow Frenchmen from Napoleon’s armies not destroyed several towers 150 years before we arrived.
Spanish newspapers are digging into a spiraling investigation of alleged money laundering in Spain by a state-run Chinese bank that is world’s largest financial institutional. “The Chinese Bank Is A Tool For Extracting Millions From Spain,” reads Thursday’s front page of Spanish daily ABC. More than 100 Spanish police officers raided the Industrial and Commercial […]
Drinking from a traditional Catalan porró wine pitcher is rather challenging: Imagine drinking wine from a watering can, and your lips are never supposed to touch the pitcher … ¡Salud!
El País, Jan. 26, 2016 Spain is waving a red flag at famous bullfighter Francisco Rivera Ordóñez after he posted a picture of himself taunting a bloody calf while holding his five-month-old daughter. Ordóñez posted the photograph, featured Tuesday on the front page of Spain’s leading daily El País, on his official Instagram account a […]
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Five centuries after Spanish conquistadors took over Mexico, Mexican billionaires are busy buying up chunks of Spain. After four years of recession, it was the perfect match between cash-rich customers and a needy economy.
MARCA, Jan. 5, 2015 “The soluZZion,” reads the front page of Madrid-based sports daily MARCA Tuesday, a day after Real Madrid announced that former French soccer star Zinedine Zidane would replace the unpopular Rafael Benítez as team coach. Zidane, 43, is new to the coaching game. A 1998 World Cup winner with France and a […]
El Mundo, Dec. 21, 2015 “Spain knocks down two-party system and leaves the government high and dry,” reads the front page of conservative newspaper El Mundo, after Sunday’s general election saw the expected rise of newcomers Podemos on the left, and Ciudadanos on the right. It’s a “messy” situation for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, one […]
ABC, Dec.17, 2015 MADRID — “We are moderate people, quiet, formal and serious.” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s calm words and bruised face were splashed on the front page of Madrid daily ABC on Thursday after the center-right leader was punched in the face by a 17 year-old during a campaign stop. Rajoy, who is […]
The lunar landscapes of the Tabernas Desert, near Almeria in southern Spain, were used as filming locations for some of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns in the 1960s. When my wife and I went there in the 1980s it was pretty much abandoned, but it has since become a major tourist attraction.
EU, BALKANS NEGOTIATE REFUGEE PLAN Leaders agreed yesterday at a summit of eight EU countries along with Serbia, Macedonia and Albania to create 100,000 places for migrants in the Balkans and Greece as part of German-led efforts to find “a more reasonable way of dealing with the problem,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said. 500,000 Indonesia’s disaster […]
ROME — Bordeaux or Borolo? Burgundy or Chianti? Yes, please! Though some have distinct preferences, most wine lovers around the world wish nothing but success to French and Italian winemakers alike. Still, the two European nations have something of an ongoing rivalry, both about the quality and quantity of the wines they put on the […]
La Vanguardia, Sept. 28, 2015 “The ‘yes’ prevails,” the Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia titled Monday, as pro-independence movements won the absolute majority in regional elections in Catalonia. The landmark victory is seen by separatists as a de facto independence referendum in favor of the northern region breaking away from Spain. The “Junts pel Sí” (“Together […]