You can almost imagine Brother Luis de Leon preaching to the students of Salamanca 500 years ago.  The square is empty at this moment because it is Sunday morning and the students are doing – well, whatever students do so early on a weekend.  Brother Luis’s sermons against the evils of the inquisition were interrupted by five years of imprisonment and torture, but he survived it.  His first words upon returning to the lecturn were, “As I was saying…”
Salamanca is a student town, a university town, and so it feels …

Flamenco sure is intense. Passionate. Powerful. Explosive.   All these things sourced and steeped in the Gypsy tradition.  Singers who sound like Muezzim.  Dancers strutting, twirling, stomping.  Clapping, tapping, pounding.  And the guitar.  Fingers flying.  Loved it.  In Sevilla we had choices: the Flamenco bars, the formal shows, and the one we chose, which was at the Memories of Andalusia Cultural Center.  What a wonderful show.  Only an hour, it was so strong that you really couldn’t take much more.  First a guitarist and a singer. Then another singer and a …

I think this headline stands almost by itself and sums up my daughter’s thoughts on many of things to see here in Spain, from a very Southern California standpoint.  I also thought her English teacher would be horrified at the sentence construction.  We tried to diagram it, but it wasn’t possible.  This photo, taken from our hotel bedroom window, is of Salamanca’s “New Cathedral,” which was built between 1513 and 1733.  The “Old Cathedral,” about 400 years older, is right next door.
Salamanca is a great town, full of charm, beautiful …

We’ve stayed in a mix of lodgings: apartments, chain hotels, and small hotels.  In Sevilla, we’re at the Vincci La Rabida, a luxury chain.  Vincci Hotels are certainly nice, this one was over-refrigerated, and impersonal.  The people were helpful, mildly charming, but definitely not a resource.  They pushed their JV partners, but not necessarily what was in our interests.
And then, there’s the ever-present issue of the wireless. We are traveling with four computers. I’ve got a small bit of work to do, plus my blogging and for kids on the …

Visited Spain’s unique-in-all-the-world Andalusian horse show at the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre; Jerez’s other cultural attraction. (The main one is the “bodegas” where they make and sell Sherry.)
Now, I’ve never been to a horse show of any kind before, but my wife thinks these are the most beautiful horses in the world, and here they are doing, well – horse ballet.
To use the word “trained” would be a gross understatement and these caballos and their caballeros could give us all a lesson in focus.  There are a finite …

Our host in Jerez was David, the owner of La Fonda de Barranco.  10 charming rooms in an ancient house in the most ancient part of Jerez, a town dating back more than 1,000 years.  David’s house is built on layers of house upon house upon house; renovated in the late 1800′s, it’s actually pretty new.  Our two rooms were quite comfortable; firm beds, showers that don’t flood, and air-conditioning-forte to beat back the intense heat.  But more than that, David knows the town and gives you eating and entertainment …

My wife took this picture as we were driving a beautiful back-country route from Granada to Jerez getting the full Andalusia experience.  It’s pretty amazing that so much grows here even though the land is so hot and so dry.  Later she named it “the light at the end of the tunnel. ”
Not sure I liked the name if it is supposed to be a metaphor for our trip, but I really like the picture.  Maybe it fits.  When we travel it generally takes a day or so to get …

Just came home from Tio Parrilla, a small bar in Jerez where they do flamenco almost every night. Flamenco comes from Andalusia, and Jerez de la Frontera is its very birthplace. I’ve only before seen it on TV and the experience is fantastic. I still don’t know much, if anything else about it, but we loved it. One guitarist, one man who sang and stomped, one woman who mostly sang, and danced, another man who danced and acted as master of ceremonies, and made sure we knew when …

Tonight we visited the Alhambra in Granada, one of Andalusia’s two most famous “monuments.”  Built sometime from 1350 to 1390, towards the end of Muslim rule in Spain, Alhambra means “red fortress.” The Alhambra is a place of incredible serenity and celebrates context over content.  It is a palace and fortress composed of dozens of rooms, each one decorated with texture, tracery and stone carvings, and not a single discernible image. I saw it years ago, as do most tourists, in the heat of the day.  This time, we visited …

Took an abbreviated tour of Museo del Prado. Among its astounding collection of paintings is this one by Velazquez reputed by our guide book, and many others, to be the world’s greatest painting. Called Las Meninas, it shows Velazquez himself painting the Royal Couple, while the Royal Daughter and her servants, some clerics and a dog, look on. I don’t really think it is the world’s greatest painting, or even if that appellation can be given to any single work of art, but it is neat. The …