WHO SAID THAT? WHO DID THAT?

Oven-cooked lamb is a Christmas special, but I bet you haven't tried it cooked this way....Without a shadow of doubt, the festival of roast lamb (Cordero a la Estaca) is one on the finest “al fresco” eating experiences there is. Up high on a mountain top meadow, fires are lit early in the morning and constantly topped up with firewood from Ash trees creating a slow burning pit of embers ideal for cooking whole splayed lamb for six hours or more.

The result is a succulent “cooked to perfection” meat with a delicious smokey flavor from the Ash wood and a wonderful added taste from the homemade chimichurri (a mix of herbs, garlic, vinegar, white wine and olive oil) which is squirted into the meat just before the end of the cooking process. This process of slow-roasting lamb has attracted the attention of Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin who visited Asturias to see how it was done… who knows, maybe in future novels we will see the house of Stark celebrating with a “Cordero a la Estaca”.

Preparing and roasting lamb like this can be found throughout the region of Asturias during the summer with many towns hosting their own festival and is open to anyone wishing to try it. There are also many restaurants that offer “Cordero a la Estaca” throughout the year but keep in mind that you will probably you will have to pre-order the dish as it involves a lot of preparation.

One of the largest Lamb roasting festivals in Asturias is held in “Prau Llagüezos” (Llagüezos meadow) which is situated on the border between the council of Quirós and Lena 1330m above sea level. It is also one of the best situated thanks to its wonderful views and megalithic tombs and Dolmens which are located at the entrance of the meadow, called Alto de la Cobertoria. It has been held at this priviliged location annually since  1965.

Just in case you can't find the place, here are the coordinates!

Latitude     43° 9’11.57″N Longitude  5°54’23.45″W

Check out the video..

https://youtu.be/V2S74z-4icI

Driving along the road ‘N-340’ southbound, just entering the province of Tarragona you’ll find the town of L'Arboç (Baix Penedès), which boasts a scaled replica (1:2) of the famous Giralda in Seville, which was begun in 1184 by the then Muslim rulers of Spain, and was designed by mathematician and astronomer Jabir ibn Aflah.

The charming legend around the origin of the construction of this replica of Seville’s ever-famous minaret-bell tower is far more popular than the true story, even amongst many of the local town’s inhabitants.

The false story about the origin of the Giralda of L’Arboç  itells the story of a married couple who had emigrated from Seville  and after several years of living there,  greatly missed their Giralda, the emblem of their hometown. Sighing day and night and longed ever so much to see it again. The years passed and thanks to a lot of hard work they had amassed a great fortune, but their businesses were so important that it was impossible to return to their homeland. So they thought that if they could not go to live next to their treasured monument, they would have to bring it to them, and they commissioned an exact scaled replica so they could enjoy it every day for the rest of their lives.

But obviously this story, full of romance and nostalgia, is not exactly true but not far from it. The true story behind why there is a replica of the Giralda of Seville in the province of Tarragona, is as follows:

This striking monument which is more than a century old, was a tribute that Joan Roquer i Marí and Candelaria Negravernis wanted to pay for their trip to Andalusia on their first wedding anniversary. Extravagant, yes, but the young couple had received in 1886 a considerable fortune from the girl’s Indian uncle who had made his fortune in America. This led them to invest in several cultural projects, including the construction of the Teatro Romea in Barcelona or the Arbosense Theatre, originally the hometown of Joan, although he resided in Barcelona.

Their healthy economic position led  them to travel Andalusia and enjoy the buildings left by the Muslims during the time of Al-Andalus.

After several years of travel and business, in 1898 they decided to buy a plot of land of considerable size and commissioned a replica of those places that had fascinated them during their travels around the south of Spain.

A year later construction began, which lasted until 1907 and opened a year later (the ‘Giralda’ was finished in 1902). But not only the minaret was built there. Inside you can find a replica of the ‘Patio de los Leones’ from the Alhambra in Granada and a lounge covered by a Byzantine dome lined with 30 kg of gold leaf, a copy of the  ‘Hall of Ambassadors’ found in the Real Alcazar of Seville .

Thanks to the restless spirit of their owners, in the years following the Giralda of Arboç became a meeting place for characters linked closely to arts and culture, where events and music festivals were held. Today it is a cenvention center where you can even hold a wedding.

Salamanca, apart from being an old city known for its beautiful buildings and its university, has many hidden gems amongst them the mysterious carvings on two of it most renowned buildings. Students at the University of Salamanca, the oldest in Spain and third oldest in the world, are greeted with the old legend of the frog. It is presented as a challenge and ritual, that the students must spot the frog on the façade of the University, otherwise, they will not be able to graduate as doctors. This superstition still continues to this day and has also become a ritual for tourists in search of good luck, if you spot it without help you'll get more luck than chucking a coin into the Trivi Fountain. To find it you must go to  La Puerta de Salamanca, the University’s façade. It’s a plateresque design intricately carved out of stone. However I am going to give you a clue, I wouldn't want anyone leaving there without their "good luck"- the frog can be found sitting on a  skull. Apparently, after studies by an academic Benjamin Garcia-Hernández, the skull would represent Prince Juan of the Reyes Catolicos who died in 1497 just before turning 20 despite endless efforts by the "doctors" to save his life. The frog represents the physician who treated him, Doctor Parra, thus giving the frog its nickname "Parrita". So to help you out this is what you need to look for...

However, nothing is more confusing to archaeologists and historians then old hoaxes, hoaxes that are now themselves parts of history and have caused hours and hours of wasted research. One of the most famous was the crystal skulls, for example, which were "discovered" in the jungles of Belize in the 1920s and said to be 3,600-year-old Mayan artefacts, but were actually carved in the 1840s, or the Voynich Manuscript, an undecipherable coded and illustrated manuscript from between the 1300s and 1400s, which is likely a series of gibberish meant to either discredit Jesuit Priest Athanasius Kircher, or possibly to gain fame and fortune for the unknown author. 

The thing that makes old hoaxes so frustrating is that they are hard to tease out from their actual history. Something fabricated in the 1600s made to look like it is from the 1400s can be very hard to pick out. However, this brings me to another carving on the facade of Salamanca's cathedral. An astronaut. Salamanca has two cathedrals, the old and the new. The Old Cathedral was built in the 12th century in the Romanesque style and it is dedicated to Saint Mary of the See. It is closed to the public and only opened during very special occasions. The New Cathedral is not exactly “new”. It was built between the 16th and 18th centuries in the Gothic and Baroque styles, commissioned by Ferdinand V of Castile of Spain, the Catholic King. For some time there were numerous debates online about the fact that one of the carvings is decidedly an astronaut. Obviously, there were no astronauts back in the 18th century, so some bright sparks deduced that it was evidence of time travel or ancient space travel via alien intervention. Some minds are easily influenced. The Astronaut is hidden in the carvings of the lateral entrance of the cathedral. Additionally more evidence to support these ridiculous theories was a gargoyle eating an ice-cream which also appears to be laughing at you. Which is rather ironic. But on this occasion neither are hoaxes even though they may appear to be.

 The astronaut and the gargoyle on the Cathedral of Salamanca were both approved as a modern addition to the Cathedral, however, they have all the hallmarks of something which may provide for great confusion some 500 years from now. Built between 1513 and 1733, the Gothic cathedral underwent restoration work in 1992. It is generally a tradition of cathedral builders and restorers to add details or new carvings to the facade as a sort of signature. In this case, after conferring with the cathedral, quarryman Jeronimo Garcia was given the go-ahead to add some more modern images to the facade including an astronaut floating among some vines as well as the dragon eating ice cream. A lynx, a bull, and a crayfish were also added. The astronaut represents 20th-century technology and the gargoyle is said to represent the students of Salamanca.

So there you have it if you decide to visit Salamanca one day don't forget to pass by and pick up your dose of good luck and pay your respects to the ancient time travellers.

Good luck finding them!

Barcelona's oldest treasure is also one of the most hidden. Located in the city’s Gothic quarter, four 2,000-year-old columns from the Roman Empire’s Imperial Period are hidden by the building that houses the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya (Hiking Club of Catalonia).

The temple was originally built to honor Emperor Augustus and once towered over the ancient Roman city of Barcino. It was constructed of sandstone from nearby Montjuïc Hill and at least partially plastered over. The building was built in the first century and measured 12 feet in length. It was surrounded by numerous 30-foot-tall columns, but now only four exist and lay testament to this wonderful building.

Most of the stones from the temple were reused for other buildings. Three of the columns remained intact, forming part of the inside of a new structure. They were found in the 15th century, but no one could figure out their origin until the 19th Century, when it was discovered they were, in fact,  the remains of a Roman temple.

The fourth column was rebuilt from the remains of the other columns and erected in the Plaça del Rei (King’s Square) in 1879, where it stayed until 1956 when it was moved to the spot where it stands now, next to the original three columns, which have never been moved. Though they rest on bits of plinth from the original structure, the ancient building is otherwise gone.

In 1561, King Philip II ordered the court to be moved to the city of Madrid. The young king and his wife, Elizabeth of Valois, chose Madrid over Toledo and Valladolid. The reasons for this preference were, above all, based on practical arguments: Madrid was situated in the centre, half way between both ends of the Iberian Peninsula, it had good water and its climate was pleasant and clean.

The arrival of the court led to a spectacular, if somewhat chaotic, stint of urban growth. In order to control this chaos, the Junta de Policía y Ornato (Police and Order Commission) was established, and was governed by the architect, Francisco de Mora, who collaborated with Juan de Herrera during the construction of the Escorial Monastery. This commission was in charge of aligning façades, correcting sudden slopes and eliminating any projections.

Madrid continued to grow, despite the fact that upon the death of Philip II, Philip III temporarily transferred the court to Valladolid. It was precisely in this period (more specifically in 1590) that the first evidence of the building which today hosts Botín was recorded. Its owner applied for Privilegio de exención de huéspedes (Privilege of Exemption from Lodgers), documental proof of which still exists today. This tax was paid by owners of properties with one or more floors who did not wish to host members of the royal corteges who travelled to Madrid and did not lodge at the palace or in the homes of the nobility.

In 1606 the Court returned to Madrid and in 1620 with the refurbishment of the Plaza Mayor (previously the Plaza del Arrabal) the area became the main commercial enclave in the city with shoemakers, tanners, cutlers, braziers, and blacksmiths. The streets in the area even adopted the name of the trades carried out there: “Ribera de Curtidores”, “Plaza de Herradores” and of course “Calle Cuchilleros”. It was on one of these streets were a French cook by the name of Jean Botín arrived in Madrid together with his wife a native of Asturias with the intention of working for a nobleman from the Court of Habsburg. In 1725, a nephew of Botín’s wife,opened a small inn on the Calle Cuchilleros and carried out a refurbishment of the ground floor of the building, closing the existing arcade. Evidence of this work remains in the form of a slab at the building’s entrance which features the date. The wood oven also dates from that year and even today continues to attract diners with its tempting aromas.

An interesting fact is that until well into the 18th Century it was forbidden to sell meat, wine and other foodstuffs as it was considered an imposition which would jeopardise other trades. As a result, you could only serve what the guest brought to be cooked. From here came the legend that “in Spanish inns you only found what the traveller brought”.

By way of an anecdote referring to this time, the 1987 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records stated that in 1765, the adolescent Goya was employed at Botín as a dishwasher. The same edition also names Botín as the oldest restaurant in the world. Let us return, however, to the history of the restaurant: The Botíns died without any descendents, and the restaurant was subsequently taken over by their nephew, Candido Remis...which explains the name coined by the business ever since: Sobrino de Botín (Botín’s nephew).

During the 19th century, the ground floor underwent more renovations. As part of this process, the polychrome wooden frieze with gold leaf was constructed at the entrance, in addition to the large windows and the confectionery counter where fritters, crème pastries, sugar-topped sweet rolls and cream glory cakes. Back then, Botín was considered as a type of tavern, since the term ‘restaurant’ was solely used for the few and rather exclusive places which attempted to emulate Parisian establishments.

With the arrival of the 20th century, Botín fell into the hands of its current owners, the González family. At that time, only the entrance and first floor were dedicated to the restaurant, with the wine cellar being used for storage and the second and third floors for the family dwelling. When Amparo Martín and her husband Emilio González took hold of the reins, Botín was only a small family business with just seven employees, including the couple and their three children.

The dawn of the Spanish Civil War served to dash the family’s hopes of expanding the small business. Amparo and her children fled to the village of Segorbe in Castellon whilst Emilio stayed behind to look after the house, which turned into a dining room for members of the military.

After the war and the terrible period immediately following it, the couple’s sons, Antonio and José, assumed control of the business and gradually turned it into what it is today. Currently, the restaurant is made up of four floors, all of which have preserved the charming atmosphere of a traditional tavern. Situated at the heart of Madrid of the Habsburgs, Botín boasts a truly unbeatable location. This is exactly why great effort has been taken to maintain the restaurant’s original appearance. A series of renovation processes have been executed to cater for the ever-growing number of customers, without changing the building’s characteristic features.

Botín's speciality is Castilian cuisine, with a special emphasis on roast lamb and suckling pig. Three or four times every week, the restaurant receives suckling pigs straight from Segovia and lambs from Spain's renowned magic triangle: Sepúlveda-Aranda-Riaza.  The lambs and suckling pigs are roasted slowly and carefully in the original holm oak wood-fired oven. 

Today, the business is being run by the third generation of the González family: Antonio, José and Carlos. All of them are dedicated to achieving Botín's age-old commitment to not only spoiling the stomachs of their guests, but also reaching their hearts for at least three hundred more years to come.

Reservations : +34 913664217

Some of the prettiest towns in Aragón can be found in Teruel province by the Matarraña river, such as Valderrobres and Beceite. One of the best walks in the region is the Parrizal (Parrissal) trail a truly wonderful walk along the river. On the last leg of the trail, hikers can cross wooden footbridges, walk through stunning gorges and refresh their weary feet in the ice-cold water pools which are crystal clear. If you are interested in discovering the route here is a link to a guide.

The Montjuïc Cemetery is a unique place without a doubt, with unusual, modernist graves. 

Opened in March of 1883, Montjuïc is the biggest cemetery in Barcelona. It’s placed on the top of Montjuïc, which itself is a nice little mountain-hill overlooking the Mediterranean sea. There you can find graves of famous locals like those of Catalan leader Lluis Companys (1882-1940), Spanish anarchist militant Buenaventura Durruti (1896-1936), artist Joan Miró (1893-1983), and many more. If you walk to the top you can see a crematorium from Roman times. The journey to the crematorium is a very long walk and it can take more than 3 hours to tour the entire cemetery on foot.

In the silent west wing of the cemetery is 'El Fossar de la Pedrera' (the Grave of the Quarry). An estimated 4,000 people were buried there after their execution by the Franco regime following the fall of Barcelona to fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War. The quarry contains memorials to the victims of fascism, Lluis Companys (the last president of Catalunya before the civil war) and, recently, a monument commemorating the aspirations of the social revolution of 1936. El Fossar de la Pedrera is a moving and melancholy place. 

Walking through beautiful modernist graves, surrounded by pines and watching the sea. Experiencing this cemetery is widely considered to be one of the most enjoyable experiences in Barcelona and highly recommendable.

If you decide to go keep in mind that The Cementiri de Montjuïc is a little difficult to reach. The easiest way to get there is to take the 21 bus from the Jardins de Walter Benjamin at the Place de Les Drassanes, near (but not at) the southern end of Las Ramblas. But bus will stop at the bottom of the cemetery, after which, the 107 bus can take you to the top - this is helpful as the cemetery is nearly vertical and many may not be up for the walk!

The Dalí Theatre-Museum was inaugurated in 1974 and was built on the remains of the former Municipal Theatre of Figueres and is considered to be the last great work of art created by Salvador Dalí. Everything in it was conceived and designed by him so as to offer visitors an authentic experience and draw them into his unique, captivating and almost hypnotic world.

The Dalí Theatre-Museum's collection allows visitors to capture the artistic journey of Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) through a broad spectrum of works. The route around the rooms allows visitors to understand his first artistic experiences, surrealism, nuclear mysticism and his passion for science, guiding them to the works of the last part of his life. A visit to the museum is a unique experience, allowing visitors to experience and enjoy the genius's works and thoughts. In the words of Dalí himself:

 "It's obvious that other worlds exist, that's certain; but, as I've already said in many other occasions, these other worlds are inside ours, they reside on earth and are precisely at the centre of the dome of the Dalí Museum, which contains the new, unsuspected and hallucinatory world of Surrealism".

The Theatre-Museum project started at the beginning of the 'sixties. Ramon Guardiola, mayor of Figueres at the time, asked Salvador Dalí to donate a work for the Museu de l'Empordà. Dalí's reply came quickly: he would donate to Figueres not just a single work, but an entire museum:

"Where, if not in my own town, should the most extravagant and solid of my work endure, where if not here? The Municipal Theatre, or what remained of it, struck me as very appropriate, and for three reasons: first, because I am an eminently theatrical painter; second, because the theatre stands right opposite the church where I was baptised; and third, because it was precisely in the hall of the vestibule of the theatre where I hosted my first exhibition."  

The place in which the Dalinian project was to be located, as a specific wish of the artist, was the former Municipal Theatre of Figueres. Destroyed in a fire at the end of the Spanish Civil War, the building had been reduced to its peripheral structure. The ceiling of the orchestra pit had collapsed; of the boxes there remained only the access corridors to them and to the stage, the arch of the stage mouth and the side stores; the entrance hall and the toilets were the only parts that remained more or less intact. The artist planned to take advantage of the spectral charm offered by the ruins of the former theatre in order to house the future museum.

From the 'seventies onwards, Dalí devoted his entire attention to the museum project, taking part in it and designing its tiniest details, until it became real with the official inauguration of the Dalí Theatre-Museum on 28 September 1974. One of the most noticeable features of the museum, the transparent reticular-shape like a geodesic dome that crowns the building, was entrusted by Salvador Dalí to the Murcian architect Emilio Pérez Piñero (1935-1972). That dome has now become the emblem of the Theatre-Museum and a great icon for the city of Figueres.

The various collections of the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí include all types of works of art: paintings, drawings, sculptures, engravings, installations, holograms, stereoscopes, photography, etc. Of them, some 1,500 are on exhibition at the Museum.

The museum consists of three clearly differentiated museum areas offering the visitors an unguided and personal route across  the various galleries:

1) The Theatre-Museum as such, refurbished from the old fire-damaged municipal theatre, converted into the Theatre-Museum based on the criteria and design of Salvador Dalí himself. This part of the museum forms a unique artistic object in which each element is an inseparable part of the whole.

2) The group of galleries resulting from the progressive extensions of the Theatre-Museum, in which Dalí's personal intervention is superficial or non-existent. These galleries contain many works from the artist's legacy-  stereoscopic works, installations, and  anamorphisms-, as well as the Foundation's new acquisitions.

3) The Dalí·Jewels exhibition rooms, inaugurated in 2001, which contain the thirty-seven gold jewels and precious stones from the former Owen Cheatham collection, in addition to two jewels made later and the prior designs made by the painter. 

Aside from Salvador Dalí's works, there are  works by other artists that  the painter invited  to be exhibited  in his museum, such as Antoni Pitxot and Evarist Vallès, accompanied by other artists from the painter's own private collection, such as El Greco, Marià Fortuny, Modest Urgell, Ernest Meissonier, Marcel Duchamp, Gerard Dou and Bouguereau. In various galleries of the Theatre-Museum we can also find works by John de Andrea, Wolf Vostell, Meifrén and Ernst Fuchs. Since  Salvador Dalí death in 1989, the crypt where he is buried  can also be visited at the centre of the museum. This area was remodelled in 1997 to exhibit a collection of gold jewels designed by the artist. 

The museum is not to be missed, and any trip through Cataluñia should include a visit to this magnificent, unique work of art.

In 1980, a man called Josep Pujilula i Vila, a former textile worker,  began crafting a labyrinth alongside the Fluvia river in Catalonia, Spain. After creating his initial labyrinth, he began to make other structures in the area as well. Pujiula made towers out of branches and trees stretching 30 meters into the air. He coiled wood into tube-like tunnels and walkways and he even made a small livable cabin.

As his world began to grow, the community took notice. Families came there with their children to solve the labyrinth and wander through the unique environment. Sadly, there were not only curious visitors to his creation. Along with wonderstruck children and their parents, came homeless people sleeping in the cabin, vandals and worst of all,...the Spanish government.

Inspecting the area, which was built on public land, the government quickly deemed Pujiula’s homemade park a dangerous environment. With overgrowing concern for visitor safety, he was forced to dismantle his work. Although safety was seen as a pretext for government action on the land, officials also wanted to use the land to create a new highway.

In 2002, they got their wish and Pujiula took apart his creation to make room for government roads. While he was beaten by the government, he refused to give in. Shortly after, he began to create a similar site near his previous work.

Although not quite as grand as his wonderland, Pujiula, didn't give up on his dream. Slowly, he rebuilt it, and a masterful tubed walkway and tower stand as a monument to his perseverance and architectural skill.

Its reminiscent of Peter Pan’s Neverland inspiring young and old. The complex of towers, cabins, caverns, channels and criss-cross tracks is situated on the outskirts of Argelaguer in the north of Catalonia by the road which leads to Olot. Some people found it a real challenge to find their way out...

Locals called this labyrinth “Castle Argelaguer” or “Josep’s Labyrinth”. You could scale up to the towers and cabins using rickety rungs of ladders, cross small rope bridges, move through channels formed by branches or even dare to see the caverns underneath the labyrinth – it offered a multitude of challenges. But all these attractions weren't necessarily completely harmless as there was a sign which warned you that you entered at your own risk because there was no guarantee that the construction could stand up to the rigours of permanent visitors.

It was a matter of time before the council stepped in and has now limited access to the park in so much as it is now not permitted to climb the towers or enter the cabins, you can only contemplate them from the ground and the pathways. Nonetheless, it is still a great day out and is a testimony to a man with determination and a creative flair beyond that of many. A man whose love affair with nature and fantasy gave so many children magical memories to hold onto.

Of all the crazy Spanish fiestas that take place throughout the year, there is nothing wilder than the Carnival celebrations starting this weekend. The week leading up to Lent is a time for wild partying in some parts of Spain when the country plays host to Europe’s biggest and best Carnival festivals.

There are a few speculations on the origins of Carnival in Spain. Most popularly it is believed the term Carnival derives from the words “farewell to the flesh,” a reference to the excesses that led up to the somber Lent. Some suspect Carnival is derived from the Roman solstice festival, the Saturnalia, where participants indulged in much drinking and dancing. Saturnalia is believed to have had the first parade floats, called the ‘carrus navalis’. With these pagan roots, it’s easy to see why the dictator General Franco banned them for forty years!

Carnival in Spain is celebrated nationwide though the most raucous festivities are in the Canary Islands, Cadiz and Sitges. While each town has its own unique flavour of celebration they all have a devotion to having a good time. In these main destinations during Carnival it seems that no one sleeps as the drinking and dancing go from dusk until dawn. You’ll see extravagant costumes and people in masks everywhere and, in any of Spain’s Carnivals, you’ll have a lot more fun participating in the masquerading than you will just watching.

Although on a different level to the Canary Islands, Carnival will kick off in the Russafa district of Valencia this coming Saturday; it's time to get your costume ready and prepare for this multicultural festival when the streets of this emblematic neighborhood in Valencia get full of color and joy. Angels and demons live together in balconies and windows, and you can hear the first chords of acoustic music concerts that flood every corner and every street. 

The carnival activities in the neighborhood of Russafa begin on Saturday, February 16th, at 16:00 pm, with the Proclamation of "Russafa a Peu" at the Market of Ruzafa. That day coincides with the opening of the exhibition "A les balconades" (In the balconies), an activity which fills with art and creativity the balconies in the neighborhood.

More than sixty groups from different countries will participate in the event. With the collaboration of the neighbours, a number of additional activities complement the programme. Fifty local entertainment and hospitality businesses, as well as several cultural, social and artistic groups, are also partners in the initiative. So if you happen to be in Valencia this weekend, there is plenty to keep you busy!