The Soul of Spain

Semana Santa in Spain

Semana Santa is the holy week of Easter celebrated with a passion here in Spain. It is worth noting that if you travel to Spain the week leading up to Easter many things will be closed or booked out. If you arrive this week there is also a good...

Granada

Walking around Granada isn't like walking around most major cities. In most cities you can't catch glimpses of massive snow-covered mountains or an ancient Moorish and Spanish fort (the Alhambra), part legendary summer palace, part stronghold. In...

Fine Flamenco Finds

There are many places to view Flamenco in Granada. There are large shows in Sacramonte that cost 25-35 Euros and have a flare for showing the dramatics and storytelling of the dance, and there are shows that have no dance and play in dark...

A city of Souls

If you walk above the Alhambra, through the multitudes of parking lots, you will reach the old Granada Cemetery. I stumbled on this by accident and spent an hour wandering this massive space. This is the largest Cemetery I have seen and I was...

Castles in Spain

Shortly after we arrived in Plaça del Pi in Barcelona's Barri Gòtic, so did a parade of gigantes and castellers. The latter (who name comes from the Catalonian word for castles) climb upon one another to build human towers. The tradition goes back...

AFAR returns to Txepetxa

When Christopher Hall reported his "57 Small Bites of Spain" story about tapas in four Spanish cities, he visited Bar Txepetxa in San Sebastian's old quarter. We brought the December/January 2010 issue of AFAR with us and shared it with the pintxo...

Not Yo Mama's Paella

Fatigued and stomachs rumbling, we stalked the side porch of the house, trying to see if anyone was there. It says restaurant, we grumbled, knowing full-well that at this point we would eagerly knock on the door of someone's home, just to gain...

Home is a Guest House in Spain

We arrived at night, when the glow of christmas lights in the trees outside the front door illuminated a structure that looked far too small to house all of the rooms we would need.

Morning brought with it clarification and what we found was a...

Montserrat Monastery

Located a short drive out of Barcelona, Montserrat Monastery is a must see while in Barcelona. Try the honey and fig cakes. There are many tour operators that offer this day trip from Barcelona. Take your time and hike some of the trails. The...