easy hikes in Spain
Last week, we took you on a day trip away from busy and noisy Madrid to the tranquility of Aranjuez. But peace and quiet are not the only things that you will struggle to find in Madrid. The city’s history, too, is short of a register or two. Madrid overflows with the Baroque glory of…
Madrid is big and lively, but after a few days of holidaying in the Spanish capital, even people who actually like big and lively may yearn for a day of calm and tranquility. For these visitors of the Spanish capital, the Aranjuez Gardens are just the ticket. But hey, I hear some of you say,…
Cordoba is the hottest city in Europe – no more than par for the course, you might say, considering its latitude and the absence of any natural source for cooling (such as the presence of the sea). Cordoba, however, holds another distinction that may come as a far bigger surprise: it also was, albeit only…
Cordoba in the south of Spain is the hottest town in Europe. Temperatures reach an average daytime high of 37° centigrade in July and August (100° F). In July 2022, the city experienced 19 days with 40° or more (104° F), a record for any European city, and one day in April 2023, the thermometer…
Here is something about Madrid that many people may not know: a river runs through it. But why is the Manzanares so much less famous than, say, the Thames, the Seine or the Tiber? One reason is certainly that all of Madrid – not just its river – flies a bit under the radar, and…
The Centro with the Madrid dos Austrias, the Gran Via neighbourhood, Malasana and Chueca: last week, we gave you a good roundup of the Spanish capital’s “greatest hits” while walking through its central districts. But big cities like Madrid are always a sum of all their parts, not only the three of four that make…
People either love big cities or they don’t. If you are not energized by the noise, the speed, the rapid flow of images – and if the prospect of having to process all the stimuli and information at the same time fills you with dread rather than nervous excitement, you will not love Madrid. There…
Right in the middle of downtown Valencia on the city’s central square, side-by-side with the richly ornamented Church of the Santos Joanes … … and opposite the Llotja de la Seda, the old Silk Exchange (recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site), … … you can find a building that rivals those two architectural…
Having followed a dried-out river for our last post, we will today explore a dried-out wetlands preserve. The rain in Spain – the little there has been over the past five years – has, it seems, mainly fallen outside of Valencia, and as a consequence, the Albufera wetlands, a short bus ride to the south…
Valencia is the third biggest city in Spain, but it is fair to say, I believe, that it struggles at times to be seen in the shadow that is cast by its two larger rivals. Valencia may lead the peloton, but in almost every field from football to film and fashion, Madrid and Barcelona are…