KARETHE LINAAE
You know when you are young and regard everyone say over thirty as ‘ancient’? Then comes the day when you pass the 30-mark yourself and suddenly they don’t seem old anymore. The same happens as you become 40 and 50, and according to my mum who will be 90 this year, even at 80. …
I cannot believe it. We are walking again!!! I mean real walks, outside in the open, step by bouncy step, arms moving like overeager pendulums, lungs drinking in much-needed change of air and starved eyes rejoicing at the open landscape. After seven weeks of being confined to our homes while the rest of Europe…
I never thought I would say this, but I feel rather calm. For almost forty days now we have been in lockdown. In Spain this means that the only legal reasons we can leave home are to purchase food, medicine. I have stepped outside our front door all of seven times in the past month,…
It was bound to happen sooner or later. The virus, I mean. The planet is a very small place, and we are all interconnected – in sickness and in health, as the traditional wedding vow goes. Take the example of Spain. With a staggering 83.7 million tourists visiting last year, this country is like a…
(Artículo originalmente publicado en inglés en el Olive Press 07.03 2020) Imagine este escenario: Estás caminando por uno de tantos caminos públicos en Andalucía, cuando de repente una nueva verja está bloqueando tu paseo. Estás acostumbrado a pasar por puertas en la sierra, la cual los senderistas cierran al pasar para evitar que se…
Originally Published on March 7th 2020 in the Olive Press Imagine the scenario: You are walking on one of Andalucía’s public trails, when suddenly a brand new gate blocks your way. You are used to passing through gates in the sierra, which hikers as an unwritten rule close behind them to prevent livestock from escaping….
Originally published in the March 2020 edition of Essential Marbella Magazine How can an 18th Century former military tin factory in a remote, off-the-grid valley produce some of Andalucía’s most sophisticated wine? The answer lies not so much in the soil but with the man who fell in love with a historical ruin, transforming it…
If you ask what Andalusians know about northern Spain, they might say the Camino de Santiago or Costa Brava, but almost certainly nobody will mention Lérida. So, when a ‘native’ friend invited my husband and I to explore her home province, we immediately signed up to find out more about this lesser known part of…
For most people nuts come shelled, bleached, salted, and packaged until they are but a pale relation of the original fruit. Here in the Spanish south though, nuts still grow on trees. Frutos Secos (dried fruits) as they are called are named after their low water content and include all nuts and some seeds. In…
Say the word Christmas and people’s mouths begin to water. T’is the season for sweet indulgences and sins to abound. In Spain bakers get into high gear, as amigos, families, companies and brotherhoods prepare to celebrate this more or less religious occasion. With Christmas approaching, Andalucía’s streets are filled with the buttery smell of…