How I came to love November

    They say that when it rains, it pours, and that can certainly apply to Spain. After several years of intense drought, all the precipitation we should have had during the last 12 months came in a single night or just a few hours. The tragedies and destruction, especially in Valencia, are unfathomable. As…

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The Art of Olive Oil Tasting

In Andalucía, we have almost unlimited possibilities to participate in wine tastings – in vineyards, bodegas, or even wine shops. One learns to distinguish between young and well-aged wine, understand the concept of terroir, know whether the wine comes from sweeter or drier grapes, and try to recognize the wide variety of flavours and aromas…

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The Big Parasol War of 2024

It is not only the Spanish real estate market that was competitive this summer. It also applies to every square meter of sandy beach on Costa del Sol and other parts of the Spanish coastline. Unlike the real estate market, however, public beach spaces are not for sale but intended for general use. This means…

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Where have all the genuine Spanish souvenirs gone?

You see them everywhere. Most Spanish shopping streets are filled with tacky souvenir stores. They have walls covered with fans, miles of Spanish-inspired ceramics, figurines of bullfighters and Flamenco dancers, trays with Alhambra patterns, coffee cups and eyeglass cases with reproductions of Picasso’s art, aprons and dish towels with Velasquez’s Las Meninas, castanets in wood…

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SEVILLE BY KAYAK – A new type of city tourism

  Most people who visit Seville admire the cathedral and the Giralda tower, stroll around the narrow alleys of La Judería, and perhaps peek into the Alcázar fort. The rest of the time is usually reserved for tapas and shopping. There are many lovely ways to experience the Andalusian capital but the most unforgettable is…

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Welcome to Ronda’s Desfiladero del Tajo

Millions of people have seen Ronda from the bridge that has become one of the symbols of Andalucía – immortalised in Hollywood films, international TV commercials and of course, a billion selfies. But now, you too can have a chance to see the mountain town from below. So, stroll down into the bottom of Ronda’s…

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All aboard! Morocco by rail

  Did you know Morocco was the first country to build a high-speed railway system on the African continent? After the railway line opened in 2018, one can now take a train from Tangier in the north to Casablanca on the Atlantic coast in a couple of hours, something that lasted almost five hours in…

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SKOL – Marbella’s modernistic 1960s icon

    Everyone who lives in Marbella knows it, and most who have visited the town will have walked past this unique white building complex with SKOL written in vertical letters along the facade. The modernistic block of flats, which is one of Costa del Sol’s best examples of 1960s architecture, was a ground-breaking residential…

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The Cheery Cobblers of Ronda

Is it only me, or have you also noticed that everything lasts a shorter and shorter time? Be it mobiles that are virtually useless after a couple of years, computers that refuse to update, self-parking cars that go wild, or clothes and shoes that barely last a season – it looks like the disposable culture…

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