KARETHE LINAAE
Spring is here! Well not really, as we have had some rather cold and rainy days lately. But when we went for a hike in the Sierra de Lijar region this Sunday, we witnessed our very first almond blossoms, as well as wild-growing daffodils and a very rare pink orchid, whose Latin name has escaped…
Ronda is spectacular by nature, surrounded by mountains and devoid of big-city smog and pollution. Seen from afar, it is truly pristine. Yet like many Spanish towns, we have a problem with garbage and dog ‘droppings’. Clearly not something a major tourist town would like to be known for, nor wish to admit to, but…
Virgins are a vanishing lot, especially if one is to judge by the lack of native sisters entering the hundreds of convents still in operation on the Iberian continent. (To fill this gap, Spain now actually needs to ‘import’ virgins from Africa, Asia and South America, but that is another story…) Historically and culturally, however,…
“I searched all over for the city of dreams and at last I found Ronda….. in Spain nothing is more unexpected than this wild mountain city.” Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) Our heritage is our legacy from…
We passed this tree hanging off a cliff on the magical walking route between the white villages of Grazalema and Benoacaz in the province of Cádiz. I have met many bent souls in this life, but few that can match this black oak. If you ever wonder if trees can have back ache, here is…
I saw a video of ‘El Camino del Rey’ before we came to Spain and told my husband that I would not even make it up the first set of stairs. After too many fatal accidents one is not allowed to climb there anymore. But as you will soon see, some people still do……
December is here, and are celebrating Christmas in Spain for the first time. Like anywhere else we have lived, the fiesta is seen and felt far and wide. People elbow their way through the supermarkets with bulging trolleys, prepare meals for a small army and eat and drink far too much. Yet, Christmas in Andalucía…
There is nothing lovelier than an olive tree – this symbol of peace with its silvery leaves and its twisted body. Sometimes the trunk will divide at the root and grow like entangled lovers, Siemese twins or like a couple who separated in mid-life and came back together in old age. You may strip the…
Last November, my husband and I packed a few belongings, left Vancouver B.C. and set out on a new journey. We arrived in Ronda the following night in torrential November rains, not knowing how long we would stay nor where we would go next. A year later we are still here. Ronda is one of…
Ever since my dad took my sister and I to see Disney’s Jungle Book at the World Theatre in my little hometown in the late 1960s, I have had a special affinity for vultures. Remember the friendly barbershop-quartet in the bleak petrified desert? Originally, Beatles’ manager wanted the band to record the song for the movie,…