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 …
JOHN BRENDMOE Marbella investor and philanthropist
There is no limit to what one can do with a paintbrush – just ask John Brendmoe. From the humble beginning, working in his father’s painting workshop as a boy, he managed to establish one of Scandinavia’s biggest painting companies. …
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 …
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 …
AMONTILLADO & OLOROSO The sophisticated, aromatic, and bone-dry sherries from Jerez
What is a chilly winter day without a mature Oloroso to accompany the venison or an aromatic Amontillado to augment the wild mushroom soup? Spanish sherries are so much more than ‘granny sherry’, something the Spanish always have known. And …
Am I just Vintage or completely Obsolete?
The turn of a year makes one particularly aware of dates and numbers. We might not remember what we did on the 7th of August, but most of us know exactly where we were on New Year’s Eve and …
MY FIRST PISADA Andalusian grape stomping in the 21.st Century
You might have seen one of the movie history’s most-known comedy clips with Lucille Ball stepping on wine grapes. In the black and white recording from 1956, she dances around in an enormous barrel on a fictional Italian farm. But …
UBRIQUE – The White Village that became the world’s leather capital
Where are Dior’s handbags, Prada’s fashion accessories and Cartier’s leather-covered jewellery boxes made? In a sweatshop on the outskirts of Paris? In a factory in China? Or perhaps in the fashion district in Milan? No, many of the leather …
Here comes the gas man!
If you believe you have a tough job, think again. One of the most demanding occupations here in Spain must be to deliver the gas bottles to the country’s homes and businesses. I had a chat with our local bombonero…
Summer sizzle
We know it is summer in our Andalucian hometown when the only time it is liveable outside is before 9 am in the morning or after 9 pm at night. The hottest we experienced was the day we passed a …