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Every year on January 17th, people bring their pets to be blessed on the Calle de Hortaleza in Madrid. Despite my slight reticence about Madrid’s fiesta scene in the second half of the podcast (click play podcast above), this was a fascinating event. Castizo is the word Marina used – very traditional in a Madrid kind of a way – below is some video from this morning to prove it:

(direct youtube link)

There are plenty more photos from the Fiesta on the NFS Flickr Page.

UPDATE:

A Spanish friend of Marina’s said “This really does make Spain look a bit behind the times, imagine what the same video would look like in Black and White!” Well, it had to be done… Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t work out how interesting this story really is, but there is no doubt it says a lot about the path to fame in Spain. Be attractive, end up in an extraordinary situation, pose topless in Interviu, and there is no limit as to where you might end up.

Ana Marí­a Rí­os, 26, an unknown hairdresser from Pontevedra, Galicia, went on her honeymoon to Mexico in October last year, but was stopped as she attempted to fly home. Mexican customs officials claimed to have found ‘bullets’ and ‘detonators’ in her luggage, and she was looking at a lengthy spell in a Mexican jail. After 12 days of legal wrangling the case fell apart and she was released from her nightmare and allowed to return to Galicia.

I think everyone knew what was coming next. Quasi-fame Spain style. First she posed topless for trash gossip mag Interviu, next she published her (ghost-written) book recounting the experience, and now she is doing the TV circuit. Youtube clips abound (some not safe for work). How long will it last? That may depend on how astute she and her agent are. Is this a Spanish phenomenon or does fame work like this everywhere these days? And finally, how crucial to her present and continued success were the topless shots?

Today marks the official launch of a new link in the “Notes” chain: Notes from Madrid.

We live and work in the city, and know a lot of its secrets – the most interesting streets, the coolest Madrid bars, best restaurants, even where to find the seediest side of the city. And we thought it was time to share all of this information with you. In fact, the Notes from Madrid slogan is “What we’d tell our friends”.

But we’d also like your help to get the site going. Have you got a favourite corner of the city? A tapas bar you would head straight for next time you are in town? A great shop, hotel, or seedy secret you are willing to share? Please, head over to NFM and send us a tip! We’ll publish them all on the site!

Link: www.notesfrommadrid.com Madrid Tips: Send us a tip

The BBC’s excellent ‘From our own correspondent’ has produced an interesting podcast on the Basque problem and the recent ETA bomb in Madrid. Audio download link. Text version here.

Michael John Creagh, a retired English army Colonel, is having a bit of trouble getting his motor on the road in Almeria. For some reason they won’t let him pass the ITV (UK equivalent = MOT). Apparently he can’t confirm the vehicle’s weight, but then, where do you weigh a Spartan Armoured Personnel Carrier? The full story in Spanish, and photos, can be found at Escolar.net

“Spanish Society doesn’t understand me,” says Michael… Well, we here at Notes from Spain do! Michael, if you are out there, get in touch and tell us your side of the story!

There isn’t a lot of snow falling in Spain this year. The Sierra to the North of Madrid is decidedly brown, and the owners of the two remaining ski resorts left up there must be thinking of cutting their losses and selling up fast. I’m not keen to jump on the global warming band wagon, but this year winter certainly hasn’t been up to much.

Anyway, there are some fine pictures of wintery Spain over at 20minutos.com – it just happens that very few of them were taken this year!

It may be impossible to get a room in Valencia in the middle of March, but a couple of new websites have just made life much easier in the nation’s two capitals. 30Madrid and Barcelona30 will find you a decent, central room in either of the cities for under 30 Euros per night/per person. It really seems to work – worth bookmarking for the NFS Great Madrid Escape!

Today I spent 40 minutes on the telephone trying to find a hotel room in Valencia for the night of the 18th of March. This, the Nit de Foc, is the penultimate night, and one of the highlights, of the Las Fallas fiesta, involving an hour-long fireworks display of previously unknown scale and inventiveness, followed by drinking and dancing til dawn in the city’s beautiful squares. Previous Nit de Focs rate amongst my top nights out in Spain, ever. Unfortunately plenty of other people who don’t live in Valencia evidently feel the same way! When I asked one hostel owner if he had rooms for March 18th, he said, “for which year?”

So, if you are thinking of heading to one of the big Fiestas this year, be it Las Fallas, Carnival in Cadiz, Easter in Seville, or San Fermines in Pamplona, book your accommodation now, for this year or next, or end up sleeping on the street. I usually start by checking the big hotel chains on the web, then going through every number in various guide books. My troubles paid off at last today, when I finally found one room going in a business hotel 30 minutes walk from Valencia city center – as close as we’ll get this year!

Photo: Crazy Valencians playing with fire again! For more on fiestas, and to help me find the year’s best, check out this forum thread.

Check out this radio report from NPR. Personally I think the reporter is complaining just a little too much, and being just a touch rude about the Spanish, considering a major bombing had just taken place (maybe he should read the expat manifesto…)

As you’ll already know, Saturday was the day of the 3 Kings in Spain, and here in Barcelona on Friday there was a huge procession (La Cabalgata) through the city lasting about 3 hours, to welcome the Kings (Melchor, Gaspar y Baltasar) and to distribute sweets to the crowds. I went along with some friends, and got a good spot just by Plaza Universidad. The Kings pass by one at a time on giant floats all decorated with lights and fireworks. The parade was fantastic, and the large groups of dancers that accompany each King were all excellent – the effort that must go into organising so many costumes is unbelievable.

I’d been told that some of the floats have ladders so that they can climb up and give sweets to the people on the balconies of apartments along the route, but as I was in an open Plaza, I didn’t see this in action unfortunately. The crowd was full of parents with their children, and it must’ve been really magical for the kids to see all this going on, and especially so given that the Kings have "helpers” who walk along the edge of the crowds and collect the letters from the children to the Kings with their requests for gifts.

When the sweet-throwing reached its peak, it was like feeding time at the zoo! Children everywhere scurrying around to collect them from the floor like a pack of hyenas! (I, of course, made sure I got one to eat for good luck too!) The final float contained a display like a giant coal fire, which I didn’t understand until my friend told me that the children who have been bad during the year only receive "carbón” (coal) from the Kings! How awful! Although, it’s good to know that parents in Spain torment their children with similar behaviour-control methods as back home in England!

All in all, the only downside to the day was that my camera was broken so I don’t have any pictures to share. But if you ever get the chance to be in Barcelona for a future Cabalgata, I thoroughly recommend it, especially if you have kids (or indeed, if you are a big kid like me!)

Dave Hall lives and works in Barcelona.