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This past week we headed to Almería to polish up my art skills, and talk to Simon at the Cortijada Los Gazquez, an incredible restored country house in a wild Natural Park in Almeria.

The house is totally off-grid, has some amazing eco-enhancements making it almost entirely energy and resource-independent, and tremendous art projects on the go, including creative art courses and artist residencies.

Listen to the podcast above, see some more images from our stay below, and do consider a trip to check out the amazing Los Gazquez experience: www.losgazquez.com

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Been a while, but here’s another fantastico Notes from Spain podcast! It’s hot at last, we’re all loosing the seasonal depression that no-one knew you could get in Spain, I’m getting in trouble over how to eat salad, whilst coping with the biggest culture shock I’ve had in years: how to map my childhood experience onto the Spanish education system so I can make intelligent decisions about the future of my own offspring….

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Ben and Marina record a new podcast about the battle for our baby’s language skills, why we want to leave Madrid, the trouble with summer in Madrid, and baby timetables in Spain.

Comments welcome!

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Thoughts on Christmas in Spain, changes (or not) in Spain, the future of this blog and more…

Stuff mentioned in the podcast:

Spanish New Years Podcast

Watch “El Comisario” on the net

Pure Genius by Dan Sullivan (Worth every cent 100 times over. And not just for “entrepreneurs”)

Follow me on twitter … if you’re into that stuff

Please comment below!

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A slightly Random podcast from the wonderful north of Spain… photos and more video coming soon!

Here is the info promised in the podcast on where we stayed and ate:

Hotel La Torre: http://www.desdeasturias.com/latorre Tel: 676 06 33 44 – 985 41 11 33

Casa Poli. Address: Opposite the above hotel in Puertas de Vidiago! Tel: 985 411 217 / 985 411 142

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Questions raised in this episode:

1. Is it fair that tax payers in Spain should be forced to decide whether to give a percentage of their tax bill either to the Catholic church or ‘social causes’? Shouldn’t we be given more choices? What does the church do with the money?

2. As people continue to pay good money to visit the place the Virgin Mary last appeared to three shepherds, how religious is Spain?

3. As Turkey also decides on a total smoking ban in public places, how long can Spain hold out? When will they finally ban smoking in bars and restaurants here as well?

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Marina and I have just spent 5 days in Andalusia. Join us via the podcast, and check out the rest of the photos on Flickr.

Travel Notes:

In Carmona we stayed at the extremely clean and pleasant Hotel Alcazar de la Reina, which we got a good deal on via booking.com (always worth checking before phoning hotels directly). It’s worth checking if they have a room at the Carmona Parador though too if you can afford it!

In Cadiz we ate at Cumbres Mayores, the best tapas bar in town, and stayed at the very well placed Cortes de Cadiz (booking directly with the hotel).

Finally, on the coast we stayed at the incredible Palomar de la Breña, a stunning 19th century Finca surrounded by rolling pastures, lanes lined with wildflowers, and wooded valleys. Go and see it for yourself (and if your Spanish is up to it, chat to the Spanish owner about the history of the region, he is a mine of really interesting information).

The main locations from the trip are marked on this map:

View Larger Map

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Why does no one wear shorts in the street? Will Carme Chacón, the new Defense minister, change the lot of Spanish women forever? Is there a housing crisis in Spain? And is Marina going to have to get the police onto the neighbours? Listen and find out!

iTunes users: subscribe directly to the Notes from Spain podcast via this link.

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This is a podcast in two parts. The first part says ‘hi’ from our balcony here in Madrid, and I fill you in a bit on what we have planned for the coming months.

The second part is a true story about the death of a friend, Paul, pictured standing next to me to the left of this text. It’s a story I’ve really wanted to tell for a long time, but as I explain in the podcast, I thought it was too long to publish straight on the blog as text.

Still, if anyone does want a text version to hang on to for any reason (but please listen to the audio first if you can), you can download a pdf version here.

Thanks and abrazos for Paul, somewhere.

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The Ramirez family has been making classical and flamenco guitars in Madrid for over 125 years. We visited their workshops in Madrid, spoke to Amalia Ramirez (pictured at work below), and heard a professional musician play one of these world-famous instruments in their shop, near Madrid’s Puerta del Sol.

Listen to the podcast, check out all the photos on Flickr (try the slideshow!), and read on below for more information on everything mentioned in the podcast.

More information: Read the rest of this entry »