Tagged With "spain"
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Re: Minding manners saves you money
Hopefully the customers are also treated politely. And I don't think all tourists that say" un café" are rude. It could be they are Japanese or Chinese and "café" is the only word they know.
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Re: Granada, Spain: A Walk Through the Historic Albaicin
Thanks for the journey through the Albaicin, PH. I love walking through the old parts of cities where there is so much history to see. You've certainly captured the essence of this place in your pictures and I've added it to my places to visit list.
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Re: Brits on Beach behaving badly? Call (British) cops!
Sounds like the British kids are copying the "Spring Breakers" in Florida. With a hint of "Bikers Week" for the older ones.
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Re: Brits on Beach behaving badly? Call (British) cops!
I think it’s quite a bit like that…away from home, in a place that has tolerated a lot to keep the visitors coming…and is now reaping the whirlwind. Don’t know who did it first or where, but it’s certainly sad to see…especially when people get hurt.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, September 14, 2015. Hans Monheimus
During our lives we will meet 5 or 6 people who leave us with an impression of just having met a great man. Sounds like Hans' was one of your handful of heroes. We try to understand what makes him so outstanding. Then in our own way we try to copy some of his finest attributes. And hopefully we are a better person for it.
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Re: Where do the "permanent travelers" go?
I have one friend who's a permanent traveler. While he spends time in a variety of places, his preference is Asia, with Thailand at the top of his list. Chiang Mai is where we met and in nearby villages is where he spends the majority of his time. He has a private income so work has nothing to do with his choice. I'd be interested to see how the results of the survey would change if that element was removed from the equation. And how it would change if broken down by age group. Also, how...
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Re: Marveling at La Sagrada Familia
Thank you Karina. You gave me me another reason to get back to Barcelona. Great job capturing the splendor of the place!
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Re: Marveling at La Sagrada Familia
I've taken a lot of pictures outside Sagrada Familia and a few inside, but none of my inside pictures capture the light, space and shapes as these do—great! I'm not Gaudi's biggest fan (I've confessed that elsewhere here), but even if he had nothing but this place to his credit, he'd have earned that title: Genius.
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Re: Marveling at La Sagrada Familia
Thanks for sharing this experience, Karina! Your photos of the interior are amazing. I've yet to visit Barcelona but it's definitely moved far up my list.
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Re: Spain's booming tourism hits record numbers
Most countries would envy Spain this particular problem. Given how week other aspects of their economy are, I can't see the government putting a stop on this, despite the actions of some mayors. I'd suggest they look at diverting tourists to less traveled parts of the country. Spain is a large place and there are lots of places tourists hardly ever go.
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Re: San Juan's El Morro: Layers of Stone, Layers of History (Where Gumbo Was, #84)
Fascinating history. Stunning photos. Thanks.
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Re: San Juan's El Morro: Layers of Stone, Layers of History (Where Gumbo Was, #84)
A missing bit: El Morro and the historic site as a whole is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but while I included that in the Tags and Collections for the blog, I forgot to mention it in the text! My apologies...
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Re: "World's scariest walkway" re-opens; may be safer
There are some experiences in life I can live without trying. This would be near the top of that list.
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Re: Spain, Portugal gain tourists in Greek crisis
I think people are exchanging visiting GREECE now for a lot of other European countries too besides Spain and Portugal. Avoiding uncertainty in travel is very hard to do though when you travel no matter where you go as i've found out with a lost passport and ferry strikes
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Re: Driving in Spain: better be a hands-on experience!
Tooooo much of Big Brother in all this for my liking.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Jan. 19, 2014: Girona, Spain
PHeymont, what happens, directionally speaking, when one reaches the other end of the bridge? In other words, where does it go from the end of what we can see? It appears to end, the bridge to nowhere, but I doubt Mr. Eiffel would be so impractical (although I suppose the building at the other end might have been put up after he left town). Do tell.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Jan. 19, 2014: Girona, Spain
The far end of the bridge rests on the wall that is the riverbank at that point; you walk off the bridge, under the first floor of the building, and onto the street. I don't know whether the building was built after or before the bridge, but I'm guessing the building to possibly be older because by the time the bridge was built, there was a greater tendency to run a road along the water rather than back buildings directly onto it.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Jan. 19, 2014: Girona, Spain
I love how the house builders of the one at the far end of the bridge, on the left, have accessed every square meter possible by building the enclosed balcony out on stilts. One cannot help but wonder, who owns the air?
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Oct. 5, 2014: Tossa de Mar, Spain
I love fortified towns and this one is exceptional...thanks PH
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Re: If you're happy and you know it...press here, please!
The reason most airports don't ask is because they don't care ! JFK and Heathrow continue to increase their passenger numbers without the need for customer satisfaction. So by some misguided indicator they presume all is well down on the farm. A captive audience doesn't attract an acceptable service level. A penny saved is a penny earned.
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Re: If you're happy and you know it...press here, please!
It certainly has seemed to me that Heathrow doesn't care (it's probably true for JFK, too, but I'm not a stranger there). In fact, I go out of my way to avoid Heathrow. Between the airport experience itself (especially with a T3-T5 transfer) and BA's high surcharges, I've taken to trying to make all my transfers through Madrid or Barcelona. In fact, on my trip this month, I save a good bit by taking American on award tickets to Barcelona and paying my way on Vueling to Marseille. I could...
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Where do the "permanent travelers" go?
Expat Insder, a curious publication of Internations.org, surveyed 14,000 expats in 160 countries for their views on where they have found happiness, a safe comfortable life, affordable living, etc. Surprise! Only three European countries...
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San Juan's El Morro: Layers of Stone, Layers of History (Where Gumbo Was, #84)
El Morro, the giant fortification that's guarded San Juan Harbor for nearly 500 years, is the sight we saw before we saw it. Its image is everywhere when you do online research for a trip to Puerto Rico; its "garitas"—small domed...
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Catalan nudists ask Euro court for right to bare
Fighting a local anti-nudity ordinance in a town north of Barcelona, the Catalan Naturist Club, having lost its appeals all the way to Spain's highest court, is now appealing to the European Human Rights Court at Strasbourg. The Spanish high...
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Bobbies on the Beat in Spain's Ibiza
Spanish authorities on the Balearic Islands vacation spot of Ibiza have arranged for a dozen British police to work with Spanish Civil Guards this summer when British tourism is at its height. The idea is that the British cops, who will have free...
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Spain's "ghost airport" will come to life with Ryanair
Spain's embarrassingly-empty Castellon-Costa Azahar airport, unused since it was opened with great ceremony nearly five years ago, will finally get passengers. Ryanair will announce a schedule of flights from U.K. and northern Europe today, according...
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"World's scariest walkway" re-opens; may be safer
A skinny walkway crossing a mountain face above a gorge in Spain has been rebuilt and re-opened; it was closed in 2001 after five deaths, but people just wouldn't stop walking it. The new version has safety features and requires a helmet, but is still...
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Spanish air controllers on strike, 5000 flights affected
Spanish air controllers are on a two-hour strike this morning, the first of four planned (See Gumbo's report of the plans). Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the airport operator AENA estimate up to 5300 flights could be affected. ...
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Day 2 of Spanish Air Control Strike: Mixed Effects
Today is the second day of a planned 4-day series of short strikes by Spain's air traffic controllers, who are angry over punishments meted out for a strike in 2010. Monday's first day of the strike, which was expected to cause issues for up to...
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Ryanair Madrid strike; no baggage service
Ryanair's ground workers at Madrid's airport are on an "open-ended" strike against plans to cut their wages 25-30% as well as issues over inadequate safety equipment, work shifts and holidays. They've accused the company of refusing to negotiate with...
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Driving in Spain: better be a hands-on experience!
If you're driving in Spain anytime soon, keep your hands on the wheel. Spanish police are taking a very literal view of "keep your hands on the wheel and your eye on the road." In two recent cases in the Salamanca area, drivers were fined for...
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Spanish town grants equal rights to animals
A small Spanish town has taken a world first: It's formally recognized equal status for human and non-human residents of t town, and laid out rules for protection. Trigueros del Valle, a town of 300 in the province of Valladolid, passed the law...
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Spain's booming tourism hits record numbers
Spain's busy beaches (Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria, above) Photo: Wouter Hagens / Wikimedia If it seems like you've seen a stream of articles lately about Spanish towns wondering whether there's a...
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SQUISH! Spain's annual tomato food fight
If you wondered what Google's Doodle was all about the other day...the answer lies above and below in pictures from Tomatina, the annual world's biggest food fight, in which the Spanish town of Bunol is invaded by thousands of visitors (and...
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Spain's 'ghost airport' finally haunted by tourists
Arch of hoses greet first flight into Castellon Photo: Laura Cornejo / Twitter Spain's infamous "if you build it they (won't necessarily) come" airport at Castellon finally got it first passengers yesterday,...
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Spain, Italy fight to reverse drop in Russian tourists
A troupe of Spanish horses will visit Russia to promote tourism A combination of frosty relations between Russia and Europe and the drastic decline in the value of the Russian ruble have seriously cut Russian tourism to Italy and Spain, where Russian...
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Air controllers strike Spain again today
Air traffic over Spain will be tangled today as air traffic controllers stage a 12-hour protest strike, the next installment of the long-running battle between Spain's air traffic controllers and Enaire, the public corporation that manages Spain's...
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Lots to do all over Spain this month
This is the high part of the vacation season, and many places in Spain are geared up with special events to attract visitors. Events range from culture to music to just plain spectacularly silly, like the annual Tomatina Tomato Fight in Bunol,...
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Balearic, Canary islands consider tourist limits
Crowded beaches mean money for hotels, restaurants, campgrounds and more, but officials in Spain's Canary Islands and Balearic Islands are starting to wonder how much might be too much. It's a theme that's been echoed elsewhere, most recently by...
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Seagull takes a camera...and a dramatic selfie
The video above is included here because without it you might not believe the story. A Swiss tourist, visiting the Cies Islands off Galicia in Northern Spain, was filming a seagull on a cliff wall in the area, which is a protected national...
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Spain: Dying town comes to life as graffiti museum
The town of Fanzara in rural Castellon has just over 300 residents and some of the most colorful and unusual art to be seen anywhere. It's just celebrated its second annual urban art festival. The festival uses the walls of the village as a canvas for...
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Spain facing rail strikes next month
Spain's rail system, Renfe, is facing strikes next month by two key unions, the train drivers (SEMAF) and maintenance workers (CCOO). In both cases, contract negotiations are involved. The engineers have called two one-day strikes and a two-day...
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Spain, Portugal gain tourists in Greek crisis
Lisbon—a winner as the Greek crisis cuts into Greek vacation bookings One man's famine is turning into another man's feast. As tourist bookings for Greece stumble in the midst of the Euro crisis and uncertainty about supplies of money,...
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'World's Longest Pizza' title goes home to Italy
Apparently spurred into action by the shame of having Spain claim the title for an Italian standard, pizza chefs in the town of Rende, in Calabria, worked 16 hours to produce a pizza 1.229km long—more than 3/4 of a mile. Not that we really knew...
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Peace in the Air for Spain's air traffic
Spanish air traffic controllers have called off their 12-hour strike planned for tomorrow, October 3, after reaching an agreement with management over penalties imposed on controllers for a 2010 stoppage. The penalties will be dropped. The...
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Brits on Beach behaving badly? Call (British) cops!
Magaluf at night, in a quieter moment... Photo: Rafael Ortega Diaz / Wikimedia Responding to repeated complaints from locals and other visitors about badly-behaved British tourists, two resort towns in Spain's Balearic Islands...
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Walking Through Seville and the Centuries
Seville, the largest city of southern Spain’s Andalucia region, is as full of contrasts as you might imagine of a city that was important in the Roman era, was ruled by the Moors for centuries, and then became not only the seat of Spanish...
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Jan. 19, 2014: Girona, Spain
A chicken effigy stands guard in the window of an old house, built into the medieval city wall of Girona, Spain. The university town, which dates to ancient times, tore down most of the city walls in the late 19th-century, but a remaining...
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Oct. 5, 2014: Tossa de Mar, Spain
The last fortified hill town remaining on the coast of Catalonia, Tossa de Mar is a beach town, popular with visitors from Girona and Barcelona. The old town (vila vella in Catalan) lies within 12th-century walls just adjoining the beach. The hill on...