Of all the paintings that I saw at the Museo del Prado and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza at Madrid, the Guggenheim and the Museo de Bellas Artes at Bilbao, and the Museo de Bellas Artes at Sevilla, a number of them have made a lasting impression.
Salvadore Dali's the Dream (also at the Thyssen-Bornemisza) is probably the only painting that I like coming from this surrealist. The name of the painting is much longer: Dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate a second before waking up. The Freudian undertones are open to intepretation, but the hyper-realism of a fish bursting out of a pomegranate, and two tigers leaping out of the mouth of the fish, and in the background an elephant with long spindly legs walking along the horizon was truly mezmerising.
Jose Garcia Ramos's El Nino del Violin - a small format painting from the stables of Ramos, but a touching portrait of a boy in rags with his violin and his faithful companion - a little dog. Just like ring tones, door knockers can be a statement of intent. From northern to southern Spain, there are a vast variety of door knockers: some of them works of art, some of them more of utilitarian objects. Here are the more beautifully crafted ones.
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| A welcoming one. It says: "Eat me" |
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| A suggestive one. It says: "I want you...." |
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| My favourite one - It says: "I embrace you" |
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| Sunrise on the boat from Portsmouth to Santander |
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| Sunset in Andalucia |
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| Sunset at Jaen, Andalucia |
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| Sunset at Laredo, nothern Spain |
The demise of the independent retailers in the UK has been overshadowed by the inexorable rise of the chain stores. In Spain, it came as a surprise that there are still many independent stores occupying prime locations on the high street, particularly in towns outside the major cities. One category - what I would describe as knick knack shops, has a sizeable presence across Spain. These "mom and pop" shops sell everything under the sun, including the inevitable tourist tack. The shop windows were a treasure trove; the display concept was usually "We've got everything you never knew you wanted!"
There are a few of these stores on the main thoroughfare at Alcala de Henares, a suburb of Madrid (about a 45-minute train ride). The owners have a tendency of jamming everything into the shop window, which takes the notion of window shopping to a different level. 
This one at Ronda, Andalucia, is the star of them all - it is a mini department store. The staff working there must have a photographic memory of where every piece of stock is. On the day of our visit, the place was jam packed with buyers/browsers; this photo was taken during a lull in the foot traffic.
A shop at Zamora that sells ornaments including rosary beads. Since Spain is very much a secular society, many shops have cleared a space at their shop window to give prime of place to the Nativity scene; some of these festive displays were very elaborate.
This shop at Salamanca, central Spain, clearly targets at the passing tourist trade. The price tags are handwritten, giving the shop a real mom and pop feel.
The most fun came from a toy store in Ronda, Andulacia. Inside the cavernous shop, there was every toy imaginable. Some were stacked high above the display shelves, inviting face-to-face contact with the shop assistants if a shopper wanted to examine any item on the top shelves. It was here that we purchased a Chinese doll, now a friend to Cuddles.On the evening before 6th January - Dia de Reyes - the Three Kings arrive, spendidly dressed, to parade through town centres across Spain. At Zamora (in the Castilla y Leon region, central Spain), they rode on horse back, followed by a retinue of costume clad characters, also riding on horseback. The procession continued with floats drawn by tractors, joined by a host of characters on foot. For the tourists, the spectacle was magical, and for the children (as well as some adults), part of the excitement came from collecting the sweets thrown by the procession.
It had to be good things because the little boy who was riding on the shoulder politely applauded at all the right moments. It was 4 pm and there was not much going in terms of food at Alcala de Henares, at the university quarter of this industrial town outside Madrid. The intention was to have a snack until the restaurants opened at 8.30 pm. Here, the two tapa dishes (pictured) were tough and tasteless. But the experience was made special by a delightful young female student who translated our order (into Spanish) for the barman.
For me, one of the joys of travelling abroad is to try different kinds of cuisine, especially good, honest home-cooking where the quality and taste of food take precedence over elaborate plate decorations. At Madrid, in a covered market, I spotted a tapas bar that specialised in sea food and slices of bread served with sea food and a generous slug of olive oil. The place was heaving with locals, and in the midst of gesticulating my order (I don't speak Spanish), the barman dished up a chickpea stew and barked at me "Bueno!"
Here it is, the stew, which I believe is called cocido madrileno. It came with a broth that contained vermicelli. The dish was robust, tasty - just the item to sustain anyone on a cold, wet, wintry day.
Our eating experience at Spain was a hit and miss affair. Even the concierges of the grandest of 5* hotels could send their clients to some non descript restaurants that serve vin ordinaire food but with eye watering prices. At the Albaicin quarter, hiding away in the narrow, winding alleys of Granada, just a few twists away from the tourist track, is the San Nichols restaurant, with a grand sweep view of the Alhambra, serving the perfect meal, a reward for those die-hard tourists who eschew cafes that plague most plazas, given to serving what pass as edible food.
