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Showing posts from September, 2021

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Seville

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SEVILLE Sevilla After living up to some wonderful moments at Granada, the birthplace of the renowned Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, we decided to further our coadventure through the heartland of the southern Iberian Peninsula, composed of lowlands, mountains and valleys. You’ve got it right. To arrive at Seville, we traversed the fascinating Spanish heartland. The landscape presented some vistas composed of rustic plains, lowlands, winding roads through the Sierra and then vast stretches of olive orchards. About 200 years back, a couple of decades after Napoleon’s army plundered and destroyed parts of Alhambra, an American diplomat and writer, Washington Irving and his Russian counterpart traversed the path from Seville to Granada. It was highly adventurous then, because of the fact that the transport system at that time was horse-drawn carriages and muleteers. It was such that they could ‘wander among the romantic mountains of Andalusia’ (Tales of Alhamb...

Madrid 2

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MADRID 2 - the Mecca of  bullfighting by Biswajit Sengupta Image of Spain gravitates around football, bullfights, and flamenco. On the Iberian Peninsula and in Latin America football remain the most popular spectator sport, followed by bullfighting even despite movements by some sections to ban it. Although the largest bullfighting ring is in Mexico followed by the one in Venezuela, Madrid is regarded as the Mecca of bullfighting because of its tradition. During the early part of the twentieth century, bullfighting had picked up tremendous momentum in Madrid. In order to accommodate more spectators, a monumental bullring was built. Las Ventas bullring with a capacity of around twenty-five thousand spectators has an imposing façade – the largest in Spain and third largest in the world. From Sol Seville, Las Ventas is around ten minutes commute by underground metro from Sevilla station. Trains to Cuatro Camina las Rosas stop at Ventas. The famous bullring is just...

A Drop of Calm

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L'Oasis De L'ile at Quebec by Madhumita Chakola   We were weary, we were tired. Long hours at work hunched at the desk with minimal social interaction was taking a heavy toll on us. We needed a vacation oh so badly. Earlier in the year with the lockdowns and stay-at-home restrictions, we had thought a ‘staycation’ would be the ideal answer to all our yearnings. We would relax at home, pursue our hobbies and excel in doing absolutely nothing. At the onset of spring, just as the world exploded into different hues of green, we decided to book a whole week off for our vacation at home. In the itinerary were long walks in the trail, singing with the birds, connecting with friends and family across the globe, bingeing on Netflix, firing up the barbeque season, and of course, napping here and there. No routine, no restrictions, no structured life. On the first day of our ‘staycation’, all our dreams were blown away and scattered amidst the sprouting grass. My husb...