Aubergines and Old Lace

I am sure that many of you, upon reading the title of this post, immediately associated it with Arsenic and Old Lace, a play by Joseph Kesselring, better known by the film adaptation directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant. You would be right, although the setting is not Brooklyn but the city of Almagro in Spain. Almagro is in the province of Ciudad Real, in the region of La Mancha, known for, amongst other things, its pickled aubergines and "encaje de bolillos" or bobbin lace, which was a large industry here until the 18th Century. The city was the birthplace of Diego de Almagro in 1475, who was to become one of the Conquistadores that was involved in the conquest of Peru. He was also in Panama, as was Teddy Brewster in Kesselring´s play (or at least he thought he was). Diego de Almagro was involved in various conspiracies and was killed in Cuzco, though not by arsenic. His servant took the body and buried it under a church in Cuzco, much like all the bodies that the Brewster sisters, in the play, buried in their cellar.
At the centre of the historic quarter of Almagro is its Plaza Mayor, the main square with its Tuscan columns and rows of windows. The square also houses the Corral de Comedias, a theatre dating back to the 17th Century that maintains its original structure and which is still putting on plays. In fact, every year the city is host to the  Almagro Festival of Classical Theatre. The importance of Almagro in the 16th Century is also evidenced by the large number of palaces, monasteries, convents and churches. One of such convents, the 16th Century convent of San Francisco, now houses the Parador de Almagro, which is a good option if you are planning to stay overnight. The local culinary specialties besides the aubergines, which you can buy homemade in a shop two streets down from the Parador, called Morris are the "pisto manchego", a kind of ratatouille (but much nicer) which is sometimes served with a fried egg on top; "duelos y quebrantos" which is scrambled eggs with local charcuterie products; and the "Manchego" cheese.

In a place in La Mancha, whose name I don´t want to remember

You would be right to associate the title of this post with the opening sentence of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Even if you dont wish to emulate Don Quixote by becoming a knight and going around the world with your weapons and horse seeking adventures and solving all manner of conflicts, you may wish to visit some of the places where he sought his adventures. Although there are quite a number of routes you can follow, in this trip we just visited the villages of El Toboso, to visit the home of Dulcinea and of Campo de Criptana to visit the "giants" that Don Quixote fought and that are still standing. You could make this a day trip from Madrid, but I suggest you take a bit longer and, maybe, follow a route staying in one of the Paradores.

A glorious luminary in Madrid

If you happen to be in Madrid and you are attracted to the paintings of William Blake, you have the chance to visit an exhibition at CaixaForum, showing around 100 works on loan from the Tate Britain, which runs until the 21st of October. In 1890, George Bell & Sons of London, published the book "The poetical works of William Blake, Lyrical and Miscellaneous." The preface was written by William Michael Rossetti, brother of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and it was he who referred to Blake as a "glorious luminary". The inside cover of the book also quotes a poem by Shelley:

"He wanders, like a day-appearing dream,
Through the dim wildernesses of the mind"

With recommendations like these, who could miss the chance of admiring the works of William Blake.

  

A room with a view

Not the one in the novel by  E.M. Forster, but the one we stayed in recently at the Gran Hotel Elba Estepona and Thalasso Spa in Estepona (Málaga). The hotel is a very good option if you want to relax on the beach and the staff are very friendly. The rooms are spacious and all have sea views, and although the beach is narrow and with stones, it is not crowded. Enjoy!

Hemingway was here and Orson Welles still is

Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles spent a number of summers in the city of Ronda in Malaga. Both were drawn to bullfighting and in 1987, two years after Welles died, his ashes were buried in the country estate of his bullfighter friend Antonio Ordoñez, just outside Ronda.
The location of Ronda is, in itself, one of it´s main attractions. The city is perched on a ridge with a drop of around 100 metres and the canyon is known as el Tajo. The old part of town is joined to the new part of town by the Puente Nuevo (the New Bridge). Just by the bridge is the Parador, housed in the former Town Hall dating back to 1781. Even if you are not staying there, it is worth having lunch or a drink with great views. The bullfighting ring which is around the corner from the Parador is the oldest in Spain, built in 1784. The house of San Juan Bosco, so called because it was donated to the Salesian religious order by the owners, is worth a visit.

 

Madrid skyline

Pictures of Madrid skyline and the answer to the quiz in twitter.

The other Santiago and the other woman

Santiago de Chile was named after Santiago, the patron Saint of Spain, by Pedro de Valdivia and the "other" woman, Inés Suárez with whom he had an extramarital relationship. But rather than reading their quite remarkable story from me, I would recommend you read the novel by Isabel Allende, Inés del alma mía (Inés of my soul) - she writes better than I do and was also related to the President of Chile, Salvador Allende.

Santiago is different from other Latin American cities. Even though it can become quite lively, as you can experience in the rowdy bars of Bellavista, on the whole I found it to be a relatively tranquil place, especially if you wander around the upmarket Las Condes district, where you can also find an open air antiques market in Plaza Peru every Sunday. It is also quite easy to get around and the underground is clean and efficient.

Visit the Cathedral; the sadly famous Palacio de la Moneda, bombed by General Pinochet during his coup d'état and where Salvador Allende died; the central market; the Cerro San Cristobal - a hill dominated by a large statue of the Virgin Mary; the Cerro Santa Lucia, where Pedro de Valdivia was pinned down by the native indians for 2 years; and the home of the poet Pablo Neruda called "La Chascona" the nickname of his lover at the time. Another site that you will not easily forget is the closeness and the immensity of the Andes.

Going up Cerro San Cristobal

La Chascona- House of Pablo Neruda

View from Cerro Santa Lucia

View of the Andes from shopping mall of  Las Condes

The town of Mystics and of someone who was played by Mel Brooks and Monty Python

The mystics were Saint Teresa and Saint John of the Cross; the other was Torquemada, the first Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, and the town is Ávila. St. Teresa and St. John were both born in Ávila and Torquemada, famously played by Mel Brooks in History of the World, Part I and by Monty Python in one of their sketches, died there. There is an even weirder relationship between St. Teresa and Torquemada. The grandfather of St. Teresa was a converted Jew who was accused by the Spanish Inquisition of re-embracing his faith and was condemned to walk in procession, together with other condemned, wearing what was known as a sambenito.
The historical centre of Ávila is small and pleasant. The town is best known for being the birthplace of St. Teresa and for its medieval Walls that span 2.5 Kms. encircling the town.
A good option to stay in Ávila is the Parador, set in a restored 16th Century Palace, adjacent to the Wall and with a very pleasant garden and where you can also savour the local food, famously, the Chuletón de Ávila if you like meat and the sweet Yemas de Santa Teresa.