Our final visitors to Spain Well, there isn't long left before we leave the land of sun, sangria and siestas...but there was still time for another set of visitors in early June. Cue the arrival of Phil and Lisa - two dear old mates from Leeds. When we lived in Leeds we could oft be found nursing a pint in The Angel with these two and they clearly missed it, as they booked a flight to visit for an extended weekend - Wednesday to Sunday... Up until the weekend we met up with them - they stayed in a hotel near the centre - in snippets due to work. 1st I met them Wednesday night (taking them on a speedy walking tour of the main central attractions) ...Kate met us later...then Kate met them for lunch ... read more

Rach and Abi hit Madrid It's funny how things turn out isn't it? At this time of year, back in 2000, I was just finishing a promising degree in zoology (if degrees in zoology are ever that promising..) from Sheffield University and about to embark on a career as an academic scientist at the University of Liverpool. If all had gone to plan, around about now, I'd be a household name in the realm of host-parasite interactions and evolutionary arms races and my name would be the 1st to spring to mind whenever anyone thought of creepy-crawlies (everyone needs a dream). Alas, it wasn't meant to be it seems, as here I am, sat in a shared flat in Madrid and working as an English teacher. Nonetheless, the degree wasn't wasted. I now have a solid ... read more

Kate: Hola! Que tal? It's been a while since we did a Madrid blog, so we thought we'd update you on what we have been up to in the city, apart from teaching people to speak the lingo, obviously.... Kate and Kris try to appreciate art..... We have been increasing our knowledge of art by visiting another of Madrid's famous art museums, the Thyssen-Bornemisza. It's a private collection and contains works of art from different eras; medieval, renaissance, baroque, modern.....It's all in chronological order over three floors, the top one being the older stuff, including the religious paintings by the likes of Caravaggio, El Grego etc. that you get in the Prado museum. The middle floor has still lifes and landscapes as well as Impressionist paintings by Monet and Manet etc. The top floor is ... read more

Kate After our blogs on Easter in Granada, you may be wondering if we actually saw any of the famous Andalusian Easter processions that we went all that way to experience....Well, yes, we did... We wanted to keep all the procession photos for a separate blog, so we wrote the previous two, and then simply forgot to write the next one. But fear not, I have remembered. Here it is: Processions in Granada We didn't know when or where the processions would happen in Granada. We didn't have a timetable or anything, so we were just hoping we would bump into one. Turned out we didn't have to worry. On the first full day in Granada, Palm Sunday, we were wandering around by the cathedral when we were stopped by a huge crowd of people outside. ... read more

Semana Santa - not a Button's egg in sight KATE This week is Spanish Semana Santa otherwise known in English as Holy week. Here the holiday is the week before the U.K, from Palm Sunday until Easter Sunday. Spain being a traditionally Catholic country means that Easter is a big deal here. There's none of the chocolate eggs, easter bonnet competitions and decorating eggs theme that there is in the U.K, followed by the traditional drunken bank holiday weekend. Instead there are religious processions to celebrate Easter throughout Spain, but the most impressive of these is apparently in Andalusia, in the South. Here parades of people in outfits very similar to those worn by the Klu Klux Klan accompany teams of men carrying huge sculptures of Jesus and Mary through the streets to the sounds ... read more