Skip to main content

Featured Posts

Ruta Bancos Gigantes or Huge Bench Route in Andalucia

A new rage is slowly spreading across Andalucia with its beginnings in the province of Malaga and that is huge benches are being installed in beauty spots across the region. The Huge Bench Route or  Ruta Bancos Gigantes #rutabancosgigantes can be found on Instagram  where they are more active with updates on the new installations of these enormous benches and they have a   Facebook  page too. Map of the Ruta Bancos Gigantes The initiative started by Forest Green an agrobroker company that supplies and works with treated wood to large construction and environmental companies in Spain. The huge bench route is steadily growing, with constant new installations spreading across Andalucia. The enormous handmade wooden benches are 4 metre long and 2.3 metre high, with the seat being 1.3 metres above ground and needing steps to get onto them, appearing in natural beauty spots hopes to encourage people out into and  enjoy the views and of course take photos to be ...
Read more

Spanish Recognitions - The Roads to the Present


"To be alone by choice is one of the great luxuries of the world. I went to Spain alone."

Mary Lee Settle,  Spanish Recognitions - The Roads to the Present


I was instantly smitten by this book.

At 82 years old, Mary Lee Settle flew into Madrid, hired a car and started exploring Spain.  She followed the path of the Moorish conquest across Spain then the Christian reconquest southwards.

She talks about times and wars I knew little about  but to her were memories, and as someone who knew  young Americans who came to Spain to fight battles that were not their own.

As a traveller and historian Settle's experience was charming and thought provoking and at the same time her story telling is compelling as she unwinds Spanish history through her journey and invites more research into the events she only touches on.

When I finished the book, although sad that it had ended, my knowledge of Spain was a little deeper and my want to learn more of its history even greater. She's had many reviews debating her historical accuracy but I loved the book. Not just the roaming and history, valor and challenge but the way she writes grabbed me from the first line and continued throughout the journey.


Mary Lee Settle:

".... I had all day to roam ....... How can you know ahead what you are going to see, find, lose, discover any more than who you are going to fall in love with the day after tomorrow?"

Settle didn't speak Spanish, which I thought perhaps hindered her trip and understanding but another of her quotes set me straight:

 "To be a stranger in a strange land, as travellers have been for centuries, is to keep astonishment alive, see as a child sees, retain one's awe, astonishment, and wonder."

And as I'm thinking that awe and wonder has paled in my travels this quote brings me up sharp and reminds me where I need to revisit and soon.

"If you cannot relearn wonder again at the Alhambra, you may as well stay at home and die."


Add caption


Popular Posts