Real Spain

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markwilding
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Re: Real Spain

Postby markwilding » Wed Aug 23, 2017 4:14 pm

Eating a bunch of Montaditos while watching a football match in a bar.
Having a bbq in late summer up in the mountains, no problem with risk of fires up here.
Going to free concerts at the fiestas.
Long lazy summers.

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firsttango
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Re: Real Spain

Postby firsttango » Wed Aug 23, 2017 4:23 pm

Great thanks Sid. The Paella pic is just an image sent to me by a friend who is a total Spanish foodie and lives in Vilamarxant in Valencia as an enticement to visit as he knows my love of the dish. He has two younger brothers the youngest being a "Sir" Riki was always the black sheep of the family :lol: Check out his FB page.
https://www.facebook.com/riki.wigley/ph ... friends_tl

Yes a bullfight in Seville is as authentic as it gets.......also a rustic meal in an old converted Windmill in Castilla-La Mancha region is quite memorable.
Hope you post a pic, the pic below is from the Restaurant La Barraca on Playa Cantarrijan....Bickerstaff the sheep travels everywhere with us to this day lol.
Image

BENIDORM
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Re: Real Spain

Postby BENIDORM » Wed Aug 23, 2017 4:43 pm

Firsttango,
Thank you, and I'm surprised anyone noticed my absence...
I had applied to join a Monastery and was contemplating taking vows of silence....but changed my mind.. :D

As for your good idea of first thoughts -memories of Spain..
Well mine has to be when as a young teenager visiting La Linea I had too much to drink and mixed beer and red wine and was taken by 3 pretty Senoritas to their Abuelas house to sober me up, the old lady told me off, but hugged me when I left ..some hours later.
My mates took a photo of me 'throwing up' outside the bar, but I don't think that would be the correct image to post here . :oops:
Regards,
Gordon

markwilding
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Re: Real Spain

Postby markwilding » Wed Aug 23, 2017 4:56 pm

I love driving out of moutains of the Basque Country and being able to see flat plains of Castilla for miles or just as nice driving through the the mountains on the Castilla-La Mancha Andalucia border into the rolling hills of Northern Andalucia and the seeing all the olive groves. I never get tired of the views.

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firsttango
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Re: Real Spain

Postby firsttango » Wed Aug 23, 2017 5:02 pm

BENIDORM wrote: Well mine has to be when as a young teenager visiting La Linea I had too much to drink and mixed beer and red wine and was taken by 3 pretty Senoritas to their Abuelas house to sober me up, the old lady told me off, but hugged me when I left ..some hours later.
Regards,
Gordon
Even the Abuelas start to look pretty after an overindulgence of Red Wine and Beer :lol:

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costakid
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Re: Real Spain

Postby costakid » Wed Aug 23, 2017 10:41 pm

Thats the first Paella that looks equal to the one my wife makes.

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firsttango
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Re: Real Spain

Postby firsttango » Wed Aug 23, 2017 10:48 pm

What time should we arrive on Sunday :thumbup:

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Wicksey
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Re: Real Spain

Postby Wicksey » Thu Aug 24, 2017 11:12 am

Having travelled through Spain to France quite a few times, we couldn't stop as we had our cats on board, but we have booked to stay in a campo house on the edge of the Toledo mountains which we are really looking forward to. When we drove that way Ioved the high plains and what I call Don Quixote country with the windmills, so I am really looking forward to our stay there and exploring a different area.

I think a lot of people's idea of Spain is the flamenco and paella but when you live here and travel around you find the country is very different. The various regions like Galicia , Basque or Catalunya with their own language, seem like different countries altogether to me.

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costakid
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Re: Real Spain

Postby costakid » Thu Aug 24, 2017 7:16 pm

True, The Galicia region with some of the buildings around the Boiro area is more like Switzerland than Spain. The seafood is the best also.

markwilding
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Re: Real Spain

Postby markwilding » Thu Aug 24, 2017 8:10 pm

The Basque Country has San Sesbatian for great food. Beautiful fishing villages and beaches that extend all the way to Galicia. To the south The Rioja region and the to east Navarra for vinyards and bodegas. Basque villages with caserios, houses unique to this area.
Pampalona for the running of the bulls is only just over 100kms( Going tomorrow). Even Bilbao, which has gone throgh a massive transformation since my first visit in the early eighties, is worth a visit if only to visit the Guggenheim and the old town for Pintxos

BENIDORM
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Re: Real Spain

Postby BENIDORM » Thu Aug 24, 2017 9:52 pm

As I mentioned previously it is my belief that Real Spain is everywhere in Spain.
However it does come in many 'Flavours'....throughout Spain the evidence of the many different peoples origins and cultures who have inhabited the Iberian Peninsular is very apparent.
In Andalucia, particularly inland , you can see the evidence everywhere of Arabic/North African culture, not only with the architecture but by studying different individuals, for instance the shape of the skull and body shape and size, it can actually denote the origins of the person.
Also in Andalucia it is believed that the Neanderthals survived longer than anywhere else,and I think that some still survive in our village. :D
In the Northern regions of Spain the people and cultures are quite different from the South, for instance the inhabitants of Galicia have Celtic origins and yes they even play bagpipes !
The Basques are quite different, they are not Spanish or French..they are Basques and my theory is that they have Central European origins.
The Roman Empire architecture and influences are apparent throughout Spain and probably they are responsible for more cultural influences etc in Spain than any other race.....Just my own theories...
Some years ago I was asked to give a sample of my blood for DNA testing , for a programme produced by the BBC, called the Blood of the Vikings and eventually they sent me a 'map' showing where my DNA was most noted..UK & Denmark and ...Andalucia.....So probably that is why I feel so at home here.....
I could bore you all with reams of my theories about Spanish history, but I will spare you.... :oops:
Regards,
Gordon the Viking... :lol:

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gerryh
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Re: Real Spain

Postby gerryh » Thu Aug 24, 2017 10:05 pm

Gordon I don't think you could ever bore us with your writings.
Keep them coming.
Cheers
Gerry
Gerry Harris

BENIDORM
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Re: Real Spain

Postby BENIDORM » Fri Aug 25, 2017 10:10 am

Gerry,
Thank you for your kind and gracious comments, much appreciated. :thumbup:

Regards,
Gordon.

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Re: Real Spain

Postby Gasman » Fri Aug 25, 2017 12:31 pm

I agree with GerryH - keep em coming Benidorm!

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costakid
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Re: Real Spain

Postby costakid » Fri Aug 25, 2017 12:54 pm

good stuff Gordon.

Manchesteral
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Re: Real Spain

Postby Manchesteral » Fri Sep 01, 2017 11:30 pm

I lived off and on for two years in Calahonda, Mijas Costa, the place God forgot, at that time 25 years ago I was in transitional period of my life, looking back it was a complete fallacy, Calahonda and Banus was like walking onto the set of Coronation st or Eastenders and it's even worse now.
The real Spain (in my opinion) is to be found in places such as Toledo, Pontevedra or Cordoba.
I do not consider places such as Bilboa to be part of Spain as the inhabitants of the Basque region do not consider themselves Spanish, you can go to the interior of Andalucia and see something of traditional Spain but it's not to be found on the Costas !!

markwilding
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Re: Real Spain

Postby markwilding » Sat Sep 02, 2017 12:43 am

:wtf: My wife is who is Basque was extremely surprised to know she might not be Spanish. :lolno:

The fact of the matter, opinion cannot supercede facts. it is an autonomous community of Spain.

The real Spain is not limited to the places you mention but to all corners of the country where people get up go to work, school or university, go to a bar for a coffee and a Tapas or pintxo, have lunch and later go out for a drink before going home for dinner. Cuturally, it is diverse but there are many parts of the culture and life that link them all together as well and yes, in a couple of regions some people believe themselves not to be Spanish. However, the general concesus is that they are still in the minority.
Last edited by markwilding on Sat Sep 02, 2017 12:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Flexo
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Re: Real Spain

Postby Flexo » Sat Sep 02, 2017 8:48 am

I have noticed that the spaniards tend to be quite dismissive towards the basques, but it is the only part of Spain that didn't get conquered by the muslims, so in a way it is the oldest part of Spain (the first spanish kingdom).

Miro
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Re: Real Spain

Postby Miro » Sat Sep 02, 2017 10:44 am

I've tried to resist sticking my oar in on this one, since it's a contentious subject and all, as Mark points out, just a matter of opinion, but for what it's worth.....
Manchesteral wrote: I do not consider places such as Bilboa to be part of Spain as the inhabitants of the Basque region do not consider themselves Spanish, you can go to the interior of Andalucia and see something of traditional Spain but it's not to be found on the Costas !!
I find that strange, since (IMHO) the "culture" (the definition of which is a matter of opinion too) of Andalucia has more in common with that of Morocco than, say, Madrid. And going by Mark's (quite accurate, I would say) definition of the Real Spain as somewhere "people get up, go to work, school or university, go to a bar for a coffee and a Tapas" etc. etc,...well, I swear I've seen local people do those kind of things even in Banús & Benidorm. :think:

The Real Spain? As Gordon says, there's no such thing, and at the same time everywhere in Spain is "real". Why have I only ever heard such a phrase applied to Spain? I've never, ever heard anyone talk about the "real" England, or the "real" America, for example. At the risk of getting shot down in a torrent of abuse (and possibly edited by the mods), personally I find it's a phrase used by expats who bought property, probably illegally built, in some fly-blown God-forsaken inland village miles from anywhere...because they couldn't afford to buy on the coast. There, I've said it :wink:
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

BENIDORM
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Re: Real Spain

Postby BENIDORM » Sat Sep 02, 2017 12:26 pm

Well ..of course if you were born in Spain then you are Spanish, same as if you were born in England ..you are English and so on.
But the origins of people of Spain etc...well that is an entirely different issue.

From my observations and lifelong studies I have come to the conclusion that most of the human race are very tribal and will usually defend their birthplace fiercely.
But also communities become divided, usually by politics and religion and little ghettos form, so as I've mentioned earlier, no such thing as 'Real Spain', it's basically the same everywhere.
I've just been listening to two locals arguing about which is the best football club, Madrid or Barcelona, really passionate argument and turns out that one comes from a Madrid family and the other Barcelona, so there you go....tribal.

As for Miro's idea that most Brits buy inland because they can't afford to buy at the coast, well that may be true in some cases, but certainly not in mine, we moved inland because we wanted to experience something different to the coastal tourist culture , in which we have lived and worked in for many years.(in 3 different countries ).
And after some initial doubts we both feel that we did the 'right thing', and we enjoy the relaxed lifestyle and friendly and caring nature of the locals.
However I can understand why someone would want to move for a cheap price to a house in the country surrounded with acres of land after perhaps living in a highly populated street in a busy town etc.
And of course most ,after a short time, realise that it wasn't really such a good idea.!

Anyway, wherever you are at this moment I hope that you are enjoying and making the most of your lives.
Regards,
Gordon


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