* * * * *   Bar La Catapa, Calle Menorca, 14, Madrid (Zona Retiro).  Phone: 686 14 38 23. "Today we have tripe with garbanzos" on the blackboard and "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" - - Benjamin Franklin, inscribed on a post at Bar La Catapa, Calle Menorca, 14, Madrid (Zona Retiro).  Phone: 686 14 38 23.  La Catapa is rated as one of the top gastrobars in Madrid ..read more

* * * * *  Note: I just returned from a 3,500 kms. trip in October 2022 around Spain, half of which was in areas we will be visiting.  I have added some very attractive features to this itinerary.   (Note on COVID: My prediction is that the COVID spike currently in Spain will pass right after September 1, when all the millions of tourists go home.  Spain's population usually doubles in ..read more

 * * * * *  Omnium Sanctorum church on calle Feria, Sevilla by Gerry Dawes©2021 The Church of Omnium Sanctorum has a La Giralda-like Mudéjar tower which originally may have been the minaret of a mosque that once stood here, and a multi-archivolted Gothic doorway, both of which, despite their seemingly diverse religious origens, make it one of the most distinguished of the Gótico-Mudéjar churches ..read more

* * * * * “It was amazing champagne.”  Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises Hemingway was a great lover of Champagne and he often referred to it in his writing.  In The Sun Also Rises, three of Hemingway’s characters - - the free-spending, Champagne-loving Count Mippipopolous, the protagonist Jake Barnes, and the unforgettable femme fatale Lady Brett - - polish off three bottles of ..read more

* * * * * Patxaran (from the Basque paitar (liquor) and aran ("sloe"), called pacharán in Castilian Spanish, the red sloeberry anís made by macerating arándanos, or endrinas, (sloeberries) from the blackthorn shrub in fine anisette spirits for several months (one part fresh sloeberries to three parts anisette).   Patxaran Navarro is controlled by an official denominación de origen, or ..read more

 * * * * *  San Marcos.  When I entered Sevilla for the first time in 1968 via La Puerta de la Macarena, once the main northern entrance to city, I followed calle San Luis, which corresponds to northern section of the ancient cardo máximo, the main north-south street of Roman Hispalis, which would later be the main street of Islamic Ishbiliya. Along calle San Luis, after San Gil and Santa Marina ..read more

 * * * * *  Iglesia de Santa Marina, Sevilla.<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ..read more

 * * * * *   <!--[if gte mso 9]> Gerry Dawes 16.00 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ..read more

 * * * * *    Gerry Dawes in 2021 standing at La Puerta (El Arco) de la Macarena, the gate through which he first entered Sevilla in 1968, quite by accident, the same entry point used by numerous Spanish Kings on their first visit to Sevilla. <!--[if !mso]> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML ..read more

 * * * * *   Gerry Dawes, Road Warrior, El Arco de la Macarena, Sevilla, June 2021.   El Arco de la Macarena, Sevilla.   Since my first entry into Sevilla through El Arco (or La Puerta) de la Macarena in 1968, I have gone back to retrace my steps partially, in April 2016 and again in June 2021 and April 2022, always beginning with breakfast in Bar Plata, one of my favorite places in Sevilla.  I ..read more