Puerta del Sol Blog: Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture

Minerva Mirabal

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:09:38 PDT

“It’s surreal, isn’t it?” Kristina, one of the organizers of the Chimenea de Villaverde Latin American film festival, told me a few weeks ago. She was referring to the fact that the festival takes...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Spain 0, Russia 3

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:23:59 PDT

For weeks, people have been saying that the dream must come to an end, and now it has. The Spanish soccer team, famous for reaching the quarter-final stage of major competitions, made it one step...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Big Brother

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:15:06 PST

"1. 'debate' - 1 a formal discussion, often in front of an audience, in which two or more people put forward opposing views on a particular subject. 2 any general discussion on a subject, not...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Photoclima

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 14:25:30 PST

Photoclima is one book which the Spanish Tourist Board will be hoping doesn't make the bestseller lists this Christmas. Published by Greenpeace, it features digitally altered images of what...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Spanish Reading Matters/Tricky Gypsies/5 Films

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:25:41 PDT

A great link to the Guardian's website today. Something for everyone in there, and it's good to see that people are sceptical about the claims made for Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Also good to see Barea's...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Little Angels

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:06:49 PDT

As I sit here typing this, at 10.30 at night, the sound of children playing comes up through the open window from the park below. Fifteen minutes ago, I was on my way home and the play area just down...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

¿Estás hablando conmigo?

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:54:45 PDT

Cab-catching in Spanish cities can be a minefield for the unwary, with pitfalls ranging from being overcharged to having to listen to extended harangues on the sorry state of the nation whilst...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

La Picaresca

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:00:44 PDT

Years of living abroad can give you a kind of split personality. Part of me is now Spanish, I suppose, and I’m most aware of it when I’m back in England and contemplating the idea of leaving the...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Customer Service

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 08:43:13 PDT

England: Just got back from two weeks in England. The local chemists has a sign on their wall saying that if we feel we haven't received our prescription medicine fast enough, then we should mention...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

PdS XIV, 2

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 19:02:40 PDT

Puerta del Sol XIV, 2 is coming soon to a letterbox near you. It includes this: "Los Picapiedra was the Spanish name for the 1960s cartoon family The Flintstones, which, among other firsts, was the...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Sex Lives of the Royals

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:09:14 PDT

The popular satirical magazine El Jueves has had it latest issue confiscated for publishing an offensive cartoon of the Prince and Princess of Asturias on its cover (I'm showing a less striking image...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Pamplona

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:04:54 PDT

They do have a certain morbid fascination, and I did watch them on live TV every morning last week at the bar where I have breakfast, but you'd probably think twice about taking your 10-year old son...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Sylvia's City

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 08:29:24 PDT

This unassuming-looking gent is one of Spain's finest film directors, José Luis Guerín, who made 2001's magnificent documentary En construcción - all human life was there. Now, and this is another...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Parking Fines

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 13:25:14 PDT

Many people in Madrid are less than thrilled with the gangs of traffic wardens who now do the rounds, giving out fines to raise money for the M30 roadworks which have plunged the city into debt for...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.

Seven New Wonders

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:53:13 PDT

Voting ends in two hours for the "exercise is global democracy" that means we can vote for the Seven New Wonders of the World. It's looking as though the Alhambra (stunningly photographed above)...

Puerta del Sol Blog - Reflections on Life in Spain and Spanish Culture, from writer and journalist Jonathan Holland. Visit the website to discover more.