A lot of people tend to see graffiti as a negative thing, as a form of pollution, something which damages or defaces our world. In Spain graffiti is an expression, a form of art, as Rosie Khdir finds out more…

As you walk down a beautiful old cobbled street in a Spanish town filled with century old buildings, it does tend to fill you with sadness when you see a spray painted word scrawled across an immaculate wall.

Northern Spain is rife with these marks, either to mark territory or to send a politically fuelled message, but recently graffiteros have been brightening up Spanish towns.

Many Southern Spanish municipalities have decided to hire such modern street artists to liven up their towns and adorn the city’s dull buildings with their colourful artwork.

This new craze has also moved to the north of the country where you can see ugly concrete walls transformed into canvases for surrealist art. Spanish artists, such as Ler, have been creating beautiful murals which are more pleasing to the eye than your average crew signature or political outcry.

Ler has taken his art all over the Europe but he is based in León and has been commissioned to decorate a number of buildings all over Spain. His commissioned pieces this year included decorating the wall of a nursery in Madrid and a high school in León.

All over Europe, people have begun to recognise graffiti as a modern art form instead of a nuisance or and authorities in Spain are now embracing it and making it a part of their society.

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Image credit: Pilar Ponte

Tags: Lifestyle, P&O Ferries, Spain by Rosie Khdir
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Tomas Mowlam looks at a novel new way to get to know rural Spain.

A free holiday in a beautiful rustic area of Spain sounds too good to be true, so what’s the catch?

The only one is that you have to talk, a lot. Run from several villages in Spain, the Pueblo Ingles program aims to give Spanish business people “intensive exposure to raw English and to authentic and impulsive conversation”.

Pueblo Ingles want you the humble English speaking public, to chat in exclusively English with Spanish participants, on a subject that is dear to you. Pueblo Ingles say “it could be anything from a presentation on martial arts, to a summary of evolutionary biology, or a tale of a close encounter with a hungry crocodile.”

The theory behind the program is that immersion in a language, in this case English, forces people to learn quicker and stop thinking in their native tongue because mental translation slows down conversation.
The seven day program is free and accommodation and food is provided, though you have to pay your own way to Spain.

That is far from a chore however when the programs take place in surroundings such as Valdevilla, a tiny highland village, just south of the La Rioja wine country. It dates back to the 18th century, with twelve rustic cottages looking out over the beautiful countryside. A second site La Alberca is surrounded by four mountain ranges, and the village of 1,200 people still has much of its original mediaeval architecture.

The program is more than just a working holiday however; it provides a chance to get a deeper understanding of Spain, without needing to speak Spanish, and make some real friends amongst amazing surroundings.

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Image Credit: Josean Prado

Tags: Lifestyle, Spain by tmowlam
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Northern Spain harbours some of humanity’s earliest examples of accomplished art. Rosie Khdir takes a journey back to the Stone Age.

Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola was a lawyer with an insatiable intellectual curiosity. It was this curiosity that led him to discover the infamous Palaeolithic paintings in the cave of Altamira in Cantabria.

In 1879, Sautuola was digging in the Altamira cave after discovering small bones, shells and drawings there four years before. His young daughter Maria, who was with him at the time, wandered a little further inside the cave and said she had seen pictures of oxen.

Sautuola who has studied prehistoric art in depth, immediately recognized these paintings, actually of bison, as prehistoric creations dating back to the Palaeolithic era of the Old Stone Age.

After years of fighting against the ‘elite’ of French pre-historians about the age and origin of these pieces of artwork, Sautuola’s discovery was finally validated using a modern dating technique 14 years after his death in 1888.

Since then the cave has become a National Monument and a UNESCO World Heritage site with its own trust and museum. The Museo de Altamira is only 2 km from the village of Santillana Del Mar, only and an hour and half from the port of Bilbao.

The exhibition is based around two main areas the “New Altamira Cave” and “The Times of Altamira” which includes a reconstruction of a Palaeolithic camp, a bear pit and the Chamber of Paintings. The “New Cave”, a reproduction of the original, offers visitors a look at the monument from 14,000 years ago.

These paintings are extraordinary and show us that even cavemen appreciated a pretty picture! The colours and detail of the bison, boar and doe featured in the cave is unbelievable, and the exhibition at the museum helps you understand how such art was possible in such a time.

The cave itself is currently in what scientists call a karst system which means the process of natural degradation is aggravating its structure. The cave itself is currently closed to tourists as a team from the Higher Council of Scientific Research and the Spanish Historical Heritage Institute try to establish a method of conservation.

For more information on opening times and the exhibition itself visit the official Museo De Altamira website.

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Image credit: Ramessos

Tags: History, P&O Ferries, Spain by Rosie Khdir
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Cradled between the waves of the Atlantic and Bay of Biscay you will find a land filled with unbelievable natural beauty. Rosie Khdir explores the natural wonders of Green Spain.

The regions of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country boast some of the most diverse landscapes in Europe, and are the perfect places for those of you who love the great outdoors.

Their salt-water rivers, endless forests, almost tropical beaches and rugged mountains are just begging to be explored and one of the best ways to do this is on foot. The old railway lines, cattle trails and Roman roads provide perfect hiking routes and there are some great spots for bird watching. There are visitor centres on all the reserves where you can get an itinerary designed to suit you.

In the Asturias region you can venture through nature reserves such as Somiedo which has the largest population of brown bears in Europe, or visit the Fuentes del Narcea, with one of Europe’s largest oak forests.

Green Spain is also riddled with stunning parks and gardens, most of which are open for public viewing, and are often connected to marvelous old country houses and manors.

La Florida is a particularly nice park situated in the city of Vitoria in the Basque Country. In the summer time this garden, reminiscent of those created in 19th century England, becomes a hot bed for music concerts, while in the winter it transforms into a huge nativity scene.

If it is the sea air you crave then you are certainly spoilt for choice in this part of the world. From the still waters of Barro to the well protected cove of Moràs, you will see a land of diversity, where white sandy beaches are framed by dark rocky mountains.

One reservation that is definitely worth the six hour drive from Bilbao, is the National Park of Atlantic Islands. These are situated between the estuaries of Vigo, Pontevedra and Arousa in the Galicia region and even contain a pre-Roman settlement.

This group of four islands is home to 200 species of different animals including turtles, dolphins, seals, whales and numerous colonies of seagulls. There is restricted access to these islands from Vigo, Baiona and Cangas and only a maximum of 2,200 people can visit per day.

All you would need is to look at the images of places in Green Spain and you’ll be booking your ferry in no time. Visit www.spain.info for a sneaky peak.

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Image credit: rover0

Tags: Lifestyle, P&O Ferries, Spain by Rosie Khdir
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As Halloween approaches and people begin to plan their parties, all of San Sebastian prepare for the ultimate spooky celebration. Rosie Khdir discovers this Spanish city’s Fantasy and Horror Film Festival.

If you like the adrenalin rush of being scared out of your wits then this could be the festival for you as the Semana de Cine Fantástico y de Terror is sure to be full of frights.

Originally set up by the San Sebastian Municipal Board of Culture twenty years ago, the festival was designed to get the youth interested in the horror genre and now attracts audiences of all ages. This is a week filled with street shows, music, comedy performances, exhibitions as well as a variety of horror movies shown at different venues around the city.

This festival also holds competitions for short films including the Audience Award which carries a prize of €6,000. Other awards go out for International Jury Prizes, the Youth Jury Prize and the Nomination for the Golden Méliès for Best European Fantastic Short Film. These films will be no longer than 30 minutes and must be on the subject of fantasy or horror.

The festival also organises showings of various publications on both a national and international basis including a special issue of the fanzine 2000 Maníacos.

The Fantasy and Horror Film Festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Basque Government, Kuxta and Calle 13 as well as other public and private companies. It is a great event for film lovers and is the perfect way to celebrate Halloween.

The festival runs from the 20th October until the 4th November and is only about an hour’s drive from Bilbao!

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Image credit: Rain Rannu

Tags: Lifestyle, P&O Ferries, Spain by Rosie Khdir
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There is something fishy going on in Galicia, and it’s attracting hundreds of thousands of seafood lovers. Rosie Khdir discovers the Fiesta de Exaltación del Marisco.

A seaside town promoting its array of fresh fish may seem like a cliché to most, but O Grove in the Galicia region of Spain really has something to boast about this autumn.

October in O Grove means one thing, seafood, and lots of it. Fish lovers from all over Europe flock to this small and picturesque seaside town to showcase their finest stock and over 220,000 visitors every year are more than happy to sample it.

For two weeks this month O Grove is filled with booths, stalls, information stands and contests, all centering around this fishy theme.

Visitors are entertained by live seafood sculptures, folk dancing, seafood sports and music, not to mention as much seafood as you can eat. The marquee-lined port hosts a number of competitions including that for best mussels and turbot and there is even the chance to win a goodie bag filled with mussels, crab and the catch of the day!

Galicia is the perfect region to find the very best seafood, with its extensive coast line and estuaries where you’ll find hake, sea-bass, turbot and sole to name but a few. The region is also famous for its selection of shellfish; you name it and Galicia probably has it in its waters. There is even a festival in December devoted entirely to the spider crab!

Octopus is a year-round delicacy in Galicia and will surely be eaten at the O Grove seafood festival. It is most popularly served al feira, where it is chopped, boiled and seasoned with paprika, salt and olive oil.

Although it is a seafood festival, it isn’t all about food. Visitors can enjoy the Galician-Portuguese folklore dancing and the Celtic gaita music, which is native to Galicia, as well as the granite sculptures created for the annual International Symposium of Open-Air Sculpture, which runs alongside the festival.

So to warm up you winter why not try some seafood stews alongside O Grove’s beautiful coast. This festival is free and runs from 2nd-12th October. Opening hours are 11am-4.30pm & 7pm-11pm daily.

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Image credit: bensonkua

Tags: Lifestyle, Spain by Rosie Khdir
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October kicks off the winter holiday season with our favourite US import, Halloween. John Hillman tries to sum up attitudes to spookyness on the other side of the English Channel.

The UK is often accused of being too quick to ape the US. Whatever misadventure they embark on, be it food or foreign policy, we dive in with all the enthusiasm of a naive lovestruck schoolboy, as the rest of Europe looks on bemused.

But while surging obesity rates and dubious wars are just cause for our neighbours to tut disapprovingly and raise their eyebrows, at least we can say we have embraced some of the better things too.

Halloween is fast becoming one of the most popular holidays of the year. School kids love it because they get to dress up and extract sweets from their neighbours; Grown-ups just enjoy any excuse to get drunk in fancy dress – it really is a holiday for all ages.

In many parts of Europe people remain quite resistant to what they see as nothing more than a crass consumerist US-style marketing exercise. In France it is reasonably controversial amongst the more traditionalist elements, although the lure of rum punch, fake blood and fishnet stockings is proving hard to resist. Its popularity is growing year on year.

From what I can gather (correct me if I’m wrong) Belgium and Holland simply don’t have a clue when it comes to Halloween. Apparently there is something similar in Holland around the 12th November but it involves children singing politely at people’s doors in return for sweets, which sounds just horrible. I mean trick or song? I think most of us would happily take the dog poo through the letter box option over the 10 minute rendition of Dutch folk songs by the cute and cuddly brigade, eurgh!

My friend in Madrid informs me that in Spain they are embracing Halloween with all the gusto you would expect from Europe’s most ‘up-for-it’ party nation. The fact that November 01st is a public holiday certainly helps, so this is my top recommendation for anyone thinking of heading away for Halloween this year.

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For information about minicruises to Spain, including P&O’s Halloween themed minicruise to Bilbao, including fancy dress ball with one of Britain’s best live party bands, click here

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Image Credit: John Althouse Cohen

Tags: Belgium, Britain, France, Lifestyle, Netherlands, Spain by Gabriel Grant
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P&O Ferries has a lot of policies to decrease carbon emissions, pollution and waste; they also play an active role in marine conservation through a number of innovative partnerships. Murali Podila takes a look at who they are and what they do to help the seas we sail over.

P&O Ferries, as an industrial company, tries to play a major role in decreasing its environmental impact both on and off the sea. Examples of this include the sulphur scrubbers on board the Pride of Kent and a stringent attitude towards dumping waste and recycling.

Their role in marine conservation is no less active. P&O Ferries actively participates in the Biscay Dolphin Research Programme, Marine Conservation Seasearch and also assists the National Oceanographic Centre Southampton (NOCS) in their research.

The partnership with NOCS serves a very important purpose, as it undertakes vital scientific research into marine organisms, ecosystems and oceanic behaviour, particularly looking at the effects and behaviour of their currents.

Oceanography, or marine science, is an earth science that covers a vast number of topics such as Geochemistry, ocean biology, ecosystems and ocean currents and behaviour. The NOCS make use of the Pride of Bilbao by putting equipment on the ferry to measure properties of the ocean water such as temperature, salinity and the density of plankton.

The equipment used, a FerryBox, is an automated instrument that is filled with different sensors and analysers, providing a valid alternative to buoys, which are often both expensive and very high maintenance. The complexity of the instruments in the FerryBox is usually dependant on conditions in and around the ship. These measurements help scientist’s at NOCS learn more about the oceanic conditions and how they affect the wider environment.

The NOCS is a world renowned oceanographic research institute that achieved international recognition after its contribution towards understanding the ocean’s role in the global climate system, and continues to work closely with P&O Ferries as mankind struggles to meet the environmental challenges of the 21st Century.

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Image Credit:  State library and Archives of Florida

Tags: P&O Ferries, Science, Spain by Murali Podila
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