Spain
Strolling through the southern Spanish city of Sevilla on a sunny early spring day, the sweet smells of orange blossoms surround you as they waft through the air. These fragrant fruit trees flourish in the cobble-stoned streets and bring color to the beautiful Royal Alcázar of Seville.
You can barely see the roads within Lanzarote's Timanfaya National Park—and that's intentional. When local architect and artist César Manriche designed projects for Lanzarote, one of Spain’s eight Canary Islands, in the 1960s, he homed in on nature, with a clear aim to preserve the island’s landscapes.
Today, while most countries continue to honor New Year's Day on January 1st, each country's traditions couldn't be more different.
Discover what the Guaches – the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands – have known for centuries: Tenerife will enchant you. The Spanish island is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Teide National Park and the city of La Laguna. With a unique volcanic landscape and plant species seen nowhere else, the island is globally known as a stargazing destination.
Deep in Green Spain, on a quiet, residential street in Palas de Rei, a narrow stone block stands tall, engraved with a blue square and yellow seashell — the telltale sign of Spain’s Camino de Santiago. Here, the well-trafficked pilgrimage route intersects with a stone farmhouse, robust herb garden, and outdoor tienda. These components form the Milhulloa Coop, where pilgrims can purchase — or make — herb-based toiletries, cosmetics, and even a drink, all without veering off-course.
The air hangs heavy with moisture. The illusion of stillness is the prelude before the story unfolds. Frowns appear in the sky. 2,000 years ago, the dramatic sky would have convinced the inhabitants of God’s wrath. Redundant chimneys of the slate-roofed houses stand as remnants of the past, but they are not the only ones here.
The proud capital of Spain’s Basque region, Bilbao, is a place where culture, history, and mouthwatering gastronomy surround you. Their storied history and decades spent fighting to retain their unique culture have shaped it to be the one-of-a-kind city it is today.
Raised and educated in Spain, Pablo Picasso moved to the French capital in the early 1900s. Here he experienced decades of inspiration as part of the city’s buzzing Modernist art movement and bohemian atmosphere.
Though it’s best known as a religious pilgrimage, walking the Camino de Santiago does not need to be a spiritual journey and people from all walks of life can and do take this adventure for different reasons.
The Spanish city of Barcelona had been Antoni Gaudi’s canvas and muse, at once. The 19th-century architect-wizard used the entire Catalonian city to express his creative genius and seamlessly blended the Gothic and the French Art-Nouveau with Expressionism to create his architectural masterpieces.
I was eating my favourite sandwich in a tapas bar in Seville when my mind was blown.
Madrid is a lively capital city constantly buzzing with excitement. Before COVID inflicted its long pause on international travel, this well-connected international h
