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SPAIN

In Search of Duende

Traveling last summer through the La Mancha region of Spain, I spied a column of stark white windmills clinging to a ridge above the town of Consuegra. The vision prompted me to ponder what I knew and understood about Spain. I’d read Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon, marveled at Goya’s penetrating art at the Prado and Picasso’s turbulent Guernica. On a jaunt through as many places as one could comfortably see in two weeks, I searched for what is called duende — the passion and inspiration that shape the country’s identity and the Spanish way of life. 

Spain is so deeply steeped in history, you can sense its sustained power in the precisely laid and locked stones of every Plaza Mayor. When everyone thought the world was flat, Spanish sailors cruised to the ends of the earth. It was a time when the Spanish Armada and Spanish Inquisition were forces people feared. Spain also was home to enlightened mathematicians, craftsmen, poets and major faiths. 

The textures, colors and tastes of Spain are what I savored. The tactile Moorish architecture found in Granada’s Alhambra, Segovia’s massive Roman aqueduct, the flamboyant baroque in Toledo, and the world’s largest Gothic church, located in Seville, overload the senses. 

Whether dining in metropolitan areas, on the Costa del Sol, or at an unpretentious taverna on a medieval side street, you will enjoy meals that make you drop your fork in elation. On a quest of your own, be sure to sample tapas, sangria, and the vibrant art form of flamenco. 

Divide Spain’s several regions into separate trips if you can. Always believe you are coming back. For those reflective end-of-day moments when your tourist body has absorbed the max, there’s a sip of wine, less expensive than water, that goes perfectly with a view of a late-afternoon amber-glazed courtyard, or sun-gold sand against Columbus’s ocean blue. When you find it, duende lingers.
 

Flamenco

www.lacasadelflamencosevilla.com

www.teatroflamencosevilla.com

Hotels

www.haciendazorita.com

www.hotelgranadasaray.com

www.hotelreginamadrid.com

www.melia.com

Tickets

www.alhambra.org

www.museoprado.es

Transportation

www.iberia.com

www.vueling.com

www.google.com/flights

www.kayak.com

www.renfe.com  (rail)

www.avisworld.com

Travel companies

www.globusjourneys.com

www.gocollette.com

www.cityunscripted.com

www.viator.com

 

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