http://www.spaintravelblog.org Spain Complete Tourist Information, Tours and Hotels Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:41:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en MADRID — Spain's Socialist prime minister has irked his natural enemies on the right and in the Catholic church by legalizing gay marriage and instituting fast-track divorce. Now he has hit a raw nerve even among his supporters with a proposal to let 16-year-olds get abortions without parental consent. The debate ... http://www.spaintravelblog.org/?p=71 He has joined the G-8 for a meeting on food safety and the developing world The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has arrived in L’Aquila in Italy to take part in a meeting of the G-8. He had the chance for a brief greeting with Barack Obama whom he had ... http://www.spaintravelblog.org/?p=70 During the reconquest of Andalucía, CAZORLA acted as an outpost for Christian troops, and the two castles which still dominate the town testify to its turbulent past - both were originally Moorish but later altered and restored by their Christian conquerors. Today it's the main base for visits to the ... http://www.spaintravelblog.org/?p=69 Another regional sierra "capital", CAZALLA DE LA SIERRA seems quite a metropolis with its comparative abundance of facilities, and in fact the town dates back to the times of the Romans - its original name of Callentum was later changed to Kazalla ("fortified city") by the Moors.  The main sight is ... http://www.spaintravelblog.org/?p=68 The first White Town on the route proper is CASTELLAR DE LA FRONTERA , 27km north from Algeciras, a bizarre village within a thirteenth-century castle, whose population, in accord with some grandiose scheme, was moved downriver in 1971 to the "new" town of Nuevo Castellar, whose modern square frames an ... http://www.spaintravelblog.org/?p=66 Set on a low hill overlooking a fertile plain, CARMONA is a small, picturesque town made recognizable by the fifteenth-century tower of the Iglesia de San Pedro, built in imitation of the Giralda. The tower is the first thing you catch sight of and it sets a tone for the ... http://www.spaintravelblog.org/?p=64 South of Mojácar beach lie a succession of small, isolated coves, the most accessible of them reached down a rough coastal track that turns off towards the sea just under 4km down the road to Carboneras. The scenic Mojácar-Carboneras road itself winds perilously through the hills some way inland, and ... http://www.spaintravelblog.org/?p=63 CAPILEIRA is the highest of the three villages in the Poqueira Gorge and the terminus of the road - Europe's highest, but now closed to traffic - across the heart of the Sierra Nevada from Granada. In addition to the direct daily afternoon bus from Granada, continuing to Murtas and ... http://www.spaintravelblog.org/?p=62 The village of CANDELEDA , on the Arenas-Jarandilla road, is nothing special but it's amazingly popular with Spanish summer holiday-makers, who book its hostales weeks in advance. The turismo is in the Casa Cultura, close to the Plaza Mayor (daily 10am-1.30pm & 5-8pm; tel 920 380 396), and can provide ... http://www.spaintravelblog.org/?p=61 BAEZA is tiny, compact and provincial, with a perpetual Sunday air about it. At its heart are the Plaza Mayor - in fact comprised of two linked plazas, the Plaza de la Constitucíon at the southern end with a garden, and the smaller Plaza de España to the north - ... http://www.spaintravelblog.org/?p=60