Abandoned 1700s Fairy Tale Castle ~ Owner Died in a Car Crash! Potential for Parador style renovation

The Spaniards have paradors, old ruined places taken over by the government and restored as hotels serving regional recipes, to encourage tourists to visit areas around the country.

The Portuguese have pousadas. The same principle.

Perhaps the French, and the British, could adopt this idea.

Useful Websites

Paradors

https://www.parador.es/

Pousadas

Historic Hotels For Armchair Travels, Bucket Lists And Dreams

Because of Coronavirus COVID19 many public places are shut. But you can glimpse them online and put them on your bucket list for later.

Here's where to see castles and palaces converted into hotels:


Turkish flag

In a previous post we looked at a Museum Hotel in Turkey with a view of the Roman era floor on the ground floor.

If you want to stay in an historic hotel, not Roman, just historic, any era, here are more options: Some are hotels containing restaurants. A few have additional cheaper motel accommodation, with a restaurant and sometimes a few suites in the main house, castle or building.

UK flag

UK
Many city centre and out of town pubs in the UK
England


Wales
Castle hotels in Wales
Ruthin Castle Hotel & Spa, Wales


Flag of Scotland

Scotland
Castles hotels in Scotland
https://inverlochycastlehotel.com/


Spanish flag

SPAIN
Mainland Spain and Spanish islands
Paradores - ruins restored and buildings converted by the government to promote regional tourism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parador


Flag of Portugal

PORTUGAL
Mainland Portugal and Portuguese islands
Pousadas, like Paradores, converted buildings and restored ruins turned into hotels to promote travel around the regions.
https://www.pousadasofportugal.com/pousadas-map



US flag

USA
Chateau hotels


Flag of Canada

CANADA
https://www.relaischateaux.com/us/destinations/north-america/canada-east


Flag of France

FRANCE
Chateau hotels
https://www.relaischateaux.com/us/destinations/europe/france




ITALY
Useful Websites
umbriatourism.it
http://www.montesubasio.it/en/assisi-christmas-nativity/
http://www.italia.it/en/home.html
UK
https://www.ruthincastle.co.uk/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.

My Favourite Sites and Sights in Spain and its islands

Flag of Spain

Spain and Portugal
We drove down through France and Portugal to Marbella in Spain. In our car we had a sink and taps from Wickes DIY shop for my late parents' flat in Marbella. On the way we stayed overnight in the pousadas of Portugal and the paradores of Spain, historic hotels rebuilt, restored from ruins, to create attractions for tourists to hop around the previously neglected regions.

My memories of Spain:
Spanish:
Madrid
Madrid art gallery: El Prado
A statue of painter Velazquez greets you on arrival. Then you see his paintings.

Las Meninas by Velazquez, Madrid, Spain.

This striking picture shows the proud child, her head turned slightly sideways as if ignoring yet observing the painter, is dominating the adults, almost all eyes on her, whilst she stands central, whilst the artist is reflected in what appears to be a doorway or mirror observes, but he is behind her, maybe her parents are in the mirror, another figure in the doorway. All trompe l'oeuil. Artist in mirror paintings were popular. Rather like film horror and suspense film director Hitchcock hiding yet wanting to appear as a side figure in all his films, challenging the viewer to find him.

Spain -Summary or wishlist
Madrid, the capital city: art gallery, The Prado.
Two of the most visited sites are:
Royal Palace of Madrid and El Escorial.
Statues - war monument, Valley of The Fallen.
Miro by sculptor Botero.

Barcelona: Basilica La Sagrada Familia Cathedral by architect Antoni Gaudi
The city with the promenade of Las Ramblas. Where you ramble.

The architecture of Antoni Gaudi.

English: Close-up of Casa Batlló, Barcelona
Source	Own work
Author	Anonymous

Antoni Gaudi. First the cathedral. Then also see other unusual buildings with curves and statues.

You can do the hop on hop off bus tours. You can buy a two day pass and do it once in English and once in Spanish.

Bilbao
Guggenheim Museum.

Seville
Alhambra house and gardens.

Spain - Costa Del Sol
 It is the sunny coast in the south). I recall the contrast of Marbella's five, four and three star hotels (my parents had a flt on the seafront) with Butlins in Torremolinos. (I wrote about Butlins for Parents magazine); Puerto Banus, a tiny port with big boats.
Along the coast is Gibraltar, where they speak Spanish as well as English.

Spanish speaking Island of Majorca
A British favourite. Cheap and nearby.
Caves of Drach in Majorca.

Spanish Paradors
Wonderful cool paradors in Segovia with Jewish quarter view of Roman aqueduct from near the city, and from the hotel dining room; Avila, Toledo, and Jerez de la Frontera and several more.

Statue of Maimonides in Cordoba, Spain.

Maimonides went on the run from one set of Moslems, hopped from country to country and found refuge with another group. Became physician to the rulers. He was famous for saying that he would rather release 1000 guilty men than execute one innocent person. He wrote in Arabic and was and is revered by both Moslems and Jews.
Also see the former Jewish sites and Cordoba mosque cum church.And a Jewish Museum.

Rioja wineries.
Wineries together in a grand circle around the old former railway station: Lopez de Heredia, Muga winery shop and tours; Contino remote winery by appointment.


Marqués de Riscal Vineyard Hotel From Wikipedia.

Drive out to the
Marqués de Riscal Vineyard Hotel,which  is a luxury hotel located in Elciego, Spain. The hotel was designed by Frank Gehry. Everything is odd. The shape.

Inside, equally odd. Strange lifts and staircases and doors. Instead of room numbers we had our room number written in chalk on a slate board.

Bedrooms are odd. No room has straight walls. Everything from beds to chairs is curved and strange.  Bath in the middle of the room with a curtain like a hospital cubicle.

Food in restaurant served from a strange shaped trolley. Tables odd shapes. Napkins odd shapes. Napkin holders odd shapes. Lighting fittings odd shapes. Toilet doors odd shapes.
sbury.blogspot.com/2017/03/madeira-madeira-wine-portugal-and.html

Spain's Camino De Santiago
No car? Try walking. The Pilgrims' Way has easy and difficult sections, marked by souvenir shell pictures which you collect. The entire route within Spain may take longer than your holiday allowance. Some people do it over two holidays or two or more years, filling in their passport for the sections until they reach the end of the trail at the cathedral. Santiago, is Saint Iago or Saint James.

The route ends at the
 Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. The cathedral contains the saint's relics and is adorned with many statues and is shown on Spanish coins. Other parts of the pilgrims' way are in France and Portugal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago

The cathedral at the end of your many days of walking. Spain.

Spanish Landmarks To Visit
https://www.visitacity.com/en/barcelona
Mallorca - Caves of Drach

SPAIN
Paradors (Hotels in historic buildings with local cuisine)
https://paradoresofspain.com/

Spanish Tourist Board
https://www.spain.info/en_GB/informacion-practica/oficinas-turismo-embajadas/turismo-exterior/oficina_de_turismo_en_londres.html
https://spainguides.com/spain-travel-guide/tourism-offices-spain/
https://wikitravel.org/en/Balearic_Islands (Sparse but could be handy.)

Paradors (Hotels in historic buildings with local cuisine)
https://www.touropia.com/best-places-to-visit-in-mallorca/


MEXICO
Mexican Tourist Board
https://www.visitmexico.com/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancun
Tequila has tequila distillery tours.

USA
Notice the Spanish names of the cities Los Angeles, San Francisco and El Paso (the pass).

UK -
Tapas bars and Spanish restaurants.
LIVING IN SPAIN
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-spain


Duolingo
duolingo.com


Memrise
Memrise.com


About The Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, blogger, author of 20 books including an ebook on Improve Your English, from Amazon, and teacher of English and Business English and other languages to individuals, colleges and companies. For more information on learning Spanish and other languages see previous post and posts. Also see other articles such as Botero statues in Colombia. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share the links with your family, friends and colleagues.

East Timor's Second City, Baucau

A friend has gone to East Timor.
He wrote to me:
"No data on most of the island. I am using a friend's mobile as a hotspot to send emails."

Having no signal when you are trekking is really annoying. You think, what will happen if I hurt my ankle and I need help?

He got a signal in Timor's second city, Baucau. He was staying in a pousada hotel.

He didn't tell me which one but I looked it up. Most cities have only one. I typed into the internet Baucau and pousada and bingo.

I stayed in Pousadas all over Portugal. Pousadas are converted historic buildings such as castles and convents which had fallen into repair or got run down. The state repairs them and updates them to fit fire regulations and finds a chef to make local specialities and promote the history and cooking of the region to tourists. (The Spanish equivalent is Paradores.)

My correspondent says: "East Timor is very different from the Indonesian West of the island and Indonesia. 'Only one million people. Quite poor. Deplorable roads.

"But plentiful Portuguese vinho!"

I asked, "Send me a photo. Do they have Portuguese foods I would know, such as cod and custard tart? Do they speak Portuguese?"

He replied, "Not enough bandwidth for photos.

"Yes, schooling is in Portuguese but Bahasa and English also heard and used on the street.

"Portuguese food is in tourist restaurants and bacalhau (cod) in supermarkets. But otherwise, it's local food."

What to do

1 Swim in Pousada Swimming Pool
Visit Pousada

2 Coconut Beach

3 Visit convent. Look at artificts for sale

4 See Old town of city

Dripfeeding me the news.
Portuguese - English
Vinho  wine
kota baru - new town

Indonesian - English
kota - city
baru - new

English - Portuguese
Wine - vinho
new - novo
town - cidade

Useful websites
To learn Portuguese
Duolingo.com

Safety
gov.uk/foreign-travel
http://www.timorleste.tl/destinations/municipalities/baucau/

Travel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor 
http://www.osolemedia.com/easttimor/dili.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

October 12 - Columbus Day, Spanish National Day, For Spanish Speaking Countries and people worldwide

Problem
Where can I go and what can I do to celebrate on October 12th?

Answer
Columbus Day is celebrated in Spain, the USA and several other countries. It is also called Day of Spanish, and is celebrated as day of the Spanish Military.

In Madrid the King and the Queen watch a military parade, the usual thing, with colourful uniforms and marching bands. My favourite item is the goat which is the symbol of the Spanish legion. I've seen pictures of a white goat with a red fancy blanket over its back, as well as a black-faced goat wearing a blue covering.

Spanish fly-past

Spain.

Statues of Columbus include one in Barcelona.

The Monument to Columbus in La Rambla, a major street in Barcelona, Spain.

Miniature of the Columbus monument in the garden miniatures, about 17 miles outside Barcelona, Spain.

At the opposite end of the scale, the biggest Columbus monument is in Puerto Rico. It was turned down by several cities in the USA but welcomed by Puerto Rico where it is hoped it will regenerate tourism.

The Columbus statue, called Birth of the New World, in Puerto Rico, seen close=up.

The Columbus monument in Puerto Rico from a distance, showing the scale and surroundings.

If you wish to travel around Spain I recommend staying at the Paradores, hotels built by the government in converted historic buildings to encourage tourism to and develope areas in all parts of the country. The Paradores are good value and the restaurants serve regional food. I have stayed in several on more than one trip. My favourites were the one in Seville and the one on the frontier with Portugal. If you can't afford a room, or they are fully booked, try to book a meal. 

Portugal has a similar system of Pousadas. 

To learn Spanish for free, start by using Duolingo.

Spanish speaking countries

Over in North America many cities are called Columbus. 

Statues of Columbus are in New York's Central Park and Providence, Rhode Island. The statue in Central Park has been desecrated with the words Say No To Hate, which seems ironic. A statue in New England was also desecrated.

Spanish is widely spoken in North America. You will see Spanish signs in many public buildings. The name Columbus is popular for cities and towns, in Ohio, Georgia, and Mississippi and more. 

I looked at the city of Columbus, Ohio and noted that it had a German quarter which would be a good place to visit for Oktoberfest next September-October. I was looking for a statue of Columbus and came across something amazing and amusing, what I think of as the basket building, headquarters of the Longaberger building in Newark, Ohio. As a keen photographer, I would put that on my list of places to visit on my next trip around the USA and Ohio.

Building in Columbus, Ohio, USA

A giant statue of Columbus, named The Birth Of The New World, has been installed in Puerto Rico and is predicted to increase tourism. That statue is gigantic, taller than the one of Christ the Redeemer in Rio, and taller than the Statue of Liberty. Several cities in the USA rejected it but the Puerto Ricans are delighted to have it.

If you can't get to any of these, you could celebrate Spain at home with a trip to a Spanish restaurant or a meal at home with Sangria or a Spanish wine such as Rioja or a c a v a, a sweet white wine, the Spanish equivalent of Champagne.

Useful Websites

www.visitusa.org.uk

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain

http://www.spain.info/en_GB/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.