Spain Travel

Of course I started looking at the big name video hosting guys but the kind of stuff I make, Ning screencasts etc, are never going to get a big audience and anything else I make is just going to plain stupid, and frankly an embarrassment to put online. Unless… that’s the whole point of the video, to be stupid, embarrassing, b-grade etc.

The thing is though, stupid videos get eyeballs watching them, they become viral, remember the light saber kid, or the women dancing in the gym, but none of the people who made those videos ever made any money from them. So on my Google hunt I found a new site called Cash Tomato that has a weekly prize draw for the best video of the week and the winner gets $1,000 <a href=”http://www.cashtomato.com”>free money</a> for their video which is fairly tempting, I think I’m going to try my hand at a cartoon screencast.

Yeah there you go, I said it, I’m going to make a cartoon. It’ll be really bad, not worth watching, but I’ve already decided I’m going to tell a joke and put some really bad stick figure drawings into the video pane and use my voice to provide the atmosphere. Having done a lot of public speaking I can really get some serious atmosphere going. And a thousand bucks for a video is pretty sweet.

Seville is Spain’s fourth largest city, the Andalusian capital, a city filled with Moorish and spanish history. arriving in Seville by car is likely to be frustrating with the amount of traffic and seeming lack of parking spaces, but follow the signs for the Centro Ciudad and park in one of the underground parking buildings scattered around the old city.

After parking the car one of the tourist information offices should be your first stop for a free map of the city and a guide to the major attractions with opening times and entrance fees. With a 2000 year history from Roman times when Seville was known as Hispalis, there is sure to be something to be seen here.

My first time in Seville was only a quick day trip from the coast so I only had a few hours to spend, wandering around the Seville’s Cathedral almost took all of my time but was well worth the time to see. The cathedral is Christendom’s fourth largest church in the world and was built in 1402 although not completed until the 1500s.

Across the square from the Cathedral is the Royal Palace, known as the Real Alcazar, and is still used even now by the Spanish Royal Family when they holiday in the city. The plaza surrounding the Alcazar and Cathedral is a great place to start your tour of Seville by horse and carriage, and on a fine day any number of local artists display their work for sale around the gate out of the Alcazar.

A short walk will see you at the river in Seville, the Guadalquivir, which even now is navigable to the Mediterranean and lends Seville it’s status as a port. It is here that the several open top tourist buses depart on their one hour trip around the highlights of the city. Pricing is very reasonable, just 15€ which can be used over two days and also allows you to join up with the walking tour guides.

Not far is the tower, known as the Torre del Oro which used to be the main lookout along the river offering protection to the city from attack. These days the tower is used as a maritime museum, and the entrance fee also lets you climb to the top for a great view of the river and old city.

In my one day of being a tourist in Seville I can honestly say that I was impressed with the city, and how modern the facilities were. One day is not enough to see everything Sevilla has to offer so I will difinitely be back for another look.

Easter is coming up, and in Spain you need to be here to experience the best of Semana Santa Spanish style. The holy week in 2009 starts 5th April, and finishes a week later on the 12th, and if you know you’re going to be here, make sure you also book a hotel room soon.

Spaniards love Easter, it’s a time for big displays and parades, and families always get together for big meals.

Semana Santa is a national event, but the biggest and most impressive weeks are in Andalucia, particularly Sevilla and Malaga.

The processions always start from the church where the paso (large wooden Easter scenes) is normally kept, then wind their way through the streets for the public to see, before finally entering the church again.

The participants all have to wear robes often with a pointed hoods that makes them look very sinister but the outfits have been worn since medieval times as a mark of respect and to disguise the penitents so that they may commune with God alone, even whilst being part of a lare procession.

Every village or town has it’s own processions, some of the smaller villages have pasos that are carried by the local children, whereas the towns and cities tend to have much larger pasos requiring a lot of manpower to carry.

Seville and Malaga in Andalusia are the most popular for tourists with processions every day of Holy Week. Some of the larger processions involve upto 15,000 penitents marching for hours in time to mournful music.

Please just ignore this post, unless you’re also a Technorati member, in which case you might like to friend me.

Anyway, here’s is the claim code that Technorati want. Technorati Profile

The Spain Travel blog on Today.com aims to become an exceptional source of information about everything to do with traveling around Spain, the most popular holiday destination in the world.

As a country, Spain was a renaissance era superpower with territory in the Americas, Africa, the Mediterranean, and Asia. These days Spain is a peaceful, modern, and democratic nation, and a major member of the European Union. Tourists love Spain’s long coastline with gorgeous golden beaches, rolling surf, boardwalks filled with cafés, and beachside nightlife.

The big cities make Spain different from other holiday destinations, Barcelona with it’s unique cathedral designed by Gaudi, the Ramblas which is Catalonia’s best and most exclusive shopping street, Bilbao with it’s Guggenheim Museum, Madrid and the Plaza de España, or the Royal Palace, and not forgetting the Jardines del Buen Retiro.

Of course Spain isn’t all just big cities or golden beaches. Getting off the beaten track and visiting some of the smaller towns and pueblos can be more rewarding for the simple experiences of seeing the way Spaniards live and work. The elegant Copla is never quite so enjoyable as when being sung by an amateur in a village tapas bar.

Quaint country foods, gazpacho in the hot summers, or a hot chorizo paella in winter, and why not a glass of Spanish Sherry to help it down.

These are the things you’ll be able to read about on the Spain Travel blog, so I hope you’ll bookmark this page, or subscribe to our RSS feed.