With a sublime little parody of romantic nationalism from Camilo José Cela, who has his own particular view of this bothersome culture vs civilisation thing.

Rat, squirrel or capybara, kittens have one favourite sauce.

The powers that be have suggested I start sharing walking tour information for Barcelona and other places which is of no commercial use to me and may be of practical assistance to others, so here for starters are some hints on where (not) to eat and sleep on parts of the GR-99, GR-85 and GR-73, [...]

Not that it ever rains in Villanueva de la Jara, Cuenca.

This is surely where this took place, and this must have been one of the last guests pre-mortem. I liked the unconsciously gruesome comments on TripAdvisor about the chilly welcome and subsidence on the tennis court, and a couple of the photos are thoroughly spooky.

Includes video of snow felling a pine tree and a photo of a municipal bus which almost skated its way down-town.

Here’s a cheeky hybrid of actual and virtual tourism: the guide hasn’t been to all of the places advertised here at 100€ per person per day, and he hasn’t visited some for a decade, so instead of conducting costly research he learns them from Google Streetview. Which, for all I know, may work perfectly well [...]

Or was the Second Anglo-Afghan War actually fought in the Pyrenees?

But getting there is still a pain in one’s posterior end.

What is the man doing? Why is step 4 missing?

There’s nothing your neighbourhood phenotype dream team can’t fix.

Hera can no longer afford the dragon and has installed security cameras to stop the Hesperides stealing her golden apples. (Pomegranates, actually, which I believe some people also view as possible candidates. On this walk.)

–Hello.
–Hello, is that the Department of Tourism? Yes? Hello, a week ago I sent you an email asking if this Friday you could let me and a group in to see the crypt of blah blah blah, and I was wondering whether this would still be possible.
–Oh yes, I read the email.
–So?
–Yes, that should be [...]

A not particularly serious assault on Prosper Mérimée.

Don’t believe the wine pundits.

Yet more Spanish culture for Brussels to ban.

Blasco Ibáñez says that actually we have always thought “at all hours of the Mediterranean rim.”

Or perhaps it isn’t.

Excerpts from Juan Goytisolo and Ramón Fernández Palmeral, with an epitaph from George Orwell.

Will my favourite herpetoid be safe from the war on the narco wild life?