JoWyndhamWard

Feb

Venta Garcia – Casares, Spain

Venta Garcia

Ctra. MA 546, Casares, Spain

+34 952 89 41 91

Set on the main road up towards the town of Casares, Venta Garcia is situated on the site of an old venta but has been modernised to provide a stunning contemporary restaurant in a beautiful location.

This family run business has had several additions since my last visit. The front terrace is now fully enclosed with glass curtain windows that are presumably opened up in the hotter months and there is a smart shaded area outside. The main interior dining room offers stunning views during the daytime and an intimate atmosphere at night. [Read more...]

Feb

Gibraltar – A Concise History

By Jo | Gibraltar, Living in Spain

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Gibraltar has been called many things – quirky and quaint amongst others, but whatever you think of Gibraltar there is one word that it rightly deserves – fascinating! What is undeniable is the sense of history that pervades this rocky limestone outcrop on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. Gibraltar is a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities, living and working side by side in an area that covers just 6.5 kilometres.

This eclectic mix of people cohabit in a multi-religious society that is based on a mutual tolerance bound together by their cherished status as British subjects. As of July 2011 the population count stood at approximately 28,956.

A tour around the streets of Gibraltar showcases the many diverse architectural styles that are testament to the different influences throughout its history from the 14^th century Moorish Castle to the Genoese style patios and the constructions built by the British military. The name Gibraltar derives from “Tariks Mountain,” after Tariq-Ibn-Zeyad, the Muslim conqueror who invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 711. The Moorish occupation of Gibraltar between 711 AD and 1309, and then again between 1350 and 1462, makes the occupation of Gibraltar by the Moors the longest in its history. The Keep of the Moorish Castle is instantly visible to visitors to Gibraltar as it stands overlooking the town from its strategic position on the side of the Rock. The Tower of Homage is the most visible part of the Castle and one of the last remaining remnants of Moorish architecture in Gibraltar dating from around 1333AD when Abu al-Hassan recaptured Gibraltar from the Spanish. [Read more...]

Jan

NADFAS – Culture and Art in Southern Spain

By Jo | FEATURES, Living in Spain

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Culture is alive and kicking in Southern Spain for English speakers who have an interest in the fine and decorative arts.

NADFAS (the National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies) is an arts-based charity founded in the UK in 1968 by Patricia Fay. There are now over 340 local societies throughout the UK and Mainland Europe, three of which reside in Southern Spain, with several other societies situated in New Zealand and Australia. There is also a society in Gibraltar, GibDFAS, now in its second year. The main objective of the organization is the advancement of arts education and the appreciation and preservation of artistic heritage, but without doubt making friends, socialising with like-minded people, and having fun are top of the agenda. [Read more...]

Jan

MAC-UK A Positive Spin on Gang Culture

By Jo | NEWS, SOCIAL MEDIA

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In the wake of the recent riots that occurred throughout the UK there has been strong condemnation of Social Media as the catalyst for inciting violence as well as a huge outcry in the media about the sophisticated use of Social Media platforms to orchestrate looting by organised gangs.

In an article at The Guardian.co.uk the Labour MP for Westminster North is quoted as saying that “the Government should launch an independent inquiry into the triggers for the events, focusing in part on the role of social media in the spread of gangs…”

In Karen Buck’s view there has been a widespread denial of the seriousness of gang culture in central London and she added: “The way that gangs have emerged very strongly in the past few years has been facilitated by the use of social media.” [Read more...]

Jan

Reading Lolita in Tehran – A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

By Jo | Books, REVIEWS

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Reading Lolita in Tehran – A Memoir in Books

Azar Nafisi

The sub-title of Reading Lolita in Tehran is A Memoir in Books, and that is just what it is! The book was first published in 2003 and is a memoir by the author Azar Nafisi about life in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which now seems to have great resonance in light of the current Arab Spring. Nafisi recounts how every Thursday morning for two years she taught Western fiction to a group of students secretly within her home, including classics by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James and Jane Austen, but the book that Nafisi references mostly is Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita which she uses as a metaphor for life in Tehran. For the reader, having a prior knowledge of the classics that feature in Reading Lolita in Tehran certainly helps to gain an understanding of the parallels drawn between literature and life. [Read more...]

Dec

The Suspect – Michael Robotham

By Jo | Books, REVIEWS

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The Suspect

Michael Robotham

This is the thriller that might just turn you into a crime fiction convert! Maybe a little slow to start… but give it a chance and you will find yourself hooked on a story that is gripping and, eventually, fast moving.

Meet clinical psychologist Joseph O’Loughlin who seems to have it all. Joe is 42 with a beautiful wife and a clever eight year old daughter, Charlie. However, all is not quite as perfect as it seems. We find out that Joe was recently diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease, and when the police ask for his help in solving the brutal murder of a young woman, his whole world seems to fall apart in spectacular fashion. It turns out that Joe knew the victim, a nurse called Catherine McBride, who was a former colleague and patient. When another patient of his, Bobby Moran, starts behaving in an odd manner Joe realises that there might be a connection between Bobby and the murder of Catherine. [Read more...]

Dec

Room – Emma Donoghue

By Jo | Books, REVIEWS

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Room

Emma Donoghue

Room is the seventh novel from 40 year old author Emma Donoghue, one that has earned her universal acclaim and that put her on the shortlist for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for fiction.

A précis of the narrative makes it sound like a horror story, but Donoghue herself says that Room ‘is a universal story about parenthood.’ A mother and her son are kept imprisoned by their captor, who only visits to deliver supplies and rape the mother in the 11’ X 11’ shed that is their cell. We see the world through the eyes of 5 year old Jack. The reader has to do a lot of emotional work to figure out what is going on in Jack’s head, trying to interpret through Jack’s naïve pair of eyes what he thinks about the modern world. [Read more...]

Oct

Book Review: Indigo – Egyptian Mummies to Blue Jeans by Jenny Balfour-Paul

By Jo | Books, REVIEWS

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Book Review: Indigo – Egyptian Mummies to Blue Jeans by Jenny Balfour-Paul

Who would have thought that there would be so much to say about indigo, the distinctive blue dye that nowadays is mostly associated with denim? Jenny Balfour-Paul is an author, artist, lecturer and traveller whose book Indigo: Egyptian Mummies to Blue Jeans is the definitive work on the dye, tracing its exotic history from the times of the ancient Pharaohs to the present day. [Read more...]

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