I arrived back in London last night to find that they have turned on the Christmas lights. My hotel, the Thistle Marble Arch, is on Oxford Street and so I am in the thick of it. If only I could shake off the awful cold that I have caught :-(

I am so glad that I came back to Madrid. I could have left Spain believing that Madrid was a city that had little to offer. But I would have been wrong. Arriving in the city at midday, I waited only long enough to ensure my luggage was secure before heading out. I had a target. Guernica. I wanted to see Pablo Picasso's masterpiece. So I made a beeline for the Reina Sofia Museum. This is a Museum of Modern Art unlike the Prado which is dedicated to the old...

Driving north from Jaen province into Castilla, just after the last Jaen tunnel, turn right off the freeway and find Casa Pepe. It is painteda sickeningly bright yellow. You can't miss seeing it if you are on the right road. Once inside you could be forgiven for thinking you had stepped through a time warp back to Franco's Spain. They have hundreds of photos of the Generalissimo and hundreds more souvenirs of the Facist era. They sell stuffed rabbits dressed ...

I spent about 3 hours this afternoon visiting the Alhambra. It is a remarkable thing to see. I wish I could have stayed longer! And I would really love to see the gardens in full bloom. They are magnificent now - at the end of November. I can only imagine what they must be like in May. The visitor statistics is also incredible. They sell 300 tickets for every half hour entry time from 8:30am 363 days of the year. And you have to be at the gate at the time s...

I am sitting on the balcony of my suite on the Costa del Sol in Torremolns sipping a glass of wine and watching the light change on the coast of Malaga as the sun sets. I have just returned from a walk on the beach and will be heading out again in about an hour for a meal of Paella at a restaurant where the local Spaniards go to eat. Does it get any better?