Word: madrid
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Haig jetted off to consult officials in Rome, Madrid, London, Paris and Bonn, there was some concern that the Secretary of State-indeed, the Reagan Administration itself-might be engaging in verbal overkill in warning about the dangers of Soviet expansionism. In his meeting with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, for example, Haig speculated that the Soviet Union might have inspired the Syrian assault in Lebanon possibly to divert attention from the Polish crisis. The consensus of Western diplomats in the Middle East is that the Syrians acted on their...
Outside the major cities in the smaller towns of Castile and Andalucia, one finds the traditional Spanish character most intact. Toledo, 70 miles south of Madrid, is a town dominated by the shadow of El Greco, the expatriated Cretan painter who adopted the town as his home. Toledo may be the most visited small town in Spain, but it is also a microcosm of Spanish history, art, and architecture...
Segovia, to the north of Madrid, seems to have remained firmly rooted in the distant past. Its two principle attractions would probably have inspired Ruskin, Swinburne, or Byron: a Roman aqueduct in working order and the Alcazar, an ancient fortress. Around these lie Gothic churches and Moorish ruins. Segovia includes none of the artificial modernness effected in Madrid or Barcelona: it is simply a small Spanish town in an arid wilderness...
...barren countryside of La Mancha. which surrounds Madrid--you can easily imagine Don Quixote sparring with windmills here--contrasts sharply with the tropical plushness of Andalucia, the southernmost province. Seville, wreathed in palms, is the last of the romantic cities on the continent. Here you will hear flamenco guitars and see flamenco dancers snap castanets. The sun shines in Seville with a pure white heat--different from the stifling atmosphere of Madrid--that infuses the town with a feeling of laziness...
...looking for the last relics of a fading comanticism, an institutionalized laziness, and above all, palm trees, or if Spain means flamenco to you, then breeze through Toledo and maybe Segovia, dash through Madrid, and head for Seville. Bring a panama...