Notes from reading my first Spanish book

It was “just” Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal, but still a big personal milestone. ———————— My last visit to a bookstore was in June in Bratislava before taking a bus to Schwechat airport. It was more to drink coffee and take a video call from there than to look at the books. Had I … Read more

Public holidays in Spain from the expat’s perspective

The theory of Spanish holidays Where I live in Spain, there are 13 public holidays, los días inhábiles. I say “where I live” and not “in Spain”, because the number of days depends on the autonomous community and on the local municipality. The holidays in Spain have three levels: The municipal holidays are announced at … Read more

On doing one thing at a time

A Coll de Rates? — a friendly neighbour asked as I walked out on the street with my bicycle. “Sí, a Tárbena” — I responded. I was happy my planned route exceeded the neighbour’s guess by more than 100%. When I reached the climb I hit play on a work related podcast and put the … Read more

A humbling experience at Spanish vehicle inspection

The arrival to la importación It was 7:45am and I entered the facility of technical inspection of vehicles, ITV for an 8:00am roadworthiness test. This was to get Spanish licence plates, to do the importación as everyone referred to it. The last milestone in the process that dragged for months. I requested it in July … Read more

Slowing down by an olive oil press

It’s time of the harvest of olives in Spain. The olive trees are covered with their inedible fruit. The nests are spread on the ground to capture every bit of the goodness growing above them. The sights of a car parked by an olive orchard or passing by me carrying a precious load during a … Read more

A cyclist finding a way to motocyclists

In the last 24 hours before writing this, my opinion of the motocycling took a rollercoaster ride. It started with watching a romantic drama “Tres metros sobre cielo” (Three Steps Above Heaven). The movie is full of clichés and machismo – demonstrated mostly by the masculine main character riding a motorcycle in his leather jacket. … Read more