Tag: catalonia
Barcelona
Jaume I of Aragó was one of Barcelona’s many notable figures. Descended from French and Byzantine nobility, his exotic origins were matched by an illustrious childhood spent in the thick of the Occitan struggles.
The thirteenth was the century in Europe that instigated the beginnings of a consolidation of power from which Jaume would personally profit …
The Yellow Cross
René Weis
Penguin (first published 2001)
The Inquisition weighs heavily in our modern impressions of an era in which cruelty, intolerance and ignorance reigned supreme for several centuries. Yet a growing body of academic research into the Catholic suppression of the “heretical” Cathar faith now demonstrates with no small irony the sophistication of a highly developed subculture …
Girona and the 3rd Caixa Sabadell Etnival
Now let’s get one thing straight: Girona is a city in Catalonia. It is not in Italy – if you think that, you’re crossing Genoa and Verona and you’re getting Gerona (sic).
J and I visited Girona last week, right before my 28th birthday, for the 3rd Caixa Sabadell Etnival, a free world music mini-festival held …
Valencia
J and I visited the venerable Catalonian city of Valencia on the eastern coast of the Iberian peninsula.
The city is an unusually harmonious mix of old and new: the ciutat vella (old city) is all cobbles and charm, whilst Santiago Calatrava’s extraordinary buildings rise up towards the sea, distinctive against a cloudless sky, white on …
Elsewhere on MikePadgett.com …
Fargo
Director: Joel Coen United States, 1996 Despite the Coen Brothers’ claim as the movie opens, Fargo is not a true story. That’s just as well, because this savage, bleak and ugly little tale is …
- Originally published: 25 Feb 2007 in Film
Lila Downs in concert
As my interest in world music continues to develop, some names come up increasingly often. Though I had heard only snippets of her music, the voice of cantante mexicana Lila Downs persuaded me …
- Originally published: 25 Jul 2007 in Concerts
Alsace
Squeezed between the Vosges and the Rhine the Alsace region stretches narrowly along France’s spine, flanked by Germany to the north and east and by Switzerland to the south. To the west Alsace …
- Originally published: 11 Nov 2009 in Europe
Dancer In The Dark
Director: Lars Von Trier Denmark et al, 2000 Only a bunch of die-hards could create this kind of electrifying cinema and Von Trier’s shoots are famously uncomfortable affairs. Perhaps that’s the key to the …
- Originally published: 1 Dec 2006 in Film
Les Poupées Russes (Russian Dolls)
Director: Cédric Klapisch France/UK, 2005 Russian Dolls begins a new episode in Xavier’s (Romain Duris) life as he turns thirty: it’s a sequel whose events unfold five years after those twelve eventful months in …
- Originally published: 20 Mar 2007 in Film
Who is that guy?
Hello you. I'm Mike Padgett and I work in the technology sector as an Information Designer.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm based in Brussels, Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is St Feuillien Brune.