In this episode of Spanish Loops, Francisco and Jorge chat about San Fermín and the Running of the Bulls, which is finally being celebrated with full gusto after a 2-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

Easter in Spain - an opportunity to explain the life of St Ignatius of Loyola and his work creating a reformation within the Catholic Church which was approved by the Pope!

Fran and Jorge discuss St Ignatius’ patience, hard work and devotion to implementing radical change and the events that brought about his mission.

By tradition, Holy Week in Spain is a big celebration. Concepcion Delgado, joins us again, t to give us an insider’s view of what “Semana Santa” means in the beautiful south of Spain.

We aim to give you an insight into what this week means to millions of people in Spain. We also hope you get to feel the emotion and passion invested by many people as an act of faith and tradition.

Silver celebration for Fran and Jorge - our 25th episode !

In this episode we discuss the evolution of this podcast, how we came up with our ideas and our confessions so you understand what has happened behind the scenes!

Some Patron Saints festivities are the perfect excuse to have a ball!

In this episode we share our favourites and are honoured to have a special guest, colleague and friend join us. Concepcion Delgado from Sevilla shares her personal approach to one of these festivals, the Feria de Abril in Sevilla.

We are starting a new series called City Specials, where we will share with us a little bit of the history of the city, the must visit spots, how to reach that city and our personal favorite restaurants and hotels.

We start this series with Madrid, Spain's Capital city and the heart of a nation.

It was early morning on March 11th 2004, commuters were arriving at Madrid´s Central Train Station like any other day, when in the span of 10 minutes four trains were attacked by Al Qaeda terrorist members.

109 casualties and thousands of injured people, it was the worst terrorist attack in Spain.

Nowadays, the word Gypsy might sound derogatory in some parts of the world, but  not in Spain. They are part of the culture and heritage.  Related to the Romanies, they are two different worlds apart, not only in traditions but also in locations.

In this episode,  Jorge and Fran explain their origins, differences, and why they came as far as the Iberian Peninsula. If you want to learn about it and how they have become part of the Spanish society, listen to this podcast. For sure you will be surprised!

In this episode, we welcome a very special guest, William Rosendin, a fellow guide for Rick Steves. William is also a very dear friend to us both.

We chat about how much Spain has changed from the first time William landed in the early 1980´s compared to Spain today.

It was February 23rd 1981 when all the Spanish Parliament was in session ready to proclaim Spain's new President, suddenly fifty fully armed militars stopped the session and pretended to re-establish the military dictatorship we ended 6 years before, right after General Franco's death. It was a coup d’etat.

41 years after this attempted coup, Jorge and Fran will talk about their experience of that terrifying day.

We all know that Spain's official language is Spanish, but it is not as simple as that, there are 3 other different official languages: Basque, Galician and Catalonian. Although they are only spoken in small parts of the country, they hide behind them a strong sense of culture and autodetermination.

February is the month of carnivals all around the world, the most famous ones are the ones in Rio de Janeiro and the one in Venice, but as you can imagine Spain being a Catholic country celebrates the beginning of lent with huge celebrations.  

Join Jorge and Fran as they go over their favourite carnivals in Spain.

Join Jorge as he takes you on a tour of his native Southern Spain. Influences range from the Phoenicians thirty centuries ago to Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Jews. This cultural mixture makes Andalucians them have a special spark in their eyes, in Spain they call it “duende.”

The Camino to Santiago has been the most important Christian pilgrimage since the 8th century. Today thousands of people from every corner in the world, but most importantly from every cultural background join this 600 miles hike.

Catalonia consists of four provinces, Lleida, Girona, Tarragona and of course Barcelona. It lies to the north east of the Iberian peninsula, facing the Mediterranean. Protected by the Pyrenees and embraced by the Castilian Plateau, we find a melting pot of cultures and identities, a cradle for pioneers, and a landscape that defies imagination.

Catalonia is the land that inspired Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, the land of some of the best food in Spain. This is the perfect tour if you are interested in history, art, food and mediterranean life.

The Basque Staycation tour will immerse you in this ancestral culture. For sure we will be visiting the world famous towns of San Sebastian and Bilbao with its impressive Guggenheim Museum, but we will also be visiting small little villages in the Pyrenees.o dynasties of monarchs.

Madrid is one the newest historical capitals in Europe. Although it was founded as “capital” of the nation in the middle of 16th century, the nomination as “the Court of the Kingdom” was declared by Phillip II at that time.

In this episode you will find history before history and facts that will take you over the present times after two dynasties of monarchs.

From cranky old trains to one of the most modern railroad networks in the world. Spain has adapted its infrastructures to the speed of AVE, the highest speed train in Europe, which is the pride and joy of the country.

In this new episode Jorge and Fran are going to discover, according to Spanish tradition, what things are considered as good table manners and which ones are not.

Get ready to be shocked with some of them!

The first hotels and restaurants in Spain date back to the XI century. The first “tourists'' visiting Spain were the pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. But tourism, as we know it today, started in Spain in the late 1950´s once General Franco understood that it was a great way to do some political propaganda. Let's discover the history of Tourism in Spain with Jorge and Fran.