June, 2009

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The Tower of Hercules

Monday, June 29th, 2009
The Tower of Hercules from sobreespana.com

The Tower of Hercules from sobreespana.com

The Tower of Hercules in Galicia has been chosen this Saturday as a new member of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Organisation. The Tower was the only Spanish Monument to be elected this year.

The Tower of Hercules is situated in the city of La Coruña in Spain, in the North of the country. The Tower dates back to the year 1 AD! It’s a tower of 49m high and sits 106m above water level that functions as a lighthouse! It’s the second highest lighthouse in Spain, and this Saturday, 27th June 2009, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To find out more about the other locations that competed for World Heritage Site status read our previous blog post.

There are different tales about why the Tower is called The Tower of Hercules, but one of the most famous is that it is the supposed landing place of Hercules and where he buried the head of the Giant Geryon after having beat him in battle. In the Middle Ages the lighthouse was changed into a fortification rather than being used as a lighthouse. The building was originally built as a pyramid shape and has since been changed and reformed to the tall square tower that it is today. The change was of neo classical style and was done in the 18th Century.

All this week the entrance to the Tower is free to celebrate the UNESCO decision!

Salamanca celebrates Noche Blanca

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Tomorrow, June 27th, Salamanca celebrates the Noche Blanca, the White Night. All evening the historic centre of the city is going to be full of events on the streets! The museums are open late, there’s music in the streets, night visits up the Cathedral for beautiful lit-up views of the city, theatre in the streets, the University Choir, Ballet and Breakdancing!

Here you can see some of the best events listed here below, or pick up a brochure from the tourist office in the Plaza Mayor! The events are free and all over the city, you can’t miss the celebrations even if you try!

The Plaza Mayor at night

The Plaza Mayor at night

In the Plaza Mayor there are things going on from 20,45 until 2,00 in the morning, when the band Freddy Antúnez, a rock band, start playing. At 1,00, just before, there’s also the group Folk on Crest playing in the square.

In the Iglesia de la Clerencía, in front of the Casa de Las Conchas, there’s the Salamancan Choir at 22,30 and the Jouth Orchestra at 23,15. In Patio de Escuelas there’s Jazz in the street with Velma Powel, a singer from Chicago at 22,30.

The Casa de Las Conchas is open until 2,00 and at 0,00 there’s a concert of Necorita, an improvisational group. In the Museo de Salamanca there is a guided visit and a Monologue by Alejandro Lucas being repeated all night, from 22,00 until 1,00.

In the Cental Market there’s all sorts of stands for you to see, and is open until 1,00. The stands include jewellery, furniture, jewels, leather and a Photographic Exhibition, followed by an acoustic concert! In Plaza de Anaya you can take a night time trip around the Ierónimus project in the Cathedral which is going to be open until 1,00 where you can get some night-time views of Salamanca!

Patio Barroco, Santa Domingo exhibitions, Patio de la Salina, Karaoke in the Plaza de las Agustinas. The Automation museum is staying open too, and there’s a concert from the Annuba choir at 23,30. There’s even more going on, especially in the Rúa, the Plaza del Corrillo next to the Plaza Mayor, the Caves, a ballet in the Teatro Liceo and Flamenco by Diego Carrasco in the Fonseca college!!

Enjoy the night and take a trip around to see all the different activities on offer all over Salamanca! Here you can see the listings for Anaya and the Plaza Mayor:

Plaza Mayor

20,45 Animation and parades.

21,00 Concert by the group Quercus

22,00 “A la gran Milonga”

24,00 Other Side music group

01,00 Folk on Crest concert

02,00 Freddy Antúnez Band rock concert

Plaza Anaya

21,15 Flamenco Dancing

22,00 Fashion Show : Concha Ceballos

22,30 Santi Hernández guitar concert

23,00 Fashion Show : Frades de la Sierra

23,30 Los Hombres de Carlos

24,00 Fashion Show : Javier Vicente

24,30 Southern Night – Andalucía in Salamanca

The UNESCO reunites in Seville

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

From this week up to the 30th of June the UNESCO is going to be involved in meetings to organise the future of the world’s UNESCO heritage sites! Currently the UNESCO has named 878 World Heritage Sites in 145 different nations. The meetings being held at the moment will be looking to decide which of the world’s monuments deserve to be named with the prestigious UNESCO mark.

One of the many beautiful cultural buildings in Seville

One of the many beautiful cultural buildings in Seville

This year there are 30 candidates including 4 in natural spaces, 23 in cultural spaces and 3 mixtures. The debating and decisions are made behind closed doors. The reunion will be looking at sites that are already members that perhaps need more care, such as is the example of the Valle del Elba in Germany, where they want to build a big bridge in the middle of the reserve! This year’s meeting is the 33rd annual reunion. The reunion started yesterday with a meeting in the Palacio de Congresos, the Meeting Hall, and the Minister of Spanish Culture, Angeles González Sinde, and the director of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, were both present.

The 21 countries that currently make up the board of the UNESCO World Heritage will look at, amongst others, candidates from all over the world. Some of this years candidates include the Gold Route in Paratay in Brasil, The door of the 3 Arches of Dan in Isreal, the sacred Mountain on Sulamain-Too in Kirguistán and the historic centre of the Ribeira Grande in Cabo Verde. Amongst the natural spaces competing for the UNESCO mark are the National Parks of the Columns of the River Lena in Russia and the Park Arrecife of Tubbataha in the Philippines.

There are three new nations hoping to have a space marked a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for the first time, these are Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde and Kirguistán! Not only would this be really prestigious for the country but would force their leaders to care better for their country under the UNESCO rules. During the meetings the UNESCO board will be deciding how to share out their annual funds between the different sites.

This is an important meeting to be held in Seville, the city itself a beautiful and historic place. Seville is well worth a visit and is full of Spanish Culture and history. It’s the perfect place to visit either for a relaxing holiday or even to stay a while and learn Spanish and more about the culture!

‘E’ Day in Spain

Friday, June 19th, 2009

The Instituto Cervantes has organised the ‘E’ Day in Spain, El día de Español, or more commonly known as El Día E. Tomorrow, the 20th June, is the official celebration day!

E Day in Spain

E Day in Spain

In the Instituto Cervantes head office in Madrid tomorrow there’ll be all sorts of activities going on. In the morning there’ll be writing activities, popular poems and story telling. At half 5 in the afternoon there’ll be a showing of the Chilean film “La buena vida”, The Good Life! In the evening, from 7,30 onwards,there’ll be music shows! In the Plaza del Rey in Madrid, next to the Instituto Cervantes head office.

You can choose and vote for your favourite words in Spanish on the official website for the ‘E’ Day celebrations. Some of the top voted words at the moment are Infamia (infamy), cariño (sweetheart), luz (light) and abrazo (hug)! The E Day has a Facebook page and a Twitter page that you can have a look at for more information on the day and the events, and there’s also a bit of information on the Instituto Cervantes website.

On their official page you can see the words most voted for, the press information, videos, and there’s even a blog! Some interesting facts that you can read on their homepage include these:

-In 2030, 7,5% of the world population will be Spanish speakers! That’s a higher percentage than the number of people that speak Russian, French and German!

- In 2050 the United States will be the principal Spanish Speaking country in the world

- In the time between 2000-2008 the amount of information in Spanish on the internet grew by 619,3%!

Salamanca welcomes a group of Medical Students!

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Our Salamanca Spanish Language School was lucky enough to have a group of American Medical Students come and study with us for 3 weeks! The group left last week after having a great time in Salamanca, getting to know the city and learning Spanish with us!http://www.northeastern.edu

The group in Segovia with teacher Jorge on the right!

The group in Segovia with teacher Jorge on the right!

They followed a specific Medical Course made up especially for their group as they are all Medical Students! They studied loads of different topics during their stay, starting with the basics: the body parts! During the course they did different tests to keep a check on their level and to see how they were improving!

The group enjoyed an intensive course with us and they all learnt loads during their stay, but the trip wasn’t all about the Spanish classes! They managed to do a couple of trips, including one to Segovia and see a bit more of Spain whilst they were here with one of our teachers, Jorge, who looked after them during their stay.

Asun and Raquel with a student from the group and their teacher!

Asun and Raquel with a student from the group and their teacher!

They group enjoyed their program and really got on with the teachers, so much so that on the last night they all went for a meal together! There were speeches and presents, on behalf of the group to some of our teachers, and even Spanish spoken by the teachers that came with the group from America, even though they can’t speak much! We’ll be updating photos on our Facebook page for you to have a look at and see what they group got up to during their stay in Salamanca!