Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Journal 15 Madrid. Sevilla. Málaga. The capital that refuses to explain itself, the city that turned heat into art, and the port town that raised a genius and then let him leave. Madrid confused me. And Madrid didn’t care. Every other capital on this journey announced […]
I Argued With Madrid, Melted in Sevilla, and Sat Still in Málaga 🇪🇸 Read More »
🌐 Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Episode 45: Málaga For approximately three thousand years, Málaga has been a working Mediterranean port on the southern coast of Spain, roughly a hundred and thirty kilometres east of the Strait of Gibraltar and directly opposite — across two hundred kilometres of narrowing sea —
Málaga 🇪🇸 The Windy Coast That Learned to Be Sunny Read More »
🌐 Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Episode 44: Seville Seville is the Andalusian capital that ran the legal monopoly on Spanish trade with the Americas for 214 years, completed Spain’s expulsion of its Moorish-descended population in 1609–1614, and contains the largest Gothic cathedral in the world built on top of an
Seville 🇪🇸 The Wall Street of the Sixteenth Century Read More »
🌐 Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Episode 43: Madrid Madrid is the Spanish capital that was deliberately chosen by Philip II from an insignificant inland town, became the world capital of seventeenth-century painting by accident of imperial wealth, and remains the only major European capital with no indigenous regional identity to
Madrid 🇪🇸 The Capital That Was Built From Nothing in 1561 Read More »
Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Journal 14 Barcelona. Valencia. Mallorca. A city that can’t stop building, a city that buried a river and built a park on top, and an island that has been the answer all along. Barcelona grabbed me by the eyes and didn’t let go for three days.
Barcelona, Valencia and Mallorca 🇪🇸 Built Up, Tore Down and Just Sat There Being Perfect Read More »
🌐 Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Episode 42: Mallorca Mallorca is the largest Balearic Island, the medieval kingdom that gave its name to a thirteenth-century Mediterranean state, the cultural landscape UNESCO inscribed for its Tramuntana mountain terraces, and the European leader in twenty-first-century tourism regulation. Mallorca deeper history starts with the
Mallorca 🇪🇸 The Island That Lent Its Name to a Kingdom and Is Now Limiting Its Visitors Read More »
🌐 Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Episode 41: Valencia Valencia is the Spanish Mediterranean city that diverted its catastrophic river out of its centre after the 1957 flood, converted nine kilometres of dry riverbed into Europe’s largest urban park, and quietly became one of the most liveable major cities on the
Valencia 🇪🇸 The City That Turned a Disaster Into the Largest Urban Park in Europe Read More »
🌐 Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Episode 40: Barcelona Barcelona is the Catalan capital that became one of the most globally recognised city brands in Europe without ever becoming a national capital, designed substantially by a single generation of nineteenth-century architects, the most famous of whom is currently being canonised by
Barcelona 🇪🇸 The City Whose Architect Is Being Made a Saint Read More »
Route: Barcelona → Valencia → Málaga Total distance: approximately 1,000 km Driving time: 10 hours (spread over 5–7 days) Road: AP-7 / A-7 (Autopista del Mediterráneo) — stays within sight of the sea for most of the route Currency: Euro (€) Driving side: Right Best months: May–June, September–October The Shape of This Route This is
Barcelona to Málaga 🇪🇸 The Last Mediterranean Coast Read More »
Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Journal 13 Bordeaux. Toulouse. Perpignan. Wine that thinks in centuries, a city built from blush, and a town that wakes up French and goes to sleep Catalan. Bordeaux was the first city on this journey that smelled like money before I saw it. Not flashy money.