Spain is a beautifully diverse country, from the ancient towns and cities along the Mediterranean to the capital itself, Madrid. Landscape, architecture, and wine especially seem to radiate swathes of history from the Romans to the Moors and present day. Along the coast we have enjoyed Cadiz, Cartagena, Malaga, Barcelona, Estepona, Marbella, Almeria, and Alfaix. Inland, we have had fantastic visits to Madrid, Toledo, Segovia and Ronda. On reflection, and rather surprisingly, I haven’t visited a single vineyard in Spain! Not one! But the more I think about it our multi visits to Spain were never about wine. Sure, I drank lots of it, red, white and sparkling; Ribera del Duero, Albariño and Cava specifically. But our visits were mostly full of history, architecture ……… and art.

Perhaps our most memorable trip was a particular week spent in Madrid with the primary purpose of visiting an exhibition in The Prado, featuring the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, or El Bosco as he is known in Spain. His Garden of Earthly Delights had quite an effect on me in terms of “how I started to see the world” around me and you might be interested to read my account of it From Mindless To Mindfulness in Madrid.

Immediately after visiting the exhibition Dr C and I sat in the Plaza Mayor for several hours, people watching, admiring the beautiful architecture, discussing the exhibition and, of course, enjoying a chilled glass of Albariño from Rias Baixas. It seemed like art was all around us, certainly in our minds from the exhibition, but through our surroundings, in the glass, and from a couple of artists painting a scene in front of them.

Categories: Wine, wineart

Tags: Albariño, Bosch, el bosco, madrid, Prado