Madrid is the very heart of Spain. It is the cultural centre and the capital, from where traditions and history spring forth throughout the land. It is a city built upon Arab foundations from the 9th century, with grand buildings and hidden corners. Madrid is one of Europe's most beautiful cities, which has successfully advanced into a metropolis, but retained its historic architecture and attractions. This book takes you on a journey through centuries of Madrid's history via a series of walks. Each one is themed, from medieval buildings to historic wine taverns. Find out where artists and writers gathered, and uncover many of the mysteries around Madrid's past. At the end of your day, eat, drink or sleep in one of the suggested historic restaurants, taverns or hotels. • Clear maps, times and distances • Plan your walk by theme • Museum and building opening times • Historic eating, drinking and hotel suggestions • Personal guidance from the author
Beebe Bahrami is a widely-published writer and cultural anthropologist. She specializes in travel, food and wine, adventure, spiritual, and cross-cultural themes and focuses on the cultures of Spain, France, Portugal, and Morocco.
Her book, The Spiritual Traveler: Spain--A Guide to Sacred Sites and Pilgrim Routes is a celebration of the truly sacred and spiritual places, traditions, peoples, and roads of Spain. It is a non-denominational and deeply anthropological and folkloric travel book on Spain's prehistoric, pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim past. It is also a spiritual exploration of the country's diverse present, such as in emerging communities dedicated to Buddhism, Hinduism, animistic Earth-based spiritualities, as well as current revivals of the land's connection to the three Abrahamic faiths. Each chapter explores a region, a thematic route, and the most vibrant spiritual life of that area.
Bahrami has dedicated over 23 years to living, traveling, exploring, and writing about Spain's mystical depths, as well as the country's everyday life, food and wine, culture, and natural splendors. She has infused this book with rich mythic, folkloric, historical, cultural, and spiritual insights, along with selecting some of the richest and most moving sacred places and pilgrimage roads in Spain.
In addition to The Spiritual Traveler Spain, Bahrami's writing also appears in Michelin Green Guides, National Geographic books, Transitions Abroad, Perceptive Travel, Matador Trips, The Expeditioner, The Pennsylvania Gazette, and in Archaeology, Expedition, Wag and Bark magazines. You can read her work at www.BeebesFeast.com.
Prior to becoming a writer, Bahrami was a university professor, an ethnographic consultant, and a magazine editor. She earned her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in anthropology, with a specialty in the cultures, languages, peoples, histories, and sacred traditions of the western Mediterranean world. This specialty continues to drive and inspire Bahrami's work.
