Every summer and winter for the last 361 years, France and Spain have been passing a small, unpopulated island back and forth between them. — The Bidasoa River flows north from Erratzu, in the Navarran Pyrenees, picking up the snowmelt from the mountains on the way. As it rushes down towards the sea through dark green hills, it becomes the border between France and the Basque Country in Spain. Because both countries are now part…

Some of Spain’s most cherished foods have origins in times of scarcity, and some surprising original ingredients. — Valencian people are fond of telling outsiders about what Paella can and can’t contain. It’s not actually that complicated — Paella is a lunch-time dish which gets its name from the pan used to cook it. It contains chicken, rabbit, lima beans, flat green beans and a few things to…

The rivalry between a right-wing journalist and left-wing government minister has spilt into the courts, with each accused of going to illegal lengths to bring down the other. — ‘I will not let this mob destroy my country,’ declared Eduardo Inda, editor of news website OkDiario, in an interview with the conservative El Toro TV in early March. The mob he was referring to was Podemos, a left-wing populist party which currently governs Spain with the PSOE — the…

How the evolution of Francisco de Goya’s art reflected the disintegration of his country and his own descent into insanity. — Francisco de Goya was born in 1746 in Fuendetodos, Aragon, a village famous for the production of ice. From humble beginnings, he grew up to be a genius painter. For much of his earlier career, Goya painted portraits and colourful tapestry cartoons to hang in the palaces of Spain’s ruling…

A large number of Spain’s most traditional local tapas bars are now run by members of the Chinese community. Why? — Spain has more bars per head of population than any other EU country — in 2017, there was one bar for every 137 people. Spain’s bars aren’t just places to get drunk in (though you can do so easily and cheaply). In the mornings they serve breakfast — toast with…

Though Spain’s dictatorship ended years ago, Franco’s descendants refuse to leave the stage. — Last week, a Galician court ruled that the Francos’ long-term summer residence, Pazo de Meirás, should pass into state ownership. The grand estate had been gifted to ‘the Founder of the New Empire, Head of State, Generalísimo of the Armies and Caudillo of Spain, Francisco Franco Bahamonde’ by a group…

While Spain’s urban centres become ever more crowded, its villages are quickly emptying. Some have no residents left. — Mislata, Valencia, with more than 21,500 people per km2, is the most densely populated urban area on the continent. But there is a dramatic divide between the towns and the country. Despite places like Mislata, Spain is one of the lowest-density countries in Europe. There are large areas of Spain…

When a young nation’s president decreed that 95% of all music played on the radio must be Zambian, he didn’t expect it to lead to a psychedelic rock revolution. — There are few experiences as joyous as being introduced to an entire genre of music previously unknown to you, from a part of the world you’ve seldom thought about. This recently happened to me with Zamrock; a brand of psychedelic rock which sprung up in Zambia from a particular set…

How the building of a motorway through a public park in Glasgow taught a new generation of working-class Scots about their past — I’ve written about motorways cutting through communities before; in the story of Chicano Park in Barrio Logan, San Diego. Those events weren’t a one-off. A BBC Alba documentary called The Birdman of Pollok Park tells the story of Colin MacLeod, a local man who tried to stop the same from…