Luke Darracott Writes

14/08/2016

And the final part of the East of Madrid series. Here we tie up the trip with a visit to a Civil War ghost town, wine regions and isolated monasteries.
http://www.lukedarracott.com/lukemadrid/2016/7/18/east-from-madrid-4-war-and-wine

The last morning started with a trip I had longed to make since my days at university. The old ruined village of Belchite; victim of the Civil War.

18/07/2016

Part 3 of the East of Madrid series. This one is a combination of sun-splashed castle-topped towns and the pearly blue of the Med.

Day four El Puig The sea would remain our companion for the morning. The big aquamarine slab of glitter that was Valencia’s languid coast. The heat, palpable and clingy, met with the breeze on the hill at the first stop of interest through Valencia’s ugly northern outskirts. The monastery of El Puig...

14/07/2016

Part 2 of the East of Madrid series. Here I dive head first into a land of flat lands and rice in Valencia community.

Summer had finally had finally rid itself of the long trousers and jackets and had hauled itself over the Valencian Community; Spain’s eighth largest region. The air had taken on that spongy tangibility only really present in celestially warmed coastal zones; and the decision was taken to finally dr...

11/07/2016

Part 1 of the East of Madrid series. First the villages and towns of Teruel province and the depths of the Maestrazgo!

It was after Guadalajara that civilisation disappeared and the big remoteness of Spain reared its glorious face again. A wet spring had left the fields green and strewn with wildflowers; poppies and broom. Everything splattered with reds, whites, purples and yellows.

05/04/2016

Ever wondered how to 'go for tapas' or what it really means. Here's my edible take! Plus, contains a filmed video of the tapas tour at the end!
http://www.lukedarracott.com/lukemadrid/2016/4/5/tapeo-a-tapas-crawl

Restaurant. A place of restoratives. We can thank the French for that word, for that establishment, that most common way of eating. Go, find a place, be seated and take the menu, flick through with the respective groans of thought, alight on whichever starters and mains you’d like, as well as a peep…

01/04/2016

Thinking about visiting Pamplona or La Rioja at some point. Well. Good, you should. Here's me eating it and soaking it all up.
http://www.lukedarracott.com/lukemadrid/2016/3/31/a56l2kki7oy48nu9pypoo3y1womzd3

Aperitivo Pamplona After the early morning flatlands of Castille, Pamplona arrived under a dense sky of pillowy grey clouds that spat rain at the cobbles. The great city of Hemingway and bulls had made itself clear. You may enjoy me, but you shall not do so lightly. Ernest himself, his bust frozen i…

06/03/2016

Ever wanted to go out for tapas in Spain? Well Madrid is arguably the best place in the country to do it. So many bars. Here I successfully attempt to break a previous 9-stop record and hit 10 tapas bars eating and drinking through those cobbled, winding streets of the capital.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pxUJjy4oRk

A successful attempt at breaking my previous 9-stop tapas crawl through the cobbled, winding, bar-filled streets of the Spanish capital Madrid. Bars: Casa Ge...

25/02/2016

The halted work on the third book project about Madrid's history through its food and bars is to remain halted indefinitely - i.e. until sometime when I have time in the years to come.
Alongside the short story project a joint third project is to be started as a response to all the guidebooks and what we deal with on our tours at Devour Spain:
"Darracott's no BS guide to Madrid"
A sort of tell-it-as-it-is answer to the Lonely Planets and the Rick Steves.

19/02/2016

Paris is famous and well-trodden. Here's my three-day take!
http://www.lukedarracott.com/lukemadrid/2016/2/18/paris-la-ville-lumire

The City of Light. La Ville Lumière. Paris. Its name, somewhat overplayed, for London glints out more in the gloom of night, is due to the old hotbed of Enlightenment and for its position as first city in Europe to adopt gas street lighting. Three days in Paris is not enough to take in all the wonde…

17/02/2016

As well as the blogs lets not forget the videos. A three-day jaunt in Paris. Enjoy!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07nHcYzycrY

A brief scattershot of Paris with two friends. We wanted to maximise our time/interest so made good use of the Velibs (hire bikes) Evening: Rue du Lappe in B...

26/01/2016

A new post! This one concerns a little adventure around the Wild West of Spain: the province of Almeria
http://www.lukedarracott.com/lukemadrid/2016/1/24/the-winter-ghosts-of-cowboys

Sun-blasted and baked; as if the land had been fired in a kiln. All was cracked in those sultry Wild West lines. The gentle waves and hulking ridges were sandy and dusty and fuzzied with only the sturdiest of grasses. Tiny dribbles of civilisation clung to life on these dry slopes or sat derelict in…

20/01/2016

HELLO ALL!
For those of you preferring a larger purveyor of books, El Camino is now available at Amazon!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/El-Camino-Luke-Darracott/dp/0954491963/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453311519&sr=8-1&keywords=luke+darracott

El Camino