The Streets of Madrid

"Love of God Street"

What a blessed name for a street! We should all be so fortunate to live on a street with a name like this.

Calle de la Sal

Someone thought to enliven this building. Nice comic balcony scenes.

Calle Cervantes

Both Miguel de Cervantes and Lope de Vega lived on this street. And the Lope de Vega house is open to visitors. You have to reserve to join a tour of his house but the small garden is open to all.

Tea Shop in Huertas neihborhood

Where there's tea, there's hope.

Street sweeper, Plaza Jacinto Benavente

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or as Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well'." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Calle de las Hileras

Details distinguish the extraordinary from the mundane.

Calle de las Huertas (Barrio de las Letras)

Ah, isn't it true my angel of love?

That on this secluded shore

The moon shines clear and pure

And one breathes better? José Zorilla from the play, Don Juan Tenorio (1844)

The streets of Madrid are full of surprises. Look up and you'll see murals, wrought iron balconies, well thought out street names inscribed on tile, sculptures and statues. Look down and you'll read passages from a poem or a novel by famous Spanish writers. There's so much going on at eye level that it's easy to be distracted. But a slow walk through these streets will make you a Madrid tour guide in no time, (if only to your close relatives and friends). Disfrute!

*****

Images by TravelswithCharie

The Art of Carlos Botong Francisco - Progress of Medicine in the Philippines

Pre-colonial period Pag-unlad ng Panggagamot sa Pilipinas (The Progress of Medicine in the Philippines) is a group of four large-scale paintings depicting healing practices in the Philippines from pre-colonial times to the modern period. Carlos Botong Francisco was commissioned in 1953 by Dr. Agerico Sison who was then the director of Philippine General Hospital (PGH) together with Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing of the National Museum, Dr. Florentino Herrera, Jr. and Dr. Constantino Manahan. These oil on canvas paintings measure 2.92 meters in height and 2.76 meters in width (9.71 ft x 8.92 ft) and were displayed at the main entrance hall of PGH for over five decades. Owing to its location, the artworks were in a state of "severe deterioration" at the beginning of the 21st century from exposure to heat, humidity, dirt, dust, smoke, insect stains, grime, termites and an oxidized synthetic resin used in an earlier restoration. These canvases were restored three times, the last was

Filipino Struggles in History - Carlos Botong Francisco

In 1968, Antonio Villegas (then Mayor of Manila), commissioned Carlos "Botong" Francisco to paint the history of Manila for Manila City Hall. The series of large scale paintings was called Kasaysayan ng Maynila (History of Manila). The paintings deteriorated over time and no attempt was made to preserve these historical canvases until 2013 when Mayor Amado Lim sent them to the National Museum for extensive restoration. Four years later, in 2017, Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the Manila City Council signed an agreement with the National Museum to leave the paintings at the museum so they may reach a larger audience in exchange for museum grade reproductions to replace the originals. Kasaysayan ng Maynila was later renamed Filipino Struggles in History and is now on display at the Senate Hall of the National Museum . Carlos "Botong" Francisco died in March 1969, a few months after completing the paintings. He is one of the first Filipino modernists and

8 Heritage Houses of Iloilo

Lizares Mansion The province of Iloilo on the island of Panay has a rich trove of heritage houses, left over from the sugar industry boom in the 19th century. Iloilo also had the largest port in the Philippines at that time which facilitated the export of sugar to foreign shores and deposited money in the hands of the sugar barons. The barons dropped their earnings into the acquisition of properties in Negros and the construction of beautiful homes in Iloilo, many of which are located in the vicinity of the Jaro Cathedral. The Lizares Mansion was built in 1937 by Don Emiliano Lizares for his wife, Concepcion Gamboa and five children. The family fled to safety when World War II broke out and the house was occupied by the Japanese military. The family returned to the house after the war but left once again after the demise of Don Emiliano. It was sold to the Dominican order in the 1960s and was converted in 1978 to a private school, Angelicum School. The mansion now houses the

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