Sephardic Spain: Update on My Search for Jewish Historical Sites in Spain Part III of III Lorca's (Murcia) Jewish Village & Synagogue in a Castle and the Most Incredible Holy Week Processions Ever

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Gerry Dawes with Jewish figure sounding the shofar at Archaeological Museum of Lorca, Lorca (Murcia).

Lorca (Murcia)

When I picked up my partner, Kay, at Alicante airport, she was running late from a delayed flight from New York that caused her to miss her connection in Madrid, and we headed for Cartagena on Saturday, April 13, the day before Palm Sunday, I had no idea what we were going to find a few days down the road.

When we arrived at Hotel Los Habaneros in Cartagena, one of the few major towns in Spain to which I had never been, she showed me an article from the in-flight magazine she picked up on Air Nostrum, the regional airline that flies from Madrid to such places as Alicante and Valencia.  It was a article about Holy Week in an outback town called Lorca, a place I may have only passed through once, if that, years ago and a town that was not on my radar and not on our agenda for the trip we had planned for Semana Santa, Holy Week.  

We were going to get acquainted with historic Roman Cartagena, a town with one of the most beautifully protected harbors in the Mediterranean, then we were going to Almeria, where for years I had been promising her lunch on the beach at Cabo de Gata.  Then we were going to the villages of the Alpurjarras, south from Granada, where my one-time Spain literary hero, Gerald Brenan wrote South From Granada.   In the 1970s, I would subsequently come to know Brenan, visit him at his home near Alhaurín el Grande (with letters of introduction from both the great doyenne of bullfight aficionadas Alice Hall and theater legend Kenneth Tynan), have dinner with at the home of my mentors Bill Byron (author of Cervantes) and have him to our home in Mijas for dinner.  Brenan wrote South From Granada about his life in the 1920s in the isolated Sierra Nevada mountain village of Yegen.  His book and others, The Face of Spain and Literature of the Spanish People became classic and were a great inspiration to me, but other than a couple of minor forays, I had done no in-depth exploring of the villages he wrote about so many years ago.
First off, not only would Lorca not be on my radar, I had no plans to go there, but with bad weather forecast and the prospect of making a trip to Granada later this Fall, which would allow us to visit the Alpujarras, coupled with the sight in that airline magazine of Roman chariots racing down the streets of Lorca during Holy Week, brought about a change in plans, so when Kay did some research on hotels in Lorca, found only the Parador available, we decided to change our plans and go to Lorca for Holy Thursday.  It was a remarkable twist of events that lead us to the most incredible Semana Santa spectacle I have ever seen and ironically it would also lead me to a Jewish village that I had no idea existed,  inside a castle and on grounds of the Parador de Lorca, no less.

The discovery of Lorca’s Jewish village began in 2002, ironically when excavations began to build the new Parador de Turismo on whose grounds the village, synagogue and museum are located.  Jews lived for two centuries with the protection of the Kings of Castile and within the protective confines of the castle above Lorca, which was a Castilian frontier bastion against the Moorish taifas and the Moorish bastion of Granada.  The Jews were fluent in Arabic and helped negociate Christian and Moorish prisoner releases and ransom payments.  They also engaged in agriculture and the raising of livestock and were merchants and craftsmen.   

This Jewish village was on the Eastern side of the fortress on a terraced hillside.  To date, 18 houses have been excavated with their walls, alcoves, benches, kitchens and cupboards.  Many artifacts have also been recovered, including pottery, mezuzahs, menorahs (including some that were eight small pottery oil lamps, with a ninth, large one at the end) and more than 2,000 pieces of glass from the the candlelight glass lamps that were suspended from the ceiling and illuminated the synagogue were discovered.  One house was even found to have a domestic bathroom.

The synagogue in this Jewish village at Lorca’s Fortaleza del Sol  is particularly important, partly because it is the only known synagogue recovered in Spain that had never been converted into a Christian church.  Part of the original walls with the layout of the building, including the entranceway for men and their prayer benches, have been preserved in their original state.  Also uncovered were pieces of plasterwork with intricate designs and colored ceramics tiles.  The area above the main hall where women worshiped has been reconstructed with a wooden screen that allowed them to see, but kept them unseen by the men in the congregation (since this area is small, there is some doubt as to whether women worshipped at this synagogue at the same time as men).  The excavators also uncovered the aron kodesh (“holy ark”), the Sephardim called the ark,  the holiest place in the synagogue--where the Torah Scrolls are kept--the heichal (“chamber”).  They also uncovered the foundations of a raised stone podium the bema, or bima,  in ancient Greece.  This podium, using for reading the Torah during the services, is known a bimah in synagogues.

Some of the glass lamps that archaeologists found are apparently unique in the world, since they are the only such lamps that were used to illuminate a Medieval synagogue.  More than 20 of these lamps have been reconstructed with some of the fragments of the original glass and are now displayed in the Archaeological Museum of Lorca.  

 Kay Balun at the Museo Arquelogico de Lorca with some of the re-constructed glass latterns found in the synagogue at the unearthed Jewish village at the Forteleza del Sol castle on the grounds of the Parador de Turismo de Lorca.

Re-constructed glass lattern found in the synagogue at the unearthed Jewish village at the Forteleza del Sol castle on the grounds of the Parador de Turismo de Lorca.

Re-constructed glass lattern found in the synagogue at the unearthed Jewish village at the Forteleza del Sol castle on the grounds of the Parador de Turismo de Lorca.

Also found were the fragments of pottery that were part of the horizontal Hannukah lamp menorahs, which were eight smaller oil lamps and one larger shammash lamp used to light the others at the end .  The lamps  were a part of their pottery platform and all glazed in green (a similar style of menorah, done in white ceramics with hand-painted designs was found in a Jewish excavation in the provincial capital of Teruel, some 430 kms. to the north in Aragón.)  Both the Lorca and Teruel menorahs had to be almost completely re-built, since only fragments were found.  In December of 2012, the first lighting of the candles of Hanukah in more 500 years took place in the ancient synagogue of Lorca.  Now, the Hanukah candle lighting ceremony is an annual event at the synagogue. 

 Lorca menorah (Samuel Gruber's Jewish Art & Monuments).

Depiction of lighting of the Lorcan style ceramics Menorah at the Museo Arquelogico de Lorca.  Now, the Hanukah candle lighting ceremony is an annual event at the synagogue in Lorca.

We were again reminded of the Jewish heritage of Lorca during the incredible Semana Santa processions, when we saw the character representing King Solomon draped with one of the superbly embroidered, ornate robes that Lorca’s processions are famous for adorned with a large star of David.  And there is also an appearance by the Queen of Sheba and her retinue. And, as a part of another procession, several men carry a golden ark of the covenant (calling Indiana Jones!).  Lorca’s  Holy Week celebrations are mind-blowing.  The out Hollywood Hollywood and, with the racing Roman chariots with their haughty drivers, including several striking young women, sometimes we thought we were in the middle of a re-enactment of Ben-Hur, Spartacus or King Solomon’s mines.

King Solomon's Cape (from 1934), worn during the Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon  Holy Week processions, Museo de Bordados Paso Blanco, Lorca (Murcia).

Part of the Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon Procession, Holy Week, Lorca (Murcia).

This photo courtesy Protocol Bloggers Point.

Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon Procession, Holy Week, Lorca (Murcia).  Photo by Gerry Dawes.

 Festival of Contemporary Jewish Culture takes place in Lorca in September.

More on Sephardic Spain:

4/06/2019 Sephardic Spain: Update on My Search for Jewish Historical Sites in Spain Part II of III The Call, Barcelona's Former Jewish Quarter with Barcelona Expert George Semler

4/01/2019 Sephardic Spain: Update on My Search for Jewish Historical Sites in Spain Part I of III Return to Ribadavia (Galicia) & La Tafona de Herminia's Sephardic Recipe Pastries 

3/10/2019 Jewish Spain: Ribadavia (Ourense), Galicia, Restored Jewish Quarter (Active from the XII-XVI Centuries) with La Tafona de Herminia, A Bakery with Pastries from Recovered Sephardic Recipes Plus Galician Octopus Cookers

  

2/05/2019 Jewish Spain: Iglesia de Santa María de las Nieves, Popularly Known as Santa María la Blanca, at the Edge of The Barrio de Santa Cruz, The Ancient Jewish Quarter of Sevilla 

  

2/04/2019 Susona: The Legend of the Beautiful Jewish Girl in Sevilla Whose Betrayal Led to Implementation of The Spanish Inquisition in the 15th Century (My article In Madrid's Guidepost Magazine, May 25, 1974)

  

9/09/2018 Jewish Spain: The Incredible Remnants of Jewish Culture in the Old Jewish Quarters of Spain: Segovia, Toledo, Cordoba, Sevilla, Ribadavia (Galicia), Tudela (Navarra), Girona (Catalunya), Hervás (Cáceres)

 

5/21/2018 Jewish Spain: Toledo Santa Maria La Blanca 12th-Century Ibn Shushan Synagogue

 

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Constructive comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

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  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

 _______________________________________________________

 

In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 
About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Sephardic Spain: Update on My Search for Jewish Historical Sites in Spain Part II of III The Call, Barcelona's Former Jewish Quarter with Barcelona Expert George Semler

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Barcelona: The Call, Former Jewish Quarter

George Semler in front of the Synagoga Mayor in the Call, the old Jewish Quarter, of Barcelona. 

 The ancient Synagoga Mayor in El Call de Barcelona is open everyday, but Saturday, the day we were there.

At the end of the first ten days of the trip, I said adios to my traveling companions, Gil Avital and David Spell of Elevation Wine Partners, when we finished our wine mission in Montsant.  Then my long-time friend Catalan wine maestro Agustí Torelló, producer (with his son Agustí Torelló Roca) of AT Roca wines, drove me to the Barrio de Sarrià, in northern Barcelona, where I spent two delightful days and nights with my very old excelentisima friends, writer George Semler and his wife, Lucie Hayes Semler, both of whom I have know for some fifty years.  

 George Semler with a bottle of AT Roca Rosat Reserva Brut sparkling wine from my long-time friend Catalan wine maestro Agustí Torelló Sibil, producer (with his son Agustí Torelló Roca) of AT Roca.

 

My long-time friend Catalan wine maestro Agustí Torelló Sibil, producer (with his son Agustí Torelló Roca) of AT Roca tasting red wines in Montsant, Cornudella de Montsant.

I first met the hiking, hunting and fishing enthusiast George in Pamplona during the Fiestas de San Fermín on the outdoor terrace of the famous Bar Txoko on the Plaza del Castillo.   George, who had been fishing for trout  in the cold streams of the Pyrenees above Pamplona, the streams Ernest Hemingway fished and wrote about in The Sun Also Rises, had caught some trout and was cooking them for breakfast under a table on the Bar Txoko terrace.  This is no fish story, I have a photo of George cooking the trout.  I just have to find it and the negatives, which are buried in fifty years of personal detritus somewhere in the depths of our basement in Putnam County, New York. 

 Trout fishing in the Pyrenees in Navarra, Spain.

Now, George Semler is a bonafide expert on a lot of stuff.  He a graduate of Yale and a Vietnam veteran, who has lived with Lucie  in Spain for more than fifty years.  Lucie taught school in Barcelona and George coached hockey, then made his way as a writer.   He has written several books on Spain (and contributed to multiple guidebooks) that I know of, Madridwalks and Barcelonawalks (HENRY HOLT WALKS SERIES) and has published articles in Saveur, The Wall Street Journal, The LA Times and many others.  

 

Barcelonawalks by George Semler.

When I say that George knows Madrid and Barcelona, stone-by-stone, I am not exaggerating.  Walking through Barcelona with him is like being with a walking encyclopedia.  He knows EVERYTHING and in-depth.   Which, brings us to George giving me (and Lucie) a marvelous tour of Barcelona’s relatively small Call, or former Jewish quarter.  He even pointed out a stone door frame with a niche where a mezzuzah might have been placed (except the niche was vertical, not slanted with the top inclined towards the interior).   (George also took me inside a jewelry shop that a glass interior panes covering a stretch of the old walls of the city.)  

 George Semler showing his wife Lucie and me el Call, the old Jewish Quarter of Barcelona.

 George even pointed out a stone door frame with a niche where a mezzuzah might have been placed (except the niche was vertical, not slanted with the top inclined towards the interior).

We tried to visit the Synagoga Mayor, thought to be the oldest synagogue in Europe and found that Saturday is the only day that it is closed.  But, we were able to visit part of MUHBA El Call (the Museum of the History of Barcelona - Jewish Quarter), which via glass floors allows visitors to see the foundations of the 13th-14th Century Jewish home belonging to veil weaver Jucef Bonhiac and has displays with other Jewish memorabilia found in the old quarter.  Compared to other Jewish quarters that I have known in Spain, this one in Barcelona is relatively small, but nonetheless it was important, up until 1391, when the Jews in the Call were either massacred or forced to convert to Christianity, a century before Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand issued the expulsion order. 

 George Semler pointing out something on the map of Barcelona's Jewish Call to his wife Lucie Hayes Semler at MUHBA El Call (the Museum of the History of Barcelona - Jewish Quarter) in Barcelona.

Hebrew inscription of Proverbs 11.25 at MUHBA El Call (the Museum of the History of Barcelona - Jewish Quarter) in Barcelona.

 English translation (enlarged).

Painting of Jews in the Middle Ages at MUHBA El Call (the Museum of the History of Barcelona - Jewish Quarter) in Barcelona.

 
I have been to Barcelona dozens of times, but this is the first time that I visited the Call with any purpose, but with George Semler as my guide, I made some discoveries to add to my knowledge of Jewish Spain. 

More on Sephardic Spain:
  
4/01/2019 Sephardic Spain: Update on My Search for Jewish Historical Sites in Spain Part I of III Return to Ribadavia (Galicia) & La Tafona de Herminia's Sephardic Recipe Pastries 
 

3/10/2019 Jewish Spain: Ribadavia (Ourense), Galicia, Restored Jewish Quarter (Active from the XII-XVI Centuries) with La Tafona de Herminia, A Bakery with Pastries from Recovered Sephardic Recipes Plus Galician Octopus Cookers

  

2/05/2019 Jewish Spain: Iglesia de Santa María de las Nieves, Popularly Known as Santa María la Blanca, at the Edge of The Barrio de Santa Cruz, The Ancient Jewish Quarter of Sevilla 

  

2/04/2019 Susona: The Legend of the Beautiful Jewish Girl in Sevilla Whose Betrayal Led to Implementation of The Spanish Inquisition in the 15th Century (My article In Madrid's Guidepost Magazine, May 25, 1974)

  

9/09/2018 Jewish Spain: The Incredible Remnants of Jewish Culture in the Old Jewish Quarters of Spain: Segovia, Toledo, Cordoba, Sevilla, Ribadavia (Galicia), Tudela (Navarra), Girona (Catalunya), Hervás (Cáceres)

 

5/21/2018 Jewish Spain: Toledo Santa Maria La Blanca 12th-Century Ibn Shushan Synagogue

  

 * * * * *

  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

 _______________________________________________________________________________________

 

About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Jewish Spain: Iglesia de Santa María de las Nieves, Popularly Known as Santa María la Blanca, at the Edge of The Barrio de Santa Cruz, The Ancient Jewish Quarter of Sevilla

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(Note:  All text & photographs, except when otherwise indicated, are by Gerry Dawes©2019.)

Entrance to the former synagogue, earlier mosque that is now la Iglesia de Santa Maria de los Nieves,popularly known as Santa María la Blanca. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2019

After a morning jaunt across my old barrio, the Barrio de Santa Cruz, the old Jewish Quarter of Sevilla, we went to Santa María de la Nieves church, more popularly known as Santa María la Blanca, (the same name as the exceptional other former synagogue in Toledo, also called Santa María la Blanca).  This church was built on the foundations of both the original small neighborhood mosque that was converted after the re-conquest of Sevilla from the Moors in the 13th Century into a synagogue used by Jews in the Jewish barrio of Sevilla (the barrio where I lived off and on for parts of five years).   Santa María la Blanca was a synagogue until the late 14th Century, when, after a terrible pogrom, it was converted into a Christian church.   

Santa María la Blanca is also the name of the street where the former synagogue is located.

Santa María la Blanca, with its overwrought, overwhelming and over-the-top Baroque decoration, as spectacular and meticulously restored as it is, will be somewhat of a disappointment to those looking for vestiges of the synagogue. 

 

Santa María la Blanca's overwrought, overwhelming and over-the-top Baroque decoration.

Almost nothing of the former synagogue is evident, except for the front entrance to the church, which was apparently the front door of the synagogue, and the much restored and altered rounded mudéjar-designed arches that are remnants of the synagogue (surprisingly not the former mosque) supported by columns whose originals were replaced with ones of red marble from Antequera.  

 

 

The rounded mudéjar-design arches that are most re-worked remnants of the synagogue.

These arches are somewhat reminiscent of other Jewish synagogues like the sublime Santa María la Blanca in Toledo in which Jewish congregations adopted and commissioned the popular mudéjar, or Moorish-inspired architecture of that epoch, usually done by Moorish artisans, bricklayers, etc. working under Christian rule. Often the three cultures--Christian, Jewish and Moorish--overlapped, so sometimes you see a mix of influences.

 

12th-Century Ibn Shushan Synagogue in Toledo, now Santa Maria La Blanca, but used mostly as a museum site of Jewish culture in Toledo.  Notice the decorative arquillos (little arches; above the main arches).  These synagogue arquillos were also found under some Murillo paintings during restoration a few years ago of Santa Maria La Blanca in Sevilla (see below). 

 These synagogue arquillos, little arches, were also found under some Murillo paintings during restoration a few years ago at Santa Maria La Blanca in Sevilla. 

 Floor plan of the 14th Century synagogue that became Santa Maria La Blanca church in Sevilla.

Sideview of of the 14th Century synagogue that became Santa Maria La Blanca church in Sevilla.

______________________________________________________________________________________ 

 

About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on WPWL 103.7 FM Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York.

 Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 
 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at  gerrydawes@gmail.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@spanishartisanwine.com

Emblematic Monuments to Jewish Heritage in Spain: Toledo, Segovia, Córdoba & Sevilla

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Santa María la Blanca synagogue, Toledo.

Photo by Gerry Dawes©2008. gerrydawes@aol.com

Although I am not Jewish (I once was in the second half of the 15th century), I lived for parts of five years in the Old Jewish Quarter of Sevilla and I try to seek out and photograph remnants of Jewish heritage in Spain. From some of my trips, I have put together a slide show of my photographs of some of the most important, emblematic monuments to Jewish heritage in Spain, the El Tránsito and Santa María la Blanca synagogues, both in Toledo, along with photos of a Toleda wine cellar in a 9th century Jewish home; the Sinagoga Mayor (main synagogue) in Segovia; the statue in Córdoba to the great 12th-Century Jewish philosopher, Maimonides, and Sevilla's Judería, the Old Jewish Quarter, where I lived in the 1970s.