Hemingway and Madrid

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/travel/a-tour-of-hemingways-madrid.html

One of my favorite books continues to be the Old Man and the Sea  a very short Hemingway novel about an old fisherman in Cuba trying to land a large fish,  and his relationship with a young  fisherman trying to help him.

Last Sunday the NYT ran an article, linked above entitled "Blood, Sand, Sherry:  Hemingway's Madrid."  The article makes me want to visit the Legazpi neighborhood of Madrid.   The Wellington Society of Madrid gives tours of the various Hemingway haunts, including several of the former "republican left bars" from the same time period dealt with in Riña de Gatos, the recently discussed Sociedad Hispana Doylestown book club selection for June.

These were the bars frequented by Hemingway in the late 1930's while he was writing For Whom the Bell Tolls,  his novel about the "Guerra Civil."

This article makes me want to visit Madrid again, hopefully don Ernesto interest there doesn't rise to the level of having  Hemingway look alike contests a la Key West, Florida!

Concurrent with the 50th year commemoration of the death of Hemingway(by suicide July 2), the Wall Street Journal today published a wider scope review of several of the Hemingway books, which can be found here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303714704576386102863132610.html?mod=ITP_personaljournal_2