Podcasts about Catalonia

Dreams don't just fall into our heads out of nowhere. They're cultivated and built from passionate ideas. Big dreamers know that they don't happen immediately—they require patience, self-compassion, and above all, the courage to pursue them, regardless of the odds.Debbie credits her resilience to her childhood struggles in Catalonia and learned that sometimes, you have to travel to the other side of the world to discover what moves you the most.For the Love of Climbing is brought to you by Deuter USA, Gnarly Nutrition, Allez Outdoors, and presented by Patagonia.Music by: Kakurenbo and Chad Crouch. A HUGE thank you to Chad Crouch for creating absolute magic, and to Peter Darmi for mixing this episode.Cover photo by Kika MacFarlane.Read the transcript here.Follow us on Instagram for podcast (pod-Kath?) updates and general life things.Support us on Patreon in exchange for a warm, fuzzy feeling.

In today's episode: Chris Cuomo suspended indefinitely for collaboration with his brother's campaign, U.S. COVID deaths hit 800k, Yang writes new essay no polarization, Catalonia announces 2-year UBI pilot, and More! Links and transcript found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K2z4IH-62XfhYnSVe9QYYYPGVPqyPQCs9dRnCFkVQMw/edit?usp=sharing Help make this podcast possible at: https://www.patreon.com/YangDaily Message me @YangDailyCast or YangDailyPodcast@gmail.com!

Anna N. Schlegel is the VP of Product, International and Globalization at Procore Technologies, a company that provides cloud-based project-management software for the construction industry. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in California, Procore's mission is to connect everyone in construction on a global platform. With nine offices on three continents, the company now employs 2,500 people globally. Hundreds of thousands of users around the world rely on Procore's collaborative, multilingual suite of tools to manage all types of large-scale construction projects more efficiently and more profitably. In the world of software globalization, Anna almost needs no introduction. I've had the pleasure of featuring her on this podcast twice previously. She is a recognized expert in Global Product Management and Enterprise Globalization Strategy, and she's one of the most well-known personalities in the Localization industry. She has been blazing a trail in Silicon Valley for over 25 years now, with many impressive achievements and accolades earned along the way. Before joining Procore earlier this year, she spent more than a decade driving global growth at NetApp, the Fortune-500 tech company known for hybrid cloud data services and data management. Previous tech companies that benefitted from her expertise include VMWare, VeriSign, Xerox, and Cisco Systems. Throughout her distinguished career, Anna has always taken the time to give back to her profession, perhaps most notably as an original Co-Founder and past President of Women in Localization, the leading professional organization for women and their allies in the localization industry (cf. episode #035). She is also involved with a number of economic development initiatives with her native region of Catalonia. Last but not least, Anna is the author of Truly Global: The Theory and Practice of Bringing Your Company to International Markets. She originally published her book in 2016, and just recently launched a revised edition. In this interview, Anna explains why Procore Technologies has prioritized international growth as its #1 strategic initiative, how Anna is applying her three decades of experience to help the company achieve its global business objectives, and why she feels so passionate about developing stakeholder management and business savvy as part of true leadership in globalization. She also talks about new learnings that she has included in the recently-updated edition of her book, Truly Global, and she shares some valuable advice for today's ambitious tech CEOs.   Links: Procore Technologies website Procore Technologies on LinkedIn Procore Technologies on Instagram Procore Technologies on Facebook Procore Technologies on YouTube Procore Technologies on Twitter Anna's Truly Global Business website Anna's book “Truly Global” on the FriesenPress website Women in Localization website Aula Magna Business School website Aula Magna Business School on LinkedIn Anna on LinkedIn Anna on Twitter   The Worldly Marketer Podcast is a Verbaccino production.

We continue our focus on the Christian states by taking a look at the establishment of Catalonia and the rise of the Kingdom of Aragon.

Alice Hoffman's 1995 novel, Practical Magic, is the story of two sisters, Sally and Gillian Owens, who are born into a family of witches. The catch is that their ancestor, Maria Owens, cursed the family, so that any man one of them falls in love with dies an untimely death. It's a classic fairy tale, and like most fairy tales it didn't have a sequel—until this year. After going back to the 1960s generation of the family with The Rules of Magic, and all the way back to the 1600s with Magic Lessons, Hoffman returns this year to the present with the fourth and final story of the Owens family, The Book of Magic, which sees the youngest Owens, Kylie, maybe—finally—break the curse for good.Go beyond the episode:Alice Hoffman's The Book of Magic, and her 40-odd other magical talesThe original trailer for Practical Magic, starring Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, and the most beautiful house in MassachusettsFrom New England to Catalonia, people are campaigning to memorialize—and legally pardon—the tens of thousands of people burned as witchesRead more about the Jewish pirates that sail into the Owens story in the 1600sTune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you'd like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alice Hoffman's 1995 novel, Practical Magic, is the story of two sisters, Sally and Gillian Owens, who are born into a family of witches. The catch is that their ancestor, Maria Owens, cursed the family, so that any man one of them falls in love with dies an untimely death. It's a classic fairy tale, and like most fairy tales it didn't have a sequel—until this year. After going back to the 1960s generation of the family with The Rules of Magic, and all the way back to the 1600s with Magic Lessons, Hoffman returns this year to the present with the fourth and final story of the Owens family, The Book of Magic, which sees the youngest Owens, Kylie, maybe—finally—break the curse for good.Go beyond the episode:Alice Hoffman's The Book of Magic, and her 40-odd other magical talesThe original trailer for Practical Magic, starring Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, and the most beautiful house in MassachusettsFrom New England to Catalonia, people are campaigning to memorialize—and legally pardon—the tens of thousands of people burned as witchesRead more about the Jewish pirates that sail into the Owens story in the 1600sTune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you'd like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Full Episode 10-25-21 - In this episode, Amanda continues her warpath of community organizing education. We also learn about Peruvian indigenous autonomy and its connection to Catalonia and Syria. Check out our Patreon if you want to support us! patreon.com/thebrokenrecordradioshow

This year, mushroom-hunting season is more anticipated than ever after last year's strict quarantine measures kept most people in their own municipalities for the entire winter. The tradition is particularly strong in the northeast region of Catalonia. 

This year, mushroom-hunting season is more anticipated than ever after last year's strict quarantine measures kept most people in their own municipalities for the entire winter. The tradition is particularly strong in the northeast region of Catalonia. 

Monica Is a group leader at ICIQ (Institut Català d'Investigació Química / Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia), Tarragona, Spain. Her group focuses on the ‘Development of new chemical transformations: From organometallic mechanistic studies to catalysis'. Prior to her current position, Monica conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, which followed awarding of her Ph.D. from the University of Valladolid, Spain – where she also earnt her B.Sc. and M.Sc.In 2018, Monica was selected as one of the ‘Talented 12' by Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS). She is also involved in outreach activities to increase the visibility of women in Science. You will hear the following terms used during the interview. I've included some descriptions here. NMR – Nuclear Magnetic Resonance subjects samples to a strong magnetic fields and measures the resonance pattern of the nuclei. It is widely used to study the structure and dynamics of organic molecules.Palladium – A chemical element with atomic number 46. It is a rare metal and over 50% of palladium supply is used in catalytic processes, most commonly catalytic converters attached to automobile exhausts.Cobalt A chemical element with atomic number 27. Most commonly produced as a by-product of Copper and Nickel production, the main use for colbalt is in Li-ion batteries, and the production of certain high-strength metal alloys.Transition metal – in chemistry, the term transition metal is defined in one of three ways:Many scientists describe a "transition metal" as any element in the d-block of the periodic table, which includes groups 3 to 12 on the periodic table. In practice, the f-block lanthanide and actinide series are also considered transition metals and are called "inner transition metals".The IUPAC definition defines a transition metal as "an element whose atom has a partially filled d sub-shell, or which can give rise to cations with an incomplete d sub-shell".The expanded IUPAC definition specifies which elements are included. As well as the elements of groups 4 to 11, scandium and yttrium are included Lanthanum and actinium, which are considered group 3 elements, are however classified as lanthanides and actinides respectivelyNucleophile – A chemical species that forms bonds with electrophiles by donating an electron pair.Oxidant – A substance that has the ability to oxidize another substance. In chemical reactions this refers to the oxidant accepting electrons.Intermediate – A chemical entity that is formed during a reaction, but that is typically converted to another form when the reaction completes. During the discussion, Monica mentions a number of the publications that her groups have produced. Links to her publications are available from the group website. Monica is contactable on social media, and you can find her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-h-perez-temprano-3659ab3b/ The group website is https://www.iciq.org/research/research_group/dr-monica-h-perez-temprano/ On Twitter, the group is @Perez_Temprano Our theme music is "Wholesome" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)Music from https://filmmusic.ioLicense: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Connect with me (Paul) at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulorange/H.E.L. group can be found at www.helgroup.com online,on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/hel-group/ on Twitter, we're @hel_group, https://twitter.com/hel_groupor search for us on Facebook 

End of August Days of eHealth were organised as part of the Slovenian Presidency to the Council of EU. In four days a lot of insight was offered about healthcare digitalization in Catalonia, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia, Israel and Finland. In the previous episodes, I published the panel discussions about Germany and Catalonia. This is the panel about Israel.    Israel has had electronic healthcare records for two decades, in 2018. A country of 9 million people, attributes 7,5% of its GDP to healthcare and is home to roughly 1,500 companies operating in the healthcare and life sciences. In the panel discussion you will learn about the national digital health strategy in Israel, how to Health Maintainance Organisations, Government, and Hospitals collaborating to advance healthcare. You will also learn a little bit more about Slovenia with two representatives of the Slovenian healthcare ecosystem.   The speakers:  Esti Shelly, Director, Digital Health at Ministry of Health Israel Michael Halberthal, General Director of Rambam Health Care Campus Noa Kedem, Deputy Director, Digital health unit (Medical Informatics) at Maccabi Health Services   Jurij Šorli, CEO of the Hospital Topolšica (Slovenia) Bogdan Tušar, Acting Director General, Directorate for the Development of the Health System, Ministry of Health, Slovenia Recap of roundtables at Days of eHealth: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/days-of-ehealth-healthcare-digitalization-in-catalonia-germany-finland-and-israel Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com. The European Patient Forum's Congress happening during 26-29 October: https://epfcongress.eu/

Mediapro owner Jaume Roures fronts lawmakers in France over the failed TV rights that left many French clubs forced to sell their best players. Jaume Roures Llop is a Spanish businessman, film producer, political activist and media mogul from Catalonia. Roures is best known as the CEO of Mediapro, a prominent television company operating out of Barcelona, of which he owns a 12% share. This company also owns the newspaper Público. Mediaproducción, S.L.U., better known as Mediapro, is a multimedia communications group in Spain. Founded in 1994 in Barcelona, the company is involved in movie and television production, as well as media. Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, PSG, Paris or Paris SG, is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football.

This week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Dr. Bernat Olle, co-founder and CEO of Vedanta Biosciences, about his journey from Catalonia, Spain, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he continued his Chemical Engineering studies at MIT. Navigating the complex immigration system while seeking purpose in his career, he eventually found his calling and was lucky enough to […]

On this episode of Going Underground, we first speak to Fergus Shiel of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on the release of the Pandora Papers, which implicate 366 high-level public officials and politicians and over 1,000 companies in major tax evasion and the hiding of wealth. He discusses what the super-rich and these politicians have done to the living standards of ordinary people globally, what the papers reveal about the level of financial corruption in Lebanon as 80% of the population struggle in poverty, the massive amount of Russian money ending up in London and the revelations that many in Boris Johnson's Conservative Party have taken donations from Russian oligarchs, the revelations on Tony & Cherie Blair's tax avoidance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's offshore dealings and much more! Finally, we speak to Gonzalo Boye, the lawyer of the former Catalonian President Carles Puigdemont. He discusses the recent arrest and release of Puigdemont in Sardinia after the triggering of an arrest warrant, Spain's alleged misleading of the European Court of Justice on the Puigdemont case, why Spain is not acting as a democratic state and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez' changing stances on the Catalonia issue, his accusation that Spain is acting like an un-democratic state toward its minorities, smear campaigns against himself, Puigdemont and other Catalonian figures and much more!

Once the Kings of The Champions League and La Liga. Now with out Messi; Where did things go wrong? Futbol Club Barcelona, commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça, is a Spanish professional football club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Joan Laporta i Estruch is a Spanish politician and current president of FC Barcelona. Laporta is a lawyer with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has a number of notable Spanish firms as clients. He served as MP in the Parliament of Catalonia between 2010 and 2012. The UEFA Champions League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competition winners through a round robin group stage to qualify for a double-legged knockout format, and a single leg final.

Slovenia is currently presiding the council of EU until 2022. In the first week of September, the members of the Slovenian health tech ecosystem organized a conference about examples of good practices in healthcare digitalization across Europe. In one of the previous episodes, you were able to listen to the panel discussion on the healthcare strategy in Catalonia. Today's episode is an adapted recording of the panel about Germany, and the upcoming two episodes will be the adapted discussions about healthcare digitalization in Israel and Finland.  In the past two years, a lot of efforts have been put in place to accelerate the progress on the digitalization of the healthcare digital infrastructure in Germany. Many laws were passed, the country received a lot of international attention about the DIGA process, which enables startups to make their apps reimbursable. The bigger national projects which saw the day of life this year, however, were the introduction of electronic patient records, telemedicine, and e-prescriptions.  On the funding side, the federal ministry of health and the federal states are investing EUR 4,3 billion for concrete projects that work towards the digitalization of hospitals.  In this discussion, we're going to scratch the surface of the design of the national strategy and digital health infrastructure in Germany. and look at the practical example of the Medical informatics Initiative. Medical Informatics Initiative is a separate project to improve medical research and patient care.   You will hear more from five speakers. The panel discussion was moderated by Maja Dragović, a former journalist for digitalhealth.net, now a Business Developer at Better. She will also present the speakers.    Speakers:  Dr. Michael Marschollek  - professor for Medical Informatics at Hannover Medical School (Germany) and executive director of the Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics of TU-Braunschweig and Hannover Medical School.  Johannes Starlinger, an MD, working as an Interdisciplinary Digital Health Consultant, Howto Health GmbH, Germany Mark Langguth, eHealth Consultant, Former Senior Product Manager at Gematik Fabien Prasser, Professor of Medical Informatics at the Berlin Institute of Health at the Charite University Hospital Berlin We were also supposed to be joined by Anka Bolka, Head of Director of Field for Development and Analysis, Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia, but since she couldn't make it, Tomaž Mračun, who manages the application development department at Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (HIIS).   Recap of the Days of eHealth: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/days-of-ehealth-healthcare-digitalization-in-catalonia-germany-finland-and-israel  Join the EPF Congress: https://epfcongress.eu/  Podcast Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com 

Chants of Viva Ronaldo rung round Old Trafford long after the final whistle after his injury-time winner rescued Manchester United from what had been another unimpressive Champions League performance. The Athletic's Carl Anka joins the pod to discuss David De Gea's rejuvenation and we hear from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who says United were indebted to 'the best goalkeeper in the world' for their result. We ask Sam Obaseki if we there's concern at Chelsea after back-to-back defeats when failing to score before speaking to Ernest Macia in Catalonia who predicts we've seen Ronald Koeman's last match in the Barcelona dugout.

Catalonia Independence Rally https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-09-11/thousands-of-catalans-rally-for-independence-in-barcelona #peoplearerevolting twitter.com/peoplerevolting Peoplearerevolting.com movingtrainradio.com

The great-grandson of Alec 'Bunny' Eason, who played for and coached Footscray in the 1920s, explains how he will be supporting the Dogs in Saturday's Grand Final from the small village of Collbato in Catalonia, Spain.

This week we sit down with Ewan Shepherd from Trek Travel to discuss their upcoming Girona Gravel Tour trips. We learn about the city, the cycling community and the abundance of gravel that surrounds the city. Trek Travel Gravel Tour Girona  Join The Ridership Support the Podcast Automated Transcription (please excuse the typos): Trek Travel   [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello and welcome to the gravel ride podcast. I'm your host Craig Dalton.  [00:00:06] This week on the podcast, we're joined by UN shepherd European logistics manager for track travel. Based out of Girona Spain.  [00:00:14] As the longtime listener knows I've been super keen on the idea of gravel travel and super excited to see this industry grow up.  [00:00:22] We had an earlier discussion with Juan De La Roca about Southern Colorado and building that up as a gravel destination. And now we're seeing events like LIfeTime's Rad Dirt Fest crop up over there. We've also talked to event organizers over in Europe, around the gravel epic series that was conceived. During the COVID time and didn't actually get to get its races off the ground.  [00:00:46] But one of the locations we talked about in Europe was Girona. Now for road cyclist, Girona has long been part of the discussion about where professional athletes live. And there's a reason why they live there. Amazing road, riding all over the place. So I was really excited to learn originally from the gravel epic team about Girona as a travel destination for gravel cyclists.  [00:01:11] But even more excited to learn about this trip that Trek travel is putting together their Girona, gravel bike tour.  [00:01:18] They've got a couple more departures this year in November that you can still sign up for as well as a whole host of dates for 2022, starting in the spring.  [00:01:28] After talking to you. And all I can say is sign me up. It sounds amazing. I'll let him explain it in his own words, but it sounds like Jerome has a very special place for cyclists of all kinds.  [00:01:39] And the opportunities for gravel cycling are abundant outside the city center.  [00:01:44] I'm excited for you to learn more about Girona and gravel. With that said let's dive right in to my conversation with you and shepherd  [00:01:52] Ewan welcome to the show.  [00:01:53] Ewan Shepherd: Hey Craig, thank you very much for having me and thank you everybody for listening.  [00:01:58] Craig Dalton: I appreciate you joining us on a Friday evening over there in Spain, I'm super excited about the topic we're going to discuss today as the listener or the longterm listener has known. [00:02:08] I've talked about gravel travel as something I'm super excited about because as we all know, it's such a great way to explore the world and the idea of packing my bike and going somewhere exotic, like Girona Spain is super exciting to me. So when I got the opportunity to connect with Trek travel, Dig into this trip and dig into Jarana grab gravel jumped at it. [00:02:31] So you, and thank you for joining me. And let's just get started by a little bit about your background.  [00:02:37] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, no worries. Thank you again for having me. And I guess we share something in common that we both enjoy eating well by bike. So gravel travel is definitely evident between us all. Huh. So Bob, my background it's been varied. [00:02:50] I started off as a kid, not really enjoying the power of two wheels on my own preferring Moda, power of motocross, bikes, and motor sport, and pursue the a career in motor sport. I am, I'm only 29, so it's not, it wasn't a long career. And then I decided to jump into the cycle career really because my brother threw me on an old racing bike of hairs and said, we're going trick racing of what is this. [00:03:14] And yeah. That's how I got into cycling and kind of started to learn about it. Then love cycling, all things cycling really threw me on the amount of bikes for the first time. He threw me on a cyclocross bike for the first time, took me to attract for the first time. And just more and more, I ate it up and started falling in love with with cycling and And then I thought, why not help out in my local bike shop? [00:03:37] Because I was in between jobs and bugging the owner and the mechanic calling in on the bike and asking for them to help me with this, or could they get pots or for that? And then they were like, Hey, we need an extra hand here. And you're pretty mechanically minded. Can you want to come and help us out? [00:03:53] And that's how I, it. Wrenching in a bike shop. And from there, it took me to I was actually living in Australia at the time and working in a shop debt. And then I started working for the initial prompt and dealer in Australia, which was pretty fun and interesting. Little folding bikes, which were going all over kind of the Australasia and New Zealand even send a bite that prompted the Fiji. [00:04:17] And then I moved back to the UK and was starting working for old mountain bike brands that maybe some of your listeners have heard of head of pay cycles. They're one of the first UK monocyte grants set up by, by a young family at the time who did same as me. They love motocross and enjoy bike riding. [00:04:38] And they wanted a bike to, to train on during the time that they weren't racing on the road. And so they imported mountain bikes yet to important Gary fishers at the time, because there was nothing else in Europe and or in the UK. So he, Adrian is the main designer of the car. And he designed his own on mountain bikes. [00:04:57] Did y'all say 100, was that famous plus bikes, square tube. aluminum that they rooted out pots of the frame to make it lighter. So I started working for them after they did the whole amount of bike brand and we They had two shops at the time that they just started and started in rental centers. [00:05:14] So I joined them a running one at that shops. And then they got back into the frames. And that's when started to learn more about frame design, different bikes, and the whole Enduro scene was mounted bike and jurors scene was growing. And that was something that we were really interested in the time. [00:05:34] And. I was starting to cyclocross race at a time. I would go off a weekend, so cyclocross race and come back to work. And we were designing 29 S slack long, low amount of bikes. And we also had a total. Version cause Adrian and his wife happy love to go off to all sorts of places. [00:05:53] The, they did Chile, they went and wrote the Santiago combo skeleton and Northern Spain, all of these cycle touring. And he adapted one of the hardtail Enduro steel mountain bikes and put lugs on it. So he could take. And I was like, I liked the look of that bite, but I don't really I don't want to put drop bars on it. [00:06:14] Can I put drop bars on it? Let's try it. And so here I had a 29 mountain bike slack long, whoa, with with a draw bar on it. And I was like this pretty cool. And they were looking to, they already had an exi carbon bikes. I was like, can we do this a bit lighter? Because. Yorkshire is, I know you're you have family that Craig and it's up down. [00:06:35] Dale is Dale is a small valley and it's really steep at each side. And I live in between the two national products of the north York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales. And they have so many of these little Dales. So riding across that, you'd go down and it's like down 25% down to a flat valley, then literally back up the other side, 25 to 30%. [00:06:57] So I wanted something nice and light, but to go all day across the Dales and the malls And so we were making this and thinking, oh, this could be a cool and gravel was coming on the scene at the time. And I was interested in bike packing with it and just testing out something that was a good touring bike. [00:07:18] But at the same time, I just saw touring at the time as being something that my parents did or all the people did when they retired. So I wanted something fun cause I still enjoyed enjoy mountain biking. So I wanted to take it down some trails at the same time as doing a hundred K on it, which I certainly wouldn't do on my one 60 mil. [00:07:36] Enjoy a bike, do a hundred K, but so that's where I discovered this cyclocross gravel mix. That we all call gravel today. Which Adrian at the time was like, we used to race on my, on a bikes would drop handlebars XC and downhill back in the 1980s. Cause inventing anything new it's all coming round in circles, the wheels going round, as they say. [00:08:00] So that was really my early years in the cycling industry playing with that. And then. Being honest, Googled cool bike mechanic jobs in one places which took me back to Australia. And then I wanted to go back to Europe and it took me to the warmest place at the time, which was the Canary islands which was great for gaining some exposure of just massive cyclists all at once. [00:08:24] Thousands of people on the road, just riding the bikes, having fun on holiday guided, worked in rental shops. Love the Canary island lifestyle. And then I just stumbled across Trek travel. I told the global logistics manager at one day, I was like, I want to come work for you because I want to help out on some of your big trips. [00:08:41] They were doing tour de France and big Pyrenees trips and out trips. And I just really liked the idea of offering support to. To other people, not the I'd been guy, a guy that I wanted to support the guides. I knew all the tricks of all the problems of being a guide. So I wanted to help them most of all, help back help their guests. [00:09:04] And that kind of leads me to here where I'm the European logistics coordinator for Trek travel and in our home base of drones.  [00:09:11] Craig Dalton: Amazing. It's such a, it's so interesting. As people who have been around the sport of cycling for a long time to trace back when you first started doing the thing that later became gravel cycling. [00:09:25] Because obviously as you've indicated, as we've discussed before, People have been riding drop bar bikes off-road for a long time, but it was this kind of gradual progression of componentry, frame, design, methodology, tires, brakes, all these things combined to making what was once somewhat a hacky type experience where you were maybe bringing a bike that wasn't exactly suited for the job to where we are now. [00:09:53] That depending on where you are and how you want to set up your bike. There's such a wide variety of ways in which you can configure these bikes to ride on the roads and trails wherever you live in the world.  [00:10:05] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. It's always fascinated me coming from like a motor sport design element. [00:10:10] Always into aerodynamics working with formula two, formula three. And then I had to, I always had a love for kind of classic cause I raised something in the UK or Europe rally cross, which I don't think you have in us, but it's it's exactly that it's a cross between this second is gravel road and dirt, and you drive a little bit of each and we always used to race the classic mini Coupa's. [00:10:35] That was my classic love of cause. But yeah, that was a tangent. Sorry.  [00:10:40] Craig Dalton: No, it's an interesting perspective. I hadn't, no, one's brought that up before, but it's totally true. There's parallels in that experience because you had to have a car that drove well on the road. Capable off-road and presumably every driver, just like every rider had to make those difficult choices of, okay. [00:10:57] Do I want it to be higher performing on-road or off-road and what's that happy medium for me as a, as an athlete.  [00:11:04] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. And I think that changes with your with you personally, you may be a road cyclist, but you have that instinct to what's down there and it's a gravel road to go off road and explore it. [00:11:18] And you want to feel safe and comfortable. You don't want to necessarily take your 23 mil tires, cotton road bike down a. The track you want a bike that's comfortable and safe to do it all.  [00:11:31] Craig Dalton: Yeah, exactly. Talking about Trek travel specifically, obviously with the track name associated with it, people associated directly with the brand, but the company itself as Trek travel. [00:11:43] Can you tell us a little bit about its origins and how long it's been operating?  [00:11:47] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah it's actually a 20th year of fun. 2020 years since charter travel was thought up in the, in Trek itself where it started with just three people brought into to en enhance the experience that people were getting when they were not just buying a bite or buying into the Trek brand, which. [00:12:09] Is ride bikes, have fun, feel good. And Chuck just wants to get more people on bikes to have fun. And one of the ways was to offer them a trip of a lifetime of vacation, of a lifetime to somewhat. And that idea grew over the last 20 years studying in the U S and then Trek bought into the protein of yeah. [00:12:30] Trek. And they started running a VIP trips to the total France and bringing clients across. But that specifically to see the tour and see the classics that the ring in Europe have the outs to, to climb out west, to do Mon Von to go to the pyramids and do the tour of my life. The real bread and butter of your. [00:12:51] And that's grown just more destinations, more places to ride more great experiences by bike. And yeah, that's brought us to now at 20 years  [00:13:01] Craig Dalton: old. Yeah. And for those of you who have not done a bike tourism trip, it really is amazing. And a luxury. It's obviously a luxury to be able to afford it, but to be able to go over and do this and to have someone plan out the best of the best to plan out the best roads, the best routes when you're coming off the Tourmalet or a mom volunteer to knowing the right cafe to stop in having extra gear for you, having a guide that, speaks the language, but more importantly can help you get integrated into the culture in my personal experience, having done several trips over and yeah. [00:13:37] It was just such a great time. If you can afford to spend that time on your bikes, spend a week on one of these trips. It's just so amazing, which is why I remained super jazzed and excited to talk about the gravel tours that track is introducing. When did you first start to see gravel cycling as something that you could package a trip around? [00:14:01] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. I don't know who or when the first kind of the idea here's what talks about it. Cause I'm sure it's been something we're always looking at new trends, new you, new ways to travel that that people want to do. And new experiences and to we're primarily on the road, we started with mountain bike trips. [00:14:20] Think I wouldn't say five, six years ago. And dos were in small pockets in Iceland, Norway, and that's a great way to get completely off the road. But then we found a a lot of people. They still want it to, they still want it to do a bit of everything. They want it to go on the road still. [00:14:38] They wanted to do the classic climbs as well as being off the road. So it was like that mix of, we took you to this beautiful forest, but actually you want it to be on the road as well in the same week. And, but you didn't want to do it on the amount of bike. And at the time there was no real bike that we had. [00:14:56] Do it and then as the Demani that tried to money evolve, it's got this name as being the, do it all bike. Whether it's ISO speed and its ability to take why the tires it's really comfortable Fabienne Cancellara famously designed the bike to to win Piru bay and and Flanders of all the couple and mixed terrain. [00:15:14] Yeah, this this is a bite that we can use for multipurpose. And three years ago we started using it as just guides and company. People would come to drone and all they say is, Hey, can we go right gravel with, we don't want to ride the road round here. We heard the gravel is amazing. So we'd stick some hybrid tires on the demand and off we'd go, just exploring off the beaten track. [00:15:36] And that's. Where it came from and grew from that with into a week long trip here in Barona. And yeah that's why I came. That's  [00:15:46] Craig Dalton: great to hear it. It's interesting to hear that it came from the riders up and great to hear that you, as a company, listened and started to build more experiences around that, as we've talked about a little bit offline, Girona for anybody who's follows. [00:16:01] Professional road. Cycling has always had this huge allure as a destination for a lot of pros live there. So we presume there's a lot of great road riding out there. Do you feel that in the city, is, are there a ton of road cyclists around every week?  [00:16:20] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, I would say there's, I wouldn't say there's a ton of road cyclist. [00:16:23] I'd say there's thousands of cyclists in general. On any given weekend, you can see mountain bikers road bike as gravel bike is like trick bikers nowadays. But. All the time. You can see people on bikes. It's a city which has a big network of city bikes and like docs every way. When you can pick up the city bikes for three years, you can rent the bike for the day to ride around town. [00:16:47] It's not a no that we call it a town. Although it's a city, it's very, it's a small, condensed old town. So it's great to explore by bike with all this small streets and things. And yeah, as you said it's known it's gotten more well-known because of all the professionals that live here modern, the bike roads you name it, there's many triathletes Yan for Dino to name one of the big biggest triathletes pulls this, his house. [00:17:11] And it's yeah, in Europe, it's known as one of the places where particularly I'm going to say foreign writers come from Australia and New Zealand, Canada, us they use this, is that is that personal? And I'd probably say right now in Jarana you have upwards of 8,200 pro cyclists living here which is really high for any city in the world. [00:17:34] Given the amount of pros in general, living in Jonah, and you have three of the biggest teams here locally, you have EDS Israel cycling academy have a small base here. You have a couple of continental teams, a couple of the U S continental teams have their European basis here. So you not only have teams, you have sorry. [00:17:56] You not only have writers, you have the support here as well. And they say, if you just want a massage, it's the best place in the, in Europe. Go from mass massage because of the level is so high, they used the pros. You never get a bad massage here at all because the misuse could have been rubbing right. [00:18:14] Chris from the day before he attends to you, so you get pro service, whatever you're doing, and that's not just in cycling related. I'm sure we're going to talk about this, but the coffee scene, the food scene everything has that little twist towards catering. Which is amazing. Yeah. I think that's  [00:18:32] Craig Dalton: super interesting, obviously the writing I want to be doing is off-road, but as someone who's a fan of professional cycling in general, just having that be infused as part of the city, in addition to the culture, which maybe we'll talk about a little bit more. [00:18:46] It's just going to be a fun addition to that trip for us geographic challenged Americans, where Israel.  [00:18:53] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, so Girona is it's in Spain. It's in the region of Catalonia which is to the Northeast. We border on Spain. We bought it with Spain and Dora and France. And. Yeah. [00:19:09] And the Northeast, and  [00:19:10] Craig Dalton: It's not specifically on the coast, but how far of a ride is it to the coast from Jarana city center?  [00:19:16] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, so Girona is it's probably for any cycling destination is really well situated. It's just a 40 minutes drive to them. And 40 minutes drive from the Pyrenees. [00:19:28] So yeah, slap bang in the middle of mountains and see and give you perspective in writing terms. I'm sorry, I'm going to talk in kilometers. But we're looking at about a nice 50 mile loop to the coast and back.  [00:19:43] Craig Dalton: Okay. And look at just having Google maps open as we speak, it looks like there is a lot of, kind of national parks base in green space, just outside the city. [00:19:53] Ewan Shepherd: literally the back of the town has a very famous climate song of UVS might be of huddle of L's angels. It's just over seven, 10 K climate just over 6% is always say to the first and last day, you're hearing Jerone. You're going to write this. If you don't write it every day. [00:20:10] And that leads into a beautiful national pocket, the bat at the back, which has miles of more, more challenging gravel all the way to the coast. And then on the inland side of Jerome, just straight into two massive valleys, which just keep going up and up and before, it you're in the parodies. [00:20:29] Craig Dalton: For those clients immediate,  [00:20:31] Ewan Shepherd: very little flat writing.  [00:20:33] Craig Dalton: Yeah. It's going to ask for those climbs immediately outside of Dharana. How much elevation do you gain to get to a local peak? Is that a thousand feet or 200 meters?  [00:20:43] Ewan Shepherd: L's angels is about 600. Elevation was very, to the very peak the closest high point around here, you're looking at about a thousand meters up to the highest peak in Catalonia itself is just shy of 2000 meters. [00:21:00] So the elevation is not super high but you are going from sea level. Most of the time But it's all the little undulations. It's a rolling terrain. I would say, yeah.  [00:21:09] Craig Dalton: Gotcha. Yeah, it certainly sounds like those, they jet up pretty quickly as a lot of coastal ranges do so for the writing, when we talk about the gravel riding in Jarana, we've talked about how great the road riding is. [00:21:21] But what does it look like to get on these gravel roads and what are they like? Are they super chopped up or are they smooth or did you get a little bit of both? I'd love to just get a sense for what you're out there. Riding.  [00:21:33] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. I think you have a bit of everything we say, Girona is the Disneyland of cycling. [00:21:40] And I first experienced kind of the gravel, as I said, we just. Through some hybrid Taya, some 32 mil hybrid tires on a demise and went straight on lucky living out slightly outside of Toronto. So just 10 K from drone essentially itself. And it's mainly farm lands and going back to my kind of love for cycling in in the UK. [00:22:02] With the Dales and we have things called bridleways and I was in search of these things to start with because it's not well publicized gravel anyway. So you just go out the door and go, okay, take the first, left off the road. That doesn't seem like a road and see where it heads. [00:22:17] And sometimes you end up with a beautiful, smooth gravel track with that. Evidently to S at a, an extra road to people's houses all you get unlucky and you end up and it tends into single track and actually becomes quite flowing. This is actually it's maybe a mountain bike route, and you guys through a single track, really nice employee through the woods can be quiet Rocky in places. [00:22:40] This part of Spain is very Rocky with granite. I'm limestone. Costa brother, the literal translation is like a rugged coastline. So that is evident all the way through. But you have also what they call via Verde green routes, which are smooth, hard-packed almost manmade smooth gravel, Sandy tracks which becoming more and more common. [00:23:05] From Girona itself to the little towns, to get people off the roads from all levels of cyclists, from kids to families, you can see them just packed on these green ones. Which a fantastic to start a new route on, and then you head either to the mountains, or maybe you want to go to the coast and you can just hop off on to onto something. [00:23:24] As long as it doesn't say, don't go this way. Is such a friendly kind of feeling towards cyclists. The even if you I've ended up some days, just going along a little, same little track down a shoot and I'm in the back of someone's garden and raking up leaves. Oh, sorry. That's the end. To direct you back onto the track and you were meant to be down that I take you're meant to go that way, but yeah. [00:23:48] So it's a bit of everything. That's amazing.  [00:23:52] Craig Dalton: It's so cool that, to be able to leave the city and choose your own adventure and just have that ability to explore and find all kinds of different terrain that, that sounds like such a special area and not surprising why you guys decided to introduce the Girona gravel bike tour trip, which looks amazing. [00:24:13] Can we talk about that trip and what it entails?  [00:24:16] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. So to give you an an idea of the overall of the trip, it's it's a one hotel trip based here in Jarana. Chose to base it right out of the center. We work with a really great hotel, Nord in the center. It's really cycling focused. And we do that. [00:24:33] It's based kind of off our right camp, which not to diversify what I'm talking about. It's all about eat, sleep, ride, repeat. So we make it nice and simple to focus on the writing and it's for four days of writing and it's designed to. The slightly taken on the more intermediate to advanced side of kind of people's levels. [00:24:55] So we say the most people should be have some experience. It shouldn't be their first time writing a gravel bike to get the most out of it. And we have easy days which are, like I say, just using these Greenways, getting out of the city, heading to see some of the beautiful, rugged coastline. [00:25:13] And then we have some more avid days which heads. What's the mountains. And we actually found some of our routes through used to calm. Are you still does? Comes here every year in the spring to do some training before he started his road season. And we'd always wait till he hummed, we see him here. [00:25:30] And then when we're looking on struggling, why did he go? Where did he go? Because he always seems to find some stupidly hard climbs, some great gravel climates. We didn't know that. And we actually introduced some of these to the trip and it's like a, like an outdoor as of gravel, just snaking switchbacks one after the other, up to this beautiful peak point with a big cross on the top. [00:25:53] Yeah. And then you're trying to work out where he went and then you look down the other side and oh, he went down there and you you try it. But then for. For many people, it's probably too much of a Rocky rock garden. So you end up heading back down like a beautiful the switching snaking all the way back down is the safest way sometimes. [00:26:14] But yeah, that's a, an overview of a gravel trip.  [00:26:18] Craig Dalton: Nice. I've done trips of my two trips. One. We were moving basically every year. And the second we had a home base and I have to say my preference is for that home base, because I think it allows you to just absorb the culture a little bit more and be a tourist in the city that you're staying in. [00:26:35] You don't have to pack your gear up every night. So there's something nice about having that hub and ride mom.  [00:26:41] Ewan Shepherd: Yup. Yup. It definitely just opening your suitcase, getting it, your kid out, put it in the wardrobes and you don't have to pack it again. The following day to move on. I like that it's focused on eat, sleep, right? [00:26:53] Repeat, enjoy your writing. The guy. Take care of everything else. And you're in the center of the city and you're a Stone's throw from the old town. You can go for a walk on the evenings, your afternoons and evenings. yours your own to either relax, take a massage or wander the town, go sit and sip coffee. [00:27:12] Do all the locals. Do any afternoon, go have a beer and get ready for your evening meal. And and that's what people want.  [00:27:18] Craig Dalton: Now our writers on these trips typically bring in their own bikes or are you providing a bike for them?  [00:27:23] Ewan Shepherd: Just really most people take a bike from us, the Trek demonic. [00:27:28] You can bring your own bike. It doesn't does it affect price? It doesn't affect the price, but we do it because it saves you having to pack your by like in a box and all the hassle of bringing it to the building it. Yeah. All of that. You just turn up and on the first day, your bikes there, it's already set up with your measurements, to your bike from home and ready to go. [00:27:46] You don't need to worry about it. And our guides full train mechanics and take care of your bike throughout the whole week. And particularly as gravel can be hot on your bikes. And you don't want any problems with your own bikes, cause it's only going to compromise your riding,  [00:27:58] Craig Dalton: as someone who can be hard on the bike. I appreciate that. So at the end of the day, I can hand my bike off to someone and it's going to come back to me better than I left it.  [00:28:05] Ewan Shepherd: Yep. Every day, I'm sure the guides gonna look after that bike and and give you it in the morning. Like it's brand new, no issues,  [00:28:14] Craig Dalton: particular trip. [00:28:15] Are you providing the routes like GPX files? How does it work from a kind of a day-to-day practice perspective?  [00:28:22] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. So normally day to day, you'd wake up do your morning routine get dressed, go for breakfast. Get a hot tea, Catalan breakfast. Then head down to, to pick up your bikes from the bike room. [00:28:35] Your guides would meet you dad. Give you a kind of a morning briefing. The route has to go. We provide every guest with a Garmin, with preloaded GPS routes. And your guide is going to typically you have one guide on the bike, possibly two, and then a guide in a support vehicle following behind not only any issues that you have, but also by signature snack tables along the route. [00:28:59] So you could be riding through a wood and then suddenly. The van is just there and your guide has gone out a table and put some beautiful snacks out. So right in the moment when you're like, I wish I had put more water in my bottle, I wish that I brought an extra bar. That's when you're going to get to find your guides. [00:29:18] We know those spots well,  [00:29:20] Craig Dalton: nice. And, as athletes are going to be coming over with different ability, levels and fitness levels and sort of interest in flogging themselves levels. Is there an ability for, if we look at it a daily route and say I'd fancy doing a little bit more. [00:29:35] I want to come home with my legs broken every day. Are there those types of options and flexibility built into these things?  [00:29:41] Ewan Shepherd: Yup. Yup. It sounds like most of our guides they always want to go do more. So yeah, we yeah. Have a standard route for the day and then w what we call that the avid group for the day. [00:29:51] So I guess, Craig, this is for you the extra little add on which could be anything from an extra climb or an extra loop that you just hit the route on your GPS and adult. It'll take you. And we have a, an ethos of ride at your own pace. Yeah. I don't really ride. It's nice, right. [00:30:11] As a group, but also it's nice experience at your own pace. So we definitely encourage that. Guides will move around you rather than you having to stick to your guide. And they'll accommodate if if you've got slow riders or if you want to go up and do the route quite often you're going to have the guide wanting to go with you and show you that extra little climb or. [00:30:30] Take you on a, an extra level route or redo a route from two days ago because you, it was such an amazing experience. Definitely it does something for me.  [00:30:40] Craig Dalton: That's good to know. Yeah. For me, when I'm able to carve out this time in my life and I may be unique, but maybe not, when I go on one of these trips, since I don't have the responsibilities that I have at home, I don't have to care for my son. [00:30:54] I don't have to do, I need the things I need to do around the house. All I want to do is ride my bike and really, as long as I can prop myself up at the dinner table that night, that's about all I need to achieve in the rest of the.  [00:31:06] Ewan Shepherd: Yup. Yup. Did that have. A full vacation of a lifetime that's that's catered for you. [00:31:13] And that's definitely why I think people do a group trip or an organized talk because you mentioned that if you can afford to do it, but can you afford not to do it? If you've only got 20 days holiday a year, To spend spend your time planning for your holiday, and then once you get that to spend time working out, okay, what should I ride today? [00:31:34] Or where should we stop for lunch? Or where's the best place to have dinner tonight? It's all done for you. You can just make the most of what you want to do, which if you want to go on a cycling holiday and you want to ride your bike as much as.  [00:31:47] Craig Dalton: Yeah. And I think it's, it's further complicated when you're trying to ride gravel. [00:31:50] So I did a self guided tour in the Alps and there were it was pretty easy to understand the road routes that were famous to the famous climbs and figure that out on my own. But when it comes to gravel and this is something I've spoken about a lot on the podcast, there's just so much to be gained from having a little bit of local knowledge. [00:32:09] Because you cannot look at a path necessarily. And know, is that a super Rocky path that I'm going to be going four miles an hour on? Or is it actually, a smooth, single track that I'm going 16 miles an hour. And we can't know that from the outside, without talking to cyclists in that local area, while we still want to have that sense of adventure and allowing the ride to unfold. [00:32:34] It's just really nice in my opinion, particularly if you're going to spend the money to go travel to a destination, to just have a little bit of this served up to you and be able to get out there, worry for you.  [00:32:44] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. Yeah, no, I definitely agree in something that you spend all the time working out, attract to go down and then suddenly it leads to nothing and you've wasted an hour of your ride to, and then you have to backtrack. [00:32:59] And that's yeah. With a small amount of time in Europe or wherever you're traveling, you want to make money. My  [00:33:06] Craig Dalton: Spanish is bad enough that if I end up in your garden, there's probably going to be an international incident. [00:33:11] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. Yeah. But everybody's friendly hand signals are just, yes. It's I like, I think I've written in a lot of places in the world and definitely definitely Spain is a really good for.  [00:33:26] Craig Dalton: Yeah. When you have that many cyclists moving through a community, obviously the locals are experienced seeing these people and they realize, they're good for the community. [00:33:36] Hopefully we're good. Environmental stewards and polite cyclists. So it's just a symbiotic relationship for the committee.  [00:33:43] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. Yeah. And as we are in a. Company we're based in Madison, Wisconsin. And we've also been in Jerone now for nearly six, seven years. So we have a good hold in the community. We employ, we have lots of people that work for attract travel, who live here locally. [00:34:00] Who are deep rooted in the community. So we often we work a lot with our subcontractors. We work really hard to find the best people who not only have the best winery or the best restaurant, but they have the best ethos to, to work with us and help our guests have the best experience. [00:34:19] It's not just about the product that serving, but how they're making our guests and us as a company feel. So it's really important that local aspect, but everything that's involved,  [00:34:29] Craig Dalton: such an amazing opportunity that travel affords the traveler, just the ability to see how things that are important in the culture. [00:34:37] Are manufactured and meet people who are doing them and, meet you, meet the restaurant tours. Like all of that is just what has kept me traveling my entire life and hopefully will have me continue traveling. So a couple of final questions for you. UN what is your favorite local cuisine? What can't we miss when we go there? [00:34:57] And what is your favorite part of Sharona from a tourist perspective?  [00:35:01] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, that's a definitely a hard question. I don't even have a closer prepared, good answer. Where do I want to start? Definitely Girona has a lot of local cuisine Catalan cutline cuisine. It's a very simple way of cooking in one aspect. [00:35:18] And why. One thing that people often. Think of it all. I'll Paya, no, throw that away. It's it's not Paya that you'd come to get here. They have something called pinch Hills, which is very similar to tapas and it's one of my favorite local it's not a particular dish. [00:35:37] It's a way of eating and. In the restaurant, you have lots of little plates on the counter with little chunks of bread with on top of them, either fresh fish with with all sorts of toppings or. Saw or booty FADA, there's the sausage which they do in many different kinds of blood sausages. [00:35:56] And lots of little dishes. And often you don't sit down at a table. This is going to freak people out in COVID at times, but it's a great social way of eating because you're taking small plate and you're taking it and you're just standing in a bar basically. With everybody else who's enjoying it, but it's that great atmosphere of eating together in the center of town, which often spills out into the streets on a Friday and Saturday of just people standing out on the streets with small plates and a little what they called Canada, a little glass of the local beer, which they have a lot of really good local breweries here. [00:36:30] Which I know a lot of people love to test out all the local. And Catalonia to the complete other scale of things has some of Europe's best Michelin star restaurants like per area, just in, in Rona, this small area, up to 45 Ks from the center, you have 35 Michelin star restaurants. [00:36:50] For gastronomy it's an amazing place because of all the local ingredients of the winery. You have a lot of cider production with apple and pear farms, which you ride through. One of my favorite rides to the coast air takes you through just miles and miles of apple orchards and tail orchards which is just going to be picked in about a half a month's time. [00:37:13] It's main picking season here. Delicious. Yeah, it's a, and I haven't even talked about coffee coffee, the culture of coffee, drinking. Was brought to your owner with cyclist, cyclists, need coffee, and they need good coffee. And the Canadian Chrystia and Maya was one of the more well-known people who brought the coffee culture and his own roastery of the service costs. [00:37:34] And Lamatsia his his coffee shop. And from dad nearly 10 years ago, it sprung into. That each corner was developing its own taste for coffee. And as the locals really have a passion for it now at brewing really good speciality coffee, which, like I said, we can't live without it. [00:37:51] They definitely have a captured audience. Indeed.  [00:37:54] Craig Dalton: This is amazing. Girona has always been tops on my list of places to go and it certainly remains. In that post COVID top slot for me, I can't wait to join you on one of these trips. At some point, I know there's a couple trips left this year. [00:38:09] It looks like November 7th and November 14th are available for departure dates. And obviously once again, in the spring in 2022. So for all the listeners out there, you can just visit Trek, travel.com and just write search for Jeronica dry gravel. And you'll see the trip we've been talking about. It looks like a heck of a lot of fun and you can almost guarantee you that I'll be there one of these days. [00:38:32] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, I will look forward to it. Look forward to meeting in person and hopefully you'll get to experience your own home and it won't be your last visit to drone, or I can assure you for that much.  [00:38:44] Craig Dalton: Thanks for all the great information you and I appreciate you joining us.  [00:38:48] That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Big thanks to you and for joining us and telling us all about that great trip that Trek travel has organized. Again, those dates are November this year. As well as throughout the Springs to go, please visit truck travel.com. To figure out what itinerary might work for you. I hope you're stoked. Like I am.  [00:39:10] I'm desperate to get my tires overseas. And sample some of that great gravel in Spain and elsewhere in the world. We'll leave it at that for this week. If you have any questions, feel free to join us over at the ridership. Just visit www.theridership.com to join that free community. [00:39:29] If you're interested in supporting the podcast, ratings and reviews are hugely helpful. It's something easy you can do to support what I'm doing. And if you have a little bit more energy or means feel free to visit, buymeacoffee.com/thegravelride  [00:39:44] To help underwrite some of the financial costs associated with this broadcast. Until next time. Here's to finding. some dirt onto your wheels

There's no Andy again this week as he does the rather more important job of being a Dad. Beans and Gaz head north to Whitburn in Scotland to check out the World Cup of Disability Darts. Covid may have affected the number of countries that attended but that didn't dampen the spirits or the quality of the darts! We interviewed a number of interesting characters and learned alot about podcasting in the field (sorry for the background noise), darts and more importantly the challenges faced by disabled darts players to be recognised for their achievements and to make it available for everyone. First we spoke to Jed Macphee, inventor of the flexi-board that makes moving the board for standing and wheelchair bound players to compete at the same oche. Next we spoke to Snowy Dyson a bilateral amputee who had competed in various degrees and at an incredibly high standard. He had a lot to say about the issues faced and really made us think about something that, if we're really honest, we had been blind to. We loved his honesty and approach. We spoke to Eddie Bailey about his charity raising for prostate cancer. We spoke to Debbie, a darts player who has travelled aboard to compete in competitions in Malta and Catalonia. Jim Mitchell has done more for disabled darts in Scotland, especially for women, than anyone else. Despite not being disabled himself. He also had an incredible darting collection that was on show in the hotel. Finally we spoke to Scott, one half of Darts-themed family spirits company Double Trouble Drinks who were sponsoring the event a out how they got involved. Enjoy! The opening music is "London Bayou" by Oscar Albis Rodriguez and the closing music is "BDS" by Lewis Pickford. This episode is also available on YouTube https://youtu.be/sqHSmxycxpQ tallboyradio.com

If we look at nationwide successful digitalization projects, we often hear about Estonia, Israel, Denmark, Finland, Slovenia, or Israel. All these countries have less than 10 million people. It is therefore not surprising, that in bigger countries that are divided into regions, successful digitalization happens gradually. Spain is divided in regions and each one of them manages healthcare on its own. Catalonia, which has 7,6 million people, is driving a 43 million EUR worth regional digital health strategy, in preparation since 2018. The strength of the new model of information systems is to build the electronic health history with the openEHR standard. This will enable semantic interoperability and enable a person center model for information.   This episode is a recording of a conference panel during the eHealth Week, a week of events about good healthcare digitalization practices across Europe, organized during the Slovenian presidency to the Council of EU. Speakers: Pol Perez Sust, director of Information System Area of Catalunya, Spain Bojana Beović, President, Medical Chamber of Slovenia Blaž Suhač, Assistant to GD for informatics,  University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia Moderator: Maja Dragović, Former journalist for digitalhealth.net, Business Development Specialist at Better EPF congress: https://epfcongress.eu/ Send me a message for a complimentary pass on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjasazajc/ Visit the website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or a review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

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Episode Notes Ernesto Callado of Bravonariz Tours discussed why tourist experiences that focus on smell can be so impactful. Next journalist Nancy Moreland regaled us with tales of the extraordinary women of the remote Massachusetts isle of Nantucket

Founders sale 50% off https://bobandpennylord.storeOur Saint was born in the beautiful countryside of Verdu in Catalonia, Spain in or around 1581. There's not much known about his childhood, other than he was born of a distinguished old family of Catalonia. However, his family instilled in him the love of Jesus and the love of his fellow man. Otherwise, how could he possibly have dedicated his life to helping the poorest of the poor, the lowest of the low. From an early age, it was well known that he was destined to live his life for the Church. So when he was old enough, he was enrolled in the University of Barcelona.Journeys of Faith Bob and Penny Lord's StoreJourneys of Faith Blog Subscribe to our Free Blog Easy PeasyBob and Penny Lord TV Channel Miracles of the Eucharist, Apparitions of Mary, and lives of the Saints videos on demand.Support the show (https://bobandpennylord.store/pages/we-need-your-help)

Since so many people are just now discovering Michael's work and TMBS we've decided to re-air every TMBS episode in order starting with the premiere, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2_f6_OlD4c&feature=youtu.be TMBS Ep 11 "Can Socialism Win In Europe & Will Trump Blow Up Iran ft. Nando Vila & Mike Hanna" first aired on 10/17/17 We found a recording of Nation of Islam Obama's calls to the families of fallen troops. We break down Hillary Clinton's claim that what happened to her was the equivalent of a “cyber 9/11." Nando Vila (@nadorvila) host from Fusion (@fusiontv) calls in to talk about the worst dressed leftist Pablo Yglesias and provides us with a deeper understanding of the political and historical conditions in Catalonia. Al-Jazeera UN Correspondent Mike Hanna (@mjahanna) helps us decipher what President Trump is talking about when he says he is decertifying the Iran Deal and the impact of Trump's disrespect of international convention on future international agreements. TMBS re-aired episodes come out every Tuesday at 7PM EST on The Michael Brooks Show Channel or here on the podcast app. This program has been put together by The Michael Brooks Legacy Project. To learn more and rewatch the postgame content visit https://www.patreon.com/TMBS  

In this month's Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald and Joe Ross are back with a wry look at the world of Evidence Based Medicine. They give us a round up of real world data emerging to address various uncertainties about vaccinations against covid Helen has an update on NHS Digital's project to extract GP coding for planning of healthcare and research, and talks to Natalie Banner from Understanding Patient Data, to find out what the public really cares about. Finally, as routine care must go on a clinical review on cardiovascular disease in older adults introduces us to geroscience. Reading list Vaccines; Effectiveness of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 covid-19 vaccines against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe covid-19 outcomes in Ontario, Canada: test negative design study - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1943 Effectiveness of the CoronaVac vaccine in older adults during a gamma variant associated epidemic of covid-19 in Brazil: test negative case-control study - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2015 Associations of BNT162b2 vaccination with SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospital admission and death with covid-19 in nursing homes and healthcare workers in Catalonia: prospective cohort study https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1868 Risk of thrombocytopenia and thromboembolism after covid-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 positive testing: self-controlled case series study - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1931 CVD Cardiovascular care of older adults - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1593

In this month's Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald and Joe Ross are back with a wry look at the world of Evidence Based Medicine. They give us a round up of real world data emerging to address various uncertainties about vaccinations against covid Helen has an update on NHS Digital's project to extract GP coding for planning of healthcare and research, and talks to Natalie Banner from Understanding Patient Data, to find out what the public really cares about. Finally, as routine care must go on a clinical review on cardiovascular disease in older adults introduces us to geroscience. Reading list Vaccines; Effectiveness of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 covid-19 vaccines against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe covid-19 outcomes in Ontario, Canada: test negative design study - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1943 Effectiveness of the CoronaVac vaccine in older adults during a gamma variant associated epidemic of covid-19 in Brazil: test negative case-control study - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2015 Associations of BNT162b2 vaccination with SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospital admission and death with covid-19 in nursing homes and healthcare workers in Catalonia: prospective cohort study https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1868 Risk of thrombocytopenia and thromboembolism after covid-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 positive testing: self-controlled case series study - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1931 CVD Cardiovascular care of older adults - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1593

Roser graduated in Bachelor of Dance at Artez DansAcademie in Arnhem (Holland), in Journalism at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and just finished a Masters in design and space production in Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. She worked for choreographers like Anouk van Dijk, Giulio d'Anna, Anouke de Groot and Erik Kaiel, Maria Rovira or Pere Faura. From 2014 to 2019, she danced and performed internationally with the dance company Guy Nader and Maria Campos. Since the beginning of her career as a dancer, she felt the need and the curiosity to create her own work. She has created solo performances like “Simun” and “Tecnologías del yo”, which she performed in several venues in and around Catalonia. And also collaborated with different artist like the circus/dance artist Joan Català, with whom she created a street duet called “Menar”. This piece was awarded ‘best street piece of the year' by the Catalan critics in 2016. Since 2017, she collaborates artistically and pedagogically with Tom Weksler. In 2019, they formed the performance arts company Wonderground. As Wonderground, they created a street piece called “RISE”, which is being touring in street Festivals around Europe. They also created several works for dance professional Schools like CODARTS (Rotterdam) and SEAD (Salzburg). Currently, Wonderground is in the process of finalizing the creation of a stage duo called “Tears in the Rain”, which Tom and Roser direct and perform and “Shadows of the mind”, another stage duo, which they choreograph for two finish dancers. Roser writes articles about movement and the relationship with culture, history, economics, geography or the political situation of the different places and countries she has the opportunity to visit when she teaches. They are all collected in the blog www.waysofmoving.net

The Principality of Catalonia encompassed Barcelona, and in the fourteenth century, was part of the Crown of Aragon. Dr Jeff Fynn-Paul, Leiden University, joins the show to talk about what urban life was like in this part of the Mediterranean Basin in the period.

Spain has a history of squatting. After the property crash of 2008 many families were forced to occupy homes that did not belong to them because they could not pay their mortgages. Now a darker side to ‘okupacion' has emerged. Organised crime has seen an opportunity. Some flats in Barcelona have become ‘narcopisos' - properties used to process or sell drugs. Other empty properties have been ‘sub-let' by gangs to families who cannot afford a commercial rent. And the pandemic has spawned a new commercial model – extortion. These are cases where squatters occupy a property and demand a ‘ransom' from the owner of several thousand Euros before they will leave. Enter the controversial ‘desokupa' companies – firms run by boxers and bouncers who will evict unwanted 'tenants'. Producer / Presenter: Linda Pressly Producer / Presenter in Spain: Esperanza Escribano Editor: Bridget Harney (Image: Jorge Fe, director of FueraOkupas – a company dedicated to evicting squatters and unwanted tenants. Credit: BBC/Esperanza Escribano)

How Catalonia's housing crisis spawns opportunities for organised crime… Spain has a history of squatting. After the property crash of 2008 many families were forced to occupy homes that did not belong to them because they could not pay their mortgages. Now a darker side to ‘okupacion' has emerged. Organised crime has seen an opportunity. Some flats in Barcelona have become ‘narcopisos' - properties used to process or sell drugs. Other empty properties have been ‘sub-let' by gangs to families who cannot afford a commercial rent. And the pandemic has spawned a new commercial model – extortion. These are cases where squatters occupy a property and demand a ‘ransom' from the owner of several thousand Euros before they will leave. Enter the controversial ‘desokupa' companies – firms run by boxers and bouncers who will evict unwanted 'tenants.' Producer / Presenter: Linda Pressly Producer / Presenter in Spain: Esperanza Escribano Editor: Bridget Harney (Image: Jorge Fe, director of FueraOkupas – a company dedicated to evicting squatters and unwanted tenants. Credit: BBC/Esperanza Escribano)

Bon Dia, Mother F*ckers! Dude, Barcelona is sick. I ain't never been before. Tune in for tales of the capital of Catalonia. Does that sound, like, official or something? If you go check out the comedy at The Comedy Clubhouse Barcelona. Follow them on Insta @thecomedyclubhousebcnMy stuff: @dannypalmernyc@thedannypalmershowSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/thedannypalmershow)

MEET OUR GUEST: Originally from Catalonia, but resident in the UK for several decades, Jordi is a vegan Zoologist specialising in animal behaviour, who has been involved in different aspects of animal protection for many years. In addition to scientific research he has worked mostly as an undercover investigator, animal welfare consultant, and animal protection campaigner.  His most notable work achievements have been his involvement with the first successful prosecutions under the Hunting Act 2004, the exposé of trail hunting as a false alibi for illegal hunters and his participation in the campaign that led to the ban of bullfighting in Catalonia.  Under the pen name J.C. Costa, he has published a novel titled “The Demon's Trial”, in which he explores many of the dilemmas animal protectionists face.  He has been an ethical vegan for over 18 years and in 2020 he achieved notoriety for securing the legal protection of all ethical vegans in Great Britain from discrimination, in a landmark employment tribunal case that was discussed all over the world.  He is also the author of the book "Ethical Vegan: a personal and political journey to change the world" to be published at the end of 2020.  Learn more about Jordi's book (or Buy The Book): https://septemberpublishing.org/product/ethical-vegan/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordi-casamitjana-36586a15 FB: https://www.facebook.com/veganjordi TW: https://twitter.com/Jayseecosta IG: https://www.instagram.com/jayseecosta/?hl=en YB: https://www.youtube.com/user/Jordiwasp Subscribe to Pivot! A Vegan Business Interview Series on Soundwise

Who is Cider Chat? In Part 4 of this series on Cider's Media it is time to talk about Cider Chat - the podcast that is hosting this series! As you listen to this episode you will hear Ria discussing and reading from her interview for RealBrew a magazine that features Cider in one issue per year. Note RealBrew publishes their hard copy magazine 6 times per year. The heading of the interview is: Cider Chat - A Touch of Experience The story about one of the most famous talk projects dedicated to cider. I am a fan of quality libations and come from a family that upholds the tradition to starting each holiday gathering with a raised glass and toast. As a child I was taught that it was an honor to drink with my grandfathers and not one that they nor I abused or took for granted. These same grandfathers were at one time known as Bootleggers during Prohibition and my paternal grandfather always had a barrel of cider at his farm. The apple tree in his backyard had 5 different varieties grafted onto that one tree and the children were taught not to climb its majestic branches. We knew at an early age that it provided food and drink to our family and as such was revered. My own parents also did a bit of fermenting. I first learned how to make beer and then began to ferment grapes and apples. My novice background in fermenting was just enough to land me a fun side gig as a craft beer writer in 2003. I have been writing a bimonthly column and an occasional feature all these years later for that same craft beer newspaper called Yankee Brew News (YBN). For many years, I was one of the few women beer writers in the US, who was also actively making cider, teaching cidermaking courses, and had a platform to write about both beer and cider. At first the editors at YBN were reluctant to publish news on cider, but eventually they let me plug in articles during each apple harvest season. In 2013, I knew cider was finally getting a wider audience. That same year, while judging at the annual Great International Beer Competition in Rhode Island, we had an uptick in the number of ciders being entered into the competition. The next year, the number of entries tripled and even more notable a commercial cidermaker flew across the country from California to represent his brand. Cider sales in the US was growing exponentially during this time. Also in 2014, while at that same competition that highlighted beer, everyone wanted to talk to me about cider. They knew, via my writings, that I was regularly teaching a “how-to make cider” course at a local cider festival. That festival called “CiderDays” is now the longest running and most celebrated cider event in the US and takes place on the first weekend of November. Being part of CiderDays when it first started back in 1994, allowed me to meet the early cider pioneers in the US before the current modern day cider movement we see today. Pictured left to Right: Chuck Shelton of Albemarle Ciderworks, VA | Bartosz Gałka/ Poland Anzu Fernandes of La Sidra and Randall Graham Professionally, during all this time I was quite busy working as the CEO and Founder of an international consulting firm focused on conflict management. During my travels I would always set aside time to visit a cidermaker, orchard, and breweries. Blame it on fate that at the same time the cider market was growing, I was looking at scaling back my consulting work. I already had a weekly podcast on my specialty in managing violent situations, so I decided why not create a second podcast solely on cider. The decision was easy to make due to the growing interest of cider in the US and the uncanny number of “cider experts” popping up on the internet. I launched the first episode of Cider Chat in the fall of 2015 and it is now in its sixth season with nearly 300 episodes. All the episodes are archived and free to download via the Cider Chat website and all the podcast App directories such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify. I post an episode each Wednesday and feature interviews with makers, cider enthusiasts, and people in the cider industry worldwide. Episodes are between 30 minutes to one hour in length and usually begin with “News from Out and About in Ciderville”. The listeners of Cider Chat are a very engaged audience, so often I am reading letters sent to me. For each episode, I select a specific theme to discuss and also have series on topics such as the 2020 four-part series with Russian cidermakers. There are currently 5 episodes featuring Russian makers, which is quite exciting as this is such a new category for the country and the cider, I have tasted thus far is quite impressive! Alexander Ionov of Rebel Apple based in Moscow is show casing the apple variety known as Antonovka in his cider called Bride. It is a wonderful aromatic cider that is very fruit forward with a touch of tannin. I had Alex on Episode 216. 2018 Totally Cider Tour with Etienne Dupont, Eric Bordelet,  Ann Marie Thornton of James Creek Cider In February 2020, I was set to meet Russian cidermaker Maxim Brecht. He along with a group of Russian cidermakers were attending Cidrexpo in Normandy France, so we set up an interview. I was honestly expecting a group of men, but when Maxim walked through the door with three women who were all making cider I was floored! Their passion and joy for cider was contagious. I titled Part 1 of the four-part series “The Russian Cider Party Starts Now!” It featured Alina Lotkeva who via her I Love Cider brand is helping to boost Russian cider. Olga Efremov and her cidermaking husband Micheal Efremov are both sommeliers and their brand OMG shows their level of skill honed from the wine world. I love following Olga's Instagram posts because her ability to describe cider is heavenly! RealBrew's own editor Elena V. Tyukina made me do a mental double take, when I realized that not only is she Owner and Head Brewmeister at Knightberg Brewery in Saint Petersburg, but she is also already winning awards with her barrel aged cider, the 2017 Force of Gravity! Maxim's own bottle conditioned cider is exquisite. I can't wait to see what all these and the many more Russian makers have to offer moving forward. People listen to Cider Chat via the website, podcast directory Apps and at the Cider Chat YouTube channel. The goal for this podcast is to “be everywhere” thus I also have social media accounts on Twitter @ciderchat, Instagram @ciderchatciderville, a Cider Chat Facebook page and even a TikTok page @ciderchat. In 2018, I launched Totally Cider Tours and have since led cider tours both in Europe and in the US. I started this side business because so many listeners wanted to visit the cidermakers that I have interviewed. Tour guiding comes naturally to me due to my organizational and facilitation skills and my extensive work as a wilderness guide. Early on and for some time, I have paid out of pocket to produce the podcast. It is still a one person show with me both Producing and Hosting, but I am slowly extending my reach and looking at hiring a virtual assistant as the podcast's audience continues to grow. Cider Chat is partly supported by patrons and sponsors. I do take FAM trips which are paid press tours to help promote cider in a particular region of the world. My goal is to show case the local terroir and to celebrate the people, local foods, and sights. I have interviews featuring the following areas in the world, Asturias, Australia, Canada, The Canary Islands, Catalonia, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Nederlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Tasmania, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States (nearly every state). Jenifer Dean of County Cider Carol B. Hillman of New Salem Cider Alex Ionov - Rebell Cider Mike Johnson, Ria and Albert Johnson of Ross Cider and Perry Company I don't expect guests to reveal their “secret recipe” for making cider. There is no secret. It is pretty straightforward and is more a matter of skill, which takes time, and the right kind of apples. What I do look for from each guest, is their own story and what inspires them to make cider. This often leads us to a much broader history that entails family, food, and local cultures and customs. Here are just a few of the people I have interviewed on Cider Chat and their simple quotes that have stood out for me and have inspired listeners around the world. Let's start in a region well known to have the oldest recorded references to cider and head to Asturias and its coastal city of Gijon. It is estimated that the average yearly intake of “Sidra” here is 65 liters per every man, woman, and child. This region of Spain has a cider celebration nearly every weekend of the year. And also hosts the International Hall of Gala Apples in the Fall which I attended in 2017. There are 2500 “Asturian only” varieties of cider apples with 200 varieties considered endemic to only Asturias. Every brand of Natural Sidra, has at the minimum 6 varieties of apples in the blend. Asturias makers produce 100,000,000 liters of Sidra per year. And there are even Cider pourer competitions! The long pour or the “Colene”, where the cider is poured from at least a meter from bottle to glass is done to release the carbonic gases in the sidra. The glass is held on a slight angle to catch the pour with only about an 1/8 of a cup or 29 milliliters poured into each glass. The result is a frothy amount of cider which is meant to be drunk right away, much like a shot of vodka. One does not sniff and swill sidra. While in Gijon to attend a cider competition, I interviewed Anzu Fernández for La Sidra magazine. Anzu it should be noted speaks 15 languages and is a medical doctor. He is also what I call “Cider Bold” with his unapologetic views of his region's quality of cider saying, “Asturians are quite expert in cider. You won't fool anyone with a low-quality cider.” Anzu's interview can be heard in episode 062. Skipping back to the US, in 2015 I was able to meet and interview Randall Grahm, while visiting my own family in Santa Cruz California. I have since posted two episodes with him, the first in 2016 in episode 012 and the second in 2019, in episode 188. Randall is the recipient of multiple James Beard Awards and is a prolific writer with a whimsical touch. He is known in the wine world as the “Rhone Ranger” and turned the category upside down when he introduced screw caps to high end bottles of wine. Recently he sold his label “Bonny Doon Vineyards” in California to work on his new estate vineyard Popelochum which is south of where he started his innovative winemaking 36 years ago. His 2013 “Querry”, a blend of quince, apples and pears is part of the reason why I first sought him out for an interview. He approaches cidermaking from a winemaker's view and says, “What I am doing with grapes one might want to consider doing with apples.” Coming from one of the premier winemakers in the US today, I view this simple statement as a call to action. John Bunker resides on the east coast of the US in the state of Maine and is a renowned apple detective. He just published his newest book “Apples and The Art of Detection” in 2019. John is often asked to identify trees abandoned at old homesteads and as such has been able to elevate awareness around lost apple varieties. John says, "With the work that I do around heritage apples. What I'm looking for is a variety that maybe someone introduced a 100 years ago, or 200 years ago, or even 300 years ago." John Bunker is looking at the long run that cider has had and the long future ahead. He has also inspired a new generation of apple detectives. You can find John featured on episodes, 016: Super Chilly Farm, 028: Apple Identification, 264: Grandma's Perfect Orchard. Tom Oliver is a celebrated maker from Herefordshire who is well known for both his ciders and perry and many collaborations with other cidermakers and brewers. Tom has been featured on episodes 029 when he talks about his coveted hopped cider and episode 105 on making perry. Says Tom, “I'm a big fan of the concept of a family of cidermakers. We may all be making cider in different ways, different business models, but what we do need to do is get on with each other.” Considering that cider is still a small niche in a huge world of drinks, this advice is spot on for cidermakers worldwide. In episode 035 Danielle von Scheiner of New York City shares how she donates a portion of her ciders to charitable causes in NYC and says, “We give a little part of the "Big Apple" to anyone who drinks it [our cider].” She is putting the "BIG" back into New York City's apple love with so much of her charitable contributions and as such is an inspiration to all. I recorded episode 044 with Sebastian Lousada who lives on a mountain top in the state of Vermont. He is both licensed to make cider and to distill. I am a big fan of his "Pomme-de-Vie" an organic apple brandy. The cidery is named Flag Hill Farm and is operated fully off the grid being supported by solar panels. It is here that he has been producing cider for nearly 30 years making Flag Hill Farm one of the oldest cideries in the US.  As such he has the long view of cider over time and says, “Back then people had no idea what cider was or that it even had alcohol in it. Because of the confusion over Sweet Cider which is fresh pressed apple juice, we decided to spell our product with a “Y” and so it is spelled as “Cyder” to differentiate it from other products. On a good year we make 4000 gallons of cider. Because we only want to use apples that we have grown.” Further to the south in the state of Virginia the Shelton family run Albemarle Ciderworks & Vintage Virginia Apples. I've featured Chuck Shelton who is the Head Cidermaker on episodes 056 and 254. At most every cider event you will see Chuck with a bag of bottles and if you are lucky, he will slip one out and pour you a sip. The cidery makes some of the finest single varietal ciders and blends in the US. I love how Chuck sums cidermaking up by saying, “Cider happens. If you squeeze juice out of an apple and put it in a jar. As long you manage the vinegar bacteria, you're gonna make cider and its gonna make itself.” My journey in cider has taken me to France on a number of occasions. When I reached out to the French interprofessional association of cider-based controlled appellations (I.D.A.C.) for recommendations they immediately directed me to Agathe Letellier. I was headed to Normandy to interview cider producers and to plan a cider tour. When I arrived to her seaside orchard, I saw giant photos of happy cows posted out in her orchard. I knew I was in the right place! Agathe has done a wonderful job making her cidery tourist friendly. She and I shared a very long belly laugh that you can hear on episode 049, when I told her that American cidermakers sometimes add coffee to their cider. Her label is Manoir d'Apreval and is located by the scenic harbor town of Honfleur. She is the current spokesperson for Calvados in Normandy. Agathe sums up what takes place in the barrel of Calvados by saying, “We have an evolution in the bottle.” I am forever thankful that I had the opportunity to interview Jérôme Dupont (1970-2018) of Domain Dupont for episode 098 at the Normandy estate. He was an innovative cidermaker and helped to move Norman ciders out into the world market. Without a doubt he was the leading figure in promoting Calvados. He is the great grandson of Jules Dupont who bought Domaine Dupont in Pays d'Auge with Calvados in 1887 helping to move his cattle raising family into the spirits industry. Today his father Étienne Dupont runs the estate. Jérôme said, “You don't master wild yeast. You get to know them and get to anticipate a little bit of what they will do. But you need certainly time and attention. It is much simpler to pitch selected yeast. But the complexity of the cider is due to the apple varieties and the wild yeast.” In 2020 I recorded a Calvados tasting with Jérôme's father, Étienne, which is the featured in episode 265. Being able to taste cider with such a master crafter was undoubtedly a highlight of my career. He describes the act tasting of Calvados by saying, “You put it in your mouth, you keep it [Calvados] in your mouth and the aroma's go up.” Thanks to an introduction by Randall Grahm, I was able to meet French maker Eric Bordelet. He is considered an elusive maker whose cider and perry is often touted as some of the best in the world. He had worked many years as one of the top Sommeliers in Paris before heading back to his family's Domaine in Normandy. He was encouraged by his late friend Didier Daganeau, who was a winemaker and well known for his Sauvignon Blanc, to become a cidermaker. That advice was spot on and today over 75% of Eric's product is exported to sites outside of France. On episode 057 he says, “The only school for me is taste, taste, taste” which shows how he views cidermaking to being like a chef in a kitchen. In 058 he discusses why he prefers to blend apple before pressing and does not do single varietal ciders, “It is my opinion of cider to have more balance [to blend].” The cidermaking tradition in Poland dates back to the 16th century, but is only recently gearing up once again. My guest Bartosz Gałka of Poland in episode 064 says “The main point is to try, to learn, and enjoy!” Considering that the country grows a lot of apples but is now only just beginning to celebrate the fermented juice in the glass, makes this country one to put on the cider watch list! Canadian cidermaking like the US was thrown out of whack due to Prohibition. One of the key influencers of cider is County Cider based in Prince Edward County in the Canadian Province of Ontario that began selling cider in 1996. This cidery was launched by Grant Howes a formidable man considered the Grandfather of Cider in Ontario. In 2000 Jenifer Dean who had studied winemaking joined up with County Cider. Sadly, her husband Grant unexpectedly passed away in January 2017. Their tasting room has a lovely view out onto Lake Ontario and you can see the trees close by that they keep the fruit on deep into the winter so to make Ice Cider. Growing their own fruit for cider is key, with Jenifer saying, "It is a shame that cideries are not growing their own apples. You need to have a sense of what you are growing in order to make good cider." Listen to Jenifer's interview in episode 137 Prince Edward County in Ontario has seen an uptick of cidermakers and one person in particular has been a regular guest on Cider Chat with over 10 episodes. His name is Ryan Monkman of FieldBird Cider. He has extensive experience in the wine industry and brings this talent to his cidermaking. Ryan specializes in barrel aging cider. He has taught many listeners of Cider Chat via episode 132 the technique known as Bâtonnage, which is stirring in the lees rather than racking them off the cider. Ryan encourages us all to “Use all your senses in the cellar”. In 2020 and then again, this year 2021, I published two separate Ask Ryan Series. The first was called the Quarantine Quad series and covered topics sent in by listeners on subjects such as American vs French oak for barrels and Maderisation, which is when barrels are intentionally left out to be ‘cooked by the heat and sun. The result is a high alcohol cider that is considered “Maderised”. In Part 4 of this series on episode 224 Ryan explained how to manage Flor or what is also commonly called “film yeast”, which can look like an oil slick on top of cider during conditioning. Though quite common it can be scary the first time you see Flor and it happens to both wine and cider. Ryan says, “Film yeast will consume oxygen which can be a good thing. But if it goes on for more than a couple of weeks you will lose aromatics. Do look out for acetobacter that is a form of film yeast and is more bubbly than other Flor, because it will eventually form vinegar.” Back in the southern state of North Carolina, cidermaking husband and wife team David and Ann Marie Thornton are showcasing a blend of their apples and local fruit in their Stargazer Series. The Prowling Peach is part of this series and is a barrel aged cider with peach juice. And the James Creek Heritage Ciders showcase their regional apples and are bottled in 750ML glass presentations! The terroir of southern apple varieties is uniquely their own. Says David, “In the South we are just starting to rediscover our cider heritage.” Listen to the Thorntons share their passion for cider in episode 179 titled South Apples. The Ross Cider Fest is a three-day festival that takes place to the west of London and has been hosted by the Johnson family for 25 years. Mike Johnson's son Martin manages the magnificent Yew Tree Pub and son Albert works alongside Mike and cidermaker John Edwards producing upwards to 90 ciders, many of which have one or two choice apples and some very fine single varietal ciders and perries. I was able to camp out in the orchard in 2019 along with a many other people who attended the cider fest. I interviewed Mike and Albert in episode 194. I admire all these men for their love of cider, their quality product and their honest and no-nonsense view on cider. Says Mike, “It depends why are you into cidermaking - if you just want to make something sweet and fizzy and sell as much as possible that's a different argument. Maybe… But if you are really interested in the apples you have to get to know them. And it is fun”. John Edwards whose full name is John Michael Leslie Edwards is also known as John the Cidermaker. In addition to helping the Johnson family he also has his own cider label called “Fly Be Night”. He says, “The most important thing is to eliminate hurry. With cidermaking you have to be patient.” Eliminating hurry is likely one of the most poetic ways to describe cider that I have heard of to date. Besides excellent cider his labels are also poetic and to the point reading, “Look close into the label and you will see, words of wisdom, fun and mischievous glee! …There are no surprises, just a straight up fact – this cider contains – 0% Shit”. You can hear John's story in episode 192. In episode 198 I had the honor of interviewing Cornell University Pomologist Gregory M. Peck PhD. He has been a Professor of Pomology at Cornell, since 2015 and is helping to usher in the pomologist of the future. Needless to say, he has a wide view on cider both in the US and internationally which is why when he says, “The cider industry is going to grow very rapidly.” I listen. There are a number of cideries in what is known as the Finger Lakes region of New York state. I did a FAM tour of this area and was impressed by the people and their products. When I interviewed Garrett Miller of the Finger Lakes Ciderhouse and asked why he became a farmer and then cidermaker his reply was straightforward and familiar. He said, “It looked like a really enjoyable way to spend a life.” After spending the afternoon at this booming cider house that is complete with an onsite restaurant, and a large farm called the Good Life Farm there is no doubt that Garrett's words ring true. I interview him in episode 203. Back in my home state of Massachusetts is what many call an “Orchard Museum”. This orchard is located at New Salem Cider and has been cared for by the same pruner for the past 30 years. The orchard has a bonsai sensibility with the apple tree's water sprouts turned into “Apple Pretzels” and many 100-year-old trees everywhere. The gentle woman farmer who brought this colonial era farm back to life nearly 50 years ago is Carol B. Hillman. She is ninety+ years young and has hosted a harvest fest for the past 20 years at her Cider Mill. I interviewed Carol in episode 192 titled “Cider Revitalizes a 1750 Colonial Orchard”. In this episode Carol told the story of how she chased a hunter out of her apple tree and brought back this old colonial homestead. Her original sights were on the house, but then she turned her sights on the abandoned orchard to bring it back to full glory saying, “Without apple trees we are nothing.” And thanks to the apple trees we have something that is essentially a time capsule of a fall harvest season. Cider may be bubbly or still and sometime a mix of apples or one specific variety. Some makers add other fruit or spices to their cider, but one thing is certain, “We All Love Cider”! Mentions in this Chat Northwest Cider Club - cider from the Pacific Northwest shipped directly to YOU! Try the elevated box of cider, give cider as a gift that keeps giving! Help Support Cider Chat Please donate today. Help keep the chat thriving! Find this episode and all episodes at the page for Cider Chat's podcasts. Listen also at iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher (for Android), iHeartRadio , Spotify and wherever you love to listen to podcasts. Follow on Cider Chat's blog, social media and podcast Twitter @ciderchat Instagram: @ciderchatciderville Cider Chat FaceBook Page Cider Chat YouTube    

Your daily update on new releases, tours, business and tech news from MusicIndustryCity.com Built on the Blockchain, Revelator Unveils New Decentralized Protocol for Music Rights which will streamline licensing, contracts, and payments. After months of complaints from the live music sector, the UK finally launches a £750M GOVERNMENT-BACKED INSURANCE SCHEME to help cover costs incurred in the event of cancellation due to the event being legally unable to happen due to government restrictions. Nearly 2,300 people test positive for coronavirus after attending music festivals in Catalonia, the number of infections at recent concerts was 76% higher than those recorded in the control group Make sure to check out the show notes for links to the articles referenced and on MusicIndustryCity.com  In Music Tech News… Blockchain-Based Music Streaming Service Audius has 5M Monthly Users with over 100,000 artists that include Deadmau5 and Skrillex. In Musical Chairs... Mike Chester promoted to EVP, promotion & commerce at Warner Records. Since 2018, he has spearheaded a complete revamping of the label's promotion team and strategy across every format and platform.  And for your listening pleasure, Duran Duran is back with retro vibes in “New Joy”.  That concludes today's update. For article links, see the show n otes, or go to MusicIndustryCity.com and tune in to the Music News at Noon live in Clubhouse or on the website weekdays at 12 p.m. Eastern. Have a great weekend!

Honeysuckle rose (Madreselva, no confundir con el tango de Canaro y Amadori) es una composición del gran Fats Waller, con letra de Andy Razaf (1929) y es uno de los más grandes standards del jazz tradicional. No en vano fue uno de los temas elegidos por Art Tatum para "destronar" a los pianistas de Harlem!! Escuchemos, en piano, al autor, Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk asi como a Count Basie y Lionel Hampton y a las cantantes Anita O'Day, Sarah Vaughan, Jane Monheit y Magalí Datzira de la St Andreu de Catalonia.

Today's episode includes the following guests:Garret Reisman, former NASA AstronautProfessor Michel Andre, Technical University of Catalonia, BarcelonaProfessor Carlos M Duarte, King Abdullah UniversityNicola Jones, JournalistDr Paul Stamets, MycologistAmy James Vice President of Futures at AdidasDr Daniel Craighead, University of Colorado at BoulderProfessor David Alais, University of SydneyDan Garodnick, President and CEO of Riverside Park ConservancyDr Robert Stickgold, Harvard Medical School The Smart 7 is a daily podcast that puts your brain into gear by telling you everything you need to know for the day in less than 7 minutes. It's a snapshot of the world, covering everything from politics to entertainment, via sport and current affairs.Please follow and spread the word!In Ireland? Why not try our Ireland Edition?You need the Smarts? We've got the Smarts.Contact us over at Twitter or visit www.thesmart7.comPresented by Jamie East, written by Liam Thompson and produced by Daft Doris. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Alex welcomes Michael League, one of the most accomplished musicians of the last two decades. Michael is best known as the founder, bandleader, and bassist for the New York-based instrumental group Snarky Puppy, and in this conversation you'll hear him tell Alex about the band's genesis and musical evolution. Michael tells Alex about Snarky Puppy's “no power chord” rule, how necessity led to him taking on the role of producer, and why it's crucial to never “quit failing.” Towards the end of the conversation, Michael tells Alex about improvements to his creative and personal life that he's enjoyed since moving to Spain, and shares equally important stories of success and failure. Michael League is a 4-time Grammy® Award-winning, 5-time nominated producer and musician based out of Catalonia, Spain. He is the creator and bandleader of instrumental music ensemble Snarky Puppy and world music group Bokanté, founder of the record label and music curation source GroundUP Music, and artistic director of the GroundUP Music Festival. Snarky Puppy has amassed three Grammy Awards over the last 8 years, an incredible feat for a jazz-based instrumental group in the modern musical climate. He has worked with a wide range of legendary artists including David Crosby, Erykah Badu, and Joe Walsh, and continues to push musical boundaries through the endless number of projects that he is a part of. You can hear Michael's new album, So Many Me, here and listen to the playlist from the episode on Spotify. Moods & Modes is presented by Osiris Media. Hosted and Produced by Alex Skolnick. Osiris Production by Kirsten Cluthe and Brad Stratton. Editing and mixing by Justin Thomas (Revoice Media). Production Assistance by Matt Bavuso. Music by Alex Skolnick. Artwork by Mark Dowd.To discover more podcasts that help you connect more deeply to the music you love, check out osirispod.com. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Maria Coffey is the author of twelve internationally published, award winning books, the co-owner of an adventure travel company and an adventurer in her own right.   Growing up in England, Maria always dreamt of having a freewheeling life, with no real idea of how she could make that happen. In her twenties she fell in love with an elite Himalayan mountaineer, Joe Tasker, and her adventures became vicarious ones, as she waited at home during his long expeditions. When Joe disappeared on the NE Ridge of Everest, in 1982, Maria was devastated. “His death blew my life apart,” she says, “but ultimately it jolted me alive.” A few years later she moved to Canada. She met a man who shared her dream of travelling the world, and together they began to make it a reality.   Shortly after marrying Dag, Maria wrote her first book, Fragile Edge: Loss on Everest, an account of her relationship with Joe Tasker and her own journey to Everest in the wake of his death. The writing was pure catharsis, an untangling of emotional knots in her past so that she could move into the future. Originally published in 1989, Fragile Edge became a classic in mountaineering literature and has won several prizes. Years later Maria wrote Where the Mountain Casts its Shadow: The Dark Side of Adventure, about the emotional toll of climbing, which won the Jon Whyte Literature Prize at the 2003 Banff Festival and a 2004 National Outdoor Book Award. She completed what she calls ‘an unintentional trilogy' with Explorers of the Infinite, an examination of the link between adventure and spiritual experience. For these three books she was awarded the 2009 American Alpine Club's H. Adams Carter Literary Award.   In the meantime Maria was publishing books about her exploits with Dag. Throwing up secure careers, they became expedition kayakers and a writer/photographer team. They paddled through the Solomon Islands, down the River Ganges, up Lake Malawi, and around Vancouver Island. They travelled the length of the coast of Vietnam on local boats and bikes. Dag, who is a large animal vet, did seasonal work in rural areas of Wales and Ireland, and they were head-hunted by a US travel company to develop international kayaking trips. In between all this kaleidoscopic activity, their home base was a tiny island in British Columbia, from where they commuted to the nearest town by kayak.   In 2000 they set up Hidden Places, a boutique adventure travel company, taking small groups of like-minded travellers to remarkable corners of the world. When they weren't leading trips, they were still exploring themselves. After Dag had a life-changing experience with an elephant in Rajasthan, they established Elephant Earth, advocating and fundraising for elephant conservation and welfare in Africa and S.E Asia.   After Explorers of the Infinite was published, Maria took a break from writing. She is now back in her author's skin, working on a memoir about choosing to be an adventurer instead of a mother. In the growing body of literature about the childfree choice, her book will fill an important niche, giving the perspective of an older woman – Maria is in her late 60s - who has led, and is still leading, an extraordinary life.   When they are not travelling, or sailing aboard their tiny boat, Maria and Dag divide their time between downtown Victoria, BC and a medieval village in Catalonia, Spain.   New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time - Make sure you hit the subscribe button so you don't miss out.    The Tough Girl Podcast is sponsorship and ad free thanks to the monthly financial support of patrons. To find out more about supporting your favourite podcast and becoming a patron please check out www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast.     Show notes Who is Maria? Moving to Canada in the 1980s Giving up her teaching career in her early 30s to lead a life of adventure Writing 12 books and being the co-owner of an adventure travel company  Her early years and having a very sheltered childhood in Wolverhampton Being the youngest of 3  Having different dreams from an early age Being inspired by Alice in Wonderland Going to Liverpool University  Finding a teaching job  Trying to figure out how to have a life travelling the world Longing for a bigger life Being drawn to people who were leading adventurous lives Getting involved in the mountain climbing community  Falling in love with a big mountain climber called Joe Tasker Dealing with grief and loss when there is no body Being supported by the adventure community Not knowing how to rebuild her life Wanting to live intensely  Having a near drowning experience at 21 in Morocco Deciding to move to Canada on a teacher exchange experience Meeting a Dag and sharing the same dream The life as a supportive partner to an adventurer Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow: The Dark Side of Extreme Adventure   Becoming super independent  Getting married to Dag Taking a year out to go travelling on a massive adventure in 1981 Role models and figuring out how to make a freelance lifestyle work Being a pioneer in expedition kayaking  Planning Vs being flexible  Being determined to be on the river Creating Hidden Places in 2000 Heading to Vietnam in 1994 Being adaptable to changing plans Becoming part time kayak guides by accident  What adventure means to Maria Choosing to be an adventurer instead of a mother The childfree choice Looking for a publisher Turning back to writing after taking a break Final words of advice   Social Media   Website www.hiddenplaces.net     Instagram @insidehiddenplaces    Facebook   @hiddenplaces  @maria.coffey.370    Twitter   @BooksCoffey  @hiddenplacestvl

Last September, gynecologist Isabel Stabile stood outside the Maltese Parliament with a group of activists on International Safe Abortion Day, holding signs that said: “Abortions are safe and necessary” and “My body is not a political playground.” As they livestreamed the protest on Facebook, some activists took out a box of fake abortion pills and swallowed them.“Malta is the only country in the whole of Europe where abortion is still illegal, under all circumstances."Isabel Stabile, abortion rights activist, Doctors for Choice, Malta“Malta is the only country in the whole of Europe where abortion is still illegal, under all circumstances,” said Stabile, as the camera zoomed in on her. “We are here to show you how easy and simple this process can be.”The protest was small — and later met by a bigger crowd from anti-abortion protestors — but it signals a growing abortion rights movement in the small, predominantly Catholic island of Malta in the Mediterranean, where more than 90% of the population are against abortion, on religious grounds. Related: Catalonia's temporary tele-abortion services are a game-changerUnlike Poland, where abortion is difficult to access, but still legal in cases of rape and incest, the abortion law in Malta doesn't make any exceptions — even when the mother's health is at risk.As a result, an estimated 300 pregnant people travel abroad every year to seek abortion services in places like the United Kingdom and Italy, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of 2020, travel restrictions made such trips nearly impossible.Stabile, who is part of the advocacy group Doctors for Choice, said that's when calls to the organization shot up significantly.“What happened at that point is that women became desperate,” Stabile said. “And it pushed us as pro-choice doctors to set up a service.”The Family Planning Advisory Service (FPAS) was launched last August, and is run by trained volunteers providing medically-based information about reproductive health care — fertility, contraception or abortion. Under Malta's abortion law, doctors can face up to three years in prison for providing abortion services, so FPAS volunteers figured out a work-around: They inform callers of the travel restrictions for countries where abortion is legal and tell them about reliable nongovernmental organizations that ship abortion pills — although it is illegal to consume them on Maltese soil.Related: In Italy, religious organizations' 'fetus graves' reignite abortion debates“We have effectively created a telemedicine service. ... People are now no longer needing to travel as often.”Isabel Stabile, abortion rights activist, Doctors for Choice, Malta“We have effectively created a telemedicine service,” Stabile said. “People are now no longer needing to travel as often.”Stabile said that within the first six months of launching, FPAS received more than 200 calls — in a country with a population of less than 500,000 people. What's more, the number of abortion pills ordered online from organizations like Women on Web and Women Help Women doubled from 2019 to 2020.But taking the abortion pills Mifepristone and Misoprostol is only considered safe up until the 12th week of pregnancy. For people needing an abortion past 12 weeks, including those who have found out about a fetus abnormality, taking a pill is no longer a possibility.For people who are more than 12 weeks pregnant, taking a pill is no longer a possibility, which often applies to pregnancies with fetal abnormalities, as well. Mara Clarke, from the Abortion Support Network, said those are the people who continue to travel for abortions — despite the pandemic. Clarke's organization helps fund pregnant people's trips to the UK from countries where abortion is illegal or severely restricted.“At the beginning of the pandemic, we really didn't know what was going on,” Clarke said. “They were closing airports, we would book flights and they would get canceled, people were scared about traveling.”There were nonstop hurdles: border closures, shut hotels, no child care. It was especially hard for Maltese people, who live on an island and are geographically isolated. Related: Abortion increasingly hard to access in Turkey Nowadays, Clarke said, traveling is somewhat easier, but mandatory PCR tests make it more expensive and constantly changing measures make it more difficult. “Prior to COVID, the Draconian abortion laws were an inconvenience for women and pregnant people with money, and they were only a catastrophe for people without money or resources or support networks."Mara Clarke, Abortion Support Network“Prior to COVID, the Draconian abortion laws were an inconvenience for women and pregnant people with money, and they were only a catastrophe for people without money or resources or support networks,” Clarke said.“But suddenly, you have a global pandemic, and literally everybody understands what it means to live in a country with really a bad abortion law.”According to the UK's National Health Service, the number of Maltese people who traveled there for abortions decreased by two-thirds from 2019, when 58 abortions were registered, to 2020, when 20 abortions were registered.As part of an ongoing collaboration, Clarke is now funding a helpline at Malta's Family Planning Advisory Service.Dr. Christopher Barbara, another member of Doctors for Choice, said the goal of FPAS is to fill the void left by the lack of a government-established family planning programs.“We feel that people have a right to that information because, if nothing else, it's a harm-reduction exercise."Dr. Christopher Barbara, Doctors for Choice, Malta“We feel that people have a right to that information because, if nothing else, it's a harm-reduction exercise,” said Barbara. “If a woman can't get the abortion pill safely, she'll just end up getting them from unverified sources.”To this day, no major political party in Malta has come out in favor of abortion rights — but some individual politicians are starting to speak up.This May, one parliament member introduced a bill to decriminalize abortion, though it didn't pass. President George Vella later responded to this move, saying he'd rather resign than sign a law that “involves the authorization of murder.”Abortion is still very much taboo in Malta — and abortion rights activists who speak publicly about it often face online harassment from anti-abortion groups. But Barbara said public discourse is starting to shift — websites like Break the Taboo, which tell the stories of people in Malta who had an abortion, are hoping to destigmatize the topic.And Barbara said it's working. In 2016, the morning-after pill was legalized, and in 2018, the first abortion rights group in Malta was founded. Since then, similar organizations have emerged and local media are increasingly covering the abortion debate.“People are starting to realize that you can personally be against abortion, but at the same time, an abortion ban is not the right way to go,” Barbara said. This story was produced in partnership with the International Women's Media Foundation.

Last September, gynecologist Isabel Stabile stood outside the Maltese Parliament with a group of activists on International Safe Abortion Day, holding signs that said: “Abortions are safe and necessary” and “My body is not a political playground.” As they livestreamed the protest on Facebook, some activists took out a box of fake abortion pills and swallowed them.“Malta is the only country in the whole of Europe where abortion is still illegal, under all circumstances."Isabel Stabile, abortion rights activist, Doctors for Choice, Malta“Malta is the only country in the whole of Europe where abortion is still illegal, under all circumstances,” said Stabile, as the camera zoomed in on her. “We are here to show you how easy and simple this process can be.”The protest was small — and later met by a bigger crowd from anti-abortion protestors — but it signals a growing abortion rights movement in the small, predominantly Catholic island of Malta in the Mediterranean, where more than 90% of the population are against abortion, on religious grounds. Related: Catalonia's temporary tele-abortion services are a game-changerUnlike Poland, where abortion is difficult to access, but still legal in cases of rape and incest, the abortion law in Malta doesn't make any exceptions — even when the mother's health is at risk.As a result, an estimated 300 pregnant people travel abroad every year to seek abortion services in places like the United Kingdom and Italy, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of 2020, travel restrictions made such trips nearly impossible.Stabile, who is part of the advocacy group Doctors for Choice, said that's when calls to the organization shot up significantly.“What happened at that point is that women became desperate,” Stabile said. “And it pushed us as pro-choice doctors to set up a service.”The Family Planning Advisory Service (FPAS) was launched last August, and is run by trained volunteers providing medically-based information about reproductive health care — fertility, contraception or abortion. Under Malta's abortion law, doctors can face up to three years in prison for providing abortion services, so FPAS volunteers figured out a work-around: They inform callers of the travel restrictions for countries where abortion is legal and tell them about reliable nongovernmental organizations that ship abortion pills — although it is illegal to consume them on Maltese soil.Related: In Italy, religious organizations' 'fetus graves' reignite abortion debates“We have effectively created a telemedicine service. ... People are now no longer needing to travel as often.”Isabel Stabile, abortion rights activist, Doctors for Choice, Malta“We have effectively created a telemedicine service,” Stabile said. “People are now no longer needing to travel as often.”Stabile said that within the first six months of launching, FPAS received more than 200 calls — in a country with a population of less than 500,000 people. What's more, the number of abortion pills ordered online from organizations like Women on Web and Women Help Women doubled from 2019 to 2020.But taking the abortion pills Mifepristone and Misoprostol is only considered safe up until the 12th week of pregnancy. For people needing an abortion past 12 weeks, including those who have found out about a fetus abnormality, taking a pill is no longer a possibility.For people who are more than 12 weeks pregnant, taking a pill is no longer a possibility, which often applies to pregnancies with fetal abnormalities, as well. Mara Clarke, from the Abortion Support Network, said those are the people who continue to travel for abortions — despite the pandemic. Clarke's organization helps fund pregnant people's trips to the UK from countries where abortion is illegal or severely restricted.“At the beginning of the pandemic, we really didn't know what was going on,” Clarke said. “They were closing airports, we would book flights and they would get canceled, people were scared about traveling.”There were nonstop hurdles: border closures, shut hotels, no child care. It was especially hard for Maltese people, who live on an island and are geographically isolated. Related: Abortion increasingly hard to access in Turkey Nowadays, Clarke said, traveling is somewhat easier, but mandatory PCR tests make it more expensive and constantly changing measures make it more difficult. “Prior to COVID, the Draconian abortion laws were an inconvenience for women and pregnant people with money, and they were only a catastrophe for people without money or resources or support networks."Mara Clarke, Abortion Support Network“Prior to COVID, the Draconian abortion laws were an inconvenience for women and pregnant people with money, and they were only a catastrophe for people without money or resources or support networks,” Clarke said.“But suddenly, you have a global pandemic, and literally everybody understands what it means to live in a country with really a bad abortion law.”According to the UK's National Health Service, the number of Maltese people who traveled there for abortions decreased by two-thirds from 2019, when 58 abortions were registered, to 2020, when 20 abortions were registered.As part of an ongoing collaboration, Clarke is now funding a helpline at Malta's Family Planning Advisory Service.Dr. Christopher Barbara, another member of Doctors for Choice, said the goal of FPAS is to fill the void left by the lack of a government-established family planning programs.“We feel that people have a right to that information because, if nothing else, it's a harm-reduction exercise."Dr. Christopher Barbara, Doctors for Choice, Malta“We feel that people have a right to that information because, if nothing else, it's a harm-reduction exercise,” said Barbara. “If a woman can't get the abortion pill safely, she'll just end up getting them from unverified sources.”To this day, no major political party in Malta has come out in favor of abortion rights — but some individual politicians are starting to speak up.This May, one parliament member introduced a bill to decriminalize abortion, though it didn't pass. President George Vella later responded to this move, saying he'd rather resign than sign a law that “involves the authorization of murder.”Abortion is still very much taboo in Malta — and abortion rights activists who speak publicly about it often face online harassment from anti-abortion groups. But Barbara said public discourse is starting to shift — websites like Break the Taboo, which tell the stories of people in Malta who had an abortion, are hoping to destigmatize the topic.And Barbara said it's working. In 2016, the morning-after pill was legalized, and in 2018, the first abortion rights group in Malta was founded. Since then, similar organizations have emerged and local media are increasingly covering the abortion debate.“People are starting to realize that you can personally be against abortion, but at the same time, an abortion ban is not the right way to go,” Barbara said. This story was produced in partnership with the International Women's Media Foundation.

Western governments hit Belarus with a raft of punitive sanctions - EU opens up its borders again to Americans - The German army inaugurates its first rabbi since before the Holocaust - How a Food Bank has sustained the holiday island of Ibiza - Pardons for Catalan separatists - Turkey's opposition under pressure - Germany's female gymnasts talk about their Olympics dreams, and dress - And more..

The Spanish government has formally pardoned nine Catalan separatists who were convicted over a failed independence bid in 2017. The pardons have sparked controversy in Spain and tens of thousands protested against the decision this month. We speak to Catalonia's president, Pere Aragonès. Also in the programme: the voices of the Uigyhur parents pleading with the Chinese authorities to give them news of their missing children; and why European football's governing body has stopped a German city from lighting its stadium in rainbow colours. (A protester holds a poster reading in English "independence is freedom" as people gather to protest the visit of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Barcelona. Credit: EPA).

Victòria Alsina, Minister for Foreign Action and Open Government in the Executive Council of Catalonia, discusses proposed pardons from Spanish government for jailed Catalan separatists behind 2017 independence bid.

New legislation introduced during the pandemic in Europe, including Spain's northeast region of Catalonia, allows women to conduct nearly every abortion appointment online.

Did concentration camps really emerge for the first time during the South African War of 1899-1902? This first part of your 3-part answer focuses on camps that emerged in German Southwest Africa and ... Cuba.

#331 Taking the Full Weight of an Eclair - Richard is back in Cheddar trying to harvest material for the new series of Relativity. So it's a double remote podcast and the guest this week is a true comedy hero, the brilliant Nigel Planer. They try to remember what the project they almost worked together in the early 90s was (though have very different memories) and talk about the times Richard spent in Nigel's house, without Nigel knowing. Plus some great stories about the early days of 80s stand up, coming up with characters in Peter Richardson's van, the casting of Mike in the Young Ones and why it might well have turned out for the best, being attacked by security guards on the way to a Greek restaurant after being crushed by a huge prop, the genius of Nicholas Craig, how Do They Know It's Christmas could have been even better, being big in Catalonia and the joy of a rejected script being accepted. This is the last remote RHLSTP for a while - do keep an eye on http://richardherring.com/gigs for news of live shows.SUPPORT THE SHOW!Watch our TWITCH CHANNELBecome a badger and see extra content at our WEBSITESee details of the RHLSTP TOUR DATESBuy DVDs and Books from GO FASTER STRIPE See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The 1995 film about the Spanish Civil war, directed by Ken Loach and heavily influenced by Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. The film sees the war through the eyes of an English communist who goes to fight for the POUM militia. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.