Hemingway in Spain
A definitive guide to Ernest Hemingway’s Spain.
Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain many times. He started in 1923 with Gertrude Stein’s parting words to discover Pamplona (and he did). Hemingway became a bullfighting aficionado and devoted several novels to España. The last time he went to Spain was in 1960, a year before his death.
There are dozens of articles about Hemingway’s visits to various Spanish cities, so I tried to collect in one place all the spots where he lived, drank, or supposedly visited.
All listed places on Google Maps.
It is quite difficult to determine the «correct» order of the list of places, so I combined them by Spanish autonomous communities within approximate semi-chronological order. Unless otherwise specified, most of my photos were taken in the summer of 2015.
Madrid
1. Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas
Calle de Alcalá, 237, Madrid
In early June 1923, Ernest Hemingway and his friend Robert McAlmon arrived in Madrid on the Sud Express train. They agreed to meet here with their third companion, Bill Bird. After Madrid, they planned to visit Seville, Ronda, and Granada, return to Madrid, and return to Paris in the third week of June. But first, they had to see bullfighting, which his friend Henry «Mike» Strater³⁶ colorfully described to Hemingway.
Hemingway and McAlmon attend a bullfight at the Plaza de Toros de la Fuente del Berro, which was demolished in 1934. A modern bullfighting ring Las Ventas was opened in 1931 and was visited by Hemingway in the 1930s and 1950s. According to some expats²⁸, he liked sitting in the 9th section.
2. Pension Aguilar (now operates as Hostal Aguilar)
Carrera de San Jerónimo, 32 (37, according to the biographer Carlos Baker), Madrid
Hemingway, McAlmon, and Bird stayed at a bullfighters’ pension in the «Via San Jerónimo»³⁶. From 1923 to 1927 he kept stopping at this place with family or alone. According to newspapers²⁶, his room was number 7.
3. Calle de la Victoria
Calle de la Victoria, Madrid
Two places on this street no longer exist: Cervecería Alvarez and Hotel Biarritz. But the street itself can be a spot because Hemingway used to purchase bullfighting tickets here²⁸.
Cervecería Alvarez (no longer exists)
…there is good draft beer almost anywhere in Madrid, but the best is found at the Cervezeria Alvarez in the calle Victoria.
Death in the Afternoon
Hemingway mentioned this bar in his nonfiction book «Death in the Afternoon», but the location of this place remains unclear.
Hotel Biarritz (no longer exists)
Hemingway settled here a few times: alone in 1931 and with his second wife Pauline Pfeiffer in 1933. According to newspapers²⁶ and blog posts²⁴, this hotel occupied house number 2.
4. Palace Hotel (now called The Westin Palace Madrid)
Plaza de las Cortes, 7, Madrid
It is one of Hemingway’s preferred places to stay in Madrid¹¹, reportedly because it is just across the street from the Prado Museum, which he loved visiting. He often started his evenings with a pair of martinis at the hotel’s bar²⁸, as appeared in his first novel, «The Sun Also Rises».
We rode in a taxi down to the Palace Hotel, left the bags, arranged for berths on the Sud Express for the night, and went into the bar of the hotel for a cocktail.
The Sun Also Rises
5. Museo Nacional del Prado
Calle de Ruiz de Alarcón, 23, Madrid
Hemingway came to Madrid not only for bullfighting or work but also for the great art treasures of the Prado Museum.
If it had nothing else than the Prado it would be worth spending a month in every spring, if you have money to spend a month in any European capital.
Death in the Afternoon
According to biographer A.E. Hotchner³⁴, Hemingway’s favorite picture was the «Portrait of a Woman» by Andrea del Sarto.
6. Sobrino de Botín
Calle de Cuchilleros, 17, Madrid
Sobrino de Botín is the oldest restaurant in the world, it was opened in 1725. It was also a gastronomic stop of «Don Ernesto». He was a good friend of Emilio González, grandfather of the current owner Carlos González. He claims that Hemingway used to love roast suckling pigs²⁶. This is not surprising because the same dish was chosen by Jake Barnes, the protagonist of «The Sun Also Rises».
We lunched upstairs at Botin’s. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta.
The Sun Also Rises
7. Hotel Florida (demolished)
Plaza del Callao, 2, Madrid
In the late spring of 1937, Ernest Hemingway came to Madrid as a correspondent for the North American News Association during the Spanish Civil War. Here, he fell in love with journalist Martha Gellhorn (later his third wife). Hotel Florida was the headquarters for many foreign correspondents and became the main acting place of the play «The Fifth Column»¹⁸.
ACT ONE, SCENE ONE. It is seven thirty in the evening. A corridor in the first floor of the Hotel Florida in Madrid. There is a large white paper hand-printed sign on the door of Room 109 which reads, «Working, Do Not Disturb».
The Fifth Column
The building was badly damaged during the war and was demolished in 1964, but it was noted in another of Hemingway’s novels, «For Whom the Bell Tolls».
In Madrid I wanted to buy some books, to go to the Florida Hotel and get a room and to have a hot bath, he thought.
For Whom the Bell Tolls
The mention of the hot bath is very remarkable because it was one of the few inns with hot water²⁶ in Madrid during a siege.
8. Gaylord’s Hotel (demolished)
Calle de Alfonso XI, 3, Madrid
Gaylord’s was an «office» of the communist commanders and journalists from the Soviet Union²⁹. Hemingway met with Mikhail Koltsov here, the chief correspondent for the Soviet daily Pravda (and Soviet secret agent).
Robert Jordan, the hero of «For Whom the Bell Tolls», criticized the life of this hotel for excesses.
He had not liked Gaylord’s, the hotel in Madrid the Russians had taken over when he first went there because it seemed too luxurious and the food was too good for a besieged city and the talk too cynical for a war.
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Now, there is a residential building on this site²⁶.
9. Hotel Madrid Gran Via
Gran Vía, 25, Madrid
The hotel (Tryp Gran Via in those days²⁸) on the Gran Vía was a magnet for international journalists during the war, especially for its restaurant in the basement³⁴. Hemingway had dinner there on his second trip to the front in September 1937, when Martha Gellhorn showed up, and he said: «I knew you’d get here, daughter, because I fixed you could».
10. Telefónica Building
Gran Vía, 28, Madrid
The Telefónica Building, 2014 © David Adam Kess, CC BY-SA 4.0
Most of the foreign correspondents, and Ernest Hemingway was among them, sent their war reports from the Office of Foreign Press, which was located in that skyscraper¹¹. Hemingway wrote 31 dispatches related to the Civil War¹⁷; 28 of them were published in the newspapers³⁵.
11. Museo Chicote
Gran Vía, 12, Madrid
This cocktail bar was popular among international journalists in the 1930s and was frequented by Ernest Hemingway. In his day, it was known as Taberna Chicote²⁵ and was «the place to start an evening from, all right, and we had all started some fine ones from there»³⁴. Another description of this place was given in the story «The Denunciation» from the collection of short stories «The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War».
Most of Chicote’s old customers are on Franco’s side; but some of them are on the Government side. Because it was a very cheerful place, and because really cheerful people are usually the bravest, and the bravest get killed quickest, a big part of Chicote’s old customers are now dead.
The Denunciation
The main character of the play «The Fifth Column», Philip Rawlings, an American-born secret agent for the Spanish Republic, chose Chicote as a meeting place with his informant.
12. La Venencia
Calle de Echegaray, 7, Madrid
During the Civil War, this old bar was a haunt for Republican sympathizers. Hemingway could often come here to get news from soldiers from the front²⁸.
13. Cervecería Alemana
Plaza de Santa Ana, 6, Madrid
When Hemingway returned to Spain in the 1950s, it became one of his favorite bars²⁶. He even had his own table in prime position — just to the right of the entrance, the only marble-topped table overlooking a window²⁸. In the article in the September (1960) issue of LIFE magazine titled «A Dangerous Summer», he mentioned Cervecería Alemana as «a good place to drink beer and coffee».
14. Hotel Suecia
Calle del Marqués de Casa Riera, 4, Madrid
Hemingway stayed at this hotel during both of his last visits to Madrid in 1959 and 1960. For the last time, he spent several days locked in his room until he was transferred to the airport to return to the United States¹⁵.
A year earlier (1959), the Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara stayed at the same hotel for a short time.
15. El Callejón (demolished)
Calle de la Ternera, 6, Madrid
Ernest Hemingway and his fourth wife, Mary Welsh, visited this restaurant in the 1950s. For the LIFE magazine (an article titled «A Dangerous Summer» in the September issue of 1960), he wrote that El Callejón had «the best food in town»²⁶.
In the late 1990s, the original building and restaurant were demolished, but the history of this place remained in a nearby restaurant¹⁴. A sculpture of Ernest Hemingway (previously installed in El Callejón in 1982) is in the Cuban restaurant «Cuando Salí de Cuba», Calle de la Ternera, 4.
16. Matadero Madrid
Plaza de Legazpi, 8, Madrid
Matadero is a former slaughterhouse, which has been converted to an arts center. According to biographer A.E. Hotchner²⁸, Hemingway described his visits there: «Many a morning I’d get up at dawn and come down here to watch the novilleros, and sometimes even the matadors themselves, coming in to practice killing, and there would be the old woman standing in line for the blood».
17. Plaza de Toros de Aranjuez
Avenida Plaza de Toros, Aranjuez, Madrid
During his Spanish tour in 1959, Hemingway visited Aranjuez, a small town in the Community of Madrid. He only attended a bullfight, which was captured in the photo. Actually, the writer attended countless bullfights in different cities that year; this one was well documented.
18. Gran Hotel Felipe II (now called Euroforum Finca Felipe II)
Avenida Carlos Ruiz, 20, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid
This private hotel in San Lorenzo de el Escorial, a small town 28 miles northwest of Madrid³³, became a vacation spot for «Don Ernesto» in 1956. Due to its elevation and clear air, he chose El Escorial for resting because his Cuban doctors hoped it would cure his anemia, which had begun to progress.
19. New Castle of Manzanares el Real
Calle Cañada, s/n, Manzanares el Real, Madrid
A Nobel Prize-winning American writer visited a medieval castle in 1959.
Navarra
20. Plaza de Toros de Pamplona
Paseo Hemingway, Pamplona, Navarra
Ernest Hemingway came to Pamplona (Iruña in Basque language) for the first time in July 1923. He came to the Festival of San Fermín with his first wife Hadley Richardson. Headly was not very impressed by bullfights, but Ernest was. In the article published on 27 October 1923 in «The Toronto Star Weekly», he described his first morning: «We followed the crowd that was leaving through a narrow gate on the walls towards a yellowish, flat and empty field, where the new and white bull ring stands: it was packed. Once the bulls have been locked in their pen, the aficionado bullfight — vaquillas, begins».
The next year (1924), he took part in the running of the bulls¹², and a year later (1925), he tried his hand at amateur bullfights, which were held every morning during the festival.
21. Ernest Hemingway Monument
Paseo Hemingway, Pamplona, Navarra
Just next to the Plaza de Toros, a monument to Ernest Hemingway by Barcelona-born artist Luis Sanguino, opened in 1968.
22. Private house
Calle Hilarión Eslava, 5, Pamplona, Navarra
When Ernest and Headly came to Pamplona for their first Sanfermines, they found that the hotel room they had booked in advance in Hotel La Perla was occupied. The owners of a private house agreed to accommodate tourists. That house was recorded in the chronicle of «The Toronto Star Weekly»: «It was a lovely big room in an old Spanish house thith walls thick as a fortress. A cool, pleasant room, with a red tile floor and two big, comfortable beds set back in an alcove. A window opened on to an iron grilled porch out over the street. We were very comfortable.»
23. Gran Hotel La Perla
Plaza del Castillo, 1, Pamplona, Navarra
For his second Sanfermines, Hemingway took the whole company of his wife and friends: Edward «Chink» Dorman-Smith, John Dos Passos, Robert McAlmon, Bill Bird and his wife Sally, Donald Ogden Stewart, and George O’Neil. All of them stood at Hotel La Perla.
Some researchers assume that there is no evidence of his stay in this hotel¹⁰, but according to other information, he stood there in suite № 217³¹. After the recent renovation, the former room № 217 is now № 201 (Suite de Hemingway). Ernest Hemingway’s grandson, John Hemingway, visited Hotel La Perla during San Fermín 2014.
24. Hotel Quintana (now occupied by Cervecería Tropicana)
Plaza del Castillo, 18, Pamplona, Navarra
In the summer of 1925, Ernest Hemingway with Hadley, Donald Ogden Stewart, Duff Twysden, Pat Guthrie, Garold Loeb, and Bill Smith stayed at Hotel Quintana — a bullfighter’s hotel run by Juanito Quintana¹³. Hemingway chose this hotel during all his subsequent visits to Pamplona in 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, and 1931³¹.
1925 was a momentous year for Hemingway. His third Sanfermines formed the basis of his first novel «The Sun Also Rises» (published in the United Kingdom under the title «Fiesta») and Hotel Quintana dubbed «Hotel Montoya» in the novel.
![Ernest Hemingway with friends at a cafe (left to right: Ernest Hemingway, Harold Loeb [wearing glasses], Lady Duff Twysden [wearing hat], Elizabeth Hadley Richardson, Donald Ogden Stewart and Pat Guthrie), 1925](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1200/format:webp/1*TW94asFntcy7R8Rh97c4Zg.jpeg)
25. Café Iruña
Plaza del Castillo, 44, Pamplona, Navarra
This cafe on the Plaza del Castillo was a meeting place for the heroes of the novel «The Sun Also Rises»¹⁰.
We had coffee at the Iruña, sitting in comfortable wicker chairs looking out from the cool of the arcade at the big square.
The Sun Also Rises
Of course, Hemingway constantly hung out in this place during the Sanfermines. Today, there is an «El Rincón de Hemingway» — «Hemingway’s Corner» with a life-size statue of the writer by the sculptor José Javier Doncel.
26. Bar Torino (now occupied by Windsor Tavern)
Plaza del Castillo, 3, Pamplona, Navarra
This bar was mentioned in «The Sun Also Rises» as Bar Milano³¹.
It was the Bar Milano, a small, tough bar where you could get food and where they danced in the back room. We all sat down at a table and ordered a bottle of Fundador. The bar was not full. There was nothing going on.
The Sun Also Rises
27. Café Kutz (now occupied by bank BBVA)
Plaza del Castillo, 43, Pamplona, Navarra
Little is known about this cafe³¹, but it was noted in Hemingway’s «Death in the Afternoon».
In Pamplona the finest beer is at the Café Kutz and the Café Iruña.
Death in the Afternoon
28. Bar Choko (now called El Txoko)
Plaza del Castillo, 20, Pamplona, Navarra
Hemingway visited this bar when he returned from Sanfermines in the 1950s³¹. Mary Welsh, his wife at this time, said that in 1959, it was her favorite bar too.
29. Café Suizo (no occupied by Restaurante La Tagliatella)
Plaza del Castillo, 37, Pamplona, Navarra
This is another cafe on Plaza del Castillo, which was featured in the novel «The Sun Also Rises».
«Come on. Let’s go over to the Suizo,» I said.
The Sun Also Rises
It was located in Casa del Toril, one of the oldest buildings on the square, and operated from 1845 until 1952.
30. Hotel Yoldi
Avenida San Ignacio, 11, Pamplona, Navarra
In the 1950s, this place was consolidated as «the hotel of the bullfighters»³¹. In 1953, Ernest Hemingway met here with the famous matador Antonio Ordóñez.
31. Hotel Ayestarán
Aralar Kalea, 22, Lekunberri, Navarre
When Hemingway came to the Festival of San Fermín 1953, he decided to stay away from the noisy city and stopped at the quiet, family-run Hotel Ayestarán in the small town of Lekunberri (or Lekumberri), 35 km away from Pamplona.
32. Hostal Burguete
Calle San Nicolás, 71, Burguete, Navarra
Hemingway came to Burguete a few times for fishing in the Irati River. His autograph, carved on the piano²⁰, has been preserved in Hostal Burguete, but it seems to be fake²¹.
The narrator of the novel «The Sun Also Rises», Jake Barnes and his friend Bill Gorton stopped here before bullfights in Pamplona.
We stayed five days at Burguete and had good fishing. The nights were cold and the days were hot, and there was always a breeze even in the heat of the day.
The Sun Also Rises
Basque Country
33. La Concha
Paseo de La Concha, Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa
The Beach of La Concha is a perfect sandy beach in San Sebastián (Donostia in Basque language), a small town an hour’s drive from Pamplona. Hemingway came here many times: there was a direct train to Paris, and it was an exellent place to rest for a couple of days. As Jake Barnes, the protagonist of «The Sun Also Rises», did.
I found my swimming-suit, wrapped it with a comb in a towel, and went down-stairs and walked up the street to the Concha. The tide was about half-way out. The beach was smooth and firm, and the sand yellow. <…> There were quite a few people in the water and on the beach. Out beyond where the headlands of the Concha almost met to form the harbor there was a white line of breakers and the open sea.
The Sun Also Rises
34. Café de la Marina (now occupied by a jewelry store Olazábal Joyero)
Garibai Kalea, 2, Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa
Café de la Marina was extremely popular among tourists from the capital cities of Madrid and Paris. Foreigners were welcome, and Jake Barnes from «The Sun Also Rises» enjoyed evenings in this cafe.
I walked around the harbor under the trees to the casino, and then up one of the cool streets to the Café Marinas. There was an orchestra playing inside the cafe and I sat out on the terrace and enjoyed the fresh coolness in the hot day, and had a glass of lemon juice and shaved ice and then a long whiskey and soda.
The Sun Also Rises
Cafe has changed its name several times. It was called Café Kutz for a while and then again Gran Café de la Marina until its closure in 1946. Finally, Hemingway was confused by the naming and noted two cafes in the appendix of his non-fiction book «Death in the Afternoon».
In the provinces good beer is brewed in Santander, the Cruz Blanca, and in San Sebastian. In the latter town the best beer I have drunk has been at the Café de Madrid, Café de la Marina, and Café Kutz.
Death in the Afternoon
35. Hotel Avenida
De Igeldo Ibilbidea, 55, Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa
In August 1931, Ernest and Pauline stayed here³.
36. Restaurante Azaldegui (no longer exists)
Mirakontxa Pasealekua, 31, Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa
Hemingway ate in that restaurant (it opened in 1949 and closed in 1969). According to some information¹, he ate roast salmon with béarnaise sauce and was very satisfied.
37. Hotel Maria Cristina
República Argentina Kalea, 4, Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa
In this hotel, in 1959, Ernest Hemingway granted José de Arteche the right to translate «The Old Man and the Sea» into Basque¹.
38. Hendaye Plage
Plage d’Hendaye, Hendaye, France
Technically, Hendaye is the territory of France, but historically, it is a part of the Basque Country. Hemingway came here many times, especially in the 1920s. He stayed at various modest hotels, here are just those that are met in biographies: Hotel Grand in 1925, Hotel Barron and Ondarraitz Hotel in 1929, and even rented a small cottage in 1931. Unfortunately, I did not find any information about their current status.
What is known for certain is that he came here to the beach. In 1927, he wrote to Scott Fitzgerald: «We drove here from Madrid in a day — Hendaye-Plage».
39. Hotel Eskualduna
22 Avenue des Mimosas, Hendaye, France
Hemingway came to Hendaye for the last time in 1953. Ernest and Mary Welsh chose an oceanfront hotel that is still operating.
40. Hotel Carlton
Federico Moyúa Plaza, 2, Bilbo, Bizkaia
Ernest Hemingway came to Bilbao in 1959 while writing his book «The Dangerous Summer»¹: «We had good rooms at the Carlton, which is an excellent hotel».
Galicia
41. Hotel Suizo (now occupied by a restaurant Silveira Casa de Xantar)
Rúa do Cardeal Payá, 18, Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña
Hemingway came to Santiago de Compostela in 1927 and 1929 to work on a novel «A Farewell to Arms»⁸. According to his memories, a family-owned Hotel Suizo was a «good pension for 10 pesetas, good rooms, wonderful god damned town and fine hilly country, Galicia». There is a plaque on the building of the former hotel.
Valencia
42. Estació del Nord
Carrer de Xàtiva, 24, València
In 1925, Ernest Hemingway arrived in Valencia by train for the first time. It was an ideal city for looking for bullfights and writing¹⁶.
43. Plaza de Toros de Valencia
Calle de Xàtiva, 28, València
Valencia’s bullring, officially Plaça de bous de València, is located right in the middle of the city. Hemingway was lucky to see here the work of the famous matador Cayetano Ordóñez (1904–1961), who became a model for Pedro Romero from «The Sun Also Rises».
44. Hotel Reina Victoria (now called Hotel One Shot Palacio Reina Victoria) and Hotel Inglés (no longer exists)
Carrer de les Barques, 4, València
A newly bullfighting aficionado stayed in 1925 in a quiet hotel just near the bullring. In the Hotel Reina Victoria, a young writer started his first novel, «The Sun Also Rises»²². Just behind the wall was another hotel — Hotel Ingles²³, where he stayed in 1927 with Pauline Pfeiffer and in 1937 with Martha Gellhorn.
45. Gran Café el Siglo (now occupied by Cappuccino Valencia)
Plaça de la Reina, 1, València
According to sightseeing routes for tourists¹⁹, Hemingway could spend time there. At the beginning of the XX century, it was a popular place, and its old name still remains on the facade.
46. Café Alianza (now occupied by Hotel Vincci Palace)
Carrer de la Pau, 42, València
In 1937, Ernest Hemingway visited Valencia as a war correspondent. From Café Alianza he sent dispatches to the American newspapers¹⁶,²² [both sources indicate an incorrect year].
47. Ideal Room (no longer exists)
Calle de la Paz, 19, València
During the Spanish Civil War, this cafeteria and tea room were frequented by foreign correspondents who openly supported the republic, and, of course, Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Pasos were among them.
48. Hotel Metropol (no longer exists)
Calle de Xàtiva, 23, València
Hemingway stayed here once, just in front of a bullring, but was evicted because of the mess²².
49. La Pepica
Passeig de Neptú, 6, València
This is one of the most popular fish restaurants in Valencia, especially among Hemingway fans. The writer himself praised the restaurant for the excellent food¹⁶ and always returned here when he came to Valencia.
Castile and León
50. Mesón De Cándido
Plaza Azoguejo, 5, Segovia
In 1933, Hemingway hiked over the Guadarrama Mountains, located northwest of Madrid. In Segovia, he enjoyed the famed restaurant of Mesón de Cándido near the ancient Roman aqueduct. Since then, the menu with his autograph has been stored there³³.
51. Cueva del Monje (Ernest Hemingway’s Cave)
Real Sitio de San Ildefonso, Segovia
Ernest Hemingway returned to Sierra de Guadarrama in 1937. He and Martha Gellhorn spent ten days roaming the Sierra de Guadarrama on horseback with guerillas³⁰. Two years later, he wrote a novel, «For Whom The Bell Tolls,» in which he carefully recreated the area in which the battle took place. According to the researchers⁵, the camp of the guerrillas that joined Robert Jordan was based in the Cueva del Monje, as it was titled on the army maps.
52. Puente de la Cantina
Real Sitio de San Ildefonso, Segovia
There are a few bridges in the vicinity of Segovia, which could be a prototype of the destroyed one in «For Whom The Bell Tolls»³⁰. Puente de La Cantina is the most likely to be the one because it has a strategic location over the river Eresma to conquer Segovia⁶ (Hemingway was especially meticulous in military matters). Hemingway went back to the Guadarrama Mountains in the 1950s and was photographed against the bridge in the background.
Catalonia
53. Bar Marsella
Carrer de Sant Pau, 65, Barcelona
Hemingway has been to Barcelona only a couple of times: in April 1938 during the Civil War and in 1959 on his «Dangerous Summer» tour. Despite the lack of clear evidence, he could hang out in absinthe-bar Marsella, because «Hemingway being to bars in Spain what George Washington is to inns in New England».
You can find a Hemingway Gin & Cocktail Bar in Barcelona, but it does not have any historical significance to the writer other than the use of his name.
54. Air raid shelter № 4
Carrer Cristòfol Despuig, 4, Tortosa, Tarragona
Ernest Hemingway was in the area of Tortosa from April 4 to April 18 1938. He survived a terrible bombing in the air raid shelter number 4⁹ and it was reflected in one of his dispanches: «Up toward Tortosa things looked quite deadly already from the way the planes were acting».
During the Spanish Civil War, Hemingway traveled to numerous cities and villages on the Republican side of the front¹⁷. This topic could be the subject of a separate article; there are whole books on it.
Aragon
55. Plaza de Toros de La Misericordia
Calle Vicente Gomez Salvo, Calle de Ramón Pignatelli, 120, Zaragoza
Some articles on the Internet claim² that Hemingway got into Zaragoza for the first time in 1956. But according to his biography, he had already visited the city with Archibald MacLeish in October 1926 during Fiestas del Pilar and bullfights were in the program of the trip.
56. Gran Hotel de Zaragoza
Calle Joaquín Costa, 5, Zaragoza
Ernest Hemingway checked in here in 1959²,²⁷.
La Rioja
57. Plaza de Toros de La Ribera
Calle la Ribera, 13, Logroño, La Rioja
In 1956 Hemingway made an accidental visit to the San Mateo festival in Logroño, where his friend Antonio Ordóñez was participating in two corridas. The appearance of the Nobel Prize winner in the stands of the bullring was covered in the local weekly magazine.
58. Bodegas Franco Españolas
Calle Cabo Noval, 2, Logroño, La Rioja
After the San Mateo festival, which takes place at the beginning of the grape harvest in Rioja, «Papa» in the company of his wife, Rupert Bellville, a British aviator who wanted to become a bullfighter, Juanito Quintana and Antonio Ordoñez visited Bodegas Franco-Españolas winery⁷.
Andalusia
59. Finca «La Cónsula» (now Escuela de Hostelería de Málaga)
Ctra. Coín, Km. 89, Málaga
In 1959, «Don Ernesto» arrived in Spain and stayed at «La Cónsula»³², a farm that was owned by the American couple Bill and Annie Davis. He had a great time meeting old friends and making outings to watch bullfights. He came back here alone the following summer⁴, but soon he left because of a bad mood (in fact, he fell into a manic listlessness).
60. Gran Hotel Miramar
Paseo Reding, 22, 24, Málaga
Ernest Hemingway had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant during his stay in the nearby Finca «La Cónsula» in 1959.
List of the sources
Novels by Ernest Hemingway related to the article
- The Sun Also Rises
- Death In The Afternoon
- For Whom The Bell Tolls
- The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War
- The Dangerous Summer
Biographies (reliable sources)
- Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story by Carlos Baker
- Hemingway: The Paris Years by Michael Reynolds
- Hemingway: The Homecoming by Michael Reynolds
- Hemingway: The 1930s through the Final Years by Michael Reynolds
- Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises by Lesley M. M. Blume
- Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway’s Secret Adventures, 1935–1961 by Nicholas Reynolds
Other articles (in reverse order of appearance)
- The Hemingway Basque Route (Basque country)
- Tras los pasos de Hemingway en Zaragoza (Zaragoza, on spanish) by David Giménez
- The Hemingway Basque Route — San Sebastián (San Sebastián, on spanish)
- La Cónsula — das andalusische Idyll des Ernest Hemingway (Málaga, on german) by Wolfgang Stock
- Literary Tourism — Ernest Hemingway’s Cave (Segovia) by Ramón Buckley
- Los héroes del Premio Nobel renacen en Guadarrama (Segovia, on spanish) by Ana Cañil
- Cuando Ernest Hemingway visitó La Rioja (Logroño) by Bodegas Franco-Españolas
- Hemingway y el Hotel Suizo (Santiago de Compostela, on spanish)
- Hemingway and the Civil War (Tortosa)
- Pamplona and Ernest Hemingway (Pamplona) by Carola Frentzen
- Ernest Hemingway’s Favourite Madrid Haunts (Madrid) by Jessica Jones
- Hemingway and Sanfermin (Pamplona)
- The old man and the city: Hemingway’s love affair with Pamplona (Pamplona) by Chris Leadbeater
- Hemingway en la Calle de la Ternera (Madrid) by M. R. Giménez
- El hotel Suecia de Madrid, donde durmieron Hemingway y Che Guevara, reabre sus puertas (Madrid, on spanish) by Laura Fernández
- Ernest Hemingway And Valencia: Passages Of A Silent Relationship (Valencia) by Alessandro Tessari
- The Earth Endureth Forever: Hemingway in Spain by Dale T. Graden
- Hemingway’s forgotten Spanish civil war play to be produced for only second time ever by Paul Preston
- Hemingway’s Route in Valencia (Valencia) by María Forner Palanca
- Ernest Hemingway and the Camino (Burguete) by Silvio Sirias
- Hemingway Slept Here: Burguete, Spain (Burguete) by Al Auger
- La Valencia de Hemingway (Valencia, on spanish) by Angie Calero
- Hemingway también estuvo en Valencia (Valencia, on spanish) by Sergio Pinto Briones
- El Madrid de Hemingway (Madrid, on spanish) by Manuel Martínez Bargueño
- How to Visit Hemingway’s Madrid Like a Local (Madrid) by Lauren Heineck
- Hemingway’s Madrid, 50 years after his death or ¿Qué queda del Madrid de Hemingway? (Madrid, on spanish) by María Hervás
- Ernest Hemingway en Aragón (Zaragoza, on spanish) by Antón Castro
- Blood, Sand, Sherry: Hemingway’s Madrid (Madrid) by David Farley
- Dos hoteles de la Guerra Civil (Madrid, on spanish) by Carlos García Alix
- Hemingway’s bridge (Segovia) by Richard Barry
- La guia de Hemingway en Pamplona (Pamplona, on spanish)
- Finca «La Cónsula» Churriana (Málaga, on spanish)
- Following «Papa» Hemingway Through His Beloved Spain (Madrid) by Raymond Palmer
- Seeking Out the Seldom-Seen Madrid of Hemingway (Madrid) by Patti LaSalle
- Hemingway’s Dispatches From Spain from the Archives of The New York Times
- «Bullfighting is Not a Sport — It is a Tragedy» by Ernest Hemingway, The Toronto Star Weekly, October 20, 1923.
Take a look at my other related article: Spain in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Hemingway in Paris.
