Spain For Dummies

A writer and cycling aficionado who has lived in Spain, Brazil, and Ecuador, Neil E. Schlecht now resides in Litchfield County, Connecticut. His first exposure to Spain was as a college sophomore teaching English at Col.legi Sant Ignasi in Barcelona. He returned to Barcelona just before the 1992 Summer Olympics and stayed for most of the past decade, working as a consultant on social and economic development projects for the European Union and as a contributing writer for a Spanish art and antiques magazine. The author of a dozen travel guides, as well as articles on art and culture and art catalogue essays, Neil is especially keen on assignments that take him back to Spain.

The author counts among the highlights of his Spanish travels a few treasured road miles cycling in the Navarra countryside alongside Miguel Indurain, Spain's five-time Spanish Tour de France champion. Neil's favorite reminder of Spain is his Labrador retriever, who hails from a farm on Ibiza, one of the Balearic Islands. Despite her relocation to the United States, she plays deaf to any commands not in Spanish.