Coffee Break Spanish - Bonus Episode: Clues Explained - La fantástica caza del tresoro 2026

Episode Date: September 8, 2026

We're back with a special bonus episode of the Great Coffee Break Treasure Hunt 2026! Join us for a detailed explanation of this year's Treasure Hunt clues. Sit back, relax and enjoy listening to this episode on your next coffee break. ☕️ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Great Coffee Break Spanish Treasure Hunt, 2026, is time to explain all the clues. Hello, todos, how am we hope you've been enjoying the Coffee Break Treasure Hunt over the past few weeks. We have travelled across Europe and shared clues to try to help you identify these mystery cities. Now, all four cities have now been identified, and if you watched our reveal video, then you'll know exactly where the cities were. However, we thought it would be useful to go through the clues in detail, and that's what we're going to do today. Now, although this is an episode of Coffee Break Spanish, we're going to be going through the English version of the clues. Now, this is a video I filmed in the Final City, so there's a little bit of background noise, but you'll still be able to understand everything. And if you want to follow the Spanish version of the clues as we go through the English version, then you can head over to our YouTube channel.

That's Coffee Break Languages on YouTube and you'll find the explainer video for the 26 Treasure Hunt there. And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe to our Coffee Break Languages YouTube channel. Bueno, Basta daja. Let's have a listen to the explainer for the four clues from this year's Treasure Hunt.

Welcome to Salzburg. This is our explainer video to explain all of the clues of the coffee break treasure hunt now over the past week. Tens of thousands of you have been taking part in the 2026 coffee break treasure hunt and we've been sharing clues that led you to four different locations and this is the final location here in Salzburg but I thought it would be useful to talk through the clues so that it all makes sense

and that you understand what we were referring to in each of the clues so let's begin with clue number one so this was the opener it was built to be a fairly straightforward one so So the slumbering giant, I'm going to be reading the clues in the English version. Obviously we had a French, German, Spanish and Italian version, but I'll read the English version. So a slumbering giant with fire at its core. So that giant is a volcano. A sleep rather than erupting, Vesuvius. Still very much active.

It must erupted, I think, in 1940s, I think. So the slumbering giant keeps watch on the bay and the boats by the shore. and that's the Bay of Naples. The volcano sits right above the water and pretty much of the photo you see of Naples features the volcano in the background. Here, Flower met tomato and first kissed the flame. So this was the birthplace of pizza, of course.

Tomatoes arrived from the Americas, and Naples put them on the flap red, and that was that. We suddenly had pizza, and thank goodness we do. around golden supper the world came to claim so in fact the whole world eats pizza now and I think it's even part of the UNESCO cultural heritage not quite sure I'll let to check that out then we had a clue about a hero in blue with a ten on his back now this is referring to Diego Maradona the Argentinian footballer who played for Napoli and Napoli play in

sky blue and Diego Maradona wore the number 10 so he's the hero in blue and he is worshipped in in Naples so much so that there are murals in the city in the Spanish quarter down in the narrow alleys where Diego Maradona smiles down from the murals and in the final part lemons hang heavy and the coffee is strong so there are enormous lemons all along the coast and of course limoncello another typical drink of the area and Neapolitan coffee which is short, dark and very strong, not like my milk cafe here in Salzburg, which is very nice, I have to say. And the streets hum with scooters and snatchies of songs. So scooters everywhere and a city with its own song tradition.

Naples, I think the songs that so many people associate with Italy, so many of them come from Naples. So put all of that together and you will have identified that our checkpoint number one was indeed Naples. Okay, moving on to Clue 2 now. This one steps things up a level. This was quite tricky, I feel. So the clue began with grand galleries. Again, reading the English version here, so Grand Galleries hold what the old masters made.

So this is referring to one of the greatest art museums in the world, the Prado, where maids in waiting and dark visions were laid. Now, this is tricky because this is referring to two specific paintings, or two collections of paintings. First of all, Las Meninas by Lathkev, and these are the ladies-in-waiting, the maids in waiting. And the dark visions that are talked about in this clue

are the works of Goya, the dark, sombre paintings of Goya. And those ones he painted, apparently, onto the walls of his house. Then there was mentioned of two clubs. Two clubs rule the city, one white, one striped red. So those are the two football clubs

in the city. All white is Real Madrid and red and white is Atlietico, the two rival football clubs from the city of Madrid. A square named for Sun holds a curious sight. That is the Puerta del Sol in the middle of Madrid, a very famous square, and it's the point that every road in Spain is measured from kilometer zero, kilometer zero. And in that square, there's a statue of a bear and a tree. and the bear is reaching up to the tree. It's a strawberry tree, Madronio, and it's the emblem of the city. And you find that on the badge of Madrid

and on the flag of Madrid. And then something very well known happens in the Puerta del Sol and that's at midnight on New Year's Eve. So as midnight rings 12, they eat grapes with each chime, New Year's Eve, so 12 grapes. You eat one grape at each chime,

each stroke of midnight. And of course it's the clock on that square that the whole nation watches at New Year's Eve. I wish at each stroke as the year slips through time. So one grape, one wish, 12 months of luck ahead. Checkpoint 2 was Madrid. Okay, it's now time to look at Clue 3 because we're removing northeast for Clue 3.

And let's take a look at the clue. So a Palace of Chance calls the Bold to their game. So this is a casino, a Palace of Chance, and not just any casino, the casino of Monte Carlo. So Monte Carlo Casino, where a wheel or a card can mean fortune or shame. So that is roulette and cards. And it's interesting to note that in Monaco, the local citizens are not allowed to gamble in the casino. There you go.

Once a year, mighty engines tear round by the shore. So this is referring to the Monaco Grand Prix. Now it says once a year. I think there are actually other Grand Prix during the year. I've been at the E Grand Prix, so once a year is slightly creative. Take that, don't take that too literally. So the engines tear around by the shore through a tunnel, a hairpin, where the crowds shout for more.

So the very famous parts of the Monaco Grand Prix, the tunnel and the hairpin bend, and it's the slowest corner of the whole race, I think possibly the whole season, you can let me know if I'm not right on that. A red-capped explorer once governed a hall. Now this is interesting, this is the red cap of Jacques Cousteau. He had a red woolly hat and was known for this red woolly hat and Jacques Cousteau's museum is on the rock in Monaco, a fantastic museum, the Museum of the Oceanographic of Monaco or Monte Carlo, where the wonders of the ocean look out from the wall.

So again, this is the oceanographic museum built into the cliff face and looking straight out over the sea. And a queen of the screen gave up fame for a throne. So this is referring to Grace Kelly, the Hollywood star. She was an Oscar winner and she gave up the screen to become the Princess Grace of Monaco, marrying Prince Rhenier in 1956, to reign by the sea on a cliff top of stone. So this is the palace up on the rock in Monaco looking out over the Mediterranean. So those are the clues that we gave you for Checkpoint 3, leading us to the Principality of Monaco. Okay, time for our final clue. This one's a little bit different.

It leads us to here in Salzburg, but with this clue, we've actually got a bit of a journey through the city to make as well. So this narrows things down, couplet by couplet. So a city of domes where a green river bends, so there's lots of domes in the various churches in this city. And the green river, the river Zalzach, that runs. runs through the city. And the mountains stand close where the old town ends. So the Alps are close by, they're not actually right here, but they're close by the old town.

Here a prodigy played before he could grow, whose music the whole world still treasures to know. So this is of course Mozart, Salzburg's famous son, born in a narrow lane just along there in the Alstad. He started composing the age of five and then touring the courts of Europe at six. And of course the whole world treasures his music. I'm actually going to a concert tonight featuring his music, so I'm looking forward to that.

Then we cross over the water to gardens and bloom. So this is taking us to the final location of the treasure. So the clue moves us over the river to the other bank and into a garden. And this is the very famous Mirabelle Gardens. And where a winged horse rears in a fountain's white plume. Pegasus, the wind horse, rearing in the middle of a fountain, not a huge fountain, small fountain, but these are of course the Mirabelle Gardens. And this is one of the many locations around Salzburg for one of the most famous films,

I think, in the world, on the steps where the seven sang out Doremi. So the seven are the seven von Trapp children made famous in the sound of music. And they sang Doremi, the song Doremi, they finished the song, the song, the song I think on the steps of the Maribel Gardens and I can tell you people are still doing that today your treasure lies there in the open to see the last line is the promise of the treasure the treasure was sitting there the whole time waiting for us to to find it so there you have it the four destinations of the 2026 treasure hunt starting from Glasgow down to Naples then west to Madrid then northeast to Monaco and continuing more or less in the same direction up to Salzburg

here in Austria. I really hope that you've enjoyed taking part in this treasure hunt. As I said, it is not all quite finished because there is something else coming and we revealed the golden ticket with a mysterious destination that is departing in October 2026. So stay tuned to find it more about that because that is, I think, something that you'll enjoy. For now, as ever, I'd like to thank you for watching. Thank you for for taking part. And if you join the competition and identified all four destinations correctly, then I hope you enjoy working through the resources in Coffee Break TV over the next month. And I think you'll find that a great way to continue practicing your language skills.

For now, as ever, I would like to say feel and thank. Merci beaucoup. Much of course, happy coffee breaking. So there you have it. I hope that you've enjoyed taking part in the 2026 treasure hunt. And as I said, in the explainer video, there's more to come. This is just the start of a new journey. And you can join us soon for that new journey, which will be taking place here on the podcast feed, along with our YouTube channels too. If you'd like to find out more, head to coffeebreaklanguages.com slash the ticket. And enter your details there to be notified of when everything begins all over again.

For now, muchisimas gracias and hasta very pronto. You have been listening to a coffee break languages production for the Radiolingo Network. Copyright 2026 Radiolingua Limited. Recording copyright, 2026, Radiolingua Limited. All rights reserved.