Tour of Valencia and trip to Barcelona

Sunday, Feb. 28, 10


The big deal in Valencia that the guide was proudest of is the 2004 Americas Cup- a sailing event that cost the People of the city 200 million Euros to get their infrastructure in place to deal with the crowds.

In one area of the city we walked around and through a group of buildings by the architect Santiago Calatrava. His creations are ultra modern and absolutely unusual. When you see the pictures, I’m sure you’ll agree. One of the buildings is the largest aquarium in Europe. There is a Science and Arts Museum, an Opera House, a building that includes an I MAX theatre and planetarium. The Purple (or blue) building has no designated purpose, but is rather just a multi-purpose building which can be used for expositions, fashion shows, concerts, or whatever. They are just amazing looking.









This morning about 7 am we heard loud booms and thought it was some heavy machinery. We heard later from the local guide that since tomorrow is Mar. 1, the fireworks signaled the beginning of the Fallas celebration which lasts until March 19.

Many stalls around the streets, when we took our walking tour, had people selling books, coins, paper money, stamps and comic books.

We toured the Longha building. Built in the 15 Century, it was a building set aside for merchants to meet together and make their deals. Along with the main meeting room, there was an “orange” courtyard, filled with orange trees (of the sour variety)



Also later added to the building were two rooms for use as a Maritime Court. It had a really intricately carved ceiling.


Toward the end of our walking tour, we had some time to do a bit of shopping. I saw a large meringue (cookie?) with two colors. I was trying to figure out how to recreate it, but I never bought one to get a close look.

As our walking tour was over, we all met upstairs in a “horchateria” and enjoyed a glass of the Spanish “national” drink HORCHATA (or-cha-ta). It was rather like a really thin vanilla milkshake and very tasty. I may have to go online to get a recipe. Our tour manager, Greg, mentioned that one ingredient is tiger nut. Not sure what we could grind up to replace that, hmmmmmm . ------ This site explains the ingredients and process of making horchata.
We walked around the Cathedral, but did not go in. This is around noon on a Sunday morning and the area in front of the church was packed. There were families, and there were tourists, and more than one musical groups (sort of like a marching band in uniform).
We visited the Serrano Towers, the only part of the original wall around the old city still standing. It had various uses, as a prison, and a warehouse.

Well, back on the bus and we’re headed to Barcelona. During some of the ride, Greg, the Tour Manager told us what to expect on Tuesday, when we head back home. He talked about forms we need to fill out, about VAT receipts, and about the Collette evaluation forms that need to be filled out and returned to him before the end of the trip. It was helpful when he reminded us about each hotel and the major meals we ate at each. He reminded us to be clear and thorough in our responses, because they are read and attended to.

Since it is set in Spain and was such a famous movie of its day, he showed the EL CID movie w/ Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren from 1961. ------- It is a L O N G movie with an intermission. I did not pay attention to most of it, instead finishing my Baldacci book. We had another rest stop to keep our driver “legal” with rest breaks and then finally drove into Barcelona about 6 pm.

Three of us ventured out on our own for supper. The Gelato was wonderful and the souvenir buying was quite satisfying.

We don’t have to have bags out in the morning and the bus doesn’t leave for the Barcelona tour until 9….. so….........YAWN
I’ll see you tomorrow. Hasta Luego.

Sangria, Paella and Oranges

Our evening excursion today was to a Paella cooking demonstration. I think it was misrepresented but since we were the first group to have this perhaps Collette didn't know just what was going to happen. It was a paella explanation, not cooking demonstration. We were bused to the center of town and went down alleys and around corners and saw the local skateboard folks in action and finally we were there.


A lady with a soft voice and very accented English tried to tell us about the process of making Paella. By the way--it is a rice dish with some kind of meat and veggies and saffron. We were finally ushered into a large room with long tables and plastic ware on the tables. We were given plates of salad and instructed to put salad on top of our paella. As the folks were serving the 50 plates--one at a time--pitchers of Sangria were put on the table. It was better than just wine ( I don't like the taste of wine), but could have used lots more fruit juice. After eating the Paella, which was good, we had home grown Navelos (navel oranges) which were WONDERFUL. They were peeled and sliced and so, so sweet. If I were going to prepare Sangria, I would bone and de-skin the chicken before putting it in the dish. The typical Valencia paella is made with rabbit, which would be an interesting taste, and I have heard of folks using sausage and all sorts of fish and shell fish. I suppose it can be adapted to all different tastes. It may originally have been a way to use up left overs.

A festival is about to be celebrated in Valencia to celebrate Spring. March 15th, brings a carnival-like atmosphere to the city with bonfires and a procession to the Basillica. This is called Fallas (fai-as) and was originally a celebration of St Joseph, the carpenter.

After finishing our oranges, we trooped back the way we came through now really dark alleys to wait for our bus. We must have our bags out in the morning at 7, and will have a city tour (some riding in the bus and some walking) of Valencia, before heading to our last stop in this tour Barcelona. More tomorrow------------

The Wheels on the bus......

Today, Saturday, Feb. 27th is our LONG travel day. It seemed like we spent 20 hours on that bus but it was probably only about 7-8. We had rest stops, lunch and lots of history lessons. But before we completely leave Granada behind, let me talk about the street in front of our hotel. There was a lovely stone mosiac pedestrian walkway right in the middle of the street. On either side of this walk way were the lanes of traffic. It seems a very logical way to see a lovely old city, and not take your life in your hands crossing busy streets.

We rode and rode and rode to get from Granada to Valencia. On the way we got an explanation of the way the European Union works and its parts EuroZone- where the currency is the Euro, the Schengen agreement- in which members of these countries may pass from one country without showing passports and the political EU, which changes presidents every 6 months. We heard about which countries are members, which are trying to join, but aren't economically up to standards There are 27 countries and the presidency rotates among the members bi-anually. The EU began as a vehicle for easing trade and developed into the organization it is today. I should have written down when it began, but if you are that interested, you can Google it.

As were being instructed we saw off to the side of the bus, the Sierra Nevada range of mountains covered in snow. Beautiful. And we saw Troglidyde caves --I know I didn't spell that right, but.... People build their homes into the mountains utilizing the caves that exist there.



It is amazing to me, when we make a rest stop, how gripey some of our ladies are. "Why is it so dark in here"? "There is no seat!" "There is no light in the stall." "Why can't the bus drive us right up to the door?" The answers to these questions are so simple 1. the lights are triggered by movement- walk in and they'll turn on 2. Pull the seat down, it is up for cleaning 3. Hit the switch in the stall, and the lights'll come on 4. Because you need to stretch your legs from all that sitting.
Please forgive my griping about others' griping. Enough said-------------

The rest areas have been interesting today. Some are like large truck stops with bathrooms, hot food service, cold food (sandwiches), a "junk" store and snacks. We've seen "Chips ahoy" cookies, M & M's Nestle candy bars, not much candy that is unfamiliar. Spain seems to be much fonder of Pepsi than Coke, but we have found some coke zeros. An afterthought, one bathroom had an attendant who was there to collect $ for using the facility.

Our after lunch "lesson" was all about the Spanish Civil War and Generalissimo Franco, who became dictator of Spain Feb , 1939. I'm not going to tell you much about it because I began reading my David Baldacci book "The Whole Truth", which is very strange, but an engaging story.

We rode and rode and finally got to Valencia a little earlier than expected.

Granada- Friday

Granada- Friday

Breakfast this morning was a little different with a veggie mixture—cooked but only slightly warm mix of carrots, broccoli, green beans and cauliflower. With the veggies and all the fruit I feel that breakfast is my healthiest meal of the day—that is if you don’t count the luscious pastries I’ve also been having for breakfast. Most noon and night meals are meat and potatoes with maybe a veg. soup. Not the veggies I’ve been used to eating at home.

Lots of time today spent on the bus to get from Seville to Granada. (For those who grew up in Alpine, remember the Granada theatre?)
We were given information about the Spanish educational system concerning what is mandatory and costs.

Akin to our kindergarten(preschool) is their Infantil- which includes children from 3-5 years of age—attendance is NOT mandatory.
From ages 6-9, their school is called primaria and IS mandatory
Ages 9-16 covers our middle school areas (their word collegio) and 2 years of high school (secondario) Attendance is mandatory to age 16.
Depending on how well a student does on a skills test at this point in their educational career, they may go ahead and complete the last 2 years of high school or be tracked over to a trade school. This is not at their choice of the student or his family, but dependant completely on test scores.
University is free except for administrative charges which don’t amount to more that 3-400 Euro per year. Mention was made that Europeans have a hard time understanding the high tuition for attending universities in the U.S.

The school day is broken up because of the Siesta, which I mentioned before. Usually the school day begins at 8 or 8:30 and runs to 12 or 12:30, when the students go home for lunch and siesta. School resumes around 3 pm until about 5. The major costs to elementary and high school age students are books and uniforms. Usually schools begin teaching a second language at 5-6 years of age.

We talked a little about the impact of the school curric on the economic situation. The richest man in Spain owns the Zara stores all over the world. I’m wondering if there any many in Texas. From what we’ve heard about him and his stores, I doubt if I could afford anything there, but it might be interesting to visit.

We stopped at a large “rest stop” for bathrooms, and to get lunch “to go”. The place was nice and well stocked and interesting. Then the thundering hoard came in. Busloads of school children (I’m guessing Jr. Hi) roared in and the noise was deafening. They were there for snacks and most were buying candy and chips. I found a “SOMETHING’ to share with my choir friends at this rest stop. No mystery meat this year, but fruit and nuts.

To get us ready to enjoy THE ALHAMBRA, more history was shared with us.
1492 was a pivotal year for Spain. Isabella and Ferdinand, very Catholic rulers gave Muslims and Jews a choice. Convert to Catholicism,---- leave the country ---or die. We were told that many converted (on paper) because they considered Spain to be their home. Six years after this edict Isabella and Ferdinand began their Inquisition which actually lasted for 356 years. You’ve read about it ---confess your heretical sins and implicate others and you could live. Don’t and you might not live. (Side bar—reminds me of the Salem witch trials with several parallels.) Anyway, as we pull into the parking lot of the Moorish Palace, we are told to expect many geometric designs, but very few, if any, images of anything living. We will see Arabic poems and religious quotes carved on the walls as decoration.



This is one case in which the postcard is not as good as one of my pictures- the color is weird, but perspective is good.

This is not the highest tourist season, but the place was packed and there were long lines of folks from everywhere waiting to get in. Of interest to the folks around me was a mom pushing a baby carriage—the baby kept grabbing for the rope which was dividing the lines of people. My Spanish is getting better with use (DUH) and I asked the mom how old the baby was. She was 1 and was having a great time grabbing the rope and causing folks to have to move her hand.

The Alhambra (which means RED) dates from the 8th Century and was used as a residence by 23 different Sultans. The grounds cover 125 acres of land with gardens, palaces, courtyards and the King of Spain’s summer house. Included in the palace were rooms for the Sultana, the other main wives and the harem. There was a steam bath with a relaxing room to the side. The staff in the palace at the time of the Sultan was made of up eunuchs who waited upon the women and musicians who had to be blind, so as not to see the women. We heard a story about a Sultan’s wife who was indiscrete with a man of a certain family, and the Sultan invited all the men of the family to a dinner and beheaded them all.

I mentioned Washington Irving’s book in a previous story—we heard that this book “Tales of the Alhambra” played a major part in opening the palace up to visitors.

Hopefully my pictures will explain rather than my words, just how ornate and lovely a place the Alhambra is. One thing of note—all the ornementation is on the inside. The outside of the palace is very plain. When the Muslims were removed from Spain, the Alhambra was inhabited by beggars and vagrants, who stole the rich tapestries, carpets and what little furniture was probably in the building. Its charm remains in the imagination of the visitor who can "visualize" the beautiful people in silks and lush fabrics, the lush gardens, the elegant rooms with curtains dividing them, the rich rugs and tapestries of a time long gone.










One minor observance, we have had several “local” guides who are very knowledgeable. Two in particular continued to take cell phone calls while guiding us around making me think that our business was not particularly important to them. Couldn’t they check their messages later…. Just saying…..

It was a once in a lifetime experience and I’m so glad we did this palace. I bought a copy of Washington Irving’s book, which I originally read about 50 years ago with an enclosed cd of music. I suppose I’m expected to listen as I read.

We’re back at the hotel in Granada and are about to go on a looking around foray—I hear there is a chocolate shop across the street. Be seeing ya”


Couple of hours later—the chocolate shop was more of a pastry shop, but N did find una tienda de helado (ice cream shop) and in his expert opinion it was almost as good as Blue Bell. Tomorrow is a day devoted completely to travel to Valencia with a paella cooking lesson after we reach the hotel. Lots and lots of time on the bus---I’ll take my book and I’m sure we’ll have lessons on other things Spanish.

At our first rest stop of the day one of the ladies from Georgia fell going down the stairs. A doctor looked at her foot, which was giving her some pain, and declared it bruised , but not broken. That’s good.
Good night.

Catching Up---

There have several topics that I’ve been thinking about, but I just haven’t gotten to and since I still have some download time, I’ll deal with them.

Differences in times in Spain---I’ve already mentioned Siesta which seems to be from 2-4 in the afternoon. Many businesses are closed during that time.
Because of siesta, lunch is usually eaten between 2 and 3 pm with supper beginning at 9. Spaniards eat late because of the heat in the summer—they want the air to have time to cool down before gathering as a family. No clue when children here go to bed, because when my daughter was little 9 was her bed time. Frequently our tour guide aske for us to have supper at 8—which is still late for me, but is at least a happy medium.

I am having iPhone withdrawl—When we were contemplating this vacation, we checked at the AT&T store in Bwd and my guess is that those folks didn’t have a clue. Their suggestion was to leave the phone at home because of the expected exorbitant cost for using international towers. So, I took it with me, to use til the plane left the ground, have it turned off and packed away somewhere safe and plan to take it on the flight home, to be turned on when we reach NYC. This would be a good plan if we had received accurate advice. We are traveling with a friend who has been using her phone the whole time for data retrieval. She told us that she phoned the AT &T offices and they offered her a one month rate for international use for $24.95. Oh, Well, live and learn.

Gypsies---We were warned about a scam that Gypsies work on tourists in Cordoba. A woman carrying a baby begs for money—pleads, I should say. She says “para la bebe”. The scam comes in when you take out your wallet, or reach in your pants for a coin. There are “spotters” who watch to see where you keep your money, then they bump up against you and take what you have. I did get a picture of the begger lady.


Doesn’t this sound like what was happening in El Paso in the 70’s?

N and I are both wearing our Skechers shoes and are loving them. Our feet stay drier than they really should considering the weather and I feel that I can walk all day in mine and never have sore feet. N was dreading all the walking because of his heel problems, but he hasn’t had any pain at all from walking.

Flamenco-a stomping good time

We went to a performance tonite of a 12 person company of musicians and dancers. Two were guitar players and two were singers. We saw 5 female dancers and 3 men. It was difficult at times to understand the “story” of the dance, but we could tell very well the emotion involved. Several were happy dances and one in particular was terribly ANGRY. Not sure why, but that lady was extremely unhappy. The theatre held maybe a hundred in the audience and the stage was not very big either, but the performances were not small. I’m glad we had a preview from one of the dancers this afternoon to help us understand the “props” of the dance—the shoes, the hair ornaments and the castanets.

What can I say? The performances were enjoyable and the performers seemed very accomplished. I tried to take pictures without flash as requested, but they were just too dark to keep. N video taped 3-4 of the dances to be put on the DVD for our group to enjoy. I may put a short clip here, when we get home

When I watched this, it seemed a little jerky, hope you can enjoy it on your computer.

There was no rain when we went out or returned tonite, but we’re expecting a 50% chance tomorrow at the Alhambra in Granada. That also means a 50% chance of NOT having rain. I’ve been told to think positively.

Seville- cathedral and Flamenco

Well, the cathedrals are beginning to blurrrrrr. The one today is the 3rd largest in the world and has lots and lots of silver and gold decorations,




but none of the muslim architectural designs because THEY tore the mosque down to build this cathedral, rather than recycling and incorporating the first building. The minaret is still here, converted to a bell tower and the courtyard continues, but the church was razed and a new one put in its place.

But let me back up---the tour of Seville on the bus was mildly interesting, if a person cared about the “Exhibition of 1929”, or the later “Exhibition in the 1990’s” We saw the buildings erected for those events by various countries, and found out their current functions. Our tour guide, Isabel seemed to know her facts, but she was talking about things that (I am guessing here) the majority of our bus load of folks did not care about at all.
We did see the cigarette factory where the fictitious Carmen of opera fame might have worked. And we saw the Corrida (bull ring) which is also part of the story. At one point in the city, we even saw a statue depicting this operatic character
We saw the oldest Bridge in Seville built by Eifel (builder of the tower in Paris)

The word Albero means golden sand ---which is used in bull rings and also for decoration in yards and patios.

The walking tour was much better because we got an up close look at the gardens, the houses and got to feel the two types of tile. Arabian tile is one color at a time and is not smooth, where Renaissance tile has a mixture of colors and is smooth. We learned that the leaves of an orange tree can tell the edibility of the fruit. Orange trees with single leaves have sweet fruit, but the double leafed variety is bitter and are only used for perfumes, etc.

We saw VERY narrow streets, where two umbrellas had a hard time passing each other without one giving way to the other. I DID MENTION UMBRELLAS DIDN’T I?

It has been drizzling all day with moments of harder rain, but nothing to compare to the deluge we experienced in Toledo. Umbrellas were out in force. Back to the streets, we looked into patios, courtyards and most of the residences are two story. This is a protected area where the facads of the buildings MAY NOT BE CHANGED. When the houses were first built, the family usually lived upstairs in the winter (few windows) and downstairs in summer-- for the breezes. These houses usually have two front doors--- A sturdy wooden one for protection from winter weather and a wrought iron door for summer to keep the occupants safe, but cool.

We did see Washington Irving’s house when he lived here. (He wrote Tales of the Alhambra- which we will see in Granada)


I used to have a clever and instructional card game called Authors. Rather like “Go fish” except that the cards had pictures and information about authors such as Shakespeare, L.M. Alcott, J. F. Cooper, R. L. Stephenson and yes, Washington Irving-- so in my mind’s eye I can picture what he looked like at one point in his life

As we walked we were joined by two guitarists singing and playing. They followed us until we got to a shopping area where they “passed the hat” for coins. This also happened in a restaurant yesterday. Some guy just pops in, sings and plays his guitarra and passes among us for a tip.



Getting back to the Cathedral- the 3rd largest in the world—which took 120 years to build. It’s official name is the Santa Maria Cathedral. Services are held every day morning and night, with afternoons designated for tour groups Not knowing much about the parts of a Catholic cathedral “high altar” “choir” “sacristy” “Apse” “nave” I probably did not get as much out of the explanation as others might. This one was probably larger in space as the cathedral described yesterday, but did not have the interesting architecture, or the charm. It was really gaudy and big and cold. Our guide explained that various areas of the church are in different conditions of repair. With materials coming from all over the world, they “weather” at different rates and must be cared for differently. We did see an enormouss silver altar which must be hand polished monthly. We saw 2 men with soft looking clothes rubbing as we walked by.


Columbus’s tomb was rather impressive. Four large human figures, representing 4 parts of Spain, were holding a coffin on their shoulders. In the coffin, lie the bones of the explorer, Columbus.
The story goes, that he was buried 3 places before being finally brought to this cathedral to be honored.



We entered a really interesting round room with a carved and decorated ceiling which was supposed to have wonderful acoustics. I finally moved right close to the guide who was talking about the room. Not sure I ever heard what it was called.

We saw the oldest “relics” of the Cathedral which were a small ivory Madona, and the keys to the city which was liberated in 1248 by Ferdinand (not Isabella’s but another Ferdinand)

It was interesting, but after seeing several huge Cathedrals, I’m not sure I need to see any more.



We left the Cathedral in a pouring rain and walked several blocks to the Flamenco “theatre” where tonite we will see a performance. A lovely young dancer and her interpreter explained about the costumes and instruments for Flamenco. She told us that children as young as 3 years old begin training to become Flamenco dancers and that it usually takes from 7-10 years to become “professional”. It was very interesting and she is quite accomplished from what we could tell.



After our questions were answered, we went next door to experience a typical “Tapas” lunch. We had one of these meals when we went to Scotland (not sure why) and it goes like this. Small portions of various dishes are passed around at the table. No one orders, but the waiter just brings what is prepared. We had a “Russian salad” of onions, bell peppers, chopped tomatoes and something fishy with a vinaigrette type dressing. I thought parts of it were particularly tasty, but others did not like it a bit. That is the way with food, can't please everyone. The vegetable offering was spinach. (I prefer my spinach raw to cooked) We were kind of expecting dessert, but none came. The bus picked us up to return us to the hote.. Under different weather conditions, we might have stayed to look around, but not today. Besides almost all of the shops were closed for siesta. Generally, people in Spain eat lunch at 2pm and close their businesses from 2-4 for Siesta.

And speaking of siesta, I’m thinking about inaugurating one around here very soon.

Shopping courtyard where I did buy a Lily present today and it’s CUTE!
More later.

Cordoba---What an amazing church!

When we read about this trip, it seemed to be a string of various churches connected by travel between them. I was less than excited about trying to distinguish one from the other. We saw churches in Madrid and Toledo that were nice, but .....





Oh MY! the Cathedral in Cordoba was huge, and amazing! To begin with, we had to walk across the refurbished Roman bridge to get to the town of Cordoba. Remember this is the bridge w/ 15 times more water (and people watching it) than usual. We entered the Cordoba Mosque/Cathedral with our guide Maria (yep, our second Maria for a guide) AND WE WERE ALLOWED TO TAKE PICTURES!



There are 6 acres of church having been added to 3-4 times in its history. The earliest date know for the church is 786 AD. There is a courtyard called the Courtyard of Orange trees, a lovely area where we were given some more history.



The use of the facility over the years has been as a Muslin Mosque and a Catholic Cathedral.


There is a minaret where the faithful were called to prayer in years past. The worship space has been a shared church at times, with Muslim worshipers on one side of the building and Christians on the other. A true spirit of cooperation from which we could learn. One thousand years ago Cordoba was predominantly Muslin,--- today--95% Catholic. In the 10th Century, Cordoba was the 3rd largest city in the world. This description NEEDS pictures.


Around the side of the main worship spaces are 50 private chapels, used for burial. The architecture is predominantly Moorish, with some adjustments being made for the newer Christian iconography. There were at one time over 1000 elegant Moorish columns which with the changes and additions have in the past 1000 years have dwindled to about 850.

An interesting note, one wall we saw had what looked like plaster signatures or brands (pictures scratched in the plaster). These were the signatures of the workmen who carved/ decorated and generally constructed the church. It was a piece-work situation and the craftsmen were paid according to the pieces they completed. They signed their work. We saw several Christian "treasure rooms" which included gold and sliver items used in their worship. A particularly HUGE item was called a processional Monstrance ( at least I think this is what she said) ---An item of gold decoration which is at least as tall as I am that is carried in processions.
I did get a picture of the immense pipe organ from the 1600's, but we did not hear it. This is a functioning worship space in which Mass is celebrated twice a week. Sorry the picture is a little blurry.


Our guide told us that it has been called the most Unique building in the world and is designated as a UNESCO cultural heritage sight.

After leaving the Cathedral, we walked through the streets of the Juderia (Jewish neighborhood of the past) We saw a teeny one room synagogue which is one of only about three left standing after the expulsion of the Jews by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. We could tell that it had been well decorated in its day, but much of the tilework and decoration were either missing or broken.



We saw an old hospital which is now a university where a famous surgeon was doing cataract surgeries in the 1100"s.

We visited a "private home's courtyard" with hundreds of flowerpots attached to the walls. This creates a "green" space where one might not have existed.


We left Cordoba about 6 pm and drove for about 2 hours to Seville (Sevilla) Tomorrow is our Flamenco "lesson" and then a show.



Our hotel room is SUPER MODERN having glass and chrome is everywhere with a really amazing bathroom. Looks a little like a magazine ad for bathroom sink and showers. And of course I have pictures.


The shower head on the ceiling made me feel as if I were in a warm rain shower. An unusual experience. N and I have been discussing modernizing our bathrooms at home and he has asked me several times if I like the sink bowls, which really do look like a bowl sitting on a counter. I'm not sure I'd want to live with them, but I'll get an opportunity to see what I like and don't like about them. LATER-----

The trip to Cordoba and this and that

Wednesday, Feb 24th, 10
On the way to Cordoba this morning we got a little bit of a Spanish language lesson. Highlighted were some of the differences between, Castillan Spanish and Mexican Spanish. The main ones are when an S or Z comes in a word, the Castillan says a TH sound as if lisping. Also Mexican Spanish says the Y sound for double L and Castillan says 2 L sounds.
Also learned that the Spanish word for Columbus is Colon.

We heard a lesson about plate techtonics and why the Iberian Peninsula looks like it does--I must admit, I dozed a little, so don't expect an explanation here. The advent of people in the Iberian Peninsula were the Carthegenians, the Phoenesians, Greeks, Celts and Romans. We heard a little about how the Celts may have been on "funny mushrooms" to frighten the war machine of the Roman Legions. (Yep, we're getting lots, and lots of history) The language called SPANISH is a combination of Latin, Celtic and Arab languages. Any Spanish word begining with Al has an Arabic root. We're driving and driving and then we see some little white dots over to the left. Remember we're in Mancha and those white dots are the windmills that Don Quixote attacked, thinking them to be giants.


And in Spanish we were told that his name is pronounced "Don Ki-chote"

We stopped for comfort break at a little inn looking place that had a statue of Don Q--and we took pictures with him.



Next subject of discussion after the break was olives--- we saw all different sizes of olive trees and learned about black and green olives and how they are processed. We learned that Spain is the world's largest producer of Olive oil.

We were driving through flat land until we came to Andalucia (southern part of Spain) which is characterized with mountains. Really interesting scenery.

Let me take a detour here to talk about the bus. It holds 50 and we are a group of 49. It is made by Mercedes Benz and has had special protective additions to keep people from hiding in the undercarriage. These busses do tour into Morocco and it is not unusual for refugees to try to hide under the bus to get to "freedom" Also attached to all buses and trucks is a system for monitoring the driver's performance (speed, rest breaks, etc) the police may check the digital log at any time and the fines for not abiding by the laws are stiff. This is why we take so many comfort breaks, not for our comfort, but to obey the union guidelines for the driver.

As we drive along someone asks about the river beside the road. Oops that isn't a river a flood has covered all the land at the side of the road. We see more water, and more and deeper water. We see news services filming and talking to people. Houses are 3 feed deep in water. When we get to our destination Cordoba, the little tame river running around the town is a wild tempest.

And half the population of the city is on the bridge we crossed, just looking and exclaiming. Our tour guide did a little research and discovered that the river has 15 times more water than usual.

I'm getting sleepy, but I haven't covered the amazing church we saw today, so more about that next time.

The Rain in Spain.......

Tuesday-Toledo part 2

Upon leaving the Cathedral of Toledo, we walked and walked up hilly streets and around the town of Toledo to get to a synagogue with Moorish architecture It is noteworthy that church buildings in Spain change from being Jewish houses of worship, to mosques, to Christian churches, depending on which group is “in power”. This is where El Greco’s famous “The Burial of Count Orgaz” was painted over his tomb. Famous folks were buried inside the churches and Count Orgaz was depicted in the painting as being welcomed into heaven by Mary and Jesus and angels while people (the painter included himself, his son and the current king (although Count Orgaz had been dead for centuries) below mourned his death. After leaving the synagogue, we walked through the Jewish neighborhood.

A word about the weather. All day we had experienced sprinkles and drizzle. Nothing to get excited about, but the streets were a little wet and slick, even tho they were cobblestones. We headed toward the bus, which was across the San Martin Bridge, and the sky opened up. We had wind (bending umbrellas and blowing off people's hats and glasses) heavy rain (soaking clothes), and hail (which made the soaked clothing really cold). We made it to the bus after trying to wait it out in an archway with no real protection. Finally we got to the bus and felt and looked like drowned rats. One more stop was on the agenda before heading back (1 hr ride) to Madrid. We stopped at an artisans co-operative. The plan was to go up and look at the craftsmen doing their thing, then move to the showroom to buy the products made there. Those who went upstairs were sorry. Obviously artisans smoke heavily and although there was no one smoking when we got there, the workshop reeked so badly that some folks stood there listening to the “patter” holding their noses. Rather rude, it seems to me, but everyone has their own tolerance for smells. Just a note here, Spain and all of Europe don’t have smoking areas. The practice is looked upon as completely acceptable---and it is THEIR country after all.

The crafts available were mainly steel---knives, swords, letter openers, jewelry embellished with gold. Lovely things, but somehow I don’t feel that my house in Bwd needs a sword over the mantel, even if it is handmade from Toledo steel. Sorry, I bought nothing here. So far, I have bought post cards of places where cameras are forbidden.

We are in the Mancha area of Spain ( de la Mancha?) which means “dry land” but it didn’t live up to its name today.

We rode back to the hotel soppy and cold. We forfeited supper to try to dry our shoes, pants and, most of all, jackets. We always carry snacks and didn’t go hungry.

I am writing this Wed morning and the pants are dry, my shoes (Sketchers) are dry, but N’s aren’t. His coat is dry, but mine is still pretty wet. Should be an interesting day. We have mostly bus travel going to Cordoba and Seville. Gotta go get bags packed and outside the room. Hasta Luego.

The Prado

Day 2- Tuesday
Some firsts for briekfast today—green beans anyone?? Some of the usual European breakfast fare—tomatoes, lettuce with a new twist—chocolate cake. Lots of pastries and churros which took me back to El Paso fiestas.

Tour of Madrid
Spain has one department store “El Corte Ingles” begun by a tailor who made suits in the English style (cut) Now ANYTHING can be bought there from clothing, houseware, to boats, vehicles and houses.
The Biblioteca (Library) of Marid has the original handwritten copy of Don Quizote de la Mancha (Madrid is in the Mancha area)

From the outside. we saw the Palace of Phillip II begun in 1738, which has 2300 rooms and is larger than Buckingham Palace. Wonder what their heating bill is?

We heard lots of Spanish history and it is rather confusing. Basically from what I can figure out --the Visigoths were in control first, then the Romans, then the Arabs (Muslims) after than, the Christians and the Jews. These last three groups keep trading control of the country century after century.

During the ride around Madrid we saw HUGE ads for current American movies. Leonardo Di Caprio as large as a 5 story building starring in” Shutter Island” and then Johnny Depp in “Alicia en Tierre Miriveles” You figure out what that means.

We toured the Prado museum for about an hour. For those unsure of what it is, it is a very nice art museum which features El Greco (more about him later) Velasquez, and Goya paintings. All three are considered to be famous Spanish painters of the last several centuries. All the art from these three gentlemen has very dark backgrounds. The subject matter is mostly religious, with a few court portraits and some mythological scenes. El Greco was not Spanish, but painted in Spain. That is not his real name. He was from Greece and the folks here couldn’t pronounce his Greek name, so they called him El Greco. His style consists of elongated figures of people w/ smallish heads.
Velasquez’ famous picture of the Infanta (princess) of Spain, Margueritte, is fascinating, especially after Maria, our guide, explained the composition of the painting. We were NOT allowed to take pictures inside, but I got postcards of my favorites which I scanned here for you,





That picture of the little girl took me back to elementary school UIL picture memory contest, in which the students looked at a famous picture and told the title, artist and country. I entered, but did not do well in the contest.

On to Goya—One of his most famous was the family of the King (forget which one) whose wife was pregnant 23 time and had 7 children live to adulthood. Very interesting stories about this set of pictures.




We did learn that the use of the colors in all these paintings was terribly expensive.

Of interest to all of us were the numerous children in the museum. There was a troop of 3 year olds- who were all holding on to a rope- being led through the museum. Another group seemed to be first or second graders (in school uniforms) and they sat quietly in rows being taught by a teacher Many teenagers were there, but it never seemed crowded.

By the way—Madrid is “lousy” with art museums- there seems to be one on every block in the main city area.

We drove to Toledo for about an hour. Part of it siesta time—we’re still acclimating to the different time zone.

On reaching Toledo—we stopped at a restaurant on a hill which served us vegetable soup (really tasty) roasted chicken and papas fritas (fried potatoes). The meal was reasonable, considering a sandwich in downtown Toledo is 7-10 Euro.
( I am adding this after the fact--this was probably my favorite meal of the entire trip)

Our first stop in Toledo (I feel obligated to tell you that it is NOT pronounced with a long E—like TOE-LEE-DOO, but TOE-LAY-THO ) We toured the 13th Century cathedral of Toledo. So amazing--- the decoration was Moorish, Rococo (not spelled right, I’m sure, but just say it) Renaissance and Byzantine. Of course, NO CAMERAS WERE PERMITTED but again, I got postcards. Really beautiful place. And I am learning that the professionals who make postcards get much better pictures in dark places than my lovely little Kodak












I’m running out of minutes, so I’ll stop here with only half the day described. The rest will come tomorrow.

Buenas noches a todos. Antes manana

Tomorrow---THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MOSTLY IN TOLEDO!!!

Madrid- first day

Madrid---

We left Bwd about 11am on Sunday, Feb 21st. The chartered bus was small (and cozy) and the 15 of us were packed in pretty well. We stopped at Eastland for lunch at Dairy Queen


and headed on to DFW airport.


DFW airport

I don’t think we’ve had a smoother check-in and trip thru security. I guess we’ve done this enough that it becoming second nature---even though I don’t LIKE taking off my shoes and my coats and anything metal. I thought twice before deciding what to wear for this because the shirt I had first planned on wearing, set off the metal detector at the Bwd Court House. I decided against that one, but am wearing a non-metal decorated shirt. Supper was a choice of chicken and pasta, with salad, veggies, cake, bread, crackers and cheese or beef and potatoes with all the accompaniments. It was adequate, not great, not bad and really filling. We had good seats on the plane and it was only about half full. Several folks went to empty rows to sack out for the night. N did this, but didn’t stay too long saying that all the seat belts were poking him. Neither of us slept very well, but that is usual for long over night air plane rides. He is napping right now to catch up. When we were “waked up” this morning at about 2 am Texas time (9am Madrid time) we were served a light breakfast, which was quite adequate.

Finding our way through the Madrid airport was challenging. First we went thru customs which was just a matter of standing in a really long line to get passports stamped and hand the gentleman a paper which he didn’t even look at. After that, the trek to get bags was arduous. We went DOWN,DOWN,DOWN several sets of escalators, went around multiple corners following the “equipaje (baggage)” sign. The signs led us to a high- speed train. We got on, rode awhile, got off and then proceeded to go UP several sets of escalators.

Madrid airport

We found baggage being unloaded, but these were all domestic flights. After asking for assistance, we found the international baggage and ours was already off and in a line waiting for us. We ambled around, found the tour guide (Greg) and he asked if everyone had changed money into Euros. Most had not—we had been told the exchange rate would be better there than in Bwd or Dallas--- so they trouped up two flights of stairs to exchange funds at a rate higher than it was in Dallas. All this time unbeknownst to us, 30 or so other travelers who make up the rest of our tour group were waiting in the bus for us to come out.

The economic problems have hit Spain really hard we were told. Construction has begun in many places especially the roads, but the funds for finishing have dried up. We had to circle several blocks to be able to unload luggage at the hotel because of the condition of the roads.

The Hotel Melia Galgos is lovely. The lobby has mirrored ceilings, the elevator has a mirror wall (it really looks twice as deep) and everywhere you look in the room—mirrors are on each wall and closet door.

We went to the bar for lunch and some folks had trouble reading the menu. N and I had sandwich mixto (jamon y queso caliente) There was some discussion at our table whether the sandwich was hot or the cheese was hot. It seems everyone knows the word caliente. BTW- it was a grilled cheese sandwich /w ham. (About $10 each.)

I bought 24 hours of internet, but as I write this off line, I haven’t begun using it yet. I’ll probably check e-mail after the “welcome supper” --which doesn’t begin til 8, when in Spain, eat supper late.

I guess I’ll go organize my suitcase and maybe rest just a little while before getting ready for supper.

Haven't seen much other than the airport and hotel. Tomorrow we have a tour of Madrid, the Prada, and a side trip to Toledo. More tomorrow. Buenas Noches a tu

6 days and counting

On Feb. 21st, we're headed to Spain for a 10 day tour. We'll arrive in Madrid and then tour by bus going to Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, Granada, Valencia,and Barcelona. I'm looking forward to seeing Flamenco dancers and having a cooking lesson. Not quite sure what to expect from shopping in Spain, but we'll see. There will be LOTS AND LOTS of churches, mosques, synagogues-- hope I can keep all of them straight. In the next few days we just need to get cat taken care of, mail and paper arranged for and clothes packed. Will return on Texas Independence Day!