December 31st - Last day of 2012

Today was forecast for rainy and cold, and it was.... sprinkly and cool.   We have a 7 day unlimited metro pass so we jumped on a bus from Paddington to Trafalgar Square.  Once there we decided that a visit to the National Gallery would be nice, but first we went over to St. Martin's in the Field.  St. Martin's has musical concerts every week and around the holidays they have stuff practically every day.  Today was no exception and they were offering a matinee of opera arias given by members of the Academy of St. Martin's in the Field.  So we bought tickets, first row just on the left of the stage.  Then we went to the Gallery and spent a couple hours looking at the Impressionist collection; what a great change of pace, since for the last 3 months we've been looking mostly at paintings from the medieval through the early 19th century.   An hour before the concert we back to the church and had a lunch in the crypt,  they have a cafe down in the crypt so you get to have lunch sitting on all those who have gone before.   Deb thinks we should have two desserts because you start to realize that time is flying and you don't know just how much time you have.   What a great little concert, there were four young opera singers, a soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and baritone each of whom had a very polished voice.  We finished with Auld Lang Syne, them doing the verses and the audience doing the refrains.   I'm pretty sure we were sitting next to one of the BBC news presenters, her name is Sophie and I used to watch her doing news when I worked over here a lot in the early 2000's.  We're finishing the old year at our hotel room rather than navigating the complete zoo of downtown. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

December 30th – A walk in London

 

Today we got out around 10:00 and had a little walk from our hotel near Paddington across Hyde Park and into the hustle and bustle of London on Piccadilly.  We were headed for the Royal Society to see what sort of exhibition they were offering, the English landscape painters, so we may have to go.  Today however was just  a walkabout looking at so many of the  galleries in that neighborhood, and then  a paseo up Bond street to Oxford street  and back.  Finally we walked back to our hotel and a little dinner later in the evening.   It’s pretty disorienting right now because London is an hour later on the clock than Spain but Madrid is actually west of London, so sundown was well on its way by 4:15 today.

December 29th - Back to Old Blighty

Well we are now back in England for the first time since around 2006, we flew into London city and took a light rail train in to the vicinity of Tower Bridge then a cab over to our hotel near Paddington.  So thus begins our England visit.  I guess I should have labeled our blog Wadsy's Spain and England, but who knew?  I certainly didn't until our 2nd or 3rd week here.   Cloudy and a bit sprinkly today but pretty pleasant.  Tomorrow we start the assault on London.

December 28th - Final day in Madrid

Today was our last full day in Madrid, we wanted to be sure we knew a little bit about the airport so we took the metro out to have a look at the terminal and get checked in for our flight.   I tried to check in at a self-service kiosk but I couldn't get it to work correctly so we went over to one of the service personnel to ask her help.   It seems that the problem stemed from when I purchased the tickets; it was very early in the trip and I did it online, but I misinterpreted the boxes and put first and middle names in the family name field and our family name into the first name field for both Deb and me.  DOH!  But the lovely lady helped me out and we got checked in.   So we headed back to town and spent close to an hour at the Prado to see for the last time smoe of the paintings that we were so impressed with the first time.    Deb says our per visit cost is down to around 1.03 euro a great investment in culture and wone we could never have done if we were paying full price at each visit.  I was getting a bit jumpy because the Metro buses and subway were striking again, so it's every day this week, and I didn't want us to miss lunch at La Cuadrilla.  We made it by around 2:30 or 3:00 and once again had a memorable lunch.   I started with a risotto garnished with bits of foie gras while Deb had a great salad, then both of us had grilled languistinos over a bed of curried rice.  Then I finished with arroz con leche (my last for this visit) while Deb had crepe Suzettes.   We ordered a bottle of Cava (Sparkling wine like champagne) and shared it with Mercedes, Pedro, and two lovely little old ladies who have been in the restaurant every time we've been there and I suspect may eat there every day.  We've developed a little affection for them over time, I don't think either one is taller than 4'6" because I'm taller than them whilst sitting in my chair.   When we offered them a little glass both of them practically jumped up and came over to the table to share a toast.  No teetotaller these ladies, they usually have a little beer and a little wine during lunch and they were enthusiastic to share a little cava.  During the conversation it came out that they are sisters and one will be 90 next month while the other will be 90 next December, and unbelievably sweet.  Pretty amazing to realize that they were in their early teens when the Spanish civil war took place!

December 22-23rd

We are starting to get a little ready for our trip out of Spain and to England, then home.   I think mentally we're ready to come home it has been such a great experience and we would like to duplicate it again sometime in the future.   We really appreciate everyone's support and encouragement.   The last couple days have been very slow for us, we're taking stock of the clothes we will leave here to save space and weight (so we can carry stuff back).  I think when the time gets short it also seems to really speed up, so we are trying to get a list of all we need to do in terms of making sure the apartment is cleaned up and our bags are sorted.  I will continue to make entries but perhaps not as frequently, I'll see what time allows.   We will share our London experiences with you as well. 

We are sincerely grateful to Julia and Jose for sharing their Piso in Madrid with us it would likely not have happened without their generosity and friendship.  Merci, Merci, Merci!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all!!

December 21st The solstice and our visit to El Escorial

We jumped on a bus this morning and rode out to El Escorial, we left Madrid around 10:30 because the daylight will be so short today and in addition there is another strike on the EMT (subways and buses) from 2:00 until 6:00pm then again from 10:00 pm until 2:00am.   We want to get back to Madrid in the window in between.   We arrived in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial around 11:30 and immediately went over to the palace.  It was built in the late 1500’s and contained a palace, monastery, and school when it was built.  It is no longer a royal palace but the monastery and school are still functioning today, it was dedicated to St. Lawrence and was built with a footprint that mimics the supposed grill upon which St. Lawrence was grilled.   It is pretty austere in design and really big, much larger than the Palacio Real and certainly less ornamented, but considering how devout and almost ascetic the King (Philip II) that built it was; it’s not surprising.   I particularly loved the portion dedicated to the building’s design and construction as it contained examples of the drawings, tools, and materials used in the construction.   Another highlight was the library which is a gem, it’s chocked full of old books, illuminated manuscripts, and astronomical devices many of which are on display.  

 I loved the sign above one of the entrances threatening excommunication for anyone taking books without authorization, luckily for me all the cases were locked or I’d be under an interdict, and in jail. 


As we were heading back to the bus to return we came across the most ambitious Christmas display I’ve ever seen.   Several of the streets in the town had life-sized dioramas depicting the nativity and many of the activities that might have taken place around that time period.   Very impressive and the whole town was out and enjoying the stroll through each different scene, especially the little kids!  We were treated to a lovely sunset on the way back to Madrid.

Don't think this is historically accurate

December 20th Another visit to Museo Sorolla

Today we went back to the Museo Sorolla to visit it again partially prompted by how much we enjoyed it the first time and also by our trip to Granada and Seville.  Seeing the Alhambra then coming to see how he treated it in his paintings just reaffirmed how deftly he could treat light and shadow.   The paintings took us for a visit on how it would appear in the warmer months and evoked thoughts of just how beautiful it can be in any time of year.   Now we want to find his paintings in museums all over the U.S. to enlarge our appreciation of his work.

Above the view from the  Generalife gardens    The Court of Myrtles (right)

December 19th La Cuadrilla

Today we wanted to catch up on our emails and update this blog so we started the day with a little laundry and a trip to the library but the big event of the day was lunch at La Cuadrilla.  Since we found this little restaurant we’ve been hooked on it.  We had another wonderful lunch here today and we have reservations for lunch on the 24^th.    Pedro in his kitchen and Mercedes in the dining room.




Today we planned on having two ‘menu del dia’ lunches but when I saw that they had wild boar again I weakened and ordered it instead.   For the first course I had a salad that tasted fresh out of the garden and Deb had a dish of potatoes cooked in olive oil and butter studded with mushrooms and jamon.  For her second course Deb had a grilled pork cutlet, although they butcher the animals differently from the U.S. so cutlet is as close as I can come.  It came out perfectly with a nice crisp exterior and a juicy interior, along with it we had another wonderful Spanish red from the Ribera del Duero region and it was a perfect complement to both the boar and the cutlet.

December 18th A last visit to Toledo

Toledo was our first venture out of the city and today we will go for our last visit there.   Our primary goal is to visit the cathedral since we weren’t able to see it last time.   It is the seat of the Spanish Catholic church and as such has played a major part in Spanish history.   The Spanish Catholic church is very conservative and throughout history has maintained a powerful influence on the culture, things have changed somewhat now but it still wields quite a bit of influence.   No inquisition now, but it was a main prop for Franco’s regime, and a large percentage of the population here is still devout.   Now to the cathedral; first of all it’s massive not quite as large as Seville but still mighty large.  And it’s quite subdued on one level but quite flamboyant on another.   The architecture is gothic but quite plain on the inside, it was started in the 1200’s and took 450 years to complete, then you get to the stuff that is contained within its vaults.  Firstly, a 130 foot plateresce altar, covered with carvings and gilded to the point that it glows, there are several life-sized bas-relief sculptures covering the birth, life and death of Jesus.  It is flanked by tombs of two Spanish monarchs and their queens set into niches about 20 feet off the floor, and then there is the primary cardinal/archbishop from the time of Ferdinand and Isabella who is entombed next to one of the set.  


Another interesting thing is that there are four later cardinals who are buried in the cathedral as well and over each of their graves is hanging their cardinal hat.  Evidently a cardinal can designate where he wants to be buried in a church and their wished are carried out after death.   I’ve never seen cardinal hats hanging before and it was quite interesting, since they hang there until they disintegrate (the hats not the cardinals).   Anyway once again it’s a pretty impressive edifice.  


We’ve decided, Deb's idea and I agree, that the building in Bilbao designed by Frank Geary is the 20^th century equivalent to a cathedral from the middle ages, an icon to the beliefs and hopes of a culture.  We will try to visit El Escorial before we go so stay tuned.

December 17th A day of lasts, we think

Today we went to our last concert at the Fundacion Juan March; they are presented on Sundays and Mondays at noon and usually last about an hour.  Today was a quartet composed of performers on the violin, viola, cello, and oboe.  They gave us two quartets from the late 18^th century and one modern one from this century.  It was really fun because of the contrasts in each of the pieces, one was a French piece, the second was from Germany, and the last from an American.  They won’t offer another concert until January, so this was our last.     After lunch we walked down to the Reina Sofia for another visit and this one covered modern art from the 1950’s to the 1980’s, and from what I could see it’s more and more about less and less.   Since we’ve gone through almost all the early stuff I guess we’ve reached the end of this trail as well.   Interestingly we’ve developed a great interest in Richard Serra and he’s been working all through the 90’s and 2000’s so I guess we just have to be very selective in what we want to spend our time looking at.   Tomorrow we head for Toledo and our last visit there as well, we saw a fair amount when we were there last time, so this time we want cover the bits that we missed.  Primarily the cathedral, since it's the 'Spanish Vatican' (my words).

December 16th And now for something completely different

Today we decided to see a new part of Madrid, an area called Casa de Campo, it’s out in the west side of the old center of the city.  But the new twist is that we took a gondola ride out to the middle of a large park that originally belonged to the king and was used as a hunting reserve.  On the map it covers a large part of the city which looks like several square miles.  From the gondola terminal we walked to the western edge of the park over the course of an hour then back.  

It’s pretty amazing in that the whole area is covered with trees and low bushes while the ground between them is covered in some sort of grass.   This was the closest that we have come to actually being the country since we arrived and we enjoyed every minute of it.

December 15th – Our Trip back to Madrid

Our trip back to Madrid today was entirely different than our trip out, the biggest difference being that there was no fog.  We were able to see the country in mostly sunny conditions and it’s much clearer as to why the Spanish were pretty comfortable in our Southwest.   Parts of the trip could have come right out of the Arkansas river valley while other parts could have been around Santa Fe and parts could have been in the mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, or Montana.    I’m not saying that the vegetation is the same, but when you look at the larger panorama it has the same feeling.    Interestingly as we were coming back on Saturday I was surprised at how many people were travelling our direction.   Our stop in Burgos literally filled the car, however quite a large number got off in Valladolid so it wasn’t as crowded for the trip into Madrid.  

We’re down to about 2 weeks before we have to leave so now we have to look at the things we still want to do and prioritize.  It will fly by now, but we also remember that so many people come to Europe and only have two weeks so there will be no whining on our part, just happiness at our good luck.

December 14th – A day at the Guggenheim

 

Today it was raining pretty heavily in Bilbao so it was good that we had planned to spend the day in the Guggenheim because the weather was perfect for museum going.   There were two things that were featured in the museum; an exhibition of Egon Schiele’s early drawing and Claes Oldenburg’s work during the 60’s.  We both came away from the Schiele presentation with a new appreciation for his work, even as stark and disturbing as it is and secondly how fertile Oldenburg was in developing his particular brand of creativity in that time period.   But what really stood out today for us the Richard Serra exhibition of sculptures in massive iron constructions titled; ‘The Matter of Time’.  We had seen TV presentations on it when it was installed here but nothing prepared us for just how subtly powerful and involving it is.   He has created sculptures that are comprised of iron plate walls 12 or 14 feet tall that have been constructed in geometric forms through which the observer, us, walks.  There are about 6 different shapes/installations/ mazes. The a set of walls subscribes a shape like a spiral but each wall leans independently of the other and opens or closes the space being traversed, so sometimes you feel closed in or open to the sky, or more disturbingly like the floor is out of balance to the walls so you instinctively lean to compensate. In the “spiral” shapes, when you reach the open center, it feels so wide and open and large that it seems impossible it could be enclosed in the space you’ve just walked through. If this is an incoherent explanation, it’s because it was an unexpected and hard-to-describe experience. (Deb comments that Serra is now her new favorite modern artist, hands down.)
Just a little walk in the park

December 13th – A day in Bilbao’s old town

Bilbao has a medieval old town and today we spent the day wandering through it and enjoying ourselves.   Just after noon we went into a small bar to have a pre-luncheon drink and ended up having a really nice conversation with two Basque gentlemen, the first, Archimedes (no joke) and his friend who we could not pronounce were totally charming.  We spent an hour or so chatting, in Spanish, about the wines of the region and how the rose wines from Navarra are so great as well as how the California wines stack up.    You all know the drill by now;  blah, blah, blah, vino Rosado, blah California vino blah blah.   But to help us out Archimedes also spoke a fair amount of French so it wasn’t totally lost (at least on Deb).  And just to reinforce our impression of the warmth of the Spanish Archimedes bought us a glass of wine.   We had a lunch of Pinxtos, the Basque equivalent of tapas and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  After lunch we went to the museum of Basque culture and saw quite a roundup of culture over the last 900 years or so.   A bit of rain today but nothing to speak of.

Prehistoric stone hog

December 12th – A trip to Bilbao

We caught the 8:00am train to Bilbao in order to see the countryside in daylight, there was a strike on the railroad yesterday and another 2 day strike tomorrow so our trip is sandwiched around them.  I have to publicly thank the woman at Renfe who helped me set up the trip by telling me about the strike a couple weeks ago because she probably saved me loads of heartburn.  


Once we got to Bilbao we took a walk over to the Guggenheim to see the exterior because frankly it’s a much of a draw as the works inside.  I’ve got to say that it is spectacular from the outside and on Friday we’re going inside to see the works contained within.  We decided to go Friday because we’re supposed to have insistent rain that day and being inside will just work out.   Out trip to Bilbao was about 80 percent low clouds and fog but once we got into the Pyrenees it cleared up and we had a beautiful ride through the mountains.  Except for the higher peaks no snow here.

December 11 – Tomorrow to Bilbao

Tomorrow we take our last field trip and go to Bilbao for a few days, we want to see the Guggenheim museum and get a taste of the Basque region.  We decided to see a temporary exhibit called associated with the Duchess of Alba.  She is an 87 year old Spanish noble who married a guy 25 years younger and is still pretty spry; we don’t know much about him.   We got down there and decided to change our plans and go another time to the Prado; once there we saw the Roman and medieval sections of the museum and finished out with a temporary exhibit on Van Dyke in his youth.   It is completely amazing at what he produced before he was 22 years old; I mean his self-portrait at age 15 would be considered a mature work for many artists and he only got better.   He worked with Rubens until he was 22 and then went to live in Rome for several years to round out his education.   After the Prado we took a little late afternoon walking tour of downtown Madrid to look at the holiday lights, they were very nice but not earthshaking.

Hooorah! We got pics again

Well finally, I went to the library a few days ago to see if I could figure out why I still couldn't post pictures.   I had deleted fully half of the pictures on my account but the space wouldn't free up, very frustrating.   Finally I posted a question on the Picasa help site asking if anyone knew how I could free up the space, here two days later the space seems to be free again so I will start posting pictures.  The hotel here in Bilbao is pretty slow so maybe the pics will be minimal but I will start posting them again.  Wooo Hooo

December 10th – Our last day of Spanish Classes

Today was our last day of Spanish class with Norm, we have had such a great time with it and now I think we’re committed to continuing once we get back to the U.S. although I might see if there is a little work available to offset some of the unexpected costs of this visit.   We can't thank Norm and his family enough for the warmth of their welcome and willingness to put up with our crazy questions.  Our time in Spain has been such a complete pleasure that we are thinking we would like to return sometime in the future.   And if not in Spain then perhaps in France or elsewhere.   No matter what we will have to wait at least 3 months to reset the clock on the SCHENGEN AGREEMENT!  Peckernecks!!!!

December 9th – A quiet day in the park

Today dawned bright and clear in Madrid, but it was cold.  The highs have been in the high 40’s to low 50’s however with the wind it feels quite a bit colder, today for the first time I wore a Pendleton shirt under my rain jacket and I was a little cold most of the day.  However we decided that it would be nice to spend the day in the Retiro, so we hopped on the bus and got out at the corner of the park.  We walked over to the east side of the park, a less traveled area for us, and found a sunny bench to sit in the sun and read.  It is very entertaining to sit and watch all the people who like us are living in apartments that have no access to yard or garden get out and enjoy the park.  Families with 3 generations are all out taking the air; the kids are running and hollering, chasing squirrels, etc., the parents and grandparents walking, chatting, and trying to keep a lid on the exuberance of the kids and dogs.   Have I mentioned that there are wild parrots in the park?  If not, I’ll tell you now that in every city where we have visited, except for Seville, we have seen wild parrots in the parks.   I’ve tried to get pictures but my camera won’t telescope far enough and the parrots won’t hang around for me to get close enough for clear pictures, but they are there. 

After several hours in the park we headed back to our apartment.   We stopped and bought our daily bread then Deb made a yummy dinner of fresh duck breast, potatoes, and zucchini.  She made a sauce of onion, garlic, red wine, and bits of the fantastic fois gras of duck which were sent to us as a gift from Julia and Jose.  We drank a bottle of bubbly, Spanish Cava, along with it and spent a quiet evening watching some Sean Connery movie.   On a sporting note, Leo Messi of Barcelona just broke a goal scoring record that has stood since 1972 (Muller) when he finished up the match with 86 goals for the season, and there are still a few more games left in the football (soccer) season so it could go higher.

December 8th - Saturday another December holiday

Last Wednesday we made reservations at La Cuadrilla for lunch today.  As you read in my entry regarding correction of Pedro’s name we had a fantastic lunch.   Our general plan of eating here has been to have breakfast sometime after 9:30 or 10:00am then get out and around a little followed by lunch usually between 2:00 and 4:30pm and maybe a little something around 8:30 in the evening.  Lunches here are cheap, good, and filling so dinner would be overkill.   Today was the ‘mother of all lunches’   four courses with a great Rioja and a little Orucho des Hierbes to finish.  Orucho is sort of like our Lemoncello (Deb’s recipe) that sort of takes your breath away.

December 7th Just another December day

Yesterday was National Constitution day in Spain, 34 years since the document that led to democracy (and bureaucracy) in Spain.  We started the day with a little shopping at a store called Icono which is managed by Marilo, Norm’s wife.  Deb needed some gloves so we bought her some in blue, red, and terracotta.  We got a couple little gifts as well; this is a very cute little shop.   After that we walked around the old part of town just south of Puerta del Sol and stopped at a little place for a couple canas and bit of Tortilla (the egg and potato pie available all over Spain).  We made our 10^th visit to the Prado and viewed paintings by Van Dyke, Rembrandt, Adolf Mengs (Goya’s teacher), Tiepolo,  and the last (we think) of the Goya’s in the Prado.  We’ve got the per visit cost down to around $3.50 and we’re laughing that at some point they will confiscate our card for over use.

DOH!!! A correction is in order

A few days back we had lunch at La Cuadrilla (Thanksgiving day) and I talked about our hosts.  I identified the owner and chef as Pablo;  well as my bad luck would have it his name is Pedro.  When we went in for lunch today he mentioned it, so I want to set the record straight,  it´s Pedro and his wife is still Mercedes luckily I got that right otherwise I´d have a third woman to be afraid of here (a joke).

So today, we had reservations for lunch at 3:00 pm and when we got there we had a little discussion which basically came down to us asking him to serve us a meal as determined by the chef.   WOW!   We started out with an appetiser of croquettes, two each of ham, goat cheese, mushroom, and apple, and in one moment it completely changed Deb´s attitude towards Spanish croquettes, up til now they have been pretty much a bunch of tasteless goo, but today each one had a distinct flavor and the becamel sauce was exactly matched to the fillings.   Next we had a plate of Seta mushrooms sauteed in olive oil with spinach which was just delectible.  BUT WAIT! It gets better, our next plate was several medallions of wild boar with a mild but perfectly matched cheese sauce, the boar was cooked to a perfect pink so that it was moist but not chewey.   The next course was venison in a red fruit sauce, it had red current, raspberry, and black current cooked together in a non-sweet ambrosia ladled over venison that again was cooked just to the pink stage and was heavenly.   We paired it with a 2001 Rioja reserva wine that started out somewhat austerely but opened up perfectly with the meal.  This was without doubt the best meal we have had in Spain, and it rivals great meals we have had anywhere.  If you have Madrid in your travel plans email me and I´ll give you directions to this restaurant, you won´t be disappointed.

December 2nd – 6th Back in Business (NOT!)

I’ve deleted about half of the pictures that were stored online in my Google account so I should be able to post pictures through to the end of our trip.  (Buggers!  they haven't given me back my space yet! and they said they would.!!!)

To commence, we’ve spent the last few days visiting some new sites. On Tuesday we went to see a portrait exhibition at Mapfre (a Spanish insurer) which has a space permanently dedicated to temporary exhibitions.   This one traveled from the Paris’s Pompidou center and consisted of around 10 rooms of portraits created by artists beginning around 1900 up through 1994 or so.  Artists like Matisse, Picasso, Du Buffet, Francis Bacon, etc.  It was interesting as it had both paintings and sculptures, but no pictures allowed.

On Wednesday, we set our sights on the Royal Academy of Fine Arts; it has both a school and a museum.  Former students include among others; Sorolla, Picasso and Juan Gris.  The museum has a small but significant collection and includes artists such as Goya, Zurbaran, Sorolla, Rubens, and Correggio.  It also has Goya’s cabinet, a collection of many of his engraving plates from several of his series.   On our visit we were also able to see a large collection of Rodin prints called the Ombres, ‘Shades’, series.  Probably around 100 small images dealing with Dante’s Inferno and related subjects it is there temporarily and was just icing on the cake. 

Thursday, we visited the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) here in Madrid; it is the third largest palace in Europe after Versailles in France and the Schoenbrunn palace in Vienna.  There are 24 rooms open to the public and each one is a work of art.  It is full of beautiful works of art and decorated in as lavish a style as any we’ve seen in Versailles or anywhere else.  Also on view are the royal collection of armor and the royal pharmacy, which Deb particularly loved.   We were quite fortunate in that when we arrived we were able to walk right up and buy tickets to enter.   It started getting a bit crowded with various tour groups coming through but we were able to linger and let them get past us so we could look at leisure, but I can only imagine what it must be like in the summer when it’s hot and overrun with tourists.   We were extremely surprised when we left and got a look at the line waiting to get in to the palace and 80% of them must be Spanish.    Walking back to catch the bus home we got a taste of what the Christmas crush in Madrid can be like.   It seemed as if 90 % of Madrid’s 4 million populations were filling Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, and all the streets around the old quarter.   We walked for blocks and blocks in a seething mass of lock step flow.  I’d compare it to my clown car observation on the busses.  Plaza Mayor has a Christmas market that was just stuffed with people, sort of ‘And now K-mart shoppers over in the Christmas aisle’.   Just full of temptations for little people, candy, noise makers, bubble blowers, a little merry-go-round, etc.   They have started lighting the decorations that hang over the streets so in the next few weeks I’ll post some pics of those too.

Stay Tuned

I've got a tecnical problem here, Google has notified me that I've used up all the available space for pictures.  They want me to sign up for an upgraded plan which would allow me to have much more space for pictures but the catch is they want me to pay 2.50/month for it.  Now I'm not necessarily against that but if I never do another blog then I'm paying 2.50/month for nothing and that pisses me off.  I'm going to try a couple of things like deleting some earlier pictures to see if I can free up some space but failing that I guess the notion of pictures is out for now.  Sorry, leave me comments.  Thanks

December 1st – Alcazar in December

Today we went to the Alcazar in Seville and for a bunch of desert rats from Colorado it was impossible to tell that it was December.  We had a sunny day and ended up spending 5 or 6 hours here so only got out for lunch at 4:30 pm which is late even for Spain.  It has been a royal residence since the 12^th Century and is still one today.  The second oldest part of it was designed in the Mudejar manner so that it appears to look Moorish but is actually Christian Spanish; it is just as beautiful in its own way as the Alhambra. 

The ceramic tiles are everywhere on the walls and floor and they have an exhibit dedicated to showing them in all their beauty from the 15^th to 19^th century.   There are also 18^th century tapestries that were copied from the original 16^th century ones that are quite beautiful. 


But as icing on the cake there is the garden.  It is quite extensive and lovely; there are palm trees, Orange, Lemon, and Lime trees, blooming roses, blooming bird of paradise, fruiting pomegranates, and date palms.  Until opened by the royal family the whole complex was completely private.

 

 

 

So after spending a week in the South and getting to experience in some small degree, I have a few thoughts.  First, it is fallacious to suppose that the Moorish culture was not Spanish just because it wasn’t Christian.   After all they were here for around 800 years before the Reconquista and we in the U.S. of non-native derivation have only been there for around 500 years.   Next, the Romans occupied Spain for around 500 years before they were overthrown by the Visigoths who in turn were overthrown by the Moors.   The enlightened Moors were overthrown by Berbers and tribesmen from North Africa , the Muslim equivalent of Visigoths, a couple hundred years before the Reconquista, so it seems possible that had that not happened perhaps the Reconquista may have failed.   The Muslims were certainly more tolerant of the different religions living in some harmony with both Jews and Christians, whereas after the Reconquista the toleration lasted less than 20 years before Muslims and Jews were exiled or forced to convert to Catholicism.  So which culture was the more enlightened?   (Editor’s note:  And it’s still playing out today only now the weapons are so much more sophisticated and deadly.   Though the armies of the past were using weaponry as sophisticated as any they could conceive.)