We visited the royal palace in Madrid. WOW! Now I know where all the proceeds from those South American colonies went. There was room after room of astonishingly decorated ceilings, sculptures and paintings.
We made a day trip out to Toledo, which was a really interesting place to visit. It was the day before Corpus Christi. Even though I’m a collapsed catholic I’ve got no idea what Corpus Christi is about beyond its obvious literal meaning. I can’t even be bothered googling it. Note that Microsoft Word has obviously not caught up with the verb to google. In any event the streets of Toledo were extravagantly decorated with flags and flowers for the celebration.
At this point I want to share some of my beloved Dale’s wonderful words of wisdom as we have travelled around. It is clear that you no longer need a classical education in order to have a broad general knowledge and cultural insight. What you need is exposure to a lot of musical theatre and television. Whilst wandering around Toledo Dale suddenly exclaimed ‘’now I understand why Clinger kept saying Holy Toledo in Mash’’ (Ed – Note how David can’t even spell Klinger properly). For those not as well educated as Dale, Clinger was from Toledo, Ohio. Dale’s sudden ‘’aha’’ moment was brought on by learning that Toledo was the centre for the Catholic Church in Spain for centuries and that it has a phenomenal number of churches. A little later on the same day he turned to me and said ‘’Do you know how I knew that El Greco was a painter?’’ I naturally said no, whereupon he explained that there is a line in a song sung by Bernadette Peters in the musical ‘’Dames at Sea’’ that refers to an El Greco painting. Impressive. But wait, about a week later Dale was on the phone to his brother in law telling him that we were about to go to Seville, at which point there were guffaws of laughter from both ends of the phone because Dallas asked whether we would be having haircuts. This was then followed by both of them admitting that they only knew of the Barber of Seville because they watched Bugs Bunny cartoons. Parents get thy children into musical theatre and sit them in front of the television for as many hours as you possibly can.
In Toledo we also experienced for the first time the awnings that are draped along the main streets in some Spanish towns to provide shelter from the hot weather. We saw them used again in Seville and Granada. The other Spanish invention for cooling down is to spray watery mist from hoses strung out above restaurant tables. Intriguing, yet environmentally suspect in water starved southern Spain.
In Toledo we just wandered around enjoying the narrow winding streets and the Moorish influence on architecture and design. There were plenty of the dreaded El Greco paintings in Toledo, where he lived for much of his life, although I relented and reluctantly admitted that there were a couple that probably indicated some talent. In one museum there was a room full of El Greco paintings of the 12 apostles and the Nazarene (in the words of Gore Vidal) and we were entertained by the 3 Indian women who oohed and aahed about the way El Greco had depicted their loving, thoughtful, graceful expressions and so on!
On our final night in Madrid we went out for dinner and had a great meal but the most fantastic part of the meal was (re) discovering Mateuse Rose. I had forgotten that this stuff even existed. I don’t think that I’ve seen a bottle since I was a child – presumably the last time I drank any. We’ve since shared some more Mateuse with Julia and Dom, and Julia’s parents Barrie and Jan, and we are beginning to think that it may even be an alternative to sparkling red being slightly aerated and all. Perhaps an exploratory committee can be formed by the sparkling red group to consider this possibility in more detail.
Next stop was Cordoba and 2 days in a row of 40 degree heat. We arrived on Friday afternoon and headed over the road from our hotel to the Mezquita (Mosque) which we think is the most stunning site we’ve visited in Spain. Thanks to Barbra and Rob for suggesting that we visit Cordoba as we hadn’t had any intention of doing so. Cordoba was the capital of Muslim Spain until mid way through the 13th century and, as a result, the mosque is magnificent in size and splendour. After the Christian reconquest of Andalucia a cathedral was built right in the middle of the mosque. The mosque could hold 40,000 people for prayers and has nearly 1000 beautiful arched pillars. It was spacious and cool in 40 degrees. It reminded us of the mosques we visited in India in 2005 which are wonderful public spaces precisely because they are so open and spacious.
We also visited the Alcazar gardens, which is pretty much the only other thing to do in Cordoba.
We ventured out late on the second day for a walk and a pre-dinner drinky poo before going just around the corner for tapas at a tiny bar. This bar is apparently quite famous for its tortilla and we certainly loved it. We had to eat standing at the bar and in addition to the tortilla we had the usual jamon (who remembers which variation), chorizo sausage and olives washed down by the lovely house sangria. We’ve since made our own sangria, with Jan’s recipe, but more of that later.
Next it was on to Seville where we met up with Dominie, Julia, Jan and Barry. It has been fantastic to be with our friends as we have been starting to miss everyone. So much of the time in Seville and Granada was spent enjoying long breakfasts, evening drinks and convivial dinners. Dominie arrived in Seville from France saying that she had eaten way too much jamon (ham) in France but proceeded to continue to lead the jamon tapas charge. Aside from talking, eating and some shopping our tourist activities were visiting the cathedral, the Alcazar and seeing a Flamenco show. The less said about the cathedral the better. It is apparently the largest in the world (by volume) according to the Guinness Book of Records Certificate, and it contains (some of) the remains of Christopher Columbus. It also has great views from the towers that were originally minarets for the mosque on the same site. Perhaps what was most interesting was the miners' occupation protest happening inside. Thanks to some expert googling by Dom we discovered that they have been laid off from their jobs and they do not believe that they’ve been paid their correct entitlements. They used the Corpus Christi celebrations to move into the cathedral and the church has allowed them to stay.
The Alcazar was very impressive. Room after room has marvellous intact tiles arranged in stunning designs. The gardens are also a wonderful oasis of greenery. We couldn’t understand why more isn’t made of this palace. We think that it is at least the equal of the Alhambra in Granada. I preferred the Alhambra because the Seville Alcazar is a hotch potch of add ons utilising different architectural styles but there is no doubt that the tiles are more intact and stunning and some of the others preferred the Alcazar to the Alhambra.
Julia, David, Dom and Dale - Choreography by Franzie But the best experience was the Flamenco show. It was hysterical but I have to admit upfront that it isn’t my cup of tea, or as the French would say ‘’ma tasse du the’’. I haven’t had so much fun in years. The first performer pulled faces that would make a constipated drag queen proud and which it would be impossible for anyone else to replicate despite repeated attempts by Dale and I. It appears that Flamenco is a very serious dancing style and in its pure form the songs are more important than the dancing. The result is that all the women attempt to look as severe as they possibly can and almost no one smiles. I find the dancing very energetic but staccato and lacking in fluidity although, to their credit, a couple of the dancers did manage to effect some elegance notwithstanding the nature of the music and the singing. The most important person in Flamenco performances appears to be the ‘’lead’’ singer who sings, and issues challenges and questions, to the dancer who then responds in dance. I should explain that there were only 2 singers and a guitarist performing with one dancer at any one time. The main lead singer was an older guy who was fantastic because he was engaging with both the dancer and the audience but the other singers looked supremely bored all evening. The singers and the guitarist are supposed to say ‘’ole’’ from time to time to encourage the dancer but the ‘’oles’’ these guys let out just made everyone want to go to sleep. At one point one of the secondary singers had a solo and was really going for it when he lost the notes which resulted in everyone cracking up with laughter including the dancer. The one saving grace was that the first male dancer was very easy on the eye. Perhaps Julia or Dominie - or anyone else who feels so inclined - might like to defend the artistic intgrity of Flamenco dancing.
We then moved on to Granada, which I think was my favourite town in Spain. Manuela had told us that she thinks it is the Spanish equivalent of Aix-en-Provence and I can see why. The two towns have about the same population, including very large student populations, and were historically capitals of their regions and the centres of cultural renaissances. Like Aix, Granada is obviously affluent and has beautiful street scapes that include all the big brand name stores.
We visited a Hammam while in Granada which I think has been the best experience we’ve had while in Spain. A Hammam is a spa and massage complex and the one we visited in Granada was divinely cool and relaxing. It was beautifully decorated with tiles and Moorish patterns. They had a cool pool, a lukewarm pool and a hot pool as well as a steam room and we all had massages. At any time you could also go and have some refreshingly sweet Turkish tea. We spent about an hour and a half in the Hammam in the middle of the day and it revived us all wonderfully.
In the afternoon we visited the Alhambra which is quite an ordeal. Dominie booked tickets for us months in advance. It is so famous that they only let people into the Nazaries Palace in half hour intervals. As a result it is incredibly crowded which detracts from the enjoyment of the visit. I liked the palace because of its wonderful layout although I also think that it pales in comparison with the similar Mughal palaces you see in India. Nevertheless you can wander between interestingly tiled and sculpted rooms, tiled courtyards and cool garden courtyards. The newer Generaliffe (take insurance jokes as read) gardens above the Nazaries Palace are wonderful to stroll through, particularly as the day cools. We spent about an hour and a half in the gardens between 5.30 and 7 in the evening.
We rounded off our visit to Granada – and Dom’s last evening in Spain - by going to a tapas bar and eating lots more jamon. We specifically picked a place with over 200 legs of jamon hanging from the ceiling – each with a miniature bucket beneath it to collect the melting fat. It was a great evening. Food was perfect, service was perfect and most importantly jug after jug of sangria was perfect.
The following day Barrie collected Dale, Julia and I from Granada and drove us north to Bolnuevo, where he and Jan live permanently. Bolnuevo is on the Costa Calida (Hot Coast) just south of Cartagena and Murcia. The drive north east from Granada takes a few hours although we took a little longer by taking the scenic route along the coast and stopping along the way for a beachside lunch and afternoon coffee break. The Spanish coast line is quite dramatic because the land rises very quickly. Spain apparently has the second highest average altitude in Europe and can be likened to one huge plateau. Whilst eating lunch on a bright sunny day we saw a mist appear: very odd.
Barrie and Jan very generously allowed us to stay in their holiday rental apartment in Bolnuevo, which we can highly recommend. On our first evening we had a barbecue at their place and got stuck into Jan’s (special recipe) sangria. We now have the recipe and, while it is no substitute for sparkling red, we can see lots of this being drunk when we return home.
Dinner with Jan, Barrie and JuliaBolnuevo is on the coast and has great beaches so we’ve tried to spend as much time as we can on the beach and in the sea. We are spending the next 5 weeks away from the Mediterranean so we decided this was the best thing to do. The beaches are actually sandy and the water is cool but not cold. Barrie and Jan also loaned us their bicycles so we were able to cycle south along an unmade road that runs alongside cliffs and overlooks some truly spectacular swimming beaches where we were able to stop and swim.
On our first day we headed down to the main beach at Bolnuevo in the late afternoon, where we were entertained by a group of approximately 10 friends who were having a good time at the beach. At some point they decided that they would all go in for a swim and a few minutes later one of the guys was on the beach waving around one pair of board shorts and another pair of female swimming ‘’bottoms’’ (perhaps this is the reverse monokini). Much much hilarity ensued as the bathers were thrown up the beach and the pair were encouraged to fetch them. To her credit the woman calmly came out of the water and grabbed her bathers – and no I didn’t take a photo before anyone asks. However she then grabbed a camera and started taunting the guy – who we think was her partner – to come out and get his bathers. Most of the beach was watching with amusement while he dithered and made a couple of hilarious attempts to get out of the water while covering his private parts. These attempts ended in failure because he had to walk over some stones just before getting on to dry land which, between these and the waves, meant he kept falling over. Finally after about 15 minutes – and everyone losing interest – he decided to drag himself out of the water and up the beach along his stomach probably for 10 meters. It was very funny. His girlfriend was snapping photos all the way and a couple of the guys attempted to turn him over but he ingeniously scooped sand up in their faces before they could get close to him. It’s easy to have fun at the beach isn’t it.
Aside from amusing ourselves on the beach the other highlight of Bolnuevo was visiting the Paso Azul and Paso Blanco museums in nearby Lorca. These museums exhibit the magnificent semana santa (Holy Week) costumes made by their 'schools'. During Easter processions are held in Lorca that are very colourful and mix pagan Roman stories as well as stories from the old and new testaments. Naturally the theme is all about the triumph of Christianity. A number of different ‘’schools’’ or ‘’brotherhhoods’’ try to out do one another with better costumes and floats. The two biggest are Paso Azul and Paso Blanco. We saw some video highlights of this year’s procession that Barrie and Janet actually attended and it was visual feast of costumes, floats, chariots and horseback acrobatics. Tickets cost about 50 Euro per person but you get to watch the procession over 2 nights. If it rains the procession is cancelled and you don’t get your money back. This happened to Janet and Barrie a couple of years ago.
The highlight are the cloaks that are all hand embroidered. Paso Blanco had the best exhibits of these cloaks but at Paso Azul you can see some that are over 100 years old and you actually get to go into their workshop to watch people working on the cloaks for next year’s procession. In fact when we went in they told us that they had already spent a year working on one major cloak for next year’s possession. There was a little bit of an unhappy murmer around the room when Dale took a photo of part of the cloak that was being worked on. We eventually worked out that they were very worried about Paso Blanco finding out about their design by the photo being sold or posted on the internet. When they worked out that we were from Australia they said it was ok to keep taking photos as long as they weren’t being posted on the internet but Dale thought it best to not take any more. There were nine people (all women) working when we were there, they are apparently employed full time and one lady has been working there for 25 years (shades of the dedication at MTC wardrob dept). I don’t want to give too much away lest the Paso Blanco people are surfing around the internet but 6 of the women were hand sowing a very intricate picture in a multitude of colours while 3 others were sowing gold coilied thread as part of the general cape background. Each gold coiled thread was cut to a length of a few millimetres before the needle was placed inside it and then sewn into the cloak. No wonder they take 2 years to make. The women said they are passionate about embroidery and I think you would have to be to do this work. There must be an amazing sense of achievement however when your cloak is finally revealed to the crowd. Apparently the Azul people stand on one side with blue kerchiefs, screaming and shouting, while the Blanco people stand on the other side doing their same with their white kerchiefs.
We finished a lovely 5 days in the south and headed back to Barcelona before taking a sleeper train to Paris. Adieu to Julia for 2 weeks whilst we spend time with Dale’s family in Paris and Haute Provence.
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