Day 12 The ‘White Towns’ of Andalusia

Another “not early” breakfast in Seville, then a drive through Andalusia, or southern Spain.  We headed to the Atlantic Ocean coast to see Sanlucar de Barrameda.  A smaller, sleepy town but famous because this is where Columbus began is third voyage to the New World, and Magellan began his around the world voyage.  We continued on the Arcos, one of the many “White Towns”.  So named because many of the towns in Andalusia whitewash all the buildings.  Some have tried to assign this commonality to antiquity, but careful research tells us it started in the 1920’s!

After arrival, we found a small bar/restaurant for  tapas and drinks at 3pm.  Most everything was closed because of siesta, this was one of the few that remained open.  Sharing 8 tapas filled us up, then back to the hotel for a siesta!  (We are starting to get into the Spanish way of life)  We headed out around 8 tonight to see the town when it is cooler.

Arcos was build on a strip of land with a 300 foot drop on either side.  Also, the streets are not only narrow but steep!  As we walked around tonight, we would comment that there was no way a car would come down this street, and soon one did!  Some even have switches by the steering wheels to fold in their rear view mirrors as necessary.  If the street is a little wider then one car, there are usually tables set out for dining.  Where we ate was such a place, I dared not lean back in my chair lest I catch a mirror on the back side of my head.

We walked the “old town”.  Even here there were numerous cathedrals.  The one pictured never finished the bell tower.  A few hundred years ago, the priest and parishioners  apparently weren’t saying “Mary, Holy Mother of God” enough, so those unhappy, left and build their own church.  Hmm, things haven’t changed a bit.

As I complained about the steep streets in our evening walk, one old gentleman walked by, (going up hill, we were going down), with his cane in one hand, and his urine bag and attached catheter in the other.  I complained no more.

 

 

Finally we saw these two old gentlemen strolling in Sanlucar de Barrameda.  The guy on our right was leading his blind buddy on the left.  But the blind man was faster than his friend.  A great duo, you could tell these men did this a lot.  Literally the blind leading the slow.

Day 11 The Royal Alcazar in Sevilla

A later start this morning.  The heat is wearing us down a bit.  Took the bus into town around noon to visit the Alcazar, the 10th century palace built for the governors of the local Morrish state.  It saw a rebuild in the 15th century my Muslim workmen for the Christian king, Pedro I (?).  Not as ostentatious as the home-grown Christian palaces, but a lot more functional.

Multiple outdoor courtyards.

A very intricate, very large inlayed .

The rooms with the most history are in the Admiral’s Hall.  This is where Queen Isabel debriefed Columbus after he discovered the “New World”, where Ferdinand Magellan planned his around-the-world travels, AND where mapmaker, Amerigo Vespucci worked on naming Spanish explorer’s new land discoveries.  I’m glad he didn’t decide on Vespucci-land. 

This, actually, is what Christopher Columbus looked like.  A close up from a painting in the Admiral’s Hall depicting him during his time of exploration.  Historians think it is the most accurate depiction.  He died within a few years after his 4th and last voyage to the New World still thinking he had discovered China.  Although he became rich from plunder, on his last voyage he returned in chains.  The colonists had enough of his attitude.  We think he died of diabetes and/or syphilis at the age of 55.

Beyond the Alcazar are Moorish and Christian gardens, practically endless.  Most of our 9 Euro entrance fee must go to the army of gardeners to maintain the gardens.  Afterward we visited the site of the 1923 World’s Fair.  The Plaza de Espana is still quite impressive. 

Finally we visited the Metropol Parasol.  This wins the worldwide “what were they thinking” award!  They brag that this is the largest wooden structure in the world, designed by a German, made from Finnish birch wood and cost the city 100 million Euros.  The contrast with the 10th to 16th century architecture is both stunning and depressing.  What WERE they thinking?

                               

Day 10 Cordoba and Seville

Cordoba’s basilica is now my favorite.  Here is why: The Moors, (Muslims) conquered the area in 785AD, crushing the Christians and destroying their church.  A mosque was built over the site and, with some Christian architectural influence, continued to grow and expand to become the center of western Islam, until 1236 when King Ferdinand III came in with a vengeance and drove the Moors out.

To his credit, rather then destroying the mosque, he built a cathedral on the inside!  Never before and never since has this happened.  The contrast between the sprawling Islamic Mosque surrounding a beautiful and spacious basilica is stunning.  Hence my favoritism. 

I don’t think you will see this anywhere else in the world.  Islamic and Christian architecture/iconography side by side.

An hour and a half drive to Sevilla (sa-VEE-ah) for two days.  Still hot, 107 degrees is the norm now.  We had reserved a hotel on the outskirts of the city, (tourist parking is illegal in some of these towns), planning to take the city bus in.  A bit of a challenge, again, few people speak English here!  First we waited on the wrong side of the street for the bus, then we realized it was Sunday when most everything either shuts down, slows down, or stops.  Finally a bus shows up and we take a rather circuitous route into town.  But we made it, pinned it on our phone and away we went for a day of exploring.

Small city, lots of narrow streets, here they hang linen over the streets/alley ways to cool the areas between the buildings.  As we get accustomed to the area, we arrive at the Cathedral and Giralda Bell Tower.  Third largest in the world.  Took 100 years to build, the architects are quoted saying that they wanted to make it so big that anyone who saw it would “take us for madmen”.  They succeeded.  Interestingly, there was a huge crowd OUTSIDE the cathedral.  They opened the door and everybody flowed in; we joined the flow.  We did notice everyone was dressed way better than us.  Sure enough, as we got further in, we were told we weren’t invited and weren’t allowed to sit down with the locals.

 

A big event was in the works, so I tried to get in at another spot, again I was turned down.  Sandals and shorts do not make a Sevillian Catholic.  The cathedral holds several thousand, it filled to overflow.  We “commoners” stood at the periphery; now we had to stay to see what was going on.  A few pictures follow.  It must have been a “State of the Union” thing by the local Cardinal/Arch Bishop, we think.  Tons of robed priests, nuns sat in a special area, and then the 7,000 pipe-pipe organ kicked in.  Whoa, that was amazing.  Although we were spectators and not participants, very impressive. 

Where we were “locked out” actually gave us a pretty good view of what was going on!

Later that evening we went to a Flamenco show.  This was not your Disney-like twirling/castanets dance.  We watched a noisy, sexual battle between body, shoe and floor. Sweaty.  Wow!

 

Day 9 Back to Madrid

Rather then see more of Toledo in the AM, we decide to blast back up to Madrid to see the Royal Palace, (closed a few day ago when it was on our original agenda).  Worth the 30 minute drive back the Madrid.  Parked the car, Tom pinned it on his i-Phone then a multiple block trek (30 minutes) to the Royal Palace.  A good walk through of the Palace.  3,400 rooms, we saw about 25, that’s less than 1%!  Extravagance beyond belief.  The 15th and 16th centuries were crazy for Spain.  As the most powerful country in the world they chose to prove it by this show of opulence.  It is still used for state functions, probably why it was closed last week.  A few pictures I downloaded from Wiki.

In the basement was the armory.  Hundreds of sets of armor for both man (and kids in training), and horses.  Hundreds of weapons as well.  Again, overwhelming.

After our time at the Palace, it was another walk back to the car.  After wandering/retracing our steps for an hour, Tom accidently deleted his pin, (not that it helped much anyway).  We were lost in Madrid with everything in our car buried in an underground parking lot..  Fortunately Gloria remembered a cross street and with a paper map we reoriented on my phone and found the garage.  90 minutes of searching.  Android-1, Apple-0 this go around.

Finally, if you are still with me.  At 9:00pm the temperature was 107 degrees!

Day 8 Toledo

First, let’s get this out of the way.  “Holy Toledo” originated from here!  There was a time a few hundred years ago, where Muslims, Catholics and Jews lived peaceably together.  Granted, most of the Muslims (Moors), and Jews had been exiled or killed, but those that were left, mostly the upper class businessmen, actually respected each other’s faith traditions and peace was a result.  Hence Holy Toledo.  Holy and different.  There has to be a lesson there somewhere.

Today is devoted to Toledo, pronounced Toe-lay-doe, BTW.  Its streets are horse-cart width, so the plan of attack is to park outside and walk in.  “Outside”, although it has been inhabited since the Bronze Age, the Romans built the first city due to its strategic location. Surrounding on three side by the Tagus River, a natural mote resulted with access only through a well fortified fourth side.  After the Romans were the Visigoths, then the Moors.  They were soon sent packing by the Catholics.  Eventually, the Spanish King realized the church was involved too much with the government, (or was it visa-versa?), and moved the political capital to Madrid.  Enough history, here are some great pictures of a great city.

The Cathedral is the fourth largest in the world.

Someone said there is more artwork on this wall then in most museums!

To allow more light into the basilica, they cut “skylights” in the roof, then painted and carved sculptures around them.  I have never seen this in any other cathedral.  Really 3D, amazing.

Day 7 Avila’s Cathedral, Franco’s Cathedral and Segovia’s Cathedral

Potpourri of Cathedrals today.  Two inspiring, one foreboding.

The view from our second floor hotel window of Avila’s practically intact castle walls.  Very impressive, and probably rebuilt.  But it is like being in a time machine. 

Some  great internal flying buttresses in the Cathedral.

 

An interesting pursuit of ours is to stand in front of famous dictators and tyrants places of burial.  So far we have racked up Mao Tse Tung in Beijing, Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi, Lenin in Moscow, and Atatürk in Istanbul.  Franco is our fifth!

The Valley of the Fallen, Franco’s Cathedral.  Both Franco and his Cathedral are still very controversial.  He and his Nationals started Spain’s Civil War in 1939, three years later, between 500,000 and a million were dead.  Franco won, and ruled Spain as a Dictator until his death in 1975.  He likened himself to ‘der Fuhrer’.  Although neutral during WWII, they received support from the Nazi’s.  Anyway, he wanted to build his own basilica, so he had 200,000 tons of granite removed from this mountain to build it underground.  He tried to make it longer than St. Peter’s in Rome, but the Catholic church nixed that.  He used most of the granite removed to make the 500 foot tall cross.  (Tallest in the world!)  Behind the basilica, buried and inaccessible are the remains of 35,000 dead from the Civil War.  Finally, the inside the cathedral (no photographs allowed), looked like the inside of the Star Wars Death Star!  The angels and saints on the sides of the cathedral look more like Darth Vader’s Storm Troopers.  Creepy.  Needless to say, this cathedral is very controversial, and many Spaniards refuse to visit it.

 

Segovia Cathedral…..a few facts: 200 years to build, 20 chapels, lots of buried cardinals on the sides.

These columns are massive!

 

Acueducto (Roman Aqueduct).  Built in 50AD, restored in 1990.  No mortar, 20,000 granite blocks, 100 feet high.  Breathtaking.

Had to add this picture.  Awesome door knocker!

Day 6 Picasso’s Guernica and El Escorial

Perhaps Picasso’s most famous influencial piece of art is the mural-sized Guernica. It is the showpiece exhibit at Madrid’s Museo Reina Sofia.  The painting is believed to be a response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country village in northern Spain by German and Italian warplanes at the request of the Spanish Nationalists. Upon completion, Guernica was displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed, and believed to have helped bring worldwide attention to the Spanish Civil War.  No pictures were allowed; this one is from Google.  Stunning to see this 11’ by 25’ canvas and the Spaniard’s reaction to it.

An hour north of Madrid is El Escorial.  A brief history here:  El Escorial was built at the beginning of the Reformation.  Spain was the “superpower” at the time.  The very Catholic King Philip II was to have nothing to do with these reformers so he started the Inquisition to rid the land of all Protestants.  To embody the wonders of Catholicism he built this monstrous palace.  650 long, 500 feet wide, 2,600 windows, 1,200 doors, and over 100 miles of passageways.  King Philip was in a hurry, it was completed in 22 years.  Where, you ask, did he get the gold and wealth to build this incredible palace?  Ask the Incas and the Mayans…….

 

The docents were especially concerned about us taking photographs in the old castle (?).  Those taken on the inside were sneaked.  Little of the castle was accessible to tourists.  The basilica was an exception.  Again, spectacular.  The ceiling frescoes were comparable to the Sistine Chapel I believe.  The real coop was the Family pantheon, or crypt.  We descended down this long dark staircase made of deep brown and grey marble, and ended up in this huge circular room with 26 caskets!  Incredible.  Never seen such opulence for the dead.  Pictures were forbidden but the regent had left for a bit to gather a school group, so we photographed away.  Score!

Day 5 Madrid

Up early to walk to a highly recommended bakery for our morning pastry.  A zoo.  All locals, all in a hurry, we had so many choices we finally grabbed a few, then headed across the plaza to McDonald’s for our coffee and ate the pastries there.  We then headed out to visit the Palacio Real, (the Royal Palace).  Spain’s White House and Versailles all rolled up into one.  Top on our list of things to see in busy Madrid.  We got there, (looks like Buckingham Palace with over 2,800 rooms, and enough artwork, tapestries, chandeliers, and porcelain to fill  a hundred White Houses), and it was closed!!

This is the closest we got, the gates were locked.

They close it two days a year for who knows what, (clean the carpets?!).  Both of the days we are in Madrid.  Onward…we will check Wikipedia.  Next stop is the Royal Tapestry Factory.  It looked a bit too quiet on the outside too.  Once we found someone, we learned it was closed since the union was on strike!  Two for two.  Undaunted, we head up to the  multiple parks in Madrid.  Similar to Central Park in New York, or Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.  Nice time for Tom and me to take a nap while the ladies investigate where we are eating lunch.

Another great cathedral next to the Royal Palace

After lunch, (more on the cuisine of Spain in the future), hint: excellent.  We head over the the Museo Nacional del Prado.  The Prado Museum.  Over three thousand canvases, the largest collection in the world.  Everyday is free after 6:00, so we cue up at 5:30 to take advantage; with hundreds of others.  It is overwhelming.  We have visited the Hermitage in San Petersburg, the Getty in Los Angeles, the Louvre in Paris, and the British Museum in London.  All great, but if you want paintings, this is the place.  All the great Masters are represented, some of their greatest works.  It is best to pre-caffeinate before entering, keeps you sharp going from one vast room to the next. 

You gotta love the way they prune their trees in the park.

Finally, when 8:00pm rolls around, the staff got the cattle prods out and send us to the exits. The problem was, it was pouring rain outside.  With lightning and thunder.  The porticoes are large around the museum, but not so large that they will hold the hundreds from the inside.  None the less, they kept pushing and prodding us to get out of the museum proper, they finally slammed the doors and left everyone outside, somewhat protected from the downpour.  We waited, and waited, till the umbrella hawkers showed up and the rain subsided to make a run for the 1-2 miles back the the hotel.  No problem, I have the trusty phone map to get us back.  Oh wait, after the rain slowed, we had waited so long that my battery died!  We had to wing it back to the hotel with a soggy paper map, that did a much better job advertising where the McDonalds were then the street names!

 

A couple of good links:  Prado Museum, and Royal Palace  (no photographs in either)