Colourful Catalunya & Beautiful Barcelona

We are still in Spain, but now in Catalunya! You may have heard the slogan - “You’re NOT in Spain - You’re in CATALUNYA!” We will find out today when the President of Catalunya announces his intentions to stay or separate!

Barcelona may be Spain’s second city, but it is definitely the first city of the proud and semi-autonomous region of Catalunya.  It bubbles with life - from the narrow alleys of the Gothic area, to the well known pedestrian boulevard of La Rambla, it is indeed a lively place.

After we left our travel colleagues in Madrid, we rented a large 7 passenger van, which was one way to get us and our luggage from Madrid to Barcelona!  

We could have taken the fast train, but that would not afford us the luxury of driving by the seaside!

The drive to Barcelona was uneventful.  It was when we entered the city that things got interesting!  I mentioned the narrow alleys above.  Well, our hotel was on a street that most readers would only consider a walkway.  Trying to get a 7 passenger van around was interesting to say the least!  We were continually cut off by motorcycles, which was disconcerting at first, but situation normal after awhile. 

We tried to get to our hotel for over an hour, but every time we got close, google maps kept changing the direction to the hotel.  We finally  gave up trying and tried rushing to the car rental place before it closed - no luck there either!  We contemplated trying to go to the hotel again, but Sonya vetoed that with a strong expletive!  We made it to the Sants railway station well after dark and dropped off the van.  A reasonably short taxi ride later, we understood why we could not find our hotel.  It was on a street only accessible by taxi or delivery truck!  

Next time, take the fast train!!

But - it turned out to be a quaint historic hotel - well worth the harrowing experience getting there.

The next day we jumped aboard the hop-on hop-off bus tour to orient ourselves to the city.  

We drove by all of the major attractions in the city and soon figured out that we had driven around and around them all night before trying to find the hotel.

First stop  was the Casa Batllo, the home of renowned architect Antoni Gaudi, most well known for the design of the Sagrada Familia Basillica (more later).

Casa Batllo is one of the strangest houses in Europe - Gaudi at his hallucinatory best.  Locals know it as the house of bones or the house of the dragon (for its rooftop dragon).  Even the balconies look like the jaws of some bony beast - you be the judge!

Next was the indescribable Sagrada Familia.  No amount of pictures can do this place justice, but we have a few to give you some idea.

Here we are making a tight descent through the Nativity tower.

With his all consuming obsession, Gaudi saw the completion of the edifice as his holy mission.

It began construction in 1883 and has been under construction ever since.  Gaudi knew that his dream would take several generations, as he is quoted as saying, “Don’t worry, my client (God) is in no rush, he has all the time in the world.”

The present estimate for completion is 2026, 100 years after Gaudi’s untimely death as a result of being struck by a tram car.

Our next foray was a day trip off to Montserrat, a dramatic mountain top monastery about an hour out of town.  It is considered Catalunya’s most important pilgrimage site for the last  1,000 years.  

The black Madonna that is in the monastery is reputed to have been found in a cave near by.  The priests that found it, planned to bring it back to Barcelona, so they packed it carefully and started the trek back.  As they were walking with the statue, it became heavier and heavier, to the point that it was too difficult to carry. The priests determined that this was a sign that the Madonna wanted the Statue to remain on the mountain, so they built a monastery and church at the site where the statue is now situated.  

The statue has apparently darkened over the years (hence the Black Madonna) due to the varnish used and being touched by so many pilgrims.  The day we were there, there was a long line up (over an hour) to touch the Madonna, a procession that continued through the morning until the boys choir started to sing.

One of the star attractions of the Monastery is the boys choir.  The boys are aged 8 - 11, and they sing in prayer to the Madonna every day for 10 minutes at 1 pm.  Get there early though! We went into the Basilica at 12:25 pm and we were lucky to get the last few seats in the pews, very near the rear of the church.   

The voices have an angelic quality to them, and we were sad that we could only hear them for 10 minutes, but definitely worth the wait.

The next day was Monday - the international wash day, or so it seems.

As with other cities and countries, wash day is Monday.  We are told that Monday was designated as wash day, as the burning of garbage was banned on Monday in order not to have the soot and the smell of burning garbage infused into the wash as it hangs out to dry!

We were off to La Boqueria market, a historic market that has been there since 1217, and locals continue to come here to shop.  It is a cornucopia of sights, smells and sounds that comes close to overwhelming the senses.  Here you can buy avocados for as little as 1.99 euros per kilo, or Iberian ham for 220.00 euros (C$ 330) per kilo!  Sorry Steve, sorry Jeff, no Iberian ham coming back to Canada for either of you!

Now that’s a knife!

Dianna and Sonya both did buy authentic Spanish Saffron so that they can make, among other things, Paella!!!

Next we were off to to the aquarium, with its 80 meter shark tunnel, one of Europe’s largest aquariums. 

Even old kids like us were delighted with the experience of sharks gliding above us as we walked through.  The aquarium has a collection of 11,000 fish, 450 species from as far as the Red Sea, the Caribbean and the Great Barrier Reef.  

The last two days were devoted to shopping - Gord and I could not hold them off any longer.

Here Gord and I are in the men’s section of the shopping area, holding up the ancient walls as the women did their damage to the bank balance!

That evening, five bomberos (fire trucks) and an armoured vehicle went whizzing past us on La Rambla.  Huh, what’s up, we wonder??  The next morning, we were greeted by three police officers outside our hotel with machine guns!  

Now we really wonder what is up!

Later that evening, Gord and Dianna were fascinated by the flying light flares, as they were shot 50 feet into the air and then gently helicoptered down to the open hands of the seller.  Dianna bartered 4 of these for 10 euros for her grandchildren (sorry for the spoiler), then proceeded to buy another 6 from another vendor.  He was emphatic that she bought 4 for 10 euros and the others were a gift, as he did not want to be known to sell these too cheaply!!

Having purchased so many of these, Gord thought it a good idea to get some lessons on how to properly launch them into the air.

We happened upon a Spanish Guitar concert in an intimate little chapel in the Santa Anna church.  This church is a 12th century gem that used to be part of a convent.

The two guitarists were very talented and delightful. 

They finished their concert with a wonderful song for a 4-handed guitar, as shown here. 

They even came out to chat with us after the performance - where we learned they had been to Detroit, Germany, England but not Canada (yet).  She kept shivering at the thought of visiting Canada - “so cold”!

What a wonderful way to end our visit to Spain.

And so we say Bye Bye Barcelona, and adios to Spain as we get ready to jump on our plane to Amsterdam and then to Edmonton!   

It has been a great trip - we put on countless kilometers traveling by Bus and by car, we walked more than 146 kilometers over three weeks according to Dianna’s Fitbit and iPhone.  

Update - Sounds like we may spend the night in Amsterdam as French air traffic controllers are on strike and we need to fly through French air space!  They are providing specific time slots and ours is late!  (Oh no Gord, perhaps one more museum or church in Amsterdam!!). P.S.   We made the plane with 7 minutes to spare!!

Vaya con Dios!

Dianna, Gord, Sonya & Paul

Salamanca, Avila, Toledo, Segovia and Madrid

Salamanca, Avila, Toledo, Segovia and Madrid 

As we returned to Spain, our first stop was in the beautiful City of Salamanca.  Here resides the oldest university in Spain, the third oldest university in the world, founded in the 1200s.

The entire old city is a UNESCO world heritage site.  As you enter the old town you see that all of the buildings are constructed from the same sandstone, largely because of a quarry not far from the city. 

Walking from our hotel to the square (Spain’s best Plaza Mayor), you really do see that the city is a university city, as the area is teeming with students.  Seated on the tiles in the middle of the square are 3 fine arts students sketching various parts of the architecture.  

 As we were leaving our dinner spot in the Plaza, the entire square was simultaneously lit up; a very warm and inviting scene.  

Avila 

We arrived at a stop just outside Avila shortly after 9 a.m. and, after all the warm places we have been, +10 C seemed very cool (yes, I know we are being wimps!). 

The place where we stopped is significant, as it was the birthplace of St. Theresa of Avila.

From a very young age, she was determined to be a Saint, like Francis of Assisi.  When she was 7 years old she decided to set off to fulfill her dream. Being a young child, she did not get that far before she had to stop and rest.  These 4 pillars mark the spot where Theresa stopped.

Here, her uncle sat down with her and convinced her to come back home for a few years until she was a little older, at which time she could leave and join a convent.  This determined young child  did exactly that, and of course eventually did become a Saint!

Holy Toledo

Entering Toledo, we stopped at a forge to be shown how the famous Toledo swords are made. Today the industry has three main customer groups - museums, collectors, and the movie industry.  In fact, the swords used in the movie The Lord of the Rings were made here in Toledo.  

The process of inlaying gold in the steel, which is called Damashi, is named after Damascus where the craft was perfected.  Most of the swords we saw had beautiful inlaid gold.

In the days of old, the outcome of a fight depended not only on the personal ability of the fighter, but  the perfection of his weapon.  The Toledo swords were made of exceptionally hard steel which made them  an invincible force in the hands of an expert swordsman. All European armies knew the superior quality of Toledo steel swords and many great warriors relied only on sabers of Toledan provenance.

There were 60 churches in Toledo, 13 of which were cloisters for various orders.  Plus, there were 11 synagogues, the earliest of which dated back to 586 B.C. The Cathedral that still stands today was started in the 1300s and took 270 years to build.

One of the most interesting churches , now a Museum, is the Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blanca.  This Synagogue’s architecture harmoniously combines the three religious influences, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. While it looks like a mosque, it never was.  It was a Synagogue built by Muslim workers around 1200, then became a Catholic Church in 1492, when Queen Isabella forced the expulsion of Jews or their conversion to Catholicism.  

The city of Toledo is considered by Jews to be one of the holiest cities in Europe.  Here the Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in peace for centuries. It is a pity that we cannot seem to do the same in this day and age.

The American  expression “Holy Toledo” is believed to date back to the time when the Sephardic Jews immigrated to the USA and would reference their former holy city - Holy Toledo!

Madrid 

On our return drive to Madrid, Alberto,  our guide, was very guarded in what he told us about dinner tonight, and for a good reason!

When we arrived at the Restaurante La Castafiore,  we were greeted by a goodly number of waiters.  In the centre of the restaurant was a piano, so we were confident that there would be entertainment of some sort.

Partway through the first course, one of the waiters sat down at the piano and started playing some beautiful music that was recognizable but the title was elusive.  Then a waitress stepped out of the kitchen and started singing “O Mio Babbino Cairo” from a Puccini opera.  The entire dining room / audience was rapt as she sang her heart out. 

After listening to our waiter sing Nessun Dorm from another Puccini opera (Turnadot), I was able to ask him where he learned to sing opera.  In what can only be described as a small world, he told us that he learned at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.

He was surprised when I told him that I knew it well as I had been to see it on one of my many visits to Buenos Aires between 2000 and 2012.  

After the operatic performances, they turned to songs from various musicals and finally had everyone up dancing!  A great time was had by all.

On the way back to our hotel, we took another quick tour of the city, this time down Gran Via or what North Americans know as Broadway (literally translated).  He pointed out the most beautiful McDonald’s restaurant in the world.  

This McDonald’s location was formerly a very high end jewelry store.  They were allowed to use this location on the condition that they did not change any of the retail space, due to its historic significance.  Consequently burgers are slung on marble countertops that previously displayed expensive diamonds.  If you find a more upscale McDonalds, I would be interested in hearing about it!

In the morning, we had another tour of the city with a few stops along the way, including the Royal Palace. As we came from the underground parkade, Dianna was charmed by a Torero, (bull fighter)  and he convinced her to have her picture taken with him. 

This is the closest she will likely agree to get to a bull fight, or to a bull fighter!

While we we admiring the architecture, we noted that there was a great deal of police activity near the entrance. 

We happen to be visiting on Christopher Columbus Day as they call it in the USA, so the King and Queen would be receiving a large number of guests for lunch after the completion of the parade.

This palace is Europe’s largest and the third greatest after Paris’ Versailles and Vienna’s Schoenbrunn. It has 2,800 rooms (imagine that cleaning bill!) and today is only used for ceremonial purposes. 

After a couple more stops we were on our way to Segovia.  This is a beautiful medieval town with a 2000 year old 9 mile Roman built aqueduct and water channel.

The aqueduct is an impressive and massive structure with 20,000 - 24,000 blocks of stone (you count them!), all held together with no mortar.  Imagine the skill of the architects and builders in those days.  Even with all of our skills and technology, we cannot seem to replicate the feats of the ancient builders!

The cathedral in the main square of Segovia was started in 1525 and completed more than 50 years later.  It’s neo-gothic style makes it quite striking.  

After lunch our last stop in Segovia was the Alcázar (Palace).

This structure was started by the Moors and must therefore date back to between the 700s, when they arrived, and 1069, when they left the area.  The Spanish monarchs then continued to build on the base. It became one of the favourite residences of the monarchs of Castile (one of the major areas of Spain).  It was a palace, then a prison, then a Royal Artillery School and finally a museum.  Some say it was the inspiration for Walt Disney’s castle in Sleeping Beauty. You decide!

On the way back to the bus, Gord and I have the opportunity to walk back along the Arab built walls surrounding Segovia.

Today has truly been  a walk back in time.

On our last evening with group, we had our farewell dinner. On the way, Alberto explained that we would have some musical entertainment by a group of students that were (supposedly) singing to earn money to pay their tuition fees.  The group is called Tuna Universitaria de Madrid.  

Now, when you look at these guys, you have to wonder how long they have been in university, or perhaps more correctly, how long since they have been to university!  However, they were good sports and good musicians, and a good time was had by all.

 We all said goodbye to each other and bid our farewells, adieus and adioses.  This was a delightful group to travel with and, as Alberto said, while we may all have been from different parts of the world and have many differences, it is more important to focus on our similarities as our fellow traveller John had so eloquently said.

Of course, this kind of trip could not happen with out the excellent skills of our professional, proficient, personable and very knowledgeable tour director, Alberto.

And Alberto would be the first to tell you that he sleeps very well at night knowing that our bus and luggage arrangements are left in the extremely capable hands of Paulo, our wonderful driver from Portugal.

Paulo, você é um motorista de ônibus muito profissional!  (You can translate that from Portuguese if you want!)

Our next installment will be from Barcelona, so we say:

 Hasta luego,

DGSP

Portugal - The Algarve and Lisbon

Get a cup of coffee, tea or other refreshment  - this will be a long installment!  

Today we crossed the border from Spain to Portugal - what a process!  

Actually I almost slept through it except for the fact that our guide, Alberto, announced over the speaker that as we crossed over the river on the bridge, we went through the border.  No gates, no guards, no duties, we did not even slow down!

Such is the case for many of the EU countries (called the Schengen countries after the name of the agreement), which makes it great for those traveling between these countries.

 

For 16 of the 28 countries, you also don’t need to worry about converting currencies, because they all use the Euro as their currency, another wonderful convenience. 

Today’s History Lesson (John, skip ahead to “Back to the Tour if you want)

The European Union has its root in various treaties and agreements between six countries that began after WWII.  They wished to avoid future destruction and to work towards future integration.  Today the EU consists of 28 countries as noted above. 

In 1999, the Euro was born.  For three years each of the 12 agreeing countries kept prices in both their local currencies and the Euro.  On December 31, 2001, at 11:30 pm, all of the ATMs in Europe were shut down for 45 minutes.  At 12:15 am on January 1, 2002, all of the machines had be re-programmed to display only Euros and provide bank balances in Euros. They also had to load all the machines with the Euros as well.  What an accomplishment!

From the paper currency perspective, this was a major logistical feat,  as all of the wealth of these 12 countries had to be converted from the local currency into Euros.  Every bank and ATM, in every country, in even the most remote location, had to have Euros delivered to them, amounting to billions and billions being shipped by truck all over Europe in preparation for this day. It went flawlessly. For two months shop keepers accepted both currencies, but returned change only in Euros, and in a short time, the conversion was complete.

Back to the Tour

On our way to the Algarve, the Portuguese Riviera, we stopped in Tavira, a small town near the border for coffee.  Now coffee in Europe is not a simple thing, particularly in Portugal.  The Portuguese economy is fuelled by coffee and any excuse to have a coffee is a good one.  

But, you must know what you want.  There is a cafe curto, a cafe comprido, a cafe cheio, a carioca, a pingo or garoto, a galao, a meia de leite, a cafe com leite, and finally of course a descafeinado!  This is quite possibly where Starbucks got its idea for all of the adjectives it uses for its coffee!

Here, Gord and I are sampling two of these coffees, you figure out which ones they are!

From here we went on to our evening on the seaside in the Algarve.  In the 1970s, the Algarve had 25 tuna fish factories, today there are none!  Instead, there are 43 golf courses as they transitioned from a fishing economy to a tourist economy.  In fact tourism has increased dramatically throughout Portugal.  In 2016, there were 4 Million tourists.  By the end of June 2017, it had received 8 Million tourists, in just the first six months. The  principal reason being that Northern Europeans who previously went to Turkey are now instead coming to Portugal! Now that kind of an increase is hard on the infrastructure - but what a construction opportunity!

We toured some of the coastal areas of the Algarve, with beautiful beaches and stunning coastlines.  One of the beach areas won the most beautiful beach in the world competition in 2012 and 2013.  

Here, you see some of the rock crags that form the most southwestern point of Europe. Try as you might, you cannot see North America, well, save for your imagination perhaps.

This stone outcrop resembles a Victorian era lady’s shoe:

That evening, we had a dinner at the restaurant that overlooked a tidal basin. It was wonderfully peaceful after what felt like a long day of travelling.

Next morning, on our way to Lisbon (Lisboa to the Portuguese and pronounced Leesh-BO-ah).  Along the way we stopped at a ranch that raised Lusitano horses for the last 300 years.  The name comes from the Roman name for the area - Lusitania.  

The founder, a close friend of King Juan Carlos, fell in love with the Queen, his good friend’s wife.  When asked, our guide Vera, said, “The Queen knew”, but she would say no more.  I know, you want to know more, and so did we, but no more was said - family discretion is utmost!

Although Vera understands English very well, she eloquently and passionately provides her family’s history in Portuguese while our tour director Alberto translates for us.

Originally these horses were bred to fight in the war against Napoleon. In 1974, during the revolution in Portugal, the military gave the family two hours to leave and occupied the facility.  The occupiers stayed for three years and destroyed much of the ranch.  Upon return, they rebuilt and repurchased many of the horses from around the countryside.   Today, they sell their horses all over the world.  A three year old will sell for 25,000 euros or more. These horses are very versatile and acclimate to their environment very quickly and are therefore quite sought after.  But when the time comes for the horses to retire, at about 20 years of age, they are brought back to the ranch on which they were born.  

When we got to Lisbon, we went out that evening to a Fado show.  The Fado is to Portugal what the Flamenco is to Spain or the Tango is to Argentina. The origin of the Fado is unclear, but everyone agrees it expresses the Portuguese soul.  Fado means fate -  how fate deals with Portuguese adventures and the women they leave behind - about sadness and hope - dreams of a better future, and for what might have been - had fate not intervened.  

  While listening, I could not help but think of the tango bars in Buenos Aires, where the themes are very similar.   Leonor, our local guide, said that Argentinians “get” the Fado immediately.  I guess that makes me an Argentinian, at least in part.  

Perhaps a few of these pictures will help you understand the mood.

We did a tour of the Monastery of Jeronimos (St. Jerome).  The monastery is built on ground that housed a small chapel where sailors would pray the night before they set off on their long adventure. 

This beautiful building is here today because of the Portuguese penchant for exploration.  They found a water route to India so that they could avoid paying the exorbitant prices for spices that were charged by the overland purveyors.   The prices were significantly less, so the King saw an opportunity to charge a 5 % tax on the spices, called “pepper money”.  It is with these taxes that they were able to build such a beautiful church.  Vasco de Gama, one of Portugal’s great explorers, is buried here.

It is also at this monastery that the world famous Portuguese custard tarts were created.  When we finished our tour, Alberto, our Tour Director, had tarts ready for all, they were still warm from the ovenand they were amazing!

Having feasted on the tarts, our next mission was to sample the Portuguese gelato.  Dianna and Gord loved them, as did we! Notice the studious look Gord has as he inspects his Gelato.

OK, more steps required to work off the extra calories!  

Our last evening in Portugal involved taking a ferry across the Tagus River to try out a traditional fish dinner at a riverside diner that the locals frequent.  On the way over we enjoyed a sunset view of this world class working harbour.

It was great to see how the locals do it and to taste the food that they eat regularly.

Our last day in Portugal and we are off to Fatima.  This place is home to the Miracle of Fatima,  the visions of our Lady of Peace by three children in the fields in 1917.  

On May 13, 1917, and for six months on the 13th of the month, the Virgin Mary appeared to three young shepherds making three prophecies: 

1. Confirming the existence of Hell;

2. The end of the First World War, with Russia abandoning Christianity and embracing Communism;

3. A prediction of the attempted assassination of the Pope.  

It was in 1930, after much investigation, that the Vatican accepted the miracle as legitimate. 

Much later, on May 13, 1981, there was an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.  

On June 26, 2000, Pope John Paul II released the “Third Secret of Fatima”, in which he said that the assassination attempt was the fulfilment of this third Secret. May 13 (the date of the assassination attempt) is the anniversary of the first apparition of the 

Virgin Mary to the three children of Fatima, something the Pope has always regarded as significant, attributing his survival on that day to her protection. 

 

What happened to the children that received the apparitions?  Two of them died as children.  The third, Lucia, became a nun.

As you walk around the Basilica and its environs, you cannot help but be touched by the variety of emotions of those attending the place, many for very personal reasons.  Everyone is respectful of everyone else and the experience was very moving.

It is a beautiful way to finish a short but very gratifying voyage to Portugal. 

See you in Salamanca, Spain.

DGSP