Spain 8

Madrid

I was still a bit tired of seeing stuff. The museum I most wanted to see (military) was closed so I was out of luck on that. I didn't feel like paying to see the Prado so I went in the evenings when it was free. The Caixa Forum had a free Alphonse Mucha exhibit. The building next to it had one wall completely covered in plants. This was the day I splurged and had a traditional Spanish treat: chocolate con churrios. Very tasty deep fried pastry dipped in strong but delicious hot chocolate (I think it was made in an expresso machine from actual cocoa beans).


I just happened to be in town for the San Isidore festival, so I caught a parade one day and Naumagia, a display of lights and fountains, one night. I had a great seat for that and got some nice pictures of it.













I also went to the Atoch train station on a tip from a friend. The center of the station has been made into a tropical garden. And the city is filled with all sorts of fountains, like this Neptune fountain.







I also found two rose gardens in full bloom. One in the park where the Naumagia display was held, the other near my hostal, where (since I had to carry my backpack) I spent my last day in Spain. It had this gorgeous statue of a woman putting a flower in her hair. It was set back in the trees and stood in a fountain.

And of course, what am I without books? I'd read the two I brought and wanted something else to read. I didn't find anything, but I did stumble on a fantasy and SF bookstore. Unfortunately it was closed, but I got photos of the displays in the windows.








I also came close to buying the astrolabe I've wanted for years. But 100 euro seemed too expensive (as did the 60 I found later). I got a postcard with a cut out fully working astrolabe for 5 euro instead!

I spent the last night in the airport as my flight left at 6 am. I tried to sleep but without any luck. With the 6 hour layover I had in Amsterdam, and the two flights by the time I got to Canada I was pretty tired. I didn't get home until 6pm though my plane landed at 4.

It was a great trip but I'm glad to be home. Now it's time to start writing again. I've got lots of ideas for my fantasy novels. Little details and tidbits that don't usually come up. It's one thing to imagine things, another to do them. Experience truly is the best teacher.

As I said, I have lots more photos. If you want to see more, just tell me.

Spain 7

Toledo

Of all the cities I visited this was my favourite. Because I bought my swords there? Perhaps. It was also the most medieval of all the cities I visited. The city is built on on a hill surrounded by a river. That means no real changes can be made to the structures. All the streets are narrow and windy (I ended up trapped in the same court for about half an hour, trying different roads out that all looped me back). I originally ignored my map and decided to wander around. Once I decided to get somewhere things got frustrating. It didn't matter how many times I checked the map and the name of the street I thought I was on I ended up going the wrong way. By this time I was rather sick of sightseeing, so while I walked by the cathedral and took some photos, I didn't go inside. I was going to see the Synagogues, but ended up not doing those either. Instead I wandered and checked out sword shops. They were everywhere and had the most incredible selections. Some were very expensive, but you could get a good sword for very little money. Or better yet, a practice sword. I ended up getting 3 swords, a Lord of the Rings replica with a sheath and two brass handled traditional Spanish blades. They weren't the cheaper blades I was originally going to get but as I bought 2 I got a deal.













Oh, and the hostel I stayed at, it's the castle. (Top of the first picture.) The picture beside it is the Alcazar, across a valley and in the city proper. The next photo is from the Sol gate, looking down some city streets.












Ok, here are the pictures of the city. I discovered I had an extra day since I did some of the other cities faster than anticipated. I spent an extra day in Toledo, walking around the outside of the city, first on the city side then opposite it. That walk included a wonderful viewing platform. That night I walked part of the route again to get a few pictures.

Spain 7

The Alhambra










Here's the view from St. Nicholas's church, the best view in the city. It took 3 photos, as the complex is large and sprawls across the mountain top.

I'll describe the buildings as I visited them, from right to left.

I started with the Alcazaba, the military complex. It was basically a set of buildings (now There were several towers, and the view from gone, though you can see the foundations). them was, well, there's a photo. You tell me. I didn't have much time here, as my ticket for the Palacios Nazarines, was for 10 and I got to the Alhambra complex around 9 (I lined up at 6:30 to get my ticket - as they stop selling once they reach a certain number of visiters). They also limit the number of people in the middle complex at any given time to keep the monument in good repair.

I spent more time there, though not as much as I would have liked. The walls and ceilings were all carved and patterned. Here's a view from the windows (also carved). The picture beside it is of one of the interior courtyards. This one looks onto the room where the Sultan met with his subjects. The pools are designed so the buildings seem to disappear into them (it's the technique used at the Taj Mahal). The picture beside that is the room itself. The sultan would sit in one of the alcoves, back lit by stained glass windows.


The next section was the 'lion's fountain' courtyard. The fountain is being restored so the centre of the courtyard's all boarded up. The king's chamber was also closed for repairs. I've got lots of pictures of this side of the courtyard. Again, amazing carvings in everything. The close up shows you some of the detail. I also added a detail of one of the stalactite ceilings. Not all of the ceilings were like this, many were wooden, but the work here was incredible.

The complex ended with another courtyard and a garden.












From there it was a long walk around one curve of the mountain to reach the Generalife garden complex. It was designed as a heavenly garden on earth. Once you reach it the garden takes up most of the hilltop on this side. You can see orchards and other gardens inaccessable to tourists. The buildings here enclose other gardens. Another interesting feature was the water staircase. (There were fountains at each landing and the handrail was a water runway.)

























I'd gone through a different one than my guide book suggested, so I passed through it on my way out. The moors had an eye towards defence. They planned the main gate so that you couldn't move directly from the the outside to the inside, you had to go around corners making an attacking army easier to halt. There were also murder holes in the ceiling for defenders to take out more attackers.


Outside this gate and down the hill a little was a fountain.
On the path in front of it was a mosaic done in stones. I've put the photo in here not because this was unique, but because a lot of the roads and paths were done this way. Not necessarily with mosaics, but with rocks set inside cement.

Spain 6

Granada

Someone's asked for extra photos of the Alhambra so I'll do that in a separate post. I took a 'night' bus. The trip was only 5 hours, so I didn't get much if any sleep. It didn't help that the driver played the radio and stopped to let people off to use the washroom in a way station half way through the trip.

Granada was surprisingly cold. I was hoping for one day where I could wear shorts but no luck. It was cloudy pretty much the whole time I was there but never really rained. I checked into my hostal which HAD KITCHEN FACILITIES. Finally, hot food again (I was getting pretty tired of bread, cheese and soup by this point - yes, I eat lousily on vacation, leaves more money for travelling).

I started in the Albaycin (the old moorish quarter - a 'maze of streets', which was surprisingly easy to navigate for the most part). It's on one of the mountains, so it's a mass of narrow streets and stairs. I took the picture to the side because I couldn't figure out how the owner got the motorcycle there (it was stairs up and down). I guess he/she could have ridden it, people were pretty crazy. Drivers had to go slowly because there wasn't actually enough room in a lot of places to drive by walkers, let alone other cars (walkers had to stand in doorways to let cars pass). Motorcyclists however whipped by at speeds I thought were suicidal. Lots of the walls were graffiti'd, some with nice photos, some with, well, graffiti.

I went to Sacramonte next, a mountain that overlooks the Alhambra. It's famous for its cave houses. (The Alhambra is partially on the left - it's a huge complex of buildings, Sacramonte is on the right. The city is in the centre, at the end of that forested valley.)
On my 3rd day in the city I went to the museum and had a glimpse of how people lived. The ceilings were pretty low for the most part, but the houses were quite cozy. Lots of stuff hanging on hooks from the ceiling or walls and little nooks and crannies everywhere. The view of the Alhambra and the city were great.

The bazaar near the cathedral had all sorts of items, as seen in the photo here. Gelato stores were everywhere too. They had the yummiest displays. But it was soooo expensive (generally 2 euro for a tiny scoop). The last photo is a cool ad I saw on the way to the bus station.

Spain 5

Avila and Segovia

Avila is only an hour or so east of Salamanca. One oddity of the buses is that they all seemed to play american 80s music. I liked it, but it seemed out of place somehow... Avila's got a complete wall encircling the city. I did part of the wall walk after visiting it's cathedral. The cathedral is actually built into the wall. Unlike Rotenberg in Germany though (which does the same thing), you can't access that part of the church. It kept threatening to rain but didn't do so until I was basically done sightseeing, but it meant I couldn't use the balcony my room had.


Segovia was further east again, and has a Roman aquiduct. It's a tall, impressive structure that they only stopped using in the last century or so.









After seeing that I went to the Alcazar (the castle/palace). Not only is it a beautiful structure, it's got nice ceilings and a fabulous bedroom. We were actually allowed to take flash pictures inside, so my camera clicked away. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard so I couldn't do much hiking in the valley (I did enough to get a few really nice pictures of the Alcazar but that was it).



The twelve sided church in the distance is Vera Cruz. It's one of the last few remaining authentic Templar churches built. It was patterened after the temple in Jerusalem. There are two churches inside and a triple apse design. For those of you who weren't art students, it means the church was built partially on a regular plan (the triple apse is standard. Three bulges to the east of the church with altars for worship though mass would be performed in the centre one). Where things get interesting is the twelve sided structure behind the apses as you walk in the door. There's a 'crypt' at ground level with 4 entry points and a second 'church' upstairs (the second last photo). Here there's another altar where it's assumed the knights spent their vigils. It has a 'window' down to the main alter in the central apse so people upstairs could also watch mass (the last photo). The church was very interesting. You weren't supposed to take pictures but the attendant didn't seem to care so...

Another strange thing about Spain is the trafic light system. I never quite figured it out. The walk signal would be red while cars drove from the left. It would stay red as they stopped and cars drove from the right. Red still as cars came from in front of you. Then green. I don't know why traffic never had two directions at once. In some cases it was because everyone had to turn or something around a circular obstruction in the road but there were times I'd swear it was just to annoy walkers. I quickly noticed that natives all j-walked. Well, when in Rome right?

Spain 4

Salamanca

I took an afternoon bus to Salamanca, five hours away (SE of Santiago). This is a city I was going to cut from my itinerary if it turned out I didn't have time for it. I had the time and I'm very glad I went because it had some fantastic sites (and sights). I got there fairly late but managed to get a room (or a box depending on how you wanted to judge it) for a cheap price in the one hostal I had info for. I hurried to the cathedral to see the old cathedral, attatched to the new one. It had some amazing sculpture and original wall paintings. The alterpiece was beautifully painted too. Here are some pictures. The first is St. Christopher from the S. Transept. The second is an apocalypse from the even older St. Martin's chapel off to the west of the church. The third image is the annunciation from the alterpiece.



The old city was mostly made up of yellow stone. Even the library was set in an old building (it's the one on the right with the shell motif on it). I also visited the university (founded in the middle ages and still in use! Aren't you glad our classrooms weren't like this? I've got a close up of the benches, and they don't look particularly comfortable.).





The univesity facade is famous. See if you can spot the sculls (I enlarged it on my camera and it is visible). I've included a close up to help.
The university also houses an old celestial ceiling. (I used to be an actual ceiling but it's now housed in a special display room.

Spain 3

Santiago de Compostella

It was another 20 km to reach the city from the last albergue, but the kilometers seemed to pass very quickly. The only moment of concern was when a giant insect flew at my face and in the process of swatting it away I knocked my glasses off. I spent several tense moments looking for them in the grass before finding them on the gravel path. Luckily unbroken but with bent frames. I had to carefully get the frames into wearable condition.
But I made Santiago and went to the cathedral the next day for the pilgrim's mass. I got my compostella (certificate of completion for you pilgrimage).






The cathedral was magnificent. The Glory portal (the medieval one that was covered over by the baroque monstrosity) had some great sculpture. Gotta love the medieval mind when it came to scenes of hell and torture. They had pretty creative imaginations.
I took a tour of the 'palace' next door and it turned out to include the roof of the cathedral, which is made out of granite. The view was nice and I picked some of the little flowers that grew between the cracks of the 'shingles'.

I stayed two days in the city, admiring the medieval quarter, a small handful of streets that curved and seemed to go everywhere and nowhere.

Spain 2

From Pedrafita, about 168 km from Santiago, I walked. I passed through O Cebreiro that night and continued on to Hospital Da Condesa. It was very cold, and when I reached the hostal I learned they had no hot water (good thing I didn't take a shower). They also didn't seem to have heat as I froze even with my sleeping bag.




The next day I found snow on the path I was walking (that's the white patch in the upper right corner of the first picture). I had to walk 27.5 km to reach Samos, the monstery albergue I wanted to stay the night at. I made it but it was a pretty gruelling walk. I walked up and down several mountains. At one point I passed a shepherdess and her sheep on the path. The view was incredible everywhere I looked. My legs killed by the time I made it to Samos. Several times I thought I'd reached the city only to discover I was several kilometers away. When I finally did make it I had to wait for the hostal to open. I toured the monastery and went to Vespers and Mass that night.



















The next day was an even more grelling 35 km walk. It was hot out and part way into the walk I developed a blister on the pad of my right foot. It only got worse as the day wore on. To give you an idea of what the hike was like, I've included images of an entire hamlet I passed. It took 6 photos (above). And many of the places I walked by looked like this.
I also passed the 100 km marker. These markers were placed every half kilometer and made walking you still had to do that day easier. By the time I reached the hostal (around 4 pm) I was in a lot of pain. But I made it, figuring out how much which was the important thing. Portomarin, my stop that night, was a city on a hill next to a lake. Which meant after walking for a long time I had to climb another hill... Life can be cruel.






From there I went to Palas de Rei, walking by lots of small hamlets and villages. Several pilgrims on bicycles passed me. It reminded me of the Tour de France that one of my co-worker always watches so I took a picture. The picture beside it represents the majority of the scenery that day.


Then on to Ribadiso. This was my favourite albergue. After another 27 km day it was wonderful to discover, for once, that the hostal was closer than I'd expected. The place looked like a campground, with cabins and a river running next to it. This was the day I really enjoyed the walk.


I took time to sit and listen to the birds and the frogs (which, if you watch the video made the oddest sounds), to admire the trees and enjoy the sunshine. I also took stock of my blisters. Not every bandaid covered a blister, some were for 'protection' against new blisters. But I had enough to make walking a lot of fun. Still, no pain, no gain, right?







The next day I walked to Arca, my last albergue before Santiago de Compostela. This was the shower stall type I found in two of the albergue I stayed. You can look directly into the shower. This wouldn't be a problem except... all the bathrooms (except in Leon) were co-ed. Which either meant no modesty or taking a really quick, furtive shower.

Spain 1

So I don't have to email this to everyone I know, I'm detailing my trip to Spain on my blog. I took over a thousand photos, but won't bore you with them all here. If you're interested in a particular place or monument though, ask and I'll post more photos of it for you.

Due to the ttc strike in Toronto I had to walk for two hours to get to the York Mills subway station where I caught the Go bus to the airport. The flight to Amsterdam was fine, as was the connection to Madrid. I flew into Madrid on May 28th and went directly to the bus station and got a ticket for Burgos. Burgos is about 2 1/2 hours north of Madrid, and reached through some amazing senery (something I could say about every city I went to in Spain).


It was in Burgos that I hit my first snag. The hostel I'd intended to stay in was full so I had to look around. A lot of hostels were full. Luckily one receptionist called a place she knew and it had a vacancy. Instead of staying 2 nights as I'd originally planned I decided to leave for Leon the next day.





To achieve this I toured as much of the city that night as I could. It stays light pretty late, so it wasn't hard. I saw the castle remains and the outside of the cathedral. I also got photos of the statue of El Cid, just inside the medieval city. There were some very pretty lanes of trees and gardens. Burgos is a gorgeous city, very medieval but in an easily navigatable way (several other cities with medieval heritages were not easy to navigate).

The next day I visited the Cathedral and bought my pilgrim's shell.

I then took the bus to Leon, where I stayed in my first albergue (pilgrim's hostel). I was able to see the basilica and the cathedral before they closed. The cathedral had a tour of the upper part of the church to better examine the restored original stained glass.








From Leon I bussed to Ponferrada and it's Templar castle. Most of it was later additions, but the main sqare is still visible.







Another bus brought me to Pedrafita, where I started my camino (pilgrimmage) to Santiago de Compostela by walking in a hail storm. The view from the road once the freezing rain stopped was worth the effort though.