Barcelona to Madrid

4th April.

We are on our way to Madrid through Catalonia. The countryside is green and lovely but the weather is windy and cold. We stopped at a picnic area near a small town, and we soon had visitors….

 

  

  

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As is our habit we went though the mountainous areas. Europe has so much history we are co stantly surprised to find ancient sites in the st remote places. We found this roman aqueduct beside the road.(Galeria de los Espajos).

 

   

 

Another roadside find was a dirt track leading to "Las Salinas". We had no idea what this might be but the track looked interesting so in we went. We walked the last km, and found this old salt collecting process. The soil is very saline apparently and water seeping out of the rock is very saline too.  It was dripped into shallow enclosures and then evaporated to leave the salt. The information boards indicted that the salt was collected by monks from a nearby monastery. The salt was important to local industries (including cheese making). 

 

 

 

We tend to like mountainous areas and gorges so we were drawn to a gorge with a city (Cuenca) with “hanging houses”.  The hanging houses were on a clifftop, and they did have balconies which hung out over the cliff….

 

 

But the hanging houses were nothing compared to the gorge the city was situated in.  We drove a ciruit first along the valley in the gorge and then along the cliff top. The views were stunning. 

 

 

6th April, we have arrived in Madrid. We are in a camp ground in the suburbs of Madrid. Last  night we stayed in a municipal campground, but the noise was impossible with passing trafic on the freeway beside the camping area. So we moved to a more expensive but much quieter campground. 

 

Madrid has a Gallery of Modern Art (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia) featuring modern Spanish painters, including Salvadore Dali and Picasso ( especailly his Guernica).  There is a booking required for the Guernica but othrwise admission does not require bookingl This system worked well for us and we were able to see the Guernica (but not to photograph it!) We also saw more Dali than we had seen in the museum dedicated to him in  his home town! I like Dali a little better again  now!

 

  

 

  

 

We are in Don Quixote country now and this mural on a city street wall reminded us of that fact rather nicely!

 

 

We didn’t enjoy Madrid in the same way as we did Barcelona. Somehow it lacked the vibrancy of Barcelona. There were eateries in scattered squares, but not the crowds and the excitement of Las Rambla. But we did find that where there are Spaniards eating there is a lot of noise! Happy noise at that!

 

 

Barcelona

1st April 2017

Barcelona is an exciting city. The feeling here is of excitement, friendliness, a vibrant city. Features such as la Rambla, the long pedsestrian mall with eateries all along it, squares with eateries all around them, buskers, jugglers, a tangle of different fashions, races, tourists and locals. We have spent 2 days here and really enjoyed it. 

Gaudy was an artist here a century ago. He was known for his eccentricity and brilliant colours. (I wonder if this is the origin of the English word “gaudy"?). He designed a cathedral (La Familia). This cathedral seems to me to be the opposite of reverence. In fact the spires here look decidedly irreverent to me - more like I would expect to see at a circus!

We have been pleased to find vegan outlets that we came across by accident. Our favourite place is a square where there are at least 5 cafes, and even a deli exclusively vegan or offering significant vegan options. Here you can sit in the sun with a glass of wine, great vegan food, and watch people. The  deli offers vegan sausages, cheeses, donuts, mayonaise, seitan steaks, tofu burger patties, various luncheon “meats"…  We also stumbled upon a vegan artisan beer bar, with burgers, wines, beers, all vegan. 

 

Last night we went to a Jazz Club. The trio performing was obviously very passionate about something, with interesting music but I’m sure we would have enjoyed it better if we could have understood the words,. But the words we did understand included “Syria", “support", “resistance” and the music evoked pain and aguish. I think we know what it was about, and we found it encouraging that the whiole world has not gone mad!

 

We saw a beggar today. He had both legs enormously deformed. Both knees were hyperextended, and the tibias deformed and different lengths. He could barely stand and had great difficulty moving about. He stood there patienty while masses of people walked past. Occasionally soneone stopped and gave him some coins. Joe couldn’t resist him and went over with his donation and asked about this story. He is Romanian. Four years ago he was involved in a 4-car pile-up on a highway in Hungary. And here he is. His orthopaedic outcome is disastrous by anyone’s standards and certainly unheard of in Australia where we have free public hospital treatment for all. It’s hard to imagine the impact of such as disaster on his life and that of his family.

He is not the only beggar we have seen though. There are people begging who are clearly immigrants/refugees. Most of them however seem to be trying to earn a living, by selling umbrellas, selfie sticks, flowers, or other random merchandise. They seem to be very polite, not pushy. On the trains we have seen people stand up and tell their story (in Spanish) and then walk around with his cup or hat. Some people have given to them, most haven’t,  but there was no anger or threat. And generally they seem to  be well dressed and groomed.They didn’t feel threateneing as the beggars seemed in Paris last year. And around the city we have seen stickers saying such things as “refugees welcome here” and T-shits saying something similar or urging “care”.

There are racially mixed couples around the streets too. It is quite intriguing to see a very black man and a blonde woman, with a stroller and chocolate coloured kids. Aside from a theoretcial fear that the world will one day be full of grey coloured people it is quite an intesting sight, and one wonders how the parents and grandparents of those involved have adjusted. 

 

On our last evening we attended a flamenco show. WoW! But it was not what I expected. I expected sensual, sexy dancing. But it was fast, dramatic, angry, with foot stomping, clapping, angry gestures. The story being acted seemed to be about the death of the family patriarch and the anger of his widow. Then there was some fury by the daughter and son - in - law. And the Flamenco guitars were amazing- so fast, and so accurate with the notes. 

 

It was however difficult to photograph, in low light and wth such fast movement. And they only gave us a few minutes for photos. ….

We enjoyed Barcelona.

 

Andorra - tiny but great

Friday 31st March

Andorra is a tiny country completely inside Spain. It is mountainous. These photos are looking towards the mountain ranges in Andorra.

 

 

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One of the first things we noticed about Andorra was a different architecture. There was little of the ancient stone buildings of France and Spain. 

 

  

 

   

 

And different art works in the street. 

 

We soon learned that Andorra’s economy visibly benefits from its high altitude and the consequent extended skiing season. In fact it snowed during the  night we spent in Andorra la Vella (the capital city). There were skiiers everywhere and an apre-ski culture in full swing, at a time when the snow has melted in southern France and in Spain. The elevation here was over 2000m.

 

  

 

  

 

Outside the city the architecture changed again, with more stone buildings, but these were modern, and almost invariably of very dark stone. No doubt this has advantages in a place covered with snow for most of the year. 

 

   

 

 

It also has cheaper goods than the surrounding Spain and probably benefits from Spaniards and French people coming in to buy cheaper goods such a wine. We found a place selling wine and spirits by the 5 litre plastic bottle, out of huge casks. When we were leaving Andorra, crossing in to Spain, there were police stopping cars to search for alcohol, presumably to ensure the import duty was paid. 

 

We liked Andorra. There was a young and energetic vibe there and friendly locals. Worth a visit particularly if you enjoy snow sports. 

 

Languedoc, Tautavel man, and Salvador Dali

28th March. The countryside is beautiful, and it is clearly a wine growing district. 

 

  

 

Vineyards as far as the eye can see (which admittedly is not so far).

 

We are here to see the museum of ancient man. This is Tautavel, home of Tautavel man. There are a number of caves in this area with ancient human remains, and incredible detail revealed about their lives. What struck me is that humans (defined as bipedal and tool-making) have been living in this area for 1 million years! There were rhinosceruses, elephants, and big cats living here too.

 

They don’t look too different to us do they? In fact I think I can see some family resemblances…..

 

  

 

They had almost complete jawbones with teeth on display. Now do these look like carnivore teeth? Most of the displays had them with animals, but I understand that this might not be a true representation, and these teeth certainly don’t support their diet being mainly carnivorous in my opinion. What do you think? Grinding or tearing teeth?

 

  

 

and in a restaurant in the town, this display of the descent of man….

 

   

 

29 Th March. 

 

We have crossed the border into Spain!

And we are passing through Figueres, the hometown of Salvador Dali! So of course we have to see the museum devoted to him. While we were looking for a parking place we saw Dali’s influence on the town. 

 

  

 

Full of expectations of melting clocks, and eggs we found ournway to the museum - which coudn’t be mistaken for an ordinary building.

 

 

But once inside - “weird" is an uderstatement. “Dark" is another appropriate word. Most of the display I found too weird for my taste. 

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

I am not going to inflict the madness onto you. We both left the exhibit feeling depressed and disappointed. There was not  single melted clock!

 

But one exhibut I did enjoy. This was a room- sized exhibit designed to be seen from only one angle. 

 

  

 

However, a couple of days later in Andora we did find a clock, so I’ll show it to you here so you are not as disappointed as we were!