things that are different in Spain

What do you do during a 19 hour ordeal home?

Things that are different in Spain in comparison to U.S.

1. They speak Spanish (more) in Spain.
2. They also speak Catalán, Galician, and Basque.
3. Money is in Euros, not dollars.
4. Spanish people take public transportation more (bus/train/metro).
5. Spanish people walk more (both paseo and for travel).
6. Cars are smaller.
7. Traffic signals are different.
8. Spanish people dress better (generally),
9. City streets are more cobbled/brick.
10. Spanish people talk more face to face.
11. Spanish people eat slower.
12. Spanish people stay up later, and get up later.
13. Buildings are older.
14. Spanish people have a siesta.
15. There are more escalators in Spain.
16. Fútbol is more popular.
17. You have to pay on some freeways.
18. Spanish people like ham.
19. Road signs are in kilometers.
20. Meals are later.
21. More dual-use buildings in cities.
22. Kids can go into bars.
23. Spanish people smoke more.
24. Coffee is generally better.
25. Churches are bigger, more ornate.
26. Spanish people do not like W.
27. Spanish people kiss when they say adios.
28. OK to cut in traffic as long as you don’t slow other cars down.
29. Kids are quieter (probably true in most countries with our family).
30. Teenagers are teenagers (I guess that is not technically a difference).

barcelona time

We finally managed to find Isabelle’s most favorite place in Spain, Las Ramblas, in Barcelona. Las Ramblas is a long boulevard built along the site of a previous wall. It is full of street performers, vendors selling everything from parrots and turtles to FC Barcelona shirts, and LOTS o’ people. About halfway up the boulevard is a large marketplace that was so crowded it was hard just to get into, with tons of stalls, fresh fruit, meat, cheese. We managed to squeeze in to get some things for lunch. This was a big hit with Lydia, Isabelle, and Liam, especially the fresh juices.
From Nerja to Barcelona was about a 10 hour drive with more citrus trees than I have ever seen. Citrus came to Al Andalus from the Moors, and then was brought to California. Car trips have been a prime time for ipods, books, fighting, and of course our favorite game, “Name something different between Spain and the U.S”
Today we spent our time in Barcelona exploring the world of Antoni Gaudí, the architect of the Sagrada Familia (Holy Famly) church (see link). There is a slight irony to this since we belong to Holy Family Parish at home. We did not go to mass here, since although the church was started in 1882, the first mass will probably not occur until 2008 or so, and of course the church will take years beyond that to complete. After that, we visited Parc Guell, Gaudi’s prior project of a housing community high above Barcelona.
We also visited the Picasso Museum, which has a large collection of Picasso’s pre-abstract artwork. The Picasso Museum and Sagrada Familia are a contrast between two geniuses of art; one who devoted himself to explore the world of humanism, and one who devoted himself to architecture through his spirituality.
We did manage to make it to Easter mass (this for the benefit of a certain mother). The masses in Barcelona are said in Catalán and Castellano (Spanish). We have not made much of an attempt to learn Catalán since everyone speaks Spanish anyway and Catalán sounds like a lot of Portuguese anyway.
In each locale, we usually find a small cafeteria (coffee shop) for breakfast of pastry and café con leche. In Barcelona, the staff of the cafeteria were extremely nice and took a liking to the kids, throwing in some chocolates with breakfast. Last night Chris and Isabelle used the apartment kitchen to make a pasta dinner which (If I say so myself) was not too bad.
Tomorrow is time to head back to Madrid and then back to estados unidos.

sun in nerja

Time for a break, time for a rest. We are in Nerja, a smallish beach town about 100 miles east from Gibraltar. Although the weather has been “partly sunny” (Oregon language), we have gotten plenty of sun, sleep, and playing around on the beach. Also, we are hearing more British accents in Nerja than anywhere else in Spain. I guess they get about as much sun there as we do in Portland in the winter, and where do they come for sun? Spain, of course. Our hotel is run by a very nice couple named Ian and Jane who just bought the Hotel 2 weeks ago. There are several bars in town showing nightly football games (last night Liverpool 3-0 over PSV Einthoven, tonight is Manchester United vs. Rome), and even an English candy store down the street from us (vegetarian candy of course). In fact I am typing this using the wi-fi in an English style pub with a very large screen TV. Liam made the observation, "we got TWO vacations, to go to the beach and to go to Spain." Our plan is to rest up for the 10hr drive to Barcelona where we will be on Easter weekend.

getting wet in grenada

How do you get a ticket for the Alhambra? That’s easy. Just get up at 6:00 and head on up to the ticket booth which opens at 8:00. Turns out that about 6000 out of the daily 7,800 tickets are sold on-line (something called internet). Unfortunately this requires a little ‘advanced planning’, meaning that we had to buy the tickets on the day of the visit. Thank goodness for ipods which help standing in lines for 90 minutes. Still it was well worth it. We have mentioned the Moorish invasion a few times throughout the web log. The Moors invaded in 711, led by Tariq across the strait of Gibraltar (Jebel al Tariq = Tariq’s mountain). Within a few years, almost all of modern Spain and Portugal were under muslim control. Took the Christians about 780 years to get the peninsula back, bit by bit. The last holdout, was a guy named Boabdil, who was the sultan of Granada. He realized the inevitable and capitulated to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, shortly before they backed an Italian explorer looking for spices in India. Today, the Alhambra contains the remains of the Sultan’s palace, along with one built by Fernando and Isabel’s grandson. Ferdinand and Isabella themselves are buried in the cathedral down the hill in old Granada.

In Granada we also encountered a lot of Roma (gypsies), many of whom live in caves on a hill facing the Alhambra. Also, lots of rich Spanish kids who come down to hang out in the Albayzín neighborhood and smoke hooka pipes. Also, we encountered a lot of rain, more than we had expected. So much so, we are off to the ¿sunny? coast in Nerja…….

domingo de ramos (palm sunday)

Palm Sunday, the day celebrated as the day Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, found us in Ronda, in southern Spain, witnessing one of the procesiónes of Semana Santa, (Holy Week). It was quite an impressive experience to watch about half of this town's population of 40K turn up for the procession through town. You can see in the photos pictures of one of the two floats which was carried on the shoulders of the young men of the town, Jesus on the donkey. The other float was a float with Mary. Included in the parade, were lots of kids dressed up as "Nazarenes" (people from Jesus' home town), and many of the adult Nazarenes wore the traditional capuchone (hood). When I asked the old guy next to me what is the meaning of the capuchone, he just said "they've been wearing those for 500 years". Fortunately, Wikipedia (see link) provided the answer stating that they are a symbol of penitence (sorrow for sins). You may notice that these hoods bear a strong resemblence to those worn by a particular southern organization in the U.S; that is no coincidence. The KKK based their outfits on the Nazarene outfit. By odd coincidence, as I am writing this in a wi-fi cafe in Granada, there is a Santa Martes (Holy Tuesday) procesión going by just outside the window. Better go put on my capuchone.

relaxing in ronda

While we are waiting for our clothes to dry in this Granada lavandería, I will mention a few words of our time in Ronda. Ronda is one of the pueblos blancos (white hill towns) of Andalucía in southern Spain. It was one of the last bastions of Islam to fall in the 1400’s (Granada was the last in 1492). It is quite a picturesque town, mostly known for its views of the surrounding valley and mountains, the development of modern bullfighting, and for the amazing Puente Nuevo (new bridge) built in the 1790’s to span the 330 foot canyon (see picture). The Puente Nuevo is known for being the drop off point for many republicans and nationalists during the Spanish Civil War (a brutal way to take care of your “enemy combatants”). Take a look at the wind blowing Liam’s hair up.
While we were in Ronda, a funny thing happened. We went to buy a Spanish novel as a present, and told the shopkeepers it was for a 40ish woman. The female shopkeeper pointed out some novels written by a guy who does historical fiction. The male shopkeeper picked up a book called, "El tocador de mujeres", which can be translated as "the woman toucher" or "the woman player".

ruta de los pueblos blancos

Our biggest hurdle this trip, aside from everyone figuring out how to get along, has been driving in or out of cities- very dicey. As we drove out of Sevilla, we realized that although we knew the freeway to get on, we did not know how to get to the freeway from where we were. We asked a taxi as we were stuck in traffic, none too soon as we needed to turn right at the next turn (from the left lane no less). We miraculously made it through a terribly circuitous route to the correct freeway. We drove to Santiponce, not far from Sevilla, which had the oldest Roman settlement in Spain, Itálica (206 B.C.). We walked through with an older German woman who was on the Camino de Santiago (a very old Christian pilgramage to a church with relics of St. James) all by herself. She had also walked from her house in Munich to Geneva-quite an inspiring person! We have been trying to see as many Roman sights as possible, since Lydia has been studying that period in school.

Next we drove to some hill towns near the Sierra de Grazalema, called the Route of the White Towns. We saw Arcos de la Frontera (picture with Isabelle/Liam), Zahara (picture with Lydia/, Grazalema, and stayed in Ronda. They were once on the frontier between the Christian advance on the Moors "reconquista". All were not very touristy and incredibly picturesque. We wished we would have had more time here. Chris and Lydia climbed up to a Moorish castle for an amazing view in the town of Zahara. As we drove along we saw some oak-looking trees with their bark all stripped off- turned out to be cork of course. We also saw wild rabbits, and goats, plus lots of non-wild sheep. This region seems much more arable than the Castilla area we drove through from Madrid to Sevilla (that was barren, with red dirt and many olive trees). Next entry on Ronda.