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.

spring in sevilla

Sevilla is quite touristy, but its old city is full of sights. We visited the Cathedral, as typical in Spain, a Christian church built on Moorish Mosque, built on a Roman foundation. It’s got a certificate from the Guiness Book of World Records attesting to it being the largest Gothic Cathedral. We walked up 330 feet with what seemed like every student in France to the top of the only Moorish part of the church that’s left, the minaret. The pathway was not a staircase, but a ramp capable of allowing a horse and rider to ascend to make the Adhan (muslim call to prayer). Great 360 degree views of the city.
The church has the recently authenticated (DNA traces to his brother’s living descendants) tomb of Christopher Columbus. We also visited the Alcazar, originally a Moorish palace that became Christian in the 1200’s. It had the rooms Columbus, Ferdinand & Isabella, had some of their dealings in.

A highlight of our visit, especially for Liam and Isabelle, was going to a playground where we meet a very nice man (Jesús) and his 5 year old girl. She ordered Lydia around telling her to put out pretend fires, which Lydia graciously complied with. Liam has a way of being silly that includes loud mumbling and lots of staggering. The little girl, Helena, called him a borracho (a drunk) and pretended to take him to carced (jail). We met Jesús' woman and sister as they waited in line for the first bull fight tickets of the year- after a little chatting, which included commenting on Bush being a criminal, we were friends. You always know you’ve become a friend in Europe when you are kissing the air next to both sides on someone’s face. It was the second time that day that a Spaniard brought up that Bush was a criminal. Earlier we asked an older woman for directions, and as she talked about the parliament building somehow she brought up the Madrid bombing, that the amigo de Bush lost the election, and that Bush was a criminal.

la comida, by guest editor Heidi

The honest way to sum it up for us veggies here deep in carne country is- bread and cheese (Lydia has eaten her fair share of Nutella as well). We have had just about every iteration you can imagine. First of all it’s just too expensive here to eat out every meal for 5, so we eat out 1 or 2 a day. Our best source of food is a chain called “El Corte Inglés,” which means “The English Style.” It’s like a very nice Target with a grocery store downstairs, where we get the needed queso y pan. We have some success with tapas. Tapas are snacks served between lunch (about 2 pm) and dinner (about 10 pm). The best have been: a wild mushroom fried in garlic and olive oil with cheese & bread, goat cheese and olive pesto on bread, cheese and sweet walnut spread on bread. We tried two vegetarian restaurants in Madrid, which were pretty good but no different than in the US. Also their tres quesos (what else?!) pizzas are good with grueyere, gorgonzola, and goat. We had some very good Pallella con Verduras, and Tortillas de Español (potato omelette that looks like a torte- needs salsa though- should have taken less gold and more chiles from the new world!). Café con leche in the morning a few times has been heavenly. We’ve eaten some great strawberries, and Mandarin oranges from Valencia. As Chris has already mentioned the churros con chocolate, as well as the gelato (helado) that is everywhere, and the marzipan in Toledo have been great. I’ve been disappointed in the cookies- the ones I’ve had don’t have butter in them! The German ones at the grocery were better. Lastly, but certainly not crucially, food would not be food in Europe if it didn’t come with a large helping of second-hand smoke.

DANGER for strict vegetarians: do not read this paragraph. We have eaten a little carne. It’s hard to escape when your restaurant has stuffed bulls’ heads all over the walls (see photo). Ham is very important in Spain so we’ve had some with mushrooms, and once in some boccadillos (sandwiches). We also had some fried fish. This was 'adobo' (shark), served up by your local freiduría. All of which was fairly unpopular with the kids, but there’s only so much bread and cheese you can handle in a day.

crosscountry roadtrip

Yesterday, we made the drive from Madrid to Seville in the southern part of Spain known as Andalucía (from the Arabic Al Andalus, the Moorish term for Spain). Let me tell you, defensive driving in Madrid is a rendundant expression. We drove across the region known as La Mancha ("parched earth" in Arabic) which appeared to be an accurate description. Along the way, we saw several of these -very- large bulls, which, of course, remind Spaniards of their national symbol in case they forget.
Along the way, we were able to stop in Toledo, (the city formerly known as the capital) until 1562, when Felipe II moved it to Madrid. Toledo would have been the capital for Ferdinand and Isabel who financed Columbus. I guess we I am a little Columbocentric since we were listening a book while we drove down in our speedy VW golf. We visited the cathedral and of course the marzipan shop while we were there.

side trip to segovia

Guess who has been studying Rome in their social studies class and was quite interested in seeing a 2000 year old aqueduct? That's right, Lydia. Turns out the Romans set up a fort on a rocky promontory (good for defense) but needed a water supply. Solution? Of course! Build a 9-mile aqueduct, keeps the centurions from getting too bored as well. Pictured above are both the aqueduct and the current Alcázar (castle) which sits atop the site of the old Roman fort. This one is only about 150 years old, since the last castle burned down in the 1860's.

afternoon in the park

How do you make a web log interesting by talking about museums? Not very easily. Let's just say our kids have about 2 hours worth of tolerance for a museum. This can be extended a little by ipods, museum benches, and bribery. We have managed to see art in the Prado, Thyssen, Reina Sofia, archeology in the museo arqueológico, and a detailed model of Madrid in the museo municipal. Being the cheapskates we are, we definitely took advantage of the free saturday pm/sunday admission for a few of these.
Well, one of the nice interludes we had was at the Parque del Buen Retiro (park of the good rest). This is the largest park in Madrid and for about 250 years was the private retreat of royaly until it was opened to the public in 1868. There is a large "lake" in the middle, and we were able to go out on the lake in a rowboat. Even more fun was watching all the Madrileños in their boats and walking around the park on an absolutely beautiful spring day. The kids got a chance to burn off a little museum fatigue and mom and dad got a chance to relax as well. A couple of us got slightly sunburned (being a little sunlight deprived in Portland). Also, it would be fair to say that red and gray hair tend to stand out in this country of dark haired, dark eyed folks.
At this point, we are leaving museums behind and heading out to Segovia tommorrow, then Toledo the next day.

España vs. Dinamarca, by guest editor Heidi

How to get the better end of the deal as a parent: Lydia wanted to go to a soccer game and Isabelle wanted to go to a bullfight- so at 10 pm last night Lydia and I were yelling ESPA-ÑA! ESPAÑA! At the top of our lungs with, I’m guessing 70,000, people (mostly men) mostly dressed in red and yellow. The match was a 2008 European Cup qualifier. There were crowds of young men with Spanish flags worn like capes shouting cheers they all seemed to know on the packed Metro getting to the game. Our seats were about 5 rows from the top row (nosebleed), but it was none the less very exciting. Lydia had a Spanish jersey given to her by her school counsellor so we got a few puzzled looks- they must have been wondering what the light haired people speaking English were doing wearing the Spanish jersey. The nice man who sat next to us wondered and after I said “lo siento, no hablo Español, pero mi hija…”- Lydia explained to him the puzzle. It was loud (very) and full of smoke (it wouldn’t be Europe unless you breathe a lot of cigarette smoke). Every good play by the Spanish was riotously praised, and every foul by the Danish or missed call was shouted down by the crowd. Every time Spain almost scored, the crowd said “EEEEE!” in unison, instead of “ooooh!” The score was 2-1, Spain (Denmark played most of the game down a player due to a red card), our ears were pounding, it was past midnight, but we made it back to our apartment and had a fabulous time.