Europe 2004

2.5 weeks to go ...

On 2/4/04, Len and I leave for five months in Europe. One goal is to improve our Spanish; the other is to avoid the "if it's Thursday, it must be Belgium" style of tourism. As a result, we are leaving much of the trip unplanned; however, there are a few definites. We fly into Madrid and plan on spending some time there before heading down to Cadiz (on the coast, west of Gibraltar) for several weeks. We'd like to spend several days or a week in Paris, preferably in a homestay. In May, we are scheduled to visit friends who live near Stockholm. They've encouraged us to take the ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki (or Turku, which would be my preference) and we'll probably do that. Once we're in Finland, we're really close to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which don't require visas. Other than that, it's all flexible.

January 27 ...

Obviously, we should have done this when we were younger. Now, there are just too many details to worry about, such as ... will the house sitter drive nails into the piano? Will the car catch on fire and burn the house down? Will all the plants die? Will our driver's licenses be canceled by the state because we don't respond to the letter about car insurance? Will I need a root canal in Spain? Argh!

weather alert

Why is it I live here? Or, given that I do live here, why haven't I left already? I mean, it could be worse ... look at Flin Flon ... but it's still horrible.

Barcelona 41...53 F
Cadiz 51...60 F
Madrid 37...41 F
Stockholm 22...27 F
Minneapolis, MN* -19...-3 F
Flin Flon, Canada -36 ... -22
*severe weather alert

Madrid

We arrived Thursday morning (2-5) and spent some time looking for an inexpensive hostal (cheaper than hotels). After checking several, we were wandring rather vaguely down a street when, suddenly, Len heard a voice saying, ¨¨Hey ... people from Minnesota!¨. It was Paco, a tutor from our Spanish classes at St. Thomas and the only person in all of Spain whom we knew. I guess we should have anticipated meeting him as Madrid only has 5.5 million people so the odds were pretty good. We're planning on going to Toledo with him on Tuesday.

Friday, we went to the Palace of Aranjuez, outside the city. It was interesting, but unfortunately much of it was closed for reconstruction. It did give us a chance to explore the transportation system, which seems very friendly. That evening, we met Len´s pen-pal Belen, her brother, and her boyfriend for an evening of walking, tapas, walking, beer, walking, more tapas, more beer, and more walking ... all mixed in with conversation about politics, lifestyles, language, sexism, Bush, and an assortment of other topics. They actually raised the political questions first, but you can imagine that we were not hesitant about discussing the issues. They seemed very knowledgable about US politics and I was impressed with thier perspectives ... in part, of course, becasue I agreed with them.

Saturday, we met my pen-pal Fernando and his family for a ¨typical lunch of Madrid¨ and much more walking, talking, and generally exploring Spanish life. Their older daughter (age 8) is learning English in school so we talked about colors, the names of animals and what they say, body parts, and so forth. The adult conversation was more about US & Spanish differences, rasing children in Spain, etc. It was the kind of day that I hoped we would be able to have in Spain ... actually meeting people and not just being tourists.

Both days were great fun and we´ve found people in general quite interesting, helpful, friendly.

Sunday, we spent a bit of time -- not enough -- at the Prado, which is quite overwhelming. Then we played tourist and had lunch in the Plaza Mayor while listening to music and watching people. In fact, the latter activity is my favorite in Madrid ... the streets are always filled with people, from early morning to late at night. I really like Madrid as it's clean, full of life, has great old buildings, and seems quite safe (except for the risk of pickpockets). It's also helped that the weather has been great. We're thinking of staying here a bit longer ... maybe a couple of weeks ... if we can find an apartment that's both inexpensive and fairly comfortable. Otherwise, we'll head to Cadiz on Thursday.

Now, the downsides ... my legs hurt, our feet are tired, we´re still jet lagged, and I´ve run out of Spanish verbs. And the pictures have not been as easy to upload as I hoped, but I think we have it figured out and will add more to the Madrid pages soon.

Toledo

Tuesday (February 10) we went to Toledo for the afternoon. It´s a fascinating small city, with obvious reminders of the three cultures that have created current Spain. The old Jewish part of town is still there and the narrow, winding streets are fascinating. Apparently there were some 11 synagogues before they were all kicked out in 1492 ... what a loss. And some of the Moorish walls and buildings are visible, often partly hidden by later Christian buildings.

more Madrid

Last night, we went to Clamores, a jazz club north of the center of the city. The tenorman, Bob Sands (an expat from NY) was outtasight - reminded us of Sonny Stitt. The Guitar and drums were jammin' too. Piano and bass OK. Great show! Lots of music in the streets (even in the subway), but little jazz. Len jammed a bit in the square with a sax player from the Ukraine. Len's getting rusty from lack of opportunities to play, but it was fun and no one seemed to mind.

We have been poor tourists in that we have not done all the museums and so forth that we should ... but, I´d rather watch and talk to old men in the park playing petanca than look at another museum. I don´t know what the old women do, by the way, as the men just told me that the women ''estan en casa.''

On the other hand, we have walked miles through the streets, talked to many people about a variety of things, and generally enjoyed the beauty of the city. It´s loud, crowded, too busy, the cups of coffee are too small, everyone smokes ... and I love it.

Segovia

OK ... this is getting tedious. First I said that Madrid was wonderful, with great buildings, friendly people, and fascinating neighborhoods. Then I said that Toldeo was wonderful, with great buildings, friendly people, and fascinating neighborhoods. Now we've been in Segovia for a few days and I think it's wonderful, with great buildings, friendly people, and fascinating neighborhoods.

We got here Monday, February 16, and it really is an amazing place. First, there´s the geography ... the city is set on a spit of rock that juts out dramatically from the surrounding plains. In the distance, one can see snow-covered mountains.

Next, there´s the aqueduct that the Romans built to bring water into the city from kilometers away. It´s at least as impressive as the pictures we've all seen over the years. At the highest, just before it enters the city, it´s about 80 feet ... no mortar, just fitted rocks. It´s about 2000 years old.

Then there's the Alcazar, at the other end of the city. Allegedly, Disney used it a a model for his castle in Fantasy land. It´s an enormous fortress with steep sides which drop down to merge with the limestone cliffs below so that it looks impenetrable from below. The Christians built it on top of and around a Moorish fortress that the Moors built it on top of and around a Roman fortress.

And the cathedral next to the Plaza Mayor ... enormous, dramatic, and beautiful. Plus, there are any number of other churches in addition to palaces, huge houses, monasteries, convents, and many labyrinthine neighborhoods all around the old city.

Monday, when we arrived, we intended to stay one or two nights. Unfortunately, the tower of the Alcazar was closed so we stayed over one more night in order to see it. Tomorrow, having seen the tower or not, we leave for Avila.

Ávila, Salamanca, and Cáceres

We are currently in Cáceres, in Extremadura, on our way to Portugal.

We left Segovia last Wednesday, February 18, and took the bus to Ávila. I suppose we would have liked Ávila more if it had not been so windy and cold ... fortunately, we didn´t have much snow, there.

St. Theresa of Ávila is, of course, from Ávila and the city is full of monuments, statues, chapels, etc. dedicated to her. The most interesting part for us, however, was the old city walls. It´s possible to get up on them and walk for a few kilometers around the city, which provides wonderful views of the surrounding country as well as nice close-ups of details of the cathedral and other old buildings. Also, the city is filled with storks, who have their nests on every sharp peak in sight. Apparently, they have no ability to chirp or sing so the babies attract their parents' attention by clicking their beaks ... when the adults return to the nest, you can hear the clicking from a long distance away. I asked a couple of people and learned that Spanish parents sometimes tell their children that storks bring babies. I guess that´s a more universal myth than I had thought.

After two nights in Ávila, we took off for Salamanca, where the snow was at least a couple of inches deep and it was miserably cold. As a result, we didn´t really see much of the city, beyond the requisite Plaza Major. Then it was on to Cáceres, where we´ve decided to spend two nights (the weather has improved) before going to Lisbon.

Cáceres has "la Ciudad Monumental," the old part of the city, which seems much like it might have been centuries ago ... either well preserved or well restored. Apparently, it's often used for movies because it looks so much the way it used to look.

from Cáceres to Seville

We left Cáceres, on our way to Portugal. Unfortunately, we got to Badajoz and found that the bus to Lisbon was full. We had been told that Badajoz -- site of a huge massacre by the Nationalists in 1936 -- was a pit so decided to go to Mérida for the night.

As it turned out, we spent two nights in Mérida because the place is full of Roman ruins, which we found fascinating. Stay tuned for the pictures, to be added in the next day or so. And then on to Lisbon ...

Neither one of us much liked Lisbon and we're not sure why. Partly, it was the language problem and partly the bad weather. But, the residents just didn't seem as friendly or as full of life as the people in Madrid (or other cities in Spain). We spent a couple of hours looking for "corda para roupa" so that we could hang our wet clothes and that was rather fun. OTOH, the several hours we spent trying to figure out if we could get to Seville from Faro was immensely frustrating.

Eventually, I couldn't stand it anymore and we decided to go to Faro and then see what happened. Faro is a nice little town in the very south of Portugal and we liked it a lot ... maybe because the weather improved and we got our clothes dry at last. Other than washing/drying clothes, we strolled around town, enjoyed our nice (but cold) hotel room, and just vegged out. We met a lot of Brits, who wanted to talk very disparagingly about Bush, which only added to our enjoyment. Wednesday, we took the bus to Seville, where we met my brother at the train station. He has his own long story to tell about getting there from Colorado Springs but I couldn't begin to do it justice.

More about Seville later ...

Seville

What can I say? Seville was wonderful. My only complaint is that we didn't have enough time to see/do everything.

We spent most of one day in the cathedral, which is one of the 2 or 3 largest in the world and quite impressive. Apparently, the old one was getting a bit worn and the city fathers decided to build one that would really impress everyone ... and they did. There are numerous side chapels, which are larger than many churches. There is also the enormous bier of Christopher Columbus, supported on the shoulders of statues representing the various kings of Spain. Of course, his body may not be there but it's still impressive.

We also spent a lot of time simply wandering the streets which, like many Spanish cities, are narrow, winding, and have many fascinating nooks and crannies. Part of the wandering was choice; part of it was that we kept getting lost.

One evening we went to the Casa de las Memorias to see flamingo and I wish we'd had time for more such evenings. It's a small venue, in an old house in what was once the Jewish quarter, and felt quite intimate. All three performers -- dancer, singer, guitarist -- were young and unknown but seemed extremely good. They were certainly enthusiastic, as was the audience.

More on Seville to follow ...

more Seville

OK ... more about Seville.

There has been a city in this location since Roman times and perhaps before that. By 1078, much of Muslim Andalucia was ruled from here. It changed Muslim rulers several times before being taken by the Christians in 1248. For many years, the city had a monopoly in the trade with the Americas so that it was incredibly rich and a real center for arts, culture, etc.

One of the real highlights of the trip was the Alcázar. First of all, it's enormous, with extensive gardens, many, many fountains and lots of flowing water, flower beds everywhere, and rooms filled with intricate mosaics, inlaid wood, carved designs, etc., etc. We wandered for what seemed like hours, accompanied by the sound of morning doves, and I don't think we saw all of it. It's so large that I couldn't imagine living there as it would take years for me to learn my way around.

As is typical, the Moors started the building and, following the reconquest, the Christians added on, changed, modified, and so forth. As a result, some parts seem completely Arabic, others are clearly amalgams, and some seem totally without Arab influence.

Ronda

Since Tom only had a week or so in Spain, we tried to arrange for him to see the highlights and Ronda certainly fit the bill.

Like Segovia, the old city is built on a promontory that juts high above the surrounding plain. Unlike Segovia, the new city is built on the other side of 100 meter deep El Tajo gorge that cuts through the rock. As a result, the old and new cities are connected by three bridges with a veritable chasm between. The first (and by far the highest) bridge is the new bridge although it was built a couple of hundred years ago. The views, both down to the river and out to the surrounding countryside, are amazing. The other bridges are quite old. One is called the Arab bridge and may have been built on the remains of a Roman bridge. Both of the older bridges are much lower and closer to the water.

Like much of Spain, Ronda has had a dramatic history ... Romans, Moors, Christians, Nationalists, Republicans, etc. In For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway tells of a group of "fascists" who were forced to run a gauntlet during the Spanish Civil War. Those who survived were thrown over the cliff, anyway. This apparently took place in Ronda although it may have been ruffians from Málaga who were responsible.

Granada

And so, on to Granada ... a requirement for those traveling to Spain.

Once again, we just didn't have enough time.

We were met at the train station by a little old lady who said she had room available in a pension for 20 Euros per night (for a double ... the single was only 15). Since it seemed unlikely that she was a front for a white slave organization, we followed her and found ourselves in a very reasonable pension. Since there were only 4-5 rooms, sharing a bath was not much of a problem although paying 1 Euro per shower seemed a bit strange.

The next morning, we headed off to the Alhambra & the Generalife, for which we had gotten tickets while in Seville. The person from whom we bought them was clear that our entry time was between 9:30 & 10:00 but did not clarify that he meant entry into the Palacio Nazaríes. In addition, we didn't realize that we would need the ticket -- which covered all three of us -- to get from part to part of the grounds and had to stay together as a group to use it. As a result, we had a bit of confusion and some frustration but Tom's lack of Spanish was helpful and it all worked out fine.

The Alhambra is as impressive as everyone says ... the book describes it as "most brilliant Muslim building in Europe." The Palacio Nazaríes is the amazing part, with intricately molded stucco wails, complex geometric patterns in the tiles and moldings, carved ceilings, overwhelming detail. The Generalife (gardens), with its fountains, flowing water, mazes, topiary, and flowers, seemed like an oasis of calm.

The cathedral in Granada is less impressive than the one in Seville but still worth seeing. It was started in 1521 but not completed until the 18th century so is something of a mix of styles. Most important, it contains Columbus's tomb.

 

Las Aljpujarras

While we were using the Internet in Granada, I noticed a brochure called "Rural Tourism." It was an ad for an apartment in Bubión, a tiny village in the mountains a couple of hours by bus from Granada. For 25 Euros per night we thought it was worth a try and it turned out to be so nice that we stayed three nights. There was even a washing machine and a place to hang our clothes so that, once again, we were socially acceptable. The only problem was the limited Internet access which was bothersome because of the bombings and the need to contact people.

This area was settled by the Muslims and had a thriving silkworm industry in the 10th-11th centuries. The terraces built at that time are still clearly visible although most of them have not been used for generations. The industry continued to thrive under Christian rule until the Muslims got tired of forced conversions and tried to revolt in 1500. The revolt was defeated, a majority of the population removed, and the whole area resettled. It continues quite isolated although, in recent years, there has been a strong increase in tourism.

Bubión is 1300 meters above sea level and there was snow not far above us although the first full day we were there the weather was beautiful. We hiked up to the next town -- Capileira, at 1440 meters -- which was also beautiful. We were there the evening Spain held massive memorials for those killed in the Madrid bombings ... I think the whole town participated.

Friday, March 12 -- after the Madrid bombings

We're in Bubión, a tiny town in the mountains south of Granada. We left Granada yesterday morning and, on the bus trip here, it was clear that something was going on -- the bus´s radio was turned to a program about terrorism and others on the bus were clearly discussing the death penalty, human rights, and so forth. Finally, I had a chance to ask someone and found out about the bombings in Madrid.

Unfortunately, my brother Tom had left Granada that morning by train, on his way to Segovia by way of the Atocha station in Madrid. After much searching, I found internet access in Bubión and checked my email... he was fine. The trains had stopped running when he was still a few hours from Madrid so everyone was bussed the last several hundred miles into the city. He checked into a pricey hotel to have access to CNN in English and to the internet, which I certainly appreciated. His plan was to continue on to Segovia. I haven´t heard since but I assume he is OK..

Last night, many towns in the Basque areas held demonstrations, rejecting violence on the part of ETA, even though it is not yet certain that they were responsible. This evening, at 7:00, every city in Spain held a silent demonstration against violence and for the victims of the terrorist attacks. In larger cities, like Madrid and Barcelona, there were thousands and thousands involved. We were in the little town just up the mountain from Bubión, and I think everyone in the place was there. It was very moving.

Every place we've gone, the TVs have been on, there have been heated discussions about who is responsible and what the penalties should be for those convicted of the attacks, and many people are wearing black ribbons.

The TV news is depressing, as you might expect. Many people have not been identified and the hospitals are giving out descriptions, in the hopes of finding family members. Many of those not yet identified are women, as woman generally carry their identification in their purses rather than on their bodies. Apparently, a majority of the victims were workers and students, many of whom had children with them as they went to work or to school. Today, the trains were mostly empty.

More later ...

Spanish politics

As many of you may be aware, the recent Spanish elections resulted in the ouster of Bush's ally, Aznar. The party now in power is socialist and has been against the war with Iraq from the beginning. The incoming president has said that Spanish troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by July unless the UN takes over control. Bush, obviously, is not happy. Even Kerry has apparently referred to Spain as being a haven for terrorists. Spanish reaction to all this has been mixed but many seem resentful of what they experience as outside pressure to fall into line for the US.

The editorials in El Mundo, whose political position seems to be right of center, have said that this is the death knell for Spain as the country has now chosen not to participate in world events or to fight terrorism. At the same time, another editorial attributed the results of the election not to the terrorism but to dishonesty on the part of Aznar's government in trying to attribute the bombings to ETA rather than to acknowledge the involvement of bin Laden's group.

El Pais and other, more left-wing, papers have welcomed the change. They attribute Azar's recent call for an investigation into the initial assumption that ETA was behind the bombings as an attempt to blame the national security office for the confusion, in much the same way that both Bush and Blair have blamed intelligence for the assumptions about the WMD.

The people I've talked to have expressed a variety of opinions, also. Some have been worried about the economy under the socialists. But, for many, the war seems to be more important. Many thousands participated in demonstrations the other night, marking the anniversary of the attack on Iraq and demanding the withdrawal of troops.

We joined the demonstration in Cadiz, along with the communists, the anarchists, the ecology party, the left wing republicans, and some 10 other groups. My favorite part was a chant which seemed to be in some unknown language ... finally we figured out that the confusing part was the word "onu," which stands for the United Nations.

I'll never learn Spanish.

Cádiz and environs

Cádiz is a small (170,000) city on the southern coast of Spain, on the Atlantic side of Gibraltar. Allegedly, it's the oldest city in Europe but I haven't yet seen a whole of of data to back that up.

Cádiz is not Seville nor is it Granada or even Mérida but it may be one of my favorite Spanish cities. First of all, the setting is beautiful as it's almost entirely surrounded by water, with beautiful beaches all around. There are many, many small plazas filled with trees and flowers. The architecture is interesting but it may be the streets and the people which I like so much ... there is an exuberance that's contagious.

In addition, there are a number of interesting small towns in the vicinity, such as Jerez de la Frontera, Arcos de la Frontera, Vejer (probably de la Frontera), etc., etc. Obviously, this area was fought over a lot during the reconquest of Spain.

Columbus spent time here and left from the port of Cádiz for his second voyage but I don't hold that against the present-day city. We've visited several churches, which are getting ready for Santa Semana, and the amount of silver on the floats (I don't remember what they are really called) is quite amazing.

We're staying in a small hostal near the Plaza de San Juan de Dios. Although it's an old place, it's recently been refurbished and is quite nice. We've been here some 10 days and may stay for several days more. And I still want to rent an apartment here for a few months but it'll have to be next year.

Gibraltar ... by Len

What can we say about Gibraltar? We originally had no intention of going there, and had been told "it's just a big rock with some monkeys and a lot of shops." We were in Málaga, heading for Cádiz, and Gibraltar is in between, so why not? Well, change the description to "it's a really, really big rock with lots of very beautiful and entertaining monkeys, lots of shops, and incredible views" and it'd be closer to our impression.

On our first glimpse, from the bus, we were awed. It's really not a rock, but a small mountain -- one that would be unremarkable in a mountain's normal setting, among other mountains -- but this one just crops out of nowhere. There's nothing around it but the sea and the flat, low peninsula that connects it to the mainland. Because of its height (check back later for the number or look it up yourself), it has a substantial impact on the local weather. The orographic lifting of the warm, moist winds off the Mediterranean caused the windward side to be shrouded in clouds, while the other side (the harbor, and most of the city) were in bright sunshine.

We had a room in La Línea, Spain, and crossed the border on foot. (The mainland is Spain; Gibraltar is a British protectorate.) This meant walking through a cursory immigration check and across the airport's landing strip, which crosses the narrow part of the peninsula at a right angle. (During WWII, the allies dug out huge portions of the rock for fortifications, Ike's command post, and water collection, and used the rubble to construct the airfield.) We took the cable car to the top and, after enjoying the views and taking many photos, had our introduction to the monkeys (actually Barbary apes) in a rather startling and uncomfortable manner.

We were climbing the stairs to the upper level of the observatory, when we happened upon a mother ape with her baby. Most of the apes, being accustomed to having tons of people around, are very nonchalant and seemingly indifferent about humans, but this mom suddenly went into offspring-protection mode. We decided discretion was the better part of valor, and started back down the steps. Unfortunately, from our position on the landing, and hers at the top, we couldn't go anywhere without getting closer to her and her baby. After many false charges and much posturing, she actually jumped onto my head. If I hadn't been wearing my hooded sweatshirt, she might have wreaked terminal damage on my scalp and ears. About that time, another man, ignoring my warnings, started up the stairs, and she turned her attention to him. Eventually, he and I managed to get back down, but Lynn was stuck on the landing. The mom followed me down and made another charge. In self defense, I kicked her in the head, which distracted her enough so that Lynn could escape. After that, we gave the apes a wide berth, and were the more appalled at the tourists ignoring the signs and feeding them. One guy had one sitting on his head, while encouraging his two-year-old son to feed it.

Fortunately, the rest of our visit was less traumatic. We walked almost all the way around the rock, and took the bus the rest of the way. This was and amusing experience. The bus was an ancient 16-seater with about 25 passengers. We started chugging up the hill, at a snail's pace, wondering if the old crate would ever gain enough momentum to reach the top. Finally, after several blocks, it got to where the engine seemed not to be laboring quite so much, at which point the driver shifted to a higher gear, and the chugging resumed.

In addition to the amazing geography and the amazing apes, we thoroughly enjoyed talking to the citizens. Being British subjects living at the tip of Spain, they, by necessity, have the good fortune of growing up bilingual. The official language is English, but there are many Spaniards who work there who speak little or no English.

Travel in Spain

First, let me be clear ... I love Spain. I expected to enjoy it but I really love it. However, there are a few things that bother me.

The toilets ... often, there are no seats in the women's room toilets (not a problem in hotels, of course). Often there is no toilet paper. There is generally no hot water, no soap, and the hand dryers don't work. There is too much dog shit in the streets. I mean, any would be too much but there is way, way too much. Everyone smokes. There are many no smoking signs but I've never noticed that they inhibit anyone. The coffee cups are too small (although the coffee is good) and I have trouble getting by on just toast for breakfast. In fact, it's hard to be a vegetarian -- even a sort of lapsed one -- in Spain. One can only buy aspirin in packets of 20 and I take 6-8 most days. Do you know how many packages I'd need to buy a month? The beds seem to be more spring than mattress (granted, we stay in pretty cheap places). And the pillows are huge, long things with no give to them. And the showers ... well, they're adequate, I guess.

So, with all that, why do I love Spain?

I love the energy in the streets, plazas, restaurants, etc. There are people everywhere, enjoying life, enjoying each other, and it's contagious. They have been, with few exceptions, willing to help us with Spanish, discus politics (with great verve, naturally), and help us get where we want to go. I love that they use little, tiny shopping carts and buy food for a few days rather than for a month or two. They do not super size it! I love the language ... I can neither speak it nor understand it, of course, but I love the sound of it. I love the newspapers, which are upfront about their political perspective and tell it the way they see it in editorials. Many of the writers seem to use the language in a beautiful way. I love the cathedrals, alcázars, churches, and plazas as well as the narrow, winding streets. I love the white towns of Andalusia, partly because of the way they perch up on the sides of the hills. I love the countryside, with the olive trees, cork oaks, green fields, rocky outcroppings, and a few arid stretches for variety. And now that spring is here, I love all the flowering trees, gardens, plants, and the sunshine.

For all that, I can manage to be careful about where I step and buy 15 packages of aspirin a month. It's a small price to pay.

Cádiz to Córdoba

Did I mention that I liked Cádiz? I liked it a lot ... we stayed in a nice hostal (España) which was clean and new, with lots of hot water and toilet paper. And the owners -- Inez & Manuelo -- were friendly, helpful, courteous, and kind. We spent a few evenings talking wit them about a wide range of topics, like politics, languages, travel, music (he plays guitar), and various other things. They even let us dry our clothes and practice the clarinet on their roof terrace! But, it seemed like time to move on so, off to Córdoba!

Córdoba was, of course, great (had I known how much I would like Spain, I would have brought my thesaurus). We got there in the middle of the afternoon, found a hostal, and spent much of the evening "taging off churches" (Len has such a way with words), of which there are at least dozens. Many of them were open as people were getting ready for Santa Semana so we got to see inside many that we might have missed, otherwise. Of course, there were many floats? barges? all ready to go in the parades and, as usual, they were beyond lavish. I can admire their beauty but I can't help wondering where the wealth came from.

The next day, we visited the Mesquita, the Alcázar of the Christian kings, the Jewish quarter & the synagogue, and the Torre de Calahorra, which houses a museum about the three cultures that created Córdoba. The Mesquita was awesome ... 850 Moorish pillars with a Christian church forced in among them, a process which took out 450 pillars. For once, we read the signs and figured out that one could enter free before 10:00 if one promised to be very, very quiet. There is a mass at that time and I felt quite lucky as the sound of the singing wove throughout the church, helped by all the speakers, and enhanced the space. The Christian portion of the Mesquita is also beautiful but, for me, the combination detracted from the total as it was really hard to sort out what was what.

more to follow ...

more on Córdoba

As I mentioned, we also visited the Alcázar of the Christian kings, which is quite small and intimate when compared to many of the other such sites we've seen. That didn't make it lass interesting or appealing, but it was certainly not as awe-inspiring as, for example, the Alcázar in Segovia.

The Torre de Calahorra has an interesting, although somewhat (I think) biased museum about the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian cultures that created Córdoba. There is much information, including a number of quotes, that would lead one to believe that the three groups always got along beautifully, treated each other with respect, and never, never practiced any sort of discrimination. As I said, I think it's biased.

And last, the old Jewish quarter. As usual in Spanish cities, this is an area of narrow, twisting streets, old houses with balconies, and many flowers. Spain really lost a lot by driving out the non Christians.

And it rained the whole time we were there.

Paris, the weather, and the French

After Cordoba, we took the bus to Madrid and then caught the hoteltren to Paris. It was quite exciting, for two reasons. First, the RENFE agent in Cadiz had messed up our Eurail pass but was then unable to fix it. Since we had a few hours before the train left for Paris, I planned on getting that sorted out. Unfortunately, as Len was helping an older woman (American) into the metro in Madrid, his pocket was picked and his billfold stolen. Nothing major was lost but reporting it to the police and then trying to figure out how to cancel the ATM and credit card was a pain .. and we didn't get that part taken care of until after we arrived in France. But, the Eurail pass was corrected and off we went to Paris.

The hoteltren is somewhat decadent but interesting. And, it does save time but I'm not sure I would make the same choice again.

Before we left home, I'd found an organization in France that arranges home stays and, after we decided to go there, made reservations through them. The place was very nice ... a ways out of the city but certainly convenient enough. The woman who runs it has little English but does speak Spanish so we got along just fine.

So what can I say about Paris? i mean, it's Paris and there have been 1000s of words written about it. Personally, I prefer Seville or Prague but what do I know? We did the appropriate things ... visited the Louvre (free on Sundays), went up the Eiffel Tower, watched the ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier below the Arc de Triumphe, rode a boat up and down the Seine, walked over many bridges, saw dozens of churches of all sizes, wandered through several neighborhoods, etc. And it was all very nice but there are other cities I like better.

Of course, it may have been the weather, which was awful. It has been raining now for most of the last two weeks and I'm very tired of it.

And now, about the French ... I'm sure you've all heard those stories about the snotty French, who either don't understand English or who pretend not to, who look down their noses at Americans, etc. And I have to agree that there are some snotty French. There was one in Paris, at an Internet cafe, and another in a restaurant outside of town. But, with those two exceptions, I found the French friendly, helpful, interesting, and generous. And their bathrooms, while not plentiful, and cleaner than those in Spain and the toilets all have seats.

a bit of England

After Paris, we decided to go to London, where we were left almost catatonic by the prices of things, like hotel rooms. Of course, the exchange rate is awful , which made it even worse. But, we found a place for two nights and proceeded to "do" the town ... or as much as can be done in a few hours.

Since I came down with a cold about the time we arrived in London (through the chunnel, btw), I spent some time reading the newspapers to comfort myself. They don't seem to like Bush very much, over here. There is a permanent demonstration against the war in Iraq and many, many editorials against what we are doing there. In fact, I didn't read any articles in favor of that action. Of course, I didn't see a random sample of papers, either.

We spent some time trying to decide where to go from London until Len picked Winchester out of the travel book. I'm not really sure why he picked it but, as it turned out, it was a wonderful choice. We found a very nice B&B that served HUGE English breakfasts and spent a couple of days roaming the town. The town was the capital of Saxon England, and has a huge, beautiful cathedral that's around 850 years old. Plus, there are a variety of buildings that date way back, all laid out around a small river and a variety of water meadows.

Next, we went to Salisbury, also old and beautiful. The cathedral there has the tallest spire in England ... it's somewhat out of true which you can see in Len's picture, when we get it posted. It also has one of the original copies of the Magna Carta, of which only 3 or 4 remain. From Salisbury, we headed off toward Bath but got somewhat sidetracked. First, we spent a few hours in Romsey as we had to wait for our bus. As it turns out, there is an abbey there that's lovely (see, I'm learning to speak British). Lord Mountbatten is buried there as his house was in the neighborhood. Then on toward Bath again ... actually, we stopped in Bradford on Avon and ended up spending three nights there. Once again a beautiful little town, on the river, with buildings that go waaay back. For example, there is a Saxon church that's some 950 years old. We spent the first night in an ancient inn, right on the riverbank, which would have been wonderful except for the band -- which finally quit at midnight. Then we moved to a B&B, from which we could see out over the garden and water meadow to the river. We ate ... often fish and chips, of course ... in several pubs and have had some interesting conversations. In the Bunch of Grapes, I overheard comments about "Iraq" and "bloody Bush" and, being quite nosy, had to learn more. So, I asked them if they had yet solved the Iraq problem ... we ended up in a several hour conversation about Bush & Blair, the EU, Posh & Beckham, and a variety of other topics.

The next day, we took the bus into Bath and did the tour bus so that we could see more ... the Roman baths, Jane Austin's house, the Pump Rooms where the rich gathered, the Georgian architecture, etc. It's all build of bath stone, which ages to a warm honey color and is quite nice. I'm just as glad, however, that we decided to stay in Bradford and make just a day trip to Bath.

Monday, April 20, we left Bradford for the Cotswalds. We spent the night in Tetbury before moving on to Stow-in-the Wold, farther north.

"There's come a new vicar ..."

We're currently in Stow-on-the-Wold. For those unfamiliar with the Cotswolds, that's north of Bourton-on-the-Water (not to be confused with Bourton-on-the-Hill), south of Moreton-on-Marsh, and quite near the Slaughters (North & South) and both Upper and Lower Swell. They are all lovely little towns, built of Cotswald stone that ages to a pretty, light grey. Some buildings date back to the early 1400s or earlier and the churches are called "wool churches" as they were built with the money of the wool merchants who lived in the area.

Our B&B is owned by an older couple who are selling out and moving to France soon. He was a farmer for many years and his love for the countryside is amazing. We have been taken on two trips to see some of the small towns (and their churches) in the area, places we would not otherwise have been able to visit. He's also told us about "laying hedges," which involved cutting the trunks almost through and then laying them on their sides so that the then grow up but are so thick that the animals can't get through. His English is interesting (that's his phrase, "There's come a new vicar ...") and we've had to have several words and expressions explained. He's also talked some about being a child in the country and how proud he would be when the Lord came by and spoke to him. It's a different world.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we're off to Brussels.

How could I have forgotten ...

So much to write about, so little Internet access ...

How could I have forgotten to mention Stonehenge and Avesbury? Another couple who were staying in the B&B in Salisbury offered to give us a ride to both places, an offer we gladly accepted.

Stonehenge is, of course, Stonehenge. It's huge, dramatic, and mysterious. Avesbury, OTOH, is huge but one can get right into the middle of it. In fact, there's a small town right smack in the middle of the huge circle of stones. If one could see only one of the places, I'd suggest Avesbury, but they make a great combination ... one quite dramatic and the other somehow more accessible.

Len´s adventures in Leachlade-on-Thames

The cheapest way to get to Brussels from England is to take the overnight bus (awful but really cheap). Since it left London at 9:30 and the bus left the Cotswolds for London at 5:00, we had a whole day to spend dragging around our luggage and looking at more stuff. So, the plan for the day was to go see the church at Fairford, which has all its medieval stained glass windows intact --- 28 of them, more windows than any other church in the UK, maybe in Europe.

The bus driver told us that there was nothing to see in Fairford other than the windows and offered to pick us up (a stop not on the schedule) and take us to Leachlade, where we could have 30-40 minutes to look around. Then he´d take us back to Cirencester, where we would catch the bus for London.

We stopped in Fairford and hiked over to St. Lawrence church, which is nice enough. But the windows are amazing ... the colors are vibrant, the topics interesting (there are some little devils about one set of windows that I really loved), and they have been beautifully restored. All in all, quite worth the trip. Then on to Leachlade ...

We walked into the church and looked around a bit. It's a typical "wool church," funded by the rich merchants and interesting but not wonderful. But the churchyard did inspire Shelley to compose, ¨A Summer Evening Churchyard, Leachlade". There was a guy who looked like he belonged there so Len asked him about the organ ... the guy gave him some facts and then said, "Would you like to play it?" Len would, and did ... that may have been the highpoint of the trip, for him. And it was cool.

Brusells expanded

Brussels is nice ... not wonderful but really nice. It´s accessible, clean, has interesting buildings and other stuff, and is just nice. It does, however, have at least one wonderful museum ... the museum of musical instruments. Need I mention that we spent hours there and that Len was in a state of near bliss the whole time?

He says that there were two high points ... the harpsichords, dating back to the early 16th century, and the saxophones by none other than Adolf Sax himself.

The city also has a lovely Grand Place, surrounded by buildings that were the headquarters of the various craft guilds -- one of the nicest city squares we´ve seen, imo.

And on to Köln ...

Germany

We took the train to from Brussels to Köln, an easy trip of a few hours.

Köln is a relatively small town that has been almost totally restored after 90% of the buildings were damaged or destroyed during the war. Apparently, both the bridge and the train station were targets. Unfortunately, the cathedral -- der Dom -- is right next to the train station. In fact, it´s quite a shock to walk out of the station and to be confronted with this enormous thing, right there.

We stayed in the old city, right near the river, in a hotel that was built in about the 16 century. We found a postcard that showed the building right after the war and intend to post both it and the picture Len took while we were there.

More on Germany later ...

Wir machen eine Schiffreise

After a couple of nights in Köln, we took the train to Koblenz in order to catch the boat down the Rhine to Bingen. There were maybe 12 people (not counting crew) on a boat that holds 400 -- I guess it helps to travel in the off-season. And we lucked out with the weather in that it didn't rain. It was partly cloudy and a bit windy but quite decent, especially when compared to what we've been experiencing on this trip.

This part of the Rhine winds along between small villages, hillside vineyards, beautiful churches, and (of course) a variety of castles, fortresses, manor houses, etc. I wouldn't call it an exciting trip but it was lovely, peaceful, and quite interesting. Len, of course, took many pictures, some of which we hope to get posted, soon.

We arrived in Bingen in the early evening and found a small hotel. Fortunately, they gave us a special rate but unfortunately our room was on the top floor -- no lift. But, the room was large and breakfast the next morning was quite good. Then, on to Mainz.

We spent two nights in Mainz before catching the train to Malmö, in Sweden.

On to Sweden .. Uffda

In theory, the trip to Malmö was easy ... catch the train in Mainz, transfer in Frankfort, transfer to the night train in Berlin, and wake up the next day in Sweden.

The reality, of course, was a bit different. First, the train out of Frankfurt was canceled for some unknown reason -- one woman we talked to thought there had been a suicide down the line someplace. So, we had to take a train to Fulda and then one to Hannover before transferring to the train to Berlin. But, the train to Hannover was scheduled to leave before we got there and, even if we made that connection, the train from Berlin to Malmö was to leave about 15 minutes before we arrived. At this point, you may be confused but probably not as confused as we were.

Fortunately, people were very helpful, some trains were delayed for us, and we hopped on the night train from Berlin about 1 minute before it pulled out.

If you've never traveled on one of these trains, you really should as it's quite an experience. First, we were in a compartment with 6 bunk beds (three on each side), none of which allowed for room to sit up. Each bunk has sort of a pillow as well as a sheet and a blanket. Our travel companions -- an older couple -- were already there and had their stuff covering almost the entire floor of the compartment, making it difficult to get to our bunks. Since there was no place to put our suitcases, we ended up with them at the foot of our beds, which actually wasn't too bad and had the advantage of security.

The man had a bad bladder problem or something because, for about a two hour period in the night he kept opening the door, going out, closing it behind him, and then returning a few minutes later and repeating the process. I kept hearing this banging sound and didn't realize what it was until the next morning.

At some point, the train drove onto a ferry, we sailed to Denmark, and arrived in Malmö about 8:30 that morning. And the sun was actually shining!

forced marches in Sweden

We didn't actually spend much time in Malmö, although we spent the night there and gorged ourselves at the very decadent breakfast buffet in one of the more upscale hotels (naturally, we weren't staying there, just having breakfast). Instead, we took the train to Copenhagen, where we wandered from the train station out to the statue of the Little Mermaid.

Copenhagen really deserves more time, I know ... it seems like a lovely city, with lots of water, beautiful squares, and so forth. But, since I managed to get confused on the dates when making the reservations from Mainz, we only had one day before we had to move on.

From Malmö, we took the train to Västerås, just west of Stockholm, to see our friends Susie and Slavek. It was awful ... they forced us to hike through the woods around the lake, where Len had to go swimming in the freezing water, Susie kept ordering us to eat HUGE quantities of delicious food, we had to visit some old towns, and then they made us go to a jazz concert. All this, while trying to cope with bright sunshine and high temperatures. How we managed, I just don't know. I can hardly wait until they visit us in Minnesota ... I'll find some way to pay them back.

It's interesting ... Sweden seems very familiar in that both the rhythm of the speech and the landscape are a lot like in Minnesota. And the people could certainly pass for Minnesotans, something which one could not say about the Spanish.

Tomorrow, we leave from Stockholm for an overnight cruise to Finland. We'll spend the day in Helsinki, cruise back the next night, spend the day in Stockholm, and then take the ferry to Gdansk, Poland.

from Stockholm to Helsinki and back

The Viking Line (pronounced Veeking) does a cruise in which one leaves Stockholm about 4:30 in the afternoon for Helsinki, has dinner and breakfast on board, spends the day in Helsinki, and returns to Stockholm the next night. It's cheap, as such things go, and great. During the first several hours, the ship winds its way through the Stockholm Archipelago, which is made up of thousands of islands of all sizes. Some seem to have small towns on them while others are so tiny there would not be enough room even for a single house. It was especially nice because the evening was clear and sunny so the views were wonderful. Then there's the Viking buffet, which is an absolutely enormous amount of food, most of which is delicious. The cabins are adequate and, the next morning, there is another buffet ... less enormous (and much more reasonable) but still good.

Helsinki seems small, as the capitals of countries go, and relatively young. At least, several noteworthy churches had been built in the 1800s, which is not typical of other parts of Europe. In any case, it's a pretty town and there is a St. Urho's Pub, although the woman at the tourist bureau did not know the origin of the name.

By the time we got back to Stockholm, which we had planned to spend Monday exploring before leaving for Poland, I was sick ... too much rich food, poor air quality on the ship ... who knows. In the event, we headed right down to Nynashamn, where we were to catch the next boat, the one for Gdansk. The nice people found me a cot and I spent the afternoon sleeping, which helped a lot. At 4:00, we got on the boat and headed off to Poland.

exchange rates

This is all very confusing for a small town girl. In much of Europe, the Euro rules. While it's worth more than the dollar, the difference is not so great as to be perplexing. In the UK, the prices are high AND the exhange rate is bad as $1 = 1.81 pounds. But, from there on, I got really confused.

In Sweden, we paid nearly 150 kroner for a breakfast buffet. Given the exchange rate of $1 = 7.63 k, that's a bit high in US dollars but not bad although getting a bill for 150 anything for a meal gave me a headache. On the other hand, last night (in Poland), we had a large, good dinner with desert and two beers for about 30 zloty. And our hotel, not outstanding but adequate, was about 80 z last night but will be cheaper tonight because it's the weekend. In US dollars, that's pretty good, but when you consider the exchange rate of $1 = 4.01 z, that's amazing. Poland is obviously the nirvana of budget travelers.

Poland

We landed in Gdansk about noon on Tuesday, May 11, found our way to the tourist information center at the train station, and poof! we were whisked off to a B&B by the owner, who had been called by the information people. We had a nice room, en suite, with a good breakfast in the morning. And, while it was out of town a bit, it was within walking distance of the center.

Gdansk is interesting ... it was about 95% destroyed in 1945 and only partly reconstructed. Plus, it was under communist rule until about 1990. As a result, there is a drabness about it that verges on the depressing. The communists had bad architecture, in addition to their other failings. At the same time, the buildings that were either saved or restored are marvelous and there is an energy in the people that's great fun. Not a lot of them speak English but some have some German and most seem quite willing to struggle through notes, gestures, and a word or two in order to be helpful. Other places, we've found the language barrier a problem -- in Portugal, people seemed to be insulted by the suggestion that they might speak a language other than Portuguese. And in Sweden, some seemed insulted by the suggestion that they might not speak English. Here, they seem regretful but neither apologetic nor defensive, which is how I think it should be. We spent two nights there and then went to Torun, a bit south and much smaller.

Torun was left intact in WWII, because the Russians outflanked the Germans and managed to capture it without damage. As a result, it's the "best preserved Gothic town in Poland," and quite beautiful. The buildings look like no other part of the world (at least not any to which I've been) but maybe they're typical of eastern Europe. At any rate, we've enjoyed spending the last two days exploring the area. Tomorrow, we're going to Wroclaw (pronounced Vrotzwahf, more or less) before finding our way to Nysa, the town from which my great great whatever grandmother immigrated in 1848.

Nysa, Poland

My however many great grandmother left Nysa, then part of Upper Silesia, Germany, in about 1848 and, as far as I know, never went back. I know that her immediate family also immigrated; maybe other family members did, too.

Nysa was apparently quite a place in the old days; in the 1700s or so, it was referred to (by whom, I don't know) as the Athens of Poland and there was a large university, many beautiful churches, and quite a vibrant community. Things went up and down for many years, as they tend to do, until WWII. The Germans seem to have left the place pretty much intact but the Russians sept through and destroyed some 70% of the city. And then the communist built some pretty tacky places to replace those they had destroyed. Nevertheless, much remains that I found interesting.

It was odd, being in Nysa, and being able to think, "My great great grandmother probably was in that church," or "That building was part of her day-to-day world."

Kracow

I've long since run out of vocabulary ... wonderful, beautiful, fascinating, lovely, etc ... so I have no idea how to describe Krakow. But, it's all of those things.

Fortunately, Krakow was not damaged during the war and experienced only the intrusion of the communist additions afterwords. As a result, the old city remains much as it was for hundreds of years. There are the lovely churches, the old town hall, the Renaissance town square, and so forth. Plus, of course, the requisite Jewish quarter and a few synagogues which man aged to either survive the Holocaust years or are being reconstructed.

And, of course, the mention of the Holocaust leads directly to mention of Auschwitz.

We spent much of the day (May 20) there as it's near a small Polish town right outside of Krakow ... takes about 1.5 hours by bus but feels like going back in time about 60 years.

Apparently, the Nazis made some attempts to destroy the evidence before the Russians moved into the area. Despite that, there was so much material at Auschwitz and at the neighboring camp (the name of which I can't remember right now) that it was easy to determine what had been happening.

Most of the millions of Jews who were murdered at Auschwitz were actually killed at the other camp, where the majority of the gas chambers were. The Nazis had started the killing at Auschwitz, but when the "final solution was announced, realized that they needed a more effective system.

I had read, of course, about the bales of human hair, the piles of shoes, and so forth but seeing it in real life is very different ... and very powerful. I think what bothered both of us the most was the piles of baby clothes. That, and the obvious systemization of a hellish process.

on to Slovakia

Susie and Slavek were on their way to her high school reunion in Bratislava, the first one ever, and had decided to go by way of Krakow. Through perseverance and determination, we managed to contact them and arranged to meet at 7 in the town square. From there, we went on to dinner ... not as good as Susie's, of course, but enjoyable. Their plan was to drive to Nový Smokovec, in the Tatra mountains, to visit a friend before going on to Bratislava. Generously, they offered to let us ride along, which we did.

The trip was short, only a few hours, but went through some beautiful country south of Krakow. Unfortunately ... but typically ... the weather was awful so that we weren't able to see much of the surrounding country. In fact, when we got to Starý Smokovec, which is right next to Nový, they swore there were huge mountains but we saw only clouds.

We found ... or they found for us ... a room over a small restaurant, right near the train station and everything. Plus, it was only 600 a night, which is less than 20 US. Breakfast was an extra 2.90. After lunch, at štrbské pleso, they dropped us off at with tentative plans to meet the next morning. But that evening, who showed up at our door but Susie and Slavek, one more time. This time, we made definite plans for a trip the next day.

On Saturday, we headed off to tour Spišskz hrad, the largest castle in Slovakia and one of the largest in central Europe. It's in ruins, of course, but in a beautiful location and very nice in and of itself, too. We also stopped in Levoča and Kežmarok to see the churches, town squares, and so forth. Slavek pointed out that each town has a requisite statue to the noble soldiers of the USSR, who liberated Slovakia from the fascists. True enough but a bit ironic ... as Len noted, an iron fist is an iron fist, whether it's the right hand or the left hand.

The next day, Susie and Slavek left for Bratislava and we spent our time taking the electirc trains back and forth through the mountains, stopping at places that looked interesting and jsut enjoying the scenery.

more on Slovakia to follow ...

Zilina and points west

After three nights in Stary Smokovec, we lift for Zilina, a smallish town to the east, on the way to Bratislava. Once we arrived, we found that it had a nice town square but was not otherwise very interesting so decided to go to Terchova, in the Mala Fatras. This is another mountainous area (but lower than the Tatras) which is also beautiful. The very accommodating tourist people found us a lovely room ( less than $20.00, with breakfast) and we spent a couple of days walking around the area, which was green, sunny, and very beautiful. It's low season there ... neither skiing nor hiking are big in May... so we had the place to ourselves.

Then off to Switzerland, by way of Bratislava, Vienna, a night train to Zurich, and a hop to Basal. Actually, we ended up in Thun, which is on Lake Thun (makes sense) and quite near Interlocken. We spent one night there and then changed to a hotel in Interlocken... both places were nice but gave us major sticker shock.

Len asks ... You spend a week in Slovakia and then travel east. How can you tell if you're still in Slovakia or have arrived in Austria? Answer ... if a bus ride costs more than lunch did the day before, you're not in Slovakia, any more. And, if the churches are standing room only, you're still in Slovakia (or Poland).

At any rate, Switzerland was outstanding. It's one of the only countries I've ever visited in which the human element adds to the beauty of the nature. There are the beautiful little chalets, herds of cows with their bells, and so forth. No junk, no garbage, no ugly parts ... at least, not that we could see from the train. And our Eurail passes were good on the Swiss trains as well as many of the private routes, both bus and boat. So, we spent most of three days taking boats and trains around the middle of Switzerland. We even made it as far as Lake Geneva, which is an awesome trip from Thun, through dramatic mountains and past dozens of waterfalls. And Lake Geneva is beautiful too although I don't think it's as beautiful as Thun or as lovely as either Lake Bohinj or Lake Atitlan.

On May 31, we left for Milan, to catch one more overnight train ... this one to Barcelona. As usual, it was awful. OTOH, it saves a day for other things and one has to pay for a night's accommodation someplace, anyway.

Now we´re in Barcelona. The weather is beautiful, but I assume that the rain that has been following us will arrive, soon. In any case, we´ll spend a few days here and then head north. We´ve decided that we´re tired of finding our way through big cities so we´ll try to find some smaller towns to explore.

Barcelona

We´re back in Spain, after a pretty gruesome overnight train ride from Milan. But, Barcelona is worth it.

I mean, one of the things I like about Barcelona is, I suppose, what many people like ... the architecture. We've seen a few Gothic buildings but the big thing here is modernism in general and Gaudí in specific. The well-known place are La Segrada Familia and, perhaps, la Pedrera, but there are many other buildings by a variety of modernists, which range from rather modest to incredibly flamboyant. Just walking down the stereet becomes an adventure as it seems that a majority of the buildings have at least touchs of modernism ... chimney pots of colored tile, etc. It´s quite amazing.

Another thing I like about Barcelona is, of course, the language. The street signs tend to be in Catalan but people, in general, speak more or less the same variety of Spanish that we do. It was such a relief to be someplace where we could ask questions and more or less understand the responses. OTOH, that has a down side. For example, we were waiting for a bus and an elderly guy said;

"Buenos dias". We responded, "buenos dias".

He asked if we were French. We said, "no ... American."

He said, "Americans are bad people". Len said, "Only some of them".

He said, "Bush is an idiot and a criminal" ... and so the conversation continued.

In other countries, we had hints of such opinions but the language barrier kept us from hearing the details. For example, in Slovakia, a woman in the tourist office described what she saw as the national ambivalence ... many remembered living under a dictator and how much they would have liked the US (or someone) to rescue them while others saw the attack on Iraq as criminal.

But, I still like Spain ... even if we keep hearing bad things about us.

There was a rather odd thing on the train from Milan to Barcelona ... when we reached the Spanish border, the officials came through to check passports, generally just a formality. But, the two young women sitting across from us and a young man across the aisle must have seemed suspicious. The women said they were from Romania, just going to Spain for the weekend but, apparently, their lack of return trip tickets was a problem for the officials. In any event, they were taken off the train and didn't return.

beyond Barcelona ...

OK ... so, where were we? I guess we had just spent a few days in Barcelona, where we engaged in political discussions (how unusual) and looked at modernistic buildings. Then we went to Zaragoza, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Santander, Comillas, and Llanes ... where I´m typing this on June 12.

Zaragoza was OK ... on a nice river, with some interesting old buildings, and a very helpful tourist office but a couple of days was enough. In Pamplona, we traced the path the bulls take, wandered around the old part of the city, and left the next morning. San Sebastián is beautiful, I must admit ... at least, the old part is beautiful, with a very nice harbor, lovely water and beaches, cool architecture ... but way too expensive for us so one night did it. Then Comillas, which was nicer except that it started to rain, once again, so that the beaches were out. We stayed in an inexpensive little hostal and wandered the streets, just looking at stuff and talking to people. And now we´re in Llanes, farther west, where we´ll stay until Monday before heading to Galicia.

I think we´re both tired ... too many big cities, too many old churches, too much work thinking of non-English words, etc. It´s still enjoyable but I´d love to stay put for awhile. We´re hoping to find a small town along the coast, get some nice weather, and relax on the beach. High season hasn't really started yet so, if the weather would cooperate ...

In any case, we´ll head west, spend a bit of time in Santiago de Compostela, and then head back to Madrid for the trip home. My own bed!! And garlic spinach deep dish pizza from the Green Mill!!

the north of Spain ...

is beautiful but, somehow, not very Spanish. I suppose that's partly because the shape of the towns is different. For example, the old parts of the towns were not really designed for defense as this area was never fought over by the Moors and the Christians as the rest of Spain was. And, since the Moors were never here, the buildings are different than in the south. Plus, these are primarily fishing villages. Besides, the bathrooms are much too clean and well-supplied for this to be Spain. OTOH, the streets are full of life and people so, maybe, it is Spain.

The language is different, too ... of course. I have trouble with both the signs and the spoken language, unless people are nice enough to speak Castillano, as it's really a mixture, here. We're using the internet in the library and many of the kids' books are in the local language, whatever it's called exactly. It has lots of Xs in it, anyway.

We've taken buses along the coast from Llanes to Cedeira, where we are now (June 22). Parts of it (the coast) are beautiful, with rugged cliffs, rivers, and the sea. Cedeira is in the very west and has the required river running through it to the required beach. It's really very nice and we may stay here for several days as we've found a cozy little room and there seems to be a lot here to see. Then on to Santiago, Madrid (by overnight train, one more time ... sigh), and home.

Santiago de Compostela

June 29 ...

We've been here for a few days and have found it enjoyable and interesting but a bit strange.

First, Santiago is a center for pilgrims from all over the world, who do the "Camino de Santiago," from near the French border to this city. This all started eons ago, when two bedraggled pilgrims landed on the coast of Spain in a stone boat. The had with them the headless, decomposing body of St. James and said that the angels had told them to bury the saint in Spain. After some understandable initial doubt, the queen became a believer and allowed them to bury him (are all those antecedents clear?) The grave was forgotten in the ensuing years but, in the 800s, was rediscovered when a star lead a holy hermit to it. Since then, it's become a very popular place.

I think I understand the idea of a pilgrimage ... a time outside of one's day-to-day life in which one has the opportunity to contemplate, pray, etc. But, I don't understand the accouterments. In this case, they include staffs, scallop shells (traditionally sued to scoop water from streams while walking the road), gourds (to carry water, I suppose), and a variety of symbols ... yellow arrows, shells, and stars as well as a combined sword/cross image that is even on the top of confectionery. Sometimes, it seems as if it's a way to brag about having made the pilrimage. At least, I can't imagine wanting to schelp around a big long stick with a shell tied on the end of it. And the hats are very uncomfortable.

As you might guess, all this lends itself beautifully to thousands of things to sell -- hats, for example. Typically, they have one side of the brim turned up, like Australians hats, and they come with stars or shells, or sword/crosses, or other symbols of the pilgrimage. And staffs ... staffs with shells, gourds, shells, etc. Plus, this is an area with Celtic roots so there is all that stuff with which to make souvenirs.

Despite all that, it's an interesting city and I could imagine spending more time here. But, we leave tonight for Madrid and then home.

home

July 5 ...

The bus ride from Santiago to Madrid was truly the bus ride from hell ... many stops so that sleep was impossible and an awful movie, complete with fairly explicit sex scenes that had the parents on the bus covering their kids' eyes. And then the plane was late so that we waited in the airport from 6:30 to about 1:00, never sure when/if the plane was really going to leave. Since we were late leaving Madrid and late getting to Atlanta, we had a mad rush getting through customs and security (They told us that security was unusually high as the 30th was the day that had been scheduled for the transfer of power in Iraq.) We got home about 7:30 that night.

And so we're home and have been for several days but I'm still tired. I think that, perhaps, it wasn't the plane trip or the time difference that wiped me out but rather the bus trip Or, maybe it was the combination. At any rate, we went nearly 48 hours with no sleep and we're still dragging.

Other than that, it's great to be home.