Toros

We are wrapping up our stay in Seville.  Our wonderful, relaxed, sun-drenched sojourn in Seville. We've been filling our days with churros, tapas and late wake up calls.  Yesterday we went to the beach in Cadiz and Cal was thrilled as there was a sandy bottom and minimal waves.    I can see why so many Brits want to expat it here. It is wonderful.

After three attempts to get to the Cathedral, I finally made it on Monday.  My first visit was thwarted by Corpus Christi. It was last Thursday which was the thursday following the eighth Sunday after Easter.  Parades, store closed, bells, military bands, leading an icon through the streets, huge silver candelabras and large amounts of greenery and rosemary thrown on the street for the procession to pass over.  The whole city smelled like a roast. My next visit was stymied by Sunday afternoon services.  I was nearly thrown out again when I arrived on Monday only to realize that the church was closing early.  I only had 45 minutes to enjoy.  Plenty of time.

Gold covered altar in Seville Cathedral

I can see why the church has so many processions and parades.  They have so much stuff to show off! The inside if the Seville cathedral is like walking into the Isabella's treasury when all the ships returned from the Americas. It is the world's largest Gothic cathedral and the 3rd largest church after St Peter's in Rome and St. Pauls in London. There is a huge altar made entirely out of silver and an immense wooden altarpiece covered in gold that was the craftsman's life work.  It forces you to look heavenward as it ascends into the the roof of the cathedral.  Christopher Columbus' tomb.  All sorts of treasures.

But the loveliest spot was the orange grove right outside the cathedral.  A holdover  from the mosque that was previously built on the same spot. It has fountains to cool and wash your hands and feet and an irrigation system built into the stone so that all the orange trees are watered. 

On Sunday, Blake and I went to a bullfight.  A real live, 3 matador, the death of 6 bulls bullfight. The arena in Seville is the oldest in Spain, built in the late 1700's.  Unless it's Easter week or a religious festival, the fights are often on Sunday. It starts at 7:30.  Promptly, as we found out. Probably the only thing in Spain that starts at the appointed time. The stadium was about half full. Families, little kids, old men who have seen a lot of these things, older women ready to throw flowers at their favorite matador, young women with their cell phones ringing in their purses. The trumpets sound.  The door opens and the bull storms in.  They are magnificent.  Over 1000 lbs each. Sleek and muscular with a blue or red ribbon affixed to their necks like they were at a county fair.

The matador's and his assistants come out distract and test the bull to discover what kind of bull he is before they mortally wound him and get close enough to pet him. Is he a pawing the earth kind of bull?  Does he throw his head back after he goes under the cape?  Does he trot?  Does he charge?  One matador, the best one, went down on his knees and held the cape out to his side as the bull charged at him from 75 yards away, full speed.  He did this 4 times!  It is hard not to be impressed by the kind of courage it takes to do that.

Then they bring out the blindfolded horses.  If they weren't blindfolded, they'd never do it.  These horses are covered in thick blanket of padding and they withstand a charge from the bull as the picadores stick a lance in the shoulder of the bull and wound him. The wound is deep and the amount of blood is profound. Prior to 1930 the horses didn't have any protection and they were often killed as many times as the bull.  The sound of that bull hitting the side of that unknowing horse was not pleasant.

Then three bandarillos come out and run at the bull while the bull is charging at them and try and jab two barbed sticks into their shoulders and then jump out of the way.  The vital piece of info here is while the bull is charging at them. Not easy when the span of their horns is about 3 to 4 feet.

Then the matador comes out with a sword and red cape that has a length of wood along the top to keep it stiff.  The whole aim of the event is to get the bull to come as close to him as possible, without moving too much.  The matador wants to have the bull in his control before he sticks a sword between his shoulders and hopefully into his heart with one thrust.

The event was like watching a snake charmer hypnotise a python.  Except the phython isn't 1000 lbs and bleeding to death and cannot charge at the charmer.  And the matador is armed. But beyond that, I can see why people are devoted to it.  It was thrilling and hypnotic.  The matador gets so close to that bull. And the crowd is glued to every move. With every pass they exhale along with the matador. And when the matador displays mastery over that wild creature, you cannot help but shout ole.

To see a video check out http://www.plazadetorosdelamaestranza.com/index.php/videos

A month of Sundays

I wish I could say that we are learning Spanish or Flamenco or guitar during our three weeks here.  Seriously.  I should be learning a new trade or perfecting an accent or something.  But it plain isn't true.  We wake up late.  We get to the grocery store before it gets too hot.  We go the Marie Louise park everyday.  We usually have some sore of outing, a bike ride, a trip to the barber, a coke at the cafe but beyond that we really haven't been doing much of anything. A nagging parenting voice keeps whispering in my ear.  Should we buy a Spanish language book?  But I keep reminding myself that is part of the reason why we came, just to be a family for a while, abroad.  It is hard to keep those pushy voices at bay.  We try something new everyday and that keeps us talking for a while.  But then we chill out and come home and make dinner and wonder at the stamina of Spaniards who keep it going until the wee hours.

The new thing we did yesterday was feed the pigeons in Marie Louise park.  We took some stale bread and this is what happened.

There is a woman who sells bird seed in small bags and this seed makes the pigeons swarm and peck and generally behave like a group of 4 year olds at a birthday party when someone brings out the popsicles. Another woman who had bought a bag of this crack-like seed decided to dust Declan's hat with it.  This is what happened.

 You get your picture taken with complete strangers!

Not to be left behind, Cal decided to get into the act, after a few squeals of unhappiness.  And this is what happened.

We spent an entire hour there in the blazing sun, braving the possibility of bird flu, and getting our arms scratched to bits.  It was terrific.

Declan named a couple of the birds after soccer players: Messi, Eto'o and Fabregas.  Cal named his bird Joey.  The name is of unknown origin. Possibly after a Kangaroo's baby?

More pics as they are impossibly cute.

Days in Seville

Ceramic covered house in Triana

Declan and I spent the day yesterday wandering around Seville with a vague notion to buy some ceramics.  There are gorgeous ceramic stores here and there is an area across the river called Triana that has a density of them.  How I would get a 85 pound ceramic urn back to Silver Spring is another matter.  But these stores are chock-a-clock full of plates, bowls, clocks, lamps - you name it they make it out of clay, fire it up, paint it then fire it up again and they are gorgeous and I am addicted.  But I didn't buy.  Picked up, examined and coveted but didn't buy.  Considering that we have already sent 5 boxes home and barely made the weight limit on the Ryan Air flight, I think that this was a good thing.

But I got to spend a couple of hours solo with Declan and that was great.  We discussed the finer points of solar power vs. coal, if the US mainland could have been invaded during WW2, what middle school is going to be like.  You know, typical Mom and Son stuff. It was great just to be able to be here with him. Have some time together.

Then we wandered into a matador shop and started looking around. Hats, matador shoes, the short jackets - the whole thing.  The shop girl spoke english and I asked her if she was going to go to the match that is happening on Thursday.  "NO!" She said.  " I am a Greenpeace girl.  I would never go to a match. Never." I looked around me and then looked at her and said, " I think you need to find yourself another job."  "Don't I know it," she replied and sighed.  " If you know of anything." Poor girl.  Stuck in a dead end Matador shop.  Only in Seville.

Just another scalding, hot day in Sevilla...

It's hot.  Hot, hot, hot.  Samuel Jackson might say its Motherf***'n hot!  On the bright side, we've settled into a fun, relaxing routine here in Andalusia.  Morning jogs (including Declan!) in the shade of the park, followed by lunch, siesta, afternoon activity, and then leisurely dinner.  Yesterday, we discovered a cool fountain for the kids.  Not as cool as the one in downtown Silver Spring, but so so necessary.

"I LOVE THE FOUNTAIN!!!"

Cal has made a friend.  There is a family from San Antonio in the apartment upstairs this week.  Their 4-year old daughter, Sofia, has become Cal's buddy.  They run back and forth between the two apartments playing legos, watching videos, etc.  He's thrilled.  Declan is taking it pretty well, though he misses his friends back home.  Today, we rented bikes for the kids and tried to get Cal rolling on his own, without the training wheels.  Moderate success.  He'll need another session or two.  But we cut it short today...because it's HOT!

Gibraltar

It is unbelievably hot here.  As we left the house today, Declan said that it was so hot that it made his eyeballs throb.  It is reasonable in the shade, but as soon as the sun hits you, you feel transported to Africa. Understandable as Africa isn't too far away.  In fact, yesterday we saw a chunk of it as we went to Gibraltar for the day.

Misty Africa

Personally, I was skeptical about Gibraltar.  Some guide book that I read somewhere said it wasn't worth the fuss.  But Blake's brother, Gordon, recommended it and it was Father's Day so off we went.  Huge hit.   For 2 boys who haven't been in an English speaking environment for the last few months, it was an oasis.  ENGLISH.  Dec was so happy that he thought he would cry.  We got there and immediately ordered fish and chips.  I mean what else are you going to order in a British colony?  Then we made our way to the cable car which unfortunately was shut down due to the gusting winds.  So we got in a taxi van with a guide and trekked to the top.  First we stopped at a outlook to catch a glimpse of Africa off in the distance. Exciting.

What Shakespeare play would you like to see in a cave?

Then after driving a road that can only be described as CLINGING to the hillside, we got out and explored St. Michael's cave.  It is big enough to be considered as a possible hospital site for the British soldier during WW2.  In fact, it now contains a performance space that they use for the occasional concert in the summer.

Can you get any closer than that?

Next stop.  APES!  For those who don't know, Gibraltar has the only indigenous ape population in Europe.  And let me tell you, they have a pretty sweet life.  They are fed, watered, looked after by Vet Dr's and get to roam around freely in their habitats.  No fences, no screens, no nothin separating you from your animal cousins.  They mainly just sit there glassy eyed, because you are the 150th person to point a camera in their direction that day.  But they are wild animals and we are not used to seeing such creatures up close and personal.  It's jarring.  They run around, screech at each other (unnerving to say the least since we all know what happened to that lady who had a pet chimp who literally ripped her face off) and sit on the fence which is the only barrier between you and the Mediterranean sea hundreds of feet below you.  Then if you get close enough to them, they jump on you.  Which is what happened to Declan.

Declan and his furry friend.

He was thrilled.  For him, it was his chance to get up close and personal.  It was fantastic.  Cal on the other hand did not care for the apes at all.  He just wanted to hang out in the van.

Then we went to the cave that the British carved out of the limestone rock, one meter at a time during the great Seige of Gibraltar in 1779-1883 when the Spanish were trying to take back the rock. Then it was expanded during WW2.  Pretty impressive.

It was a great day. History and apes.  What could be better?

DECLAN’S END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR ESSAY

In this essay, I will be naming the highlights and lowlights of traveling.  I will talk about hotels, food, airlines, sightseeing, and different languages.

Some hotels we have been in were awesome.  The hotel in London was, by far, the most “fancy pants” one we have stayed at.  We had an Irish doorman, a Russian maid who gave us chocolates, an awesome pool, and outstanding WiFi.  The two runners-up were Gabriella’s (in Sicily) and the apartment we are in right now (in Seville).  I’ll start with Gabriella’s.  First off: amazing housing, great pool, tons of lizards, lemon groves, pigs, cows, a rooster that crows a lot, hens, geese, and most of all – the food.  The food was UNBELIEVABLE!  Each bite tasted like it was fresh out of heaven.  It started with homemade pasta, followed by some meat, then dessert.  The place we are in now has more modern stuff: WiFi, a washing machine, lots of space, and AC.

Some airlines have awesome stuff, too.  I have been on many airlines.  My favorite so far is, without a doubt, British Air.  Their service was amazing.  The movie they showed on our overnight flight was Megamind…in English.  Our meal was great too: roast beef with mashed potatoes and veggie soup.  Air Berlin was nice, too.  It showed Looney Tunes on the TV and had pretzels filled with butter.

There are some things that are not very enjoyable about travel.  Some hotels and airlines are not fun.  Once place we stayed had stone walls like we were in jail, plus a poisonous water supply.  Language is also a pain.  Most people don’t know what it is like to be unable to read anything or understand anything while you travel.

My Top Ten favorite sites, so far:

Zeus Cave

10. Zeus’s Cave (Crete): amazing rock formations and Greek mythology

Astrological Clock

9. Astrological Clock (Prague): one of a kind clock with many spooky stories

Wills and Kate got married here!

8. Westminster Abbey (London): English history and a great tour from Uncle Gordon

TV Towah!

7. Berlin TV Tower (Berlin): the view, the height, and the East Berlin history

Worst WC in Europe, but still a great view!

6. Eiffel Tower (Paris): obviously

Unbelievable

5. The Parthenon (Athens): the symbol of Greece

Roma

4. The Coliseum (Rome): cool history and seeing where gladiators fought

At the top!

3. London Eye (London): you can see the whole city up there

Imagining the troops landing.

2. Normandy Beaches (France): amazing WWII history and being at a battle site

The perfect day

1. Legoland (Germany): perfect birthday, perfect weather, perfect day

I will conclude by saying that, overall, I have had a great time.  I still can’t wait for the rest of it.  I am currently in Seville, Spain.  Next, we go to Avignon, France.

Sevilla

We’ve arrived in Sevilla – home of bullfighting, sherry, and Andalusian living.  After our whirlwind tour of Italy, it’s great to settle into one place for an extended period of time (three weeks in this case).  The apartment that we rented online is fantastic.  It’s bigger than we thought, situated in the heart of the historic district, and it has laundry, TV, and WiFi – the essential tools of our intrepid existence.

Our neighborhood!!!

There’s a big park a couple of blocks away, designed by the same landscape architect who did the Bois de Boulogne in Paris.  We’ve visited the beautiful cathedral with its Moorish details and orange grove courtyard.  And we’ve instituted an official family siesta, like the locals, since dinner doesn’t exist until 9pm at the earliest.  Cal is antsy and tired of sightseeing.  Declan has taken up running; he's doing 1-2 miles every other day with Blake.  Of course, all of this must be done before noon in order to avoid the SCALDING heat!

Cal at the park

Yesterday, we stopped by a little hole-in-the-wall tasting room just around the corner from our apartment where you can sample the local sherry and wines.  There are just two stools, a little AC unit, and a very friendly Cuban guy behind the counter.  Juan is in town for just a month or two.  He used to be a musician and a translator for the Cuban embassy in Paris, so our conversation was in French.  He took this job to meet women.  But he’s been disappointed.  He says that, in Cuba, his compliments go somewhere and they like his gray hair.  The women here, he complains, do not respond to his chit-chat, so he has nobody to shack up with.  He’s heading back to Cuba at the end of the month to re-group and plan his next trip.  Good stuff.  We’ll be back frequently for the yummy (sweet) sherry and entertaining conversation.

Connan at Juan's tasting room

Roma

We are a week behind in this blog.  Currently we are in Seville, Spain, but you haven't heard about our adventures in Rome, Florence and Pisa yet!

Gladiator action at the Colliseum

Trevi fountain wish

Muscling the other tourists out of the way for a pic.

Rome was big, noisy and Roman.  My puny little sunglasses can't compete with the huge lunettes that some of the ladies are sporting here. Tons of scooters and great food.  We saw the Colliseum, Trevi fountains, Spanish steps and St. Peter's. Not bad for a couple of days and a five year old.  Oh and we mailed back a couple of boxes and weathered a taxi strike.  We'll be lucky if we ever see those items again.  That took up a couple of hours.  Our friend Guido has arranged an interesting variety of places for us to stay and Rome was no exception.  We stayed in a convent.  Really.  It was like a B&B but it had a curfew and internet access.  It was right near St Peter's and the Pontifical Urban University so there were lots of young men with wide open and eager faces walking around in clerical collars. One asked us where we were from as he was from Pennsylvania. He was about to take one of his finals and looked very nervous. 



We then went to Florence, the city of dreams.  We arrived in the midst of a thunderstorm but for the rest of the visit not a spot of rain.  Duomo, Piazza Michelangelo, The Medici Science Museum, the Uffizi and the Palazzo Strozzi.  Again, great food: nougat, gelato, pasta and the best panini that I have ever had in my life.  If Ace had been there he would have had three.  Picture this: foccacia, buffalo mozzarella and a small salsicce (sausage).  It was delicious.  The art was great too.  Blake caught the Renaissance masters at the Uffizi and I caught Picasso, Miro and Dali at the Palazzo Strozzi.

Then a whirlwind visit to Pisa to see the tower and take the necessary pictures.  Glad we were only there for an afternoon. Not the most attractive city outside of the duomo and the tower.

Now we are in Seville and all the stories you've heard are true.  It is a beautiful city. More anon.

Declan in front of the murderous volcano,Vesuvius.

Can one do Pompeii in 30 minutes?  An entire ancient city, in 30 minutes?  The answer is yes.  Can you do it thoroughly?  No.  But you can get a taste.  See some mosaics.  Piggyback on someone else’s English tour and find out some tasty tidbits about the ruins in front of you.  Grab some water. Get out of the sun before the kids get too cranky.  Take some pictures to prove that you have been there.  Promise to come back for more on another trip.

We only had 30 minutes because we had to check out of the hotel, drive on the crazy Italian roads, turn the car back in to Avis, argue with the Avis people, walk to the Circumvesuviana, eat lunch, direct several Irish folks to the correct train, take the Circumvesuviana, get off at the right stop, see Pompeii, get back on the Circumvesuviana to Napoli and take the train to Rome all before 3:50.  Lots to do and not much time to do it.  Plus it was hot.  So this is what we saw.  We'll have to come back for more anon.

Doors open for Cal

Cal has discovered the small doors of Italy.  Small doors often lead to larger courtyards, just inside the door.  Or sometimes they are just small.  Here he is having fun.

In the closet in the Trulli hut.

Hobbitland

Trulli huts are medieval stone houses that were built originally without mortar.  They have individual turrets and sometimes they have symbols whitewashed on their roofs.  No one knows what the symbols mean; some think they were pre-Christian religious icons, while others think they were used to identify the buildings from one another. Whatever they were, they added a Tolkien flavor to our stay.  They were a bit damp, and small, but on the whole they were fun and interesting.  And we stayed in one!  Now we can say that we stayed in a Trulli hut and I can get that "Truly Scrumptious" CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG song out of my head.

 

After the longest drive of the trip, second only to the journey to Legoland, we arrived in Matera. This was after we paid an exorbitant amount for our laundry in Languaglossa in the shadow of Etna.  I’m too embarrassed to say how much but I can tell you how much laundry was required. We had a great need.  When the bill was totaled it equaled the amount of ¾’s of a tank of gas.  And I’m sure you know how expensive gas is in Europe. Yikes!  I’m still chewing on that one.

We crossed the straight of Messina on a ferry and headed up the boot for our little jaunt in area of Puglia.  We arrived late, hungry and without a decent idea of where we were going.  Always a good formula for traveling with children.  I had a map and a street address but lets just say there are little to no street signs in Matera whatsoever.  Plus a lot of pedestrian areas. And skinny one-way streets. Fancy driving was required.  There was a lot of jumping out of the car and asking, wandering, praying but finally we found it. 

It was hard to find because basically the hotel was in a cave in a ravine and none of the pathways to get to said ravine are marked. You can only picture us at 9PM, in the dark, trying to find our way into it.

The original settlement of Matera dates back to 1500 B.C. when folks lived in the caves built into the two sides of the ravine.  Our hotel was one in one of the caves.  It was wild!  A bit claustrophobic but wild.  It had all of the modern amenities, electricity, WiFi , shower. The boys seemed to enjoy it. All 12 hours of it.

We had a bit of lunch then we were off to Alberobello to stay in a Trulli.  A trulli is like a medieval Hobbit hut.  We are still looking for Gandolf as we speak.

Etna

We went up a volcano, looked around, stuck our hands in some vents and lived to tell about it.  Seems pretty tame when you are up there - then you watch one of the videos about one of the eruptions and then sticking your hand into a vent doesn't seem like a great idea.  The landscape is incredible. It feels like some sort of Star Wars set and then you see steam coming from somewhere and then it feels much more real.  We took a Moonraker-type 4 x 4 jeep up there with a bunch of Russians, Germans and French folks.  They rent jackets and shoes to walk around which is a good thing because it was cold up there.  3800M above sea level once you get to the top.  The boys were as enthusiastic about the snow as they were about being on top of a volcano. 

Etna!

Lots of driving the next couple of days - we are staying in a cave for one night and then hut-type Truillis for the next two.  Should be an adventure!