This city is the end of one of the major Catholic pilgrimages. By the looks of this map, it just might be THE major pilgrimage. Here's a link that describes it better. I have a friend, Becky, who did it last year, and another friend, Rebekka, who will do it at some point in her life. What is it with the Rebecc(kk)as? I'd never thought of it before.
Anyway, the cathedral is the glorious end to a long walk for all of the pilgrims. Many of the pilgrims aren't Catholic, which is interesting. The Camino and the cathedral have a magnetism that is fascinating.
Getting to the cathedral you need to walk thru the streets of Old Santiago, where you are walking the same streets where millions of pilgrims have preceded you. It is really an amazing feeling. We came up to the cathedral from behind and that's when you realize how large it is. We circled around it and came into the square at the entrance of the cathedral where we saw about a dozen, maybe more, pilgrims. One really cool scene was the girl from Japan who saw some of the friends that she had made along the way, a man and woman from France, the were reunited and I got to take the picture of them. Becky had told me about these friendships that develop among fellow pilgrims. The cool thing was to see how happy they were to be together again, even though the only thing they had in common was about 7 English words. I snapped a picture of my friend, Fran, in the square. It was great to hang out with her. The one picture I wish that I had was the group of sextagenarian bicycling pilgrims. They were in spandex.
Galicia (the province where Santiago de Compostela is) happens to be VERY damp, so the cathedral has moss on it. It is awe inspiring, none the less. There's also a statue of St. James looking much the pilgrim.
One of the coolest traditions is the bonking of your head on a statue while steadying your right hand in the grooves in the pillar above it. Looking at how deep the grooves are. That's centuries and centuries of hands and heads. Supposedly you gain luck and the wisdom of the architect by so doing.
This picture is of the all-seeing eye that watches over the cathedral. The crane that you can see is of the gigantic incense thing that takes 8 men to swing across the cathedral. The eye, really, just reminded me of National Treasure, and that's why I took the picture. Or maybe it was foreshadowing National Treasure 2...?
And here's the sepulcher of St. James. This box purportedly houses the bones of St. James. Although, I hear that the bones of the headless person are actually female. It's easier to believe this if you're Mormon and know that James is resurrected.
This huge statue of St. James is directly above the sepulcher. You can go up into the box, but you're not allowed to take pictures inside, so I unfortunately don't have a better picture of the tons of jewels that adorn James' robe. You are allowed to give him a hug, although I was looking at the jewels and had my hands on his shoulders, so it looked much more like I was giving him a massage.
One of the best stories about the cathedral is of this statue that you can see immediately as you enter. It's really rare to see such a happy statue, especially in a cathedral. One time a bishop or cardinal or someone really important like that came in and looked at him then followed his gaze across the way and saw this woman. No big deal, right? Well, truth is that she was once much more, uh, well endowed. The bishop was so mad, that he demanded that her chest immediately be nearly flattened. But as a backlash, the Galicians created this cheese, called Queixo Tetilla. I had some while we were there. It's really good.
Outside of the cathedral, we went for lots of walks. On one of the buildings just across the street from the building behind Fran in the picture that you saw hangs this crown. I think that it looks like an octopus. Fran thought that I was a nerd for so thinking. What do you think?
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Barcelona Pictures
My dad and I spent our Saturday in Barcelona by going on Gaudí pilgrimages. We first went to the Street of Discord, a street where various architects built apartments based on their style, hence the discord. Gaudí's building is on the right and the roof is meant to look like a dragon.
From there we went to the Casa Milà. My friend Rebekka calls his work "undulating" which you can tell from this picture. It also had some goofy statues on it's roof.
In the middle of our Gaudí pilgrimage we found a nice church. It had really cool outer walls.
We made it to the Sagrada Familia--which is called officially in Catalan, Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família--and were immediately blown away. People had said that it was smaller than they had expected it to be. I don't know what they were expecting, but I though it was huge, and it's only going to get bigger. They haven't even really begun the main spire.
The front façade covers the last few days of the Savior's life. These sculptures weren't done by Gaudí, but by another man whose name eludes me right now. The crucifixion is interesting because Christ's head is a book, symbolic of the word or book of life. There's a sculpture of Judas' kiss which has a 4 number by 4 number magic square that adds up in various ways to the number 33. The scenes are juxtaposed, like the burial of the Savior in the sepulcher as well His falling while carrying the cross. There is a statue of the Savior tied to the whipping post with words from the scripture behind him. Another angle shows the Savior at the post with the stylized Alpha and Omega behind His left shoulder. The words of scripture were also placed on the front doors.
The inside is really fascinating. Gaudí was interested in incorporating nature into his architecture. I sometimes felt like I was in a jungle inside, but not totally. But the ceiling was hard to figure out, in that I couldn't completely understand why he wanted to build it that way.
The outside back wall is called the Nativity because it covers the first few years of the Savior's life, before his ministry, like the flight to Egypt as well as the nativity scene, another view with angels watching over, the Magi,
We road the elevator up one of the towers and wandered around up there for a while and I was able to take better shots of the towers and spires, specifically the fruity ones. The picture that I linked to Barcelona was taken from one of the towers. I can't post all of my pictures, so you should just go online and try and find more. it was a great place.
That night we went walking thru the other half of the city's center. We stumbled onto the Catalunyan dancing. Notice their shoes; I think they might be specifically made for the dancing. One person in the group calls out what the next set of moves will be. I put a couple of videos up of the dancing and then embedded them to my blog. I really appreciated and enjoyed the love that these people had for their culture. There were lots of different dancing circles. It was nifty.
This is also the night that I bought my Waterman, mentioned in this entry, with pictures.
The next day we went to the Picasso museum which was meant to show his time in Barcelona and the work it produced as well as show his development as an artist. He was really amazing. Later we walked around trying to catch a cab to Parc Güell--which we never got to. Clark says that it was okay because now I have an excuse to go back. I was sad though because I wanted to see it. But instead we stumbled onto the Monument to Columbus. He returned to Barcelona from his first trip to America. The statue shows him pointing to the New World.
I really like Barcelona and would love to go back anytime.
From there we went to the Casa Milà. My friend Rebekka calls his work "undulating" which you can tell from this picture. It also had some goofy statues on it's roof.
In the middle of our Gaudí pilgrimage we found a nice church. It had really cool outer walls.
We made it to the Sagrada Familia--which is called officially in Catalan, Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família--and were immediately blown away. People had said that it was smaller than they had expected it to be. I don't know what they were expecting, but I though it was huge, and it's only going to get bigger. They haven't even really begun the main spire.
The front façade covers the last few days of the Savior's life. These sculptures weren't done by Gaudí, but by another man whose name eludes me right now. The crucifixion is interesting because Christ's head is a book, symbolic of the word or book of life. There's a sculpture of Judas' kiss which has a 4 number by 4 number magic square that adds up in various ways to the number 33. The scenes are juxtaposed, like the burial of the Savior in the sepulcher as well His falling while carrying the cross. There is a statue of the Savior tied to the whipping post with words from the scripture behind him. Another angle shows the Savior at the post with the stylized Alpha and Omega behind His left shoulder. The words of scripture were also placed on the front doors.
The inside is really fascinating. Gaudí was interested in incorporating nature into his architecture. I sometimes felt like I was in a jungle inside, but not totally. But the ceiling was hard to figure out, in that I couldn't completely understand why he wanted to build it that way.
The outside back wall is called the Nativity because it covers the first few years of the Savior's life, before his ministry, like the flight to Egypt as well as the nativity scene, another view with angels watching over, the Magi,
We road the elevator up one of the towers and wandered around up there for a while and I was able to take better shots of the towers and spires, specifically the fruity ones. The picture that I linked to Barcelona was taken from one of the towers. I can't post all of my pictures, so you should just go online and try and find more. it was a great place.
That night we went walking thru the other half of the city's center. We stumbled onto the Catalunyan dancing. Notice their shoes; I think they might be specifically made for the dancing. One person in the group calls out what the next set of moves will be. I put a couple of videos up of the dancing and then embedded them to my blog. I really appreciated and enjoyed the love that these people had for their culture. There were lots of different dancing circles. It was nifty.
This is also the night that I bought my Waterman, mentioned in this entry, with pictures.
The next day we went to the Picasso museum which was meant to show his time in Barcelona and the work it produced as well as show his development as an artist. He was really amazing. Later we walked around trying to catch a cab to Parc Güell--which we never got to. Clark says that it was okay because now I have an excuse to go back. I was sad though because I wanted to see it. But instead we stumbled onto the Monument to Columbus. He returned to Barcelona from his first trip to America. The statue shows him pointing to the New World.
I really like Barcelona and would love to go back anytime.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Last full day in Europe was a nice Lisbon day
My dad and I left Madrid at around 8am and caught some traffic, but not much. I actually really enjoy driving around Europe. I think my dad is a step away from heart attacks at times, though. Anyway, it was clear sailing to Lisbon and took us 2 or 3 hours less than we thought it would, so we had a nice afternoon tooling around the city and seeing some things that we didn't get to see the first time around. It was really nice. I like the sun and the heat, which was plentiful today in Lisbon. Poor Clark's got a cold, so we avoided the sun as much as possible. Here's to hoping that he'll feel better tomorrow for our flights. The travel time for me we'll be about 19 hours including layovers and just a little bit more for Clark. Blech. It'll be good to get back to Provo. Wow, who thought I'd type that. Well, I could also stay in Lisbon for a while, too. Sometimes I feel like we've barely scratched the surface.
Well, come Saturday or Sunday I'll start posting pictures and videos. Hope you all have a great weekend. I just might see some of you soon.
Tchau tchau from BEATIFUL Lisbon.
Well, come Saturday or Sunday I'll start posting pictures and videos. Hope you all have a great weekend. I just might see some of you soon.
Tchau tchau from BEATIFUL Lisbon.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Today was the Prado and a detour
Dad and I got up this morning and went right to the Prado. Oh, I only had 3 yogurts this morning. Does anyone know if eating excessive amounts of yogurt and restricting your diet mainly to one flavor does anything bad to you?
But before we got to the Prado, in fact as soon as we left the hotel we heard a girl screaming argumentatively. She was saying a lot of words that I won't repeat. She was walking with another American about her age (I'm assuming 18 years because she yelled something about that) and they were having quite the lovers spat: "Is that all I am to you, an embarassment?" It was pretty exciting--so exciting, in fact, that if it weren't for the agony on the girl's face I would have claimed it was staged.
Anyway, we got to the Prado and spent the next, I don't know, 6 hours there. It's an amazing museum. The painting Las Meninas was really cool. There was so much stuff, that I can't write about all of it. But the Goya was powerful, especially his later stuff. I didn't like the Saturno painting. Really gory. This painting was really powerful. The hotel that we're staying at is just around the corner from where that massacre took place. There was also a lot of El Greco. This nice thing about El Greco's painting is that it's very thinning. Now, Rubens, on the other hand, is, uhhh, voluptuous. So much so, that a word has been coined: Rubenesque.
The straight-shot road back to our hotel was blocked, so we got to take a detour thru the center of the town. It's a big city like any other big, old European city: statues, fountains, beautiful architecture and tons of people. It was pretty spiffy.
So sometimes Europe is weird. Something that we've seen in every city is a group of musicians dressed as though they were Sioux or Lakota but playing Incan music. Well, they play traditional Incan instruments, sometimes an electric piano, and play things like Simon and Garfunkel. Can anyone explain this to me? Oh, now the musician outside is playing My Heart Will Go On. Bring back the Simon and Garfunkel, I say.
Also, I can't think of mussels as snails. I accidentally saw the inside of one of the mussels. It was all hairy.
Gas right now in Spain hovers around 1.22 euros a liter. It was a little bit more in Portugal. All in all, I'm glad I'm not the one paying. I'm sure that Clark would be happy to read that.
I stood in front of the cheese aisle today and stared at it, so sad that in a few days it would be much more expensive, smaller and in the States. I did the same thing in front of the yogurt aisle. Sarah and I have a plan to intimidate Wisconsin into getting us better yogurt. If anyone wants to join, you're more than welcome.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) is our last real day in Europe since we drive on Thursday. I don't know when we'll get in on Thursday night and we fly in the morning on Friday. I'm hoping that we'll at least be able to meander a little on Thursday night. Lisbon is such a great city.
Have a great day, all. I'm out.
But before we got to the Prado, in fact as soon as we left the hotel we heard a girl screaming argumentatively. She was saying a lot of words that I won't repeat. She was walking with another American about her age (I'm assuming 18 years because she yelled something about that) and they were having quite the lovers spat: "Is that all I am to you, an embarassment?" It was pretty exciting--so exciting, in fact, that if it weren't for the agony on the girl's face I would have claimed it was staged.
Anyway, we got to the Prado and spent the next, I don't know, 6 hours there. It's an amazing museum. The painting Las Meninas was really cool. There was so much stuff, that I can't write about all of it. But the Goya was powerful, especially his later stuff. I didn't like the Saturno painting. Really gory. This painting was really powerful. The hotel that we're staying at is just around the corner from where that massacre took place. There was also a lot of El Greco. This nice thing about El Greco's painting is that it's very thinning. Now, Rubens, on the other hand, is, uhhh, voluptuous. So much so, that a word has been coined: Rubenesque.
The straight-shot road back to our hotel was blocked, so we got to take a detour thru the center of the town. It's a big city like any other big, old European city: statues, fountains, beautiful architecture and tons of people. It was pretty spiffy.
So sometimes Europe is weird. Something that we've seen in every city is a group of musicians dressed as though they were Sioux or Lakota but playing Incan music. Well, they play traditional Incan instruments, sometimes an electric piano, and play things like Simon and Garfunkel. Can anyone explain this to me? Oh, now the musician outside is playing My Heart Will Go On. Bring back the Simon and Garfunkel, I say.
Also, I can't think of mussels as snails. I accidentally saw the inside of one of the mussels. It was all hairy.
Gas right now in Spain hovers around 1.22 euros a liter. It was a little bit more in Portugal. All in all, I'm glad I'm not the one paying. I'm sure that Clark would be happy to read that.
I stood in front of the cheese aisle today and stared at it, so sad that in a few days it would be much more expensive, smaller and in the States. I did the same thing in front of the yogurt aisle. Sarah and I have a plan to intimidate Wisconsin into getting us better yogurt. If anyone wants to join, you're more than welcome.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) is our last real day in Europe since we drive on Thursday. I don't know when we'll get in on Thursday night and we fly in the morning on Friday. I'm hoping that we'll at least be able to meander a little on Thursday night. Lisbon is such a great city.
Have a great day, all. I'm out.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Driving from Barcelona to Madrid with a detour thru construction and Montblanc--a random assortment of thoughts
That's the Catalunyan Montblanc, by the way. The people at the hotel gave us great directions to Valencia, but not Madrid. But I've gotten better and better at maps, so I got us back on the right road with a nifty back road. The only problem was the construction. We spent forever trying to get thru a nice little mountain passage.
We came up on Madrid and I was driving by this time. My dad was doing pretty well with the maps that we had. So Madrid has tunnels--well it seemed more like one big tunnel. I think the chunnel could be considered miniscule compared to the one that we were in and out of today. We've also become good at driving on hunches and doubling back if we have to. I love roundabouts.
We're about a block away from quilómetro cero. It´s a nice little European hotel. Our goals here are museums and more museums. I'm fine with that. I'm going to miss Barcelona though. I really liked that city. I liked it almost as much as Lisbon. Ahhh, nice European cities. I'm going to miss the Catalan everywhere. But I did buy a dictionary, 4 Harry Potter books and El Petit Príncep, so I should be okay.
The Catalunyan dances were cool too. It was a great part about Barcelona. I'll have to put up some videos that I took. Hopefully no naked men will be in these. I'll let you know, Andy, so that you can see them on film even if you didn't get to see them on your mission.
I got more yogurt today, by the way. A lot more. There's a grocery store just down the way. I think Clark will quickly become annoyed at the amount of yogurt I'm going to eat before we leave. Is gorging a sin if it's European yogurt and you're at the end of an Iberian road trip?
Speaking of Iberian road trips, yes, Andy, this has been a lot of fun. I've actually loved driving across Iberia. My dad, however, curses the car and the driving. I understand that this probably has something to do with the fact that he's paying for the gas. But I'd do this again. It's been fun.
I bought a Waterman. Then it didn't work. I wanted to die. Then it worked again today. I said prayers about it, so I think that's why it's working. I'll take pictures of my new pens and post them (like you asked, Emily D.) But for now: Midnight Glamour. Sexy.
Tonight I tried--I really did--to eat a mussel. I just couldn't. But I did have some of Clark's scallop and his red pepper stuffed with cod. So thanks, Frau Magister and Assuming Undone, for the congrats on the fish. I guess I'm still a little weak on the fish-like things.
Oh, Becky, the eight things of yogurt that I got today were the azucarado type. SO TASTY. I think Clark's gonna flip when I eat 6 tomorrow morning.
Okay, that's it. Life's peachy here. Tomorrow we're going to the Reina Sofia and maybe some more wandering. It'll be great.
We came up on Madrid and I was driving by this time. My dad was doing pretty well with the maps that we had. So Madrid has tunnels--well it seemed more like one big tunnel. I think the chunnel could be considered miniscule compared to the one that we were in and out of today. We've also become good at driving on hunches and doubling back if we have to. I love roundabouts.
We're about a block away from quilómetro cero. It´s a nice little European hotel. Our goals here are museums and more museums. I'm fine with that. I'm going to miss Barcelona though. I really liked that city. I liked it almost as much as Lisbon. Ahhh, nice European cities. I'm going to miss the Catalan everywhere. But I did buy a dictionary, 4 Harry Potter books and El Petit Príncep, so I should be okay.
The Catalunyan dances were cool too. It was a great part about Barcelona. I'll have to put up some videos that I took. Hopefully no naked men will be in these. I'll let you know, Andy, so that you can see them on film even if you didn't get to see them on your mission.
I got more yogurt today, by the way. A lot more. There's a grocery store just down the way. I think Clark will quickly become annoyed at the amount of yogurt I'm going to eat before we leave. Is gorging a sin if it's European yogurt and you're at the end of an Iberian road trip?
Speaking of Iberian road trips, yes, Andy, this has been a lot of fun. I've actually loved driving across Iberia. My dad, however, curses the car and the driving. I understand that this probably has something to do with the fact that he's paying for the gas. But I'd do this again. It's been fun.
I bought a Waterman. Then it didn't work. I wanted to die. Then it worked again today. I said prayers about it, so I think that's why it's working. I'll take pictures of my new pens and post them (like you asked, Emily D.) But for now: Midnight Glamour. Sexy.
Tonight I tried--I really did--to eat a mussel. I just couldn't. But I did have some of Clark's scallop and his red pepper stuffed with cod. So thanks, Frau Magister and Assuming Undone, for the congrats on the fish. I guess I'm still a little weak on the fish-like things.
Oh, Becky, the eight things of yogurt that I got today were the azucarado type. SO TASTY. I think Clark's gonna flip when I eat 6 tomorrow morning.
Okay, that's it. Life's peachy here. Tomorrow we're going to the Reina Sofia and maybe some more wandering. It'll be great.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Barcelona
Sorry, I still don't have a way to put pictures on. But I will put some on, I promise.
We went on a Gaudí tour yesterday (meaning Saturday). We saw, among other things, the Casa Milà and La Sagrada Familia. I found Sagrada Familia awe inspiring. It was so amazing. His style is round. I'll put up a post about it when I get back. We spent a long time there.
Then I sent Dad on his way and I went to the Bookstore: La Casa del Llibre. I bought Harry Potter in Catalan, books 1-4, book 4 of HP but the british version, I got the little prince in Catalan, German and Italian, I got a catalan dictionary and a picture book of La Sagrada Familia. I was quite happy.
Later on we saw dancing by Catalans in the street. It's the native dance. It's really cool. I'll post a video about that two. It was hard to get a good video of the crowd because of the two naked men. They were icky. The old guy had tattoos everywhere. Bizarre.
I bought a Waterman fountain pen that's very sleek. I just can't get it to write. Hmmph.
Last night we had tapas. It was fun.
Today I had lots of yogurt because i didn't get any yesterday. Then I had yogurt gelato. Yum.
Today we went to the Picasso museum. It was interesting to see his progression as an artist. He was amazing as a young (14ish) painter.
Then we wandered around and saw the big Columbus statue then the Mediterranean. Today has been a little damp, so it was a real Mediterranean afternoon.
There's more, especially with pictures. But the computer's gonna kick me off.
Tomorrow in the early morning we're off to Madrid!!!
Here's to more yogurt!!!
We went on a Gaudí tour yesterday (meaning Saturday). We saw, among other things, the Casa Milà and La Sagrada Familia. I found Sagrada Familia awe inspiring. It was so amazing. His style is round. I'll put up a post about it when I get back. We spent a long time there.
Then I sent Dad on his way and I went to the Bookstore: La Casa del Llibre. I bought Harry Potter in Catalan, books 1-4, book 4 of HP but the british version, I got the little prince in Catalan, German and Italian, I got a catalan dictionary and a picture book of La Sagrada Familia. I was quite happy.
Later on we saw dancing by Catalans in the street. It's the native dance. It's really cool. I'll post a video about that two. It was hard to get a good video of the crowd because of the two naked men. They were icky. The old guy had tattoos everywhere. Bizarre.
I bought a Waterman fountain pen that's very sleek. I just can't get it to write. Hmmph.
Last night we had tapas. It was fun.
Today I had lots of yogurt because i didn't get any yesterday. Then I had yogurt gelato. Yum.
Today we went to the Picasso museum. It was interesting to see his progression as an artist. He was amazing as a young (14ish) painter.
Then we wandered around and saw the big Columbus statue then the Mediterranean. Today has been a little damp, so it was a real Mediterranean afternoon.
There's more, especially with pictures. But the computer's gonna kick me off.
Tomorrow in the early morning we're off to Madrid!!!
Here's to more yogurt!!!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Lucky Comedy of Errors
The last few days of our trip have been a comedy of errors with very nice results.
On Wednesday we left Braga and headed to Vigo to pick up my friend Fran. We left late which was already a problem. It was pretty obvious that we changed the border into Spain. There was a stark difference because northern Portugal isn't as bustly as southern Galicia. Anyway we stayed on the road to Vigo and suddenly ended up right where we needed to be in the middle of Vigo. It was so shocking that I thought that we were in the wrong place. We didn't see Fran so we turned off the roundabout to double check. On the way back up we saw Fran walking down the street. So we grabbed her and headed off to Santiago de Compostela.
The cathedral in Santiago is amazing. I don't know if I'll be able to post pictures for a bit, just trust me that it was beautiful. The three of us spoke in a hybrid of English, Spanish, Galego and Portuguese. The nice thing is that we understood each other the whole time.
After we got to the hotel Fran and I decided to go on a walk and look for more yogurt since the amount we'd already had that day just wasn't enough. But as we were leaving, the receptionists at the hotel told us that it was 10pm. I looked at my watch and said that no, it was 9pm. They smiled and said, no, son las diez. Did you know that the time changes from Portugal to Spain? Hmmph. Fran had been waiting for two hours, not one. I felt terrible. But this also meant that we'd been off by an hour all day. So funny. A little bit later I dropped her off in the middle of the city with a friend of hers and said goodbye. It was sad. She's the bomb.
The next morning (Thursday) I had tons of cheese and yogurt for breakfast. Clark makes fun of me for this. I eat on average 3 yogurts a day. Today I had more.
Anyway, Dad and I headed to Bilbao which was a LONG drive. But it was GORGEOUS. We drove along the Bay of Biscay for most of it. Oh my was it beautiful. We finally got into Bilbao and then drove around and around and around and had no idea how to get down to the Guggenheim. We gave up. It was a mess. So we decided to find our hotel which was in a neighboring city. We couldn't find the exit, but we did see an exit for Gernika-Lomo. Most of you have heard of this place because of the painting of the terrible bombing by Hitler's forces in 1937. So we decided to take a detour. We were happy to see that the city was a normal small town. So we doubled back and then finally found the city that had our hotel. But we couldn't find the hotel. We drove and drove and drove and drove in circles and more circles. We asked people, they told us and then we drove and drove and drove around this really nice, small Basque town. We finally stopped at a restaurant that was closing, but the owner still fed us anyway. I had calimari. Yep, I ate squid. But I didn't eat the pig's face. Nor did Clark. It still had hair on it. Blech. The owner, José, was wonderful. He and his girlfriend led us to the hotel later. So wonderful.
The next morning we tried to get to the freeway toward Vitoria. [We changed our plans and bagged France. :'( ] But we couldn't figure out how to get to the other side of the freeway. Then suddenly we were at the Guggenheim. So our comedy of lucky errors continued and we got to see the Guggenheim. So funny. This is how our whole trip has been.
Then we left for Zaragoza. But then I convinced Dad to push a little bit more to Lérida. By now I was driving and I told him that we might as well head to Barcelona. So we're here now. I'm very happy. I like it here a lot. This is going to give us more time in Barcelona, so I'm glad I was able to convince Clark that driving for 2 days in a row would be worth it. This has turned into an Iberian road trip. I think I'm enjoying it more than he is, though. Well, at least the driving.
I'm sure that there's more to report. But he's waiting for me downstairs and he's really hot because it's nice and muggy here: just the way I like it. :D
I'm really happy. Hopefully I'll get to post more pictures soon.
Love you all.
J'aime l'Espagne!!!!
On Wednesday we left Braga and headed to Vigo to pick up my friend Fran. We left late which was already a problem. It was pretty obvious that we changed the border into Spain. There was a stark difference because northern Portugal isn't as bustly as southern Galicia. Anyway we stayed on the road to Vigo and suddenly ended up right where we needed to be in the middle of Vigo. It was so shocking that I thought that we were in the wrong place. We didn't see Fran so we turned off the roundabout to double check. On the way back up we saw Fran walking down the street. So we grabbed her and headed off to Santiago de Compostela.
The cathedral in Santiago is amazing. I don't know if I'll be able to post pictures for a bit, just trust me that it was beautiful. The three of us spoke in a hybrid of English, Spanish, Galego and Portuguese. The nice thing is that we understood each other the whole time.
After we got to the hotel Fran and I decided to go on a walk and look for more yogurt since the amount we'd already had that day just wasn't enough. But as we were leaving, the receptionists at the hotel told us that it was 10pm. I looked at my watch and said that no, it was 9pm. They smiled and said, no, son las diez. Did you know that the time changes from Portugal to Spain? Hmmph. Fran had been waiting for two hours, not one. I felt terrible. But this also meant that we'd been off by an hour all day. So funny. A little bit later I dropped her off in the middle of the city with a friend of hers and said goodbye. It was sad. She's the bomb.
The next morning (Thursday) I had tons of cheese and yogurt for breakfast. Clark makes fun of me for this. I eat on average 3 yogurts a day. Today I had more.
Anyway, Dad and I headed to Bilbao which was a LONG drive. But it was GORGEOUS. We drove along the Bay of Biscay for most of it. Oh my was it beautiful. We finally got into Bilbao and then drove around and around and around and had no idea how to get down to the Guggenheim. We gave up. It was a mess. So we decided to find our hotel which was in a neighboring city. We couldn't find the exit, but we did see an exit for Gernika-Lomo. Most of you have heard of this place because of the painting of the terrible bombing by Hitler's forces in 1937. So we decided to take a detour. We were happy to see that the city was a normal small town. So we doubled back and then finally found the city that had our hotel. But we couldn't find the hotel. We drove and drove and drove and drove in circles and more circles. We asked people, they told us and then we drove and drove and drove around this really nice, small Basque town. We finally stopped at a restaurant that was closing, but the owner still fed us anyway. I had calimari. Yep, I ate squid. But I didn't eat the pig's face. Nor did Clark. It still had hair on it. Blech. The owner, José, was wonderful. He and his girlfriend led us to the hotel later. So wonderful.
The next morning we tried to get to the freeway toward Vitoria. [We changed our plans and bagged France. :'( ] But we couldn't figure out how to get to the other side of the freeway. Then suddenly we were at the Guggenheim. So our comedy of lucky errors continued and we got to see the Guggenheim. So funny. This is how our whole trip has been.
Then we left for Zaragoza. But then I convinced Dad to push a little bit more to Lérida. By now I was driving and I told him that we might as well head to Barcelona. So we're here now. I'm very happy. I like it here a lot. This is going to give us more time in Barcelona, so I'm glad I was able to convince Clark that driving for 2 days in a row would be worth it. This has turned into an Iberian road trip. I think I'm enjoying it more than he is, though. Well, at least the driving.
I'm sure that there's more to report. But he's waiting for me downstairs and he's really hot because it's nice and muggy here: just the way I like it. :D
I'm really happy. Hopefully I'll get to post more pictures soon.
Love you all.
J'aime l'Espagne!!!!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Itinerary
Clark and I fly into Lisbon on the of the 22nd of June, a Friday. We'll be in Lisbon and environs until Sunday mid-dayish when we drive to Braga.
From Sunday the 24th thru the morning of Wednesday the 27th we'll be in Braga. That's where my conference is and my whole excuse for this trip. Although I think my dad is going to go to Porto for those two days of conference and tour around.
We're leaving Braga on the morning of the 27th and driving to Vigo to pick up my friend Fran and then we're off to Santiago de Compostela to see the cathedral where St. James' bones are supposedly laid to rest. (Truth be told, they're not even male bones, but female.) S. de C. is the end of a major pilgrimage trail.
On the morning of the 28th, a Thursday, we drive along the northern coast of Spain to Bilbao and the Guggenheim museum.
I convinced my dad to drive thru southern France on Friday the 29th, just so I could see it. We'll spend the night in Perpignan, France, near the Mediterranean.
On Saturday the 30th we'll drive to Barcelona where we'll see La Sagrada Familia, Montserrat hopefully, and who knows what else.
We'll be in Barça until Monday, July 2nd, when we start the drive to Madrid. We'll go to the Prado, maybe the Post Office, I'll maybe go the the temple, and tons of other stuff.
On Thursday we'll drive thru Toledo and Badajoz on our way back to Lisbon, where we'll spend the night and fly out on Friday the 6th and arrive in the U.S. late Friday night.
From Sunday the 24th thru the morning of Wednesday the 27th we'll be in Braga. That's where my conference is and my whole excuse for this trip. Although I think my dad is going to go to Porto for those two days of conference and tour around.
We're leaving Braga on the morning of the 27th and driving to Vigo to pick up my friend Fran and then we're off to Santiago de Compostela to see the cathedral where St. James' bones are supposedly laid to rest. (Truth be told, they're not even male bones, but female.) S. de C. is the end of a major pilgrimage trail.
On the morning of the 28th, a Thursday, we drive along the northern coast of Spain to Bilbao and the Guggenheim museum.
I convinced my dad to drive thru southern France on Friday the 29th, just so I could see it. We'll spend the night in Perpignan, France, near the Mediterranean.
On Saturday the 30th we'll drive to Barcelona where we'll see La Sagrada Familia, Montserrat hopefully, and who knows what else.
We'll be in Barça until Monday, July 2nd, when we start the drive to Madrid. We'll go to the Prado, maybe the Post Office, I'll maybe go the the temple, and tons of other stuff.
On Thursday we'll drive thru Toledo and Badajoz on our way back to Lisbon, where we'll spend the night and fly out on Friday the 6th and arrive in the U.S. late Friday night.
Bumming around Iberia
I've set up this blog for my trip to Europe. Clark and I will be flying out on Thursday, June 21. I have no idea how often I'll be able to post while I'm in Portugal, Spain and France. But I'm going to try. I'll for sure post pictures and stories when I get back. But it can't hurt to check every once in a while on the off chance that I found a computer.
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