Iter Facere

Saturday July 21 - Madrid

Today the National Archaeology Museum. Its huge, two full floors covering a small city block. It is completely absorbing. Who knew that there was a prehistoric presence on the Canary Islands. How did they get there? Or that there was a lot of Paleolithic art in the Sahara desert? That particular exhibit had a six or seven foot stele with horses and other animals inscribed on it. I guess the Sahara wasn’t a bad a place 20,000 years ago.
The museum ends up being a history of the Iberian peninsula, so you see the artifacts from all of the cultures that have lived in Spain. There’s a lot of them. I knew that prior to the Romans the Carthaginians had settled parts of spain, as did the Phonecians, but there were other cultures in the Guadalquivir valley and elsewhere. One question that popped up was why did the Carthaginians settle the southern coast of Spain, but not the northern coast of Morocco? I gotta get a book.
A great Iberian statue, the Dame of Eula (spelling?) with gigantic ear adornments was another surprise. Again, I forget that the people that the Romans conquered had their own advanced cultures and weren’t just sitting around in mud huts eating berries.
Nice Greek vase collection. Some beautiful multi-colored glass perfume bottles stood out. I didn’t know that the ancients knew how to do multi-colored glass. The section on the post-Roman world was interesting. The highlight is a set of golden crowns a Visigothic king gave to the church upon his conversion. We could even understand the Latin (or at least Sean could). On and on the museum went, with Arab art and then Mudehar works. The only drawback was that almost nothing was explained in English. Of course, that was also a plus, since if there had been English signage we’d have spent a week in there.
After lunch at a pretty little restaurant on the Paseo, we walked the long way down to the Royal Botanic Gardens. They had an exhibition of bonsai, which was a nice surprise. There were a couple of tree I’d like to get, Picea jezonensis, Pinus sylvestris, and Quercus ilex. The last we’d seen in Alquezar on our walk to Alpan cave. Its leaves are thorny at low levels, but as the tree gets taller the leaves on the upper branches lose there thorns. The leaves look just like a holly leaf (hence the name).
Finally dinner at a wonderful little Asturian restaurant, Rey Silo. The food was nice, I picked a good bottle of wine, the chef and the servers kept chatting with us, and kept giving us little samples of food. When we ordered dessert, the chef brought us out an extra one, a cuajada that was delicious, with a sight yogurt tang that we’d hadn’t encountered before. At the end, after we ordered orujo con miel the brought out a non-alcoholic liquor for Sean. A nice ending to our trip.

posted by Jim @ 7:24 AM 0 comments

Friday July 20 - Madrid

Off museum hunting. Sean discovered the existence of the Museo Naval so we going to add that to the itinerary. Its a fun museum, filled with artifacts and models of Spain’s naval history. Being Anglophone, I tend to forget about stuff that doesn’t involve the U.S. or Great Britain, so the museum’s discussions of Spanish naval affairs off the coast of South America was a surprise to me. The models of the naval shipyards at Ferrol and Cartagena were fascinating. I need to learn more Spanish history, a point driven home later on at the Prado.
As we were entering the Naval Museum, we got caught behind a large group of middle school and younger students on their way into the museum. The older kids were on an English language assignment, so they had a list of questions to ask people and we were conveniently there. It was fun, but we didn’t keep up with them as they went through the museum so we lost our chance to teach English.
Then to the Prado. The collection is a little more limited than I thought it would be. Great Gothic and Renaissance art. I have to admit, though, that I find portraits of kings, queens and other magnificent ones kind of dull, even when done by Goya. We did see Goya’s May painting of the Madrid patriots being shot, which is intense. All in all, I enjoyed the Prado, but I don’t need to rush back, its not my favorite style.
Next was the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. He was a rich European, his wife Carmen, who looked like Zsa Zsa Gabor collected art. They were having an exhibition of Van Gogh’s final works, painted just before his suicide. That was neat. What can you say about Van Gogh that someone hasn’t already said better than you? Beautiful pictures. That’s pretty profound. The rest of the gallery is nice. It has a broad selection of art from all different epochs of Western art. They obviously got started with their collection after all of the big stuff was swept up, but its a nice gallery to walk around. There is a nice selection of Dutch artists, especially Saloman Jacob von (van?) Ruisdal. Our feet, legs or back gave out and we headed back to the hotel for the evening.
Dinner was nice, outside next to the Opera house. It was the Asador Real, and Sean finally got his roast suckling pig which he shared with Kathy. I had the roast lamb. Dinner was terrific but I ordered a bottle of wine that we just didn’t like. We can’t decide if it was just the style of the wine, or if it had aged too long in the bottle. I don’t know enough to decide, so I’m going to say the style.
We finish dinner at midnight, and there are still thousands walking around or eating. People were sitting down to eat as we left. Amazing.

posted by Jim @ 6:42 AM 0 comments

Thursday July 19- Alquezar to Madrid

This morning my credit card is rejected again as we check out. An expensive phone call reveals that someone is using my card back home, at Best Buy and Target. I recall the multiple images of the damned that we have seen on multiple churches and cathedrals and wish every one of those torments on this person as I cancel my card number.
Off to Madrid. We think it might take about six hours to drive there and we’re about right. We stop in Medinacelli again for lunch, since its cute and convenient to the freeway and we’re in Madrid by 4:00 PM.
We head off on a walk to see the Plaza Mayor, get oriented and kill time before dinner at 9:00. Madrid is a good looking city. The area we’re in is the medieval center so the roads are ridiculous, narrow and chaotic, but most of the buildings are 19th century hispano-victorian-neoclassical. The roads are interspersed with plazas with monuments in the middle of them. Eventually we end up at the Retiro Park which is Madrid’s Central Park I guess. It’s more formal looking (I think it was originally a royal park), with symmetrical plantings and water features. Like the rest of Madrid its filled with people walking around and there are several cafes where you can sit and enjoy the view. We do so for a while and find dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to us. My Spanish fails completely while ordering, but we succeed eventually. We start eating at 9:30 and no one else is eating dinner. It’s still light out at 10:00, and when we finish around 11:00 people are sitting down to start. Wow. On the way back to the hotel, you can’t tell its 11:30 at night since there are so many people walking around.

posted by Jim @ 8:56 AM 0 comments

Wednesday July 18 - Huesca and Alquezar

Today we head to Huesca, the provincial capital. My expectations have been bouncing between enthusiasm and dread. It could be like Jaca, a pleasant little city or it could be Pont de Suert. The Oxford Guide to Archaeological Site in Spain says its interesting, as does the DK guide, but both entries are a little restrained in their descriptions. Huesca doesn’t present the most attractive vision as you approach on the highway, and unfortunately it delivers the same. The cathedral is nice, the provincial museum is quite good but that’s about it. The Provincial Museum deserves kudos though. The government of Aragon makes all of its museums free and they are a great deal. The displays are well done, logical (although a bit repetitive if you go to more than one or two museums, they tell the same chronological story of Aragon) and fun to wander through. The other site in Huesca, the Iglesia of San Pedro is also very nice, with a beautiful Romanesque cloister. The capital carvings are expressive and delicate, quite Gothic looking to me. I wonder if some are reproductions since they are so well preserved, while others are quite eroded.
We wandered around Huesca looking for a internet connection, since we’ve been internet-free for a few days. Some parts of the town are nice, but all in all the restraint in the guidebooks is well earned. Its interesting how guidebooks tell you as much by what they don’t say as by what they do. Anyway, no internet in Huesca, so we decide to head back to Alquezar and use the ayuntamentio (City Hall) internet, which opens later in the day. Huesca doesn’t even earn lunch from us, so I guess we’re not fans.
On the way home, in a little village just outside Alquezar (name unknown, Adahuesca perhaps?) I look down a cross street and see the words ‘Cyber Cafe’. Unbelievable. Its a cafe, supermarket and internet site. After some confusion with connecting to her wireless setup we connect and get some email from Jenny. Good fun.
Back to Alquezar for the afternoon. After siesta we explore the fortress and Colegtia Santa Maria. Unusually, at least for the sites we’ve seen so far, its full of light and airy. There’s not much fortress to Sean’s dismay, but it is an impressive place to visit. The chapel has some nice Romanesque murals and the cloister is very pretty. One archway in the building is an attractive Moorish looking bit.
At dinner (a repeat of our first night, very nice, the Hotel Narbona) my credit card is invalid. ???? Must just be the machine I think. I will be proven wrong.

posted by Jim @ 11:44 PM 0 comments

Tuesday July 17th Alquezar

This morning the goal is the Alpan cave painting complex. We learned about in the Turismo is Barbastro. It is a Levantive culture painting, with human and animals. We pick up our guide at the Interpretation center in Colunga. Its all very low key. We show up, say we want to go, she fetches her car and we follow her to the trail a few miles away. The trail, describes as an easy walk is actually rather tricky, steep, uneven and in the heat a bit of a challenge. But it is worth it. One deer is very clear, with delicate antlers and a very lifelike form. The other deer are only partial, and a little cruder, the antlers aren’t as fine nor the legs as lifelike. The human forms are hard to see, but the bows and arrows are well done again. One interpretation is that the deer are following a path (done in ochre with finger tips, you can just make out a few dots) in to an ambush. The conversations with the guides were great fun, as we searched for the words to use. They’d toss out a Spanish word, or try to explain, we’d come back with the English word, throw in some Spanish and then we’d all move on to the next sentence. Along the path in we learned about the geology and the plant life in the same way. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed of the cave art.
By now it was 12:30 and we wanted to get to the town of Naval for lunch and to see the pottery shops there. There is also the Camino del Sal, the Road of Salt, which we want to walk to learn about the salt mines in Naval.
Since we arrive at siesta, we have lunch at a local hotel. Just before we arrive, thiry kids from a day camp arrive at the restaurant. Lunch is delayed. No problem, we have to kill 2 1/2 hours. After a pretty nice lunch, with a very nice Carinena rosado, the waiter asks me a question about the wine. I nod my head and answer bueno. Soon, another bottle arrives, so our dismay. Obviously he wanted to know if I wanted another. Oops. My Spanish is a double edged sword. We’ll have a little, walk it off on the Camino del Sal and take it back to the hotel.
The Camino del Sal is a hoot. Each local tourist office clearly has the mandate to identify things for tourists to do. In the brutal heat, we walk along looking for the guideposts out of the town, into a field, to the (dry) river, along the river, read a sign about a big tree, walk some more, read a sign about the woods next to a copse of trees, walk some more to the salt mines. Salt mines aren’t very interesting we discover. Then back to town.
The ceramic shops are great. We have a nice conversation with one Dutch potter and loaded down with our acquisitions head back to Alquezar. We end up having the oddest dinner ever in Spain. The restaurant has a menu that features game meats. Looks great. We walk in and are the only people in the place. We’re seated and a women silently walks over and plops some bread and water on the table, along with a crummy bottle of wine. Ah, the prix-fix menu. Still wordless she plops some first course food down. And so on. No words, we are trapped, the food that arrives isn’t what is on the menu until the denouement with the over-cooked lamb and pork. During dinner the silent one has been sitting at a nearby table smoking and watching TV when not stoically delivering our rations. After the silent dessert she suddenly brightens up and offers us some orujo on the house. Bizarre.

posted by Jim @ 5:25 PM 0 comments

Monday July 16 - Pont de Seurt to Alquezar

Leaving Pont de Suert wasn’t too hard. There isn’t much to see, other than the ugliest church in the world. It looks like a Quonset hut with a pale green egg next to it. We thought about going in to look at it, but realized that we only wanted to see it to laugh at it, which didn’t seem very polite to the people who need to use it.
Our first stop was in Graus, which has a Plaza Mayor which we wanted to see. The walls of the buildings surrounding it are painted with murals. After we finally found a place to put the car, we walked up the main street towards the Plaza. What a lively town! It was about 11:00 AM when we got there, but every table at the numerous cafes lining the street was occupied, people we out walking around. I don’t know if it was just because it was Monday, or if it was an everyday event, but it is the most bustling town we’ve seen in Spain.
In a classic tourist moment, the entire Plaza Mayor was covered in scaffolding for repair and restoration. So much for that. Up to the monastery for a look, nice but just OK, they’re beginning to look all alike now.
In the tourist office we heard about a unique and unusual castle set on top a hill. This trip has short-changed Sean on castles, so we thought we’d go see it. We drove to the town, La Puebla de Fantova, and found the road to the castle blocked by construction equipment. We asked two gentlemen sitting outside on the plaza for directions. We couldn’t understand him, so he drew us a little map and off we went. Finally, we found the castle, way up a tiny road on the top of a promontory. I think it was local pride that described it as unique and unusual, but it was fun to visit. We had to walk (again) up a bad path to get to it. Once there it was open for wandering around. I went up the recently installed ladder to the roof and found an observatory! I’d seen one on the top of a house in Graus earlier in the day, and I’d seen two on houses near Pont de Seurt. What a great country. I bet the skies are good for astronomy since the skies are so clear. Something to keep in mind. The castle was really just a single tower on the top of a steep hill with a little chapel next to it, along with two stone cut tombs. After exhausting the castle we headed back down the road and suddenly a huge six foot wingspread vulture flew down the road, no more than twenty feet in front of us. It roosted in a pine tree. I hopped out to get a photo, and noticed five or six circling above. It is uncomfortable having vultures circle above you. I heard chattering in the field in front of me, and walking forward saw another five or six hopping around on the ground. The vultures are big, the body is about two feet long, naked head, brown wings with some white feathers (I think). They’re more attractive in the air than up close.
The next stop was Barbastro, again another lively town. We wanted to see the archaeological park, which was being torn down and rebuilt. A theme for the day emerges. But the cathedral was great. We got to it just as a man was reopening it after siesta. He gave us a tour of each chapel, explaining in Spanglish the art and artists. The first chapel had a baroque plaster ceiling that was unbelievably complex. It was terrific.
Finally to Alquezar. The town is spectacular, tumbling down a cliff with the fortress and Colegiata above it. Our hotel overlooks the fortress from the other side of town across the ravine. The hotel is nice, but the staff is a little odd being composed of the guides from the adventure sports outfitter next door. They make sport of my bad Spanish when I ask about the internet, the first time that has happened, although my Spanish deserves disdain. The other surprise in Alquezar is that it is jammed with tourists, primarily French. Most of the businesses (all five of them), have signs in French. All of the restaurant menus are in French and Spanish. Why are there so many French people here? There are also quite a few Germans, and we also hear a couple of Americans. Given the number of adventure sport outfitters, this must be a famous place for rock climbing and rafting in Europe. The town is beautiful, but it also doesn’t really exist. Most of the buildings are apartments for rent. It looks like people come here for a week or so with their families, sort of like Maine except a lot hotter.

posted by Jim @ 8:12 AM 0 comments

Sunday July 15 - Val d’Aran and Aiguestorties Again

The plan for the day is to drive up to the Val d’Aran and then complete a circle back to Pont de Seurt. The guidebook has us prepared for the worst drive in history, saying that we’ll need to break halfway through and stay the night in order to survive. Not quite. The road was fine.
We first drove to Vielha, through a five kilometer tunnel. That was a bit claustrophobic. We drove north to just short of the French border to say “Hello” to France, and then turned around to head over the mountain pass at the head of the valley. The scenery was once again dramatic. We stopped at the pass, Bonaigua, which is 2702 meters high to enjoy the scenery. Its also a ski location, where the king skis apparently. In the town below there are hotels across the road from the foot of the lifts, and they take yo all the way up, and you can ski back to town. I wish I could ski, this would be nice.
We headed on to Espot where you can enter the other side of Aiguestortes Park. We hadn’t planned on stopping, but it sounded like you could take a nice walk there, and the book was right. After we fortified ourselves with lunch (Sean and Kathy had wild boar, I had rabbit, both excellent) we took a taxi up to the park. There we found a lovely lake and another pleasant walk around the lake to a waterfall and back.
Back to the car and an uneventful ride back to Pont de Suert.

posted by Jim @ 7:46 AM 0 comments

Saturday July 14 - The Vall de Boi

We headed off the morning to the Vall de Boi, just north of Pont de Suert. In a small area, there are seven 10th and 11tn century Romanesque churches. They are quite attractive. The first, in Erill la Vall has a seven story high bell tower and a particularly interesting sculpture over the alter, Its a Christ descending from the cross. Earlier we’d seen a sculpture in this same style, which surprised us then too. The figures are elongated, and almost abstract. My first impression each time was that they were modern sculptures. These were from the end of the 12th century. That shows what I know about art history. I’m always startled by the expressiveness of the naturalness of Romanesque or Gothic art. I have a preconception of it being stiff and unnatural, and once again my preconception is proven wrong. We went to the next church, in Taull, and while we waited for a tour to leave we had coffee at a cafe run by an American whose been in Spain for seven years. We had a nice chat. He confirmed for us that all of the building we’ve been seeing is vacation home construction. In Taull, sixty people live there year round, but there must be one thousand units in the village. The church, St. Climent de Taull has a number ofreproductions of the 12th century murals, very colorful and evocative. This church is only 2 kilometers from the first, and there is another church in the same village, which was closed for restoration work. Why were three churches built so close together at the same time? There are six others within five kilometers. Unfortunately, the brochures don’t really any answers. The town of Boi, just outside Taull, is also the jump off point for the Aiguestortes National Park. We decided to take a jeep taxi (the only way you can enter unless you walk) up to the park and walk around. That was a great choice. We were able to walk along an alpine stream up in a magnificent valley. It is one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been. The walk was easy too, which assuaged some of the trauma of the Ordessa walk. The mountains are just perfect, jagged and spiky. There are some attractive trees, some sort of mountain pine, which look like they would make good bonsai. They have short needles and dramatic bark. At the information station I grabbed the name Pinus uncinata. I’ll have to see if I can get one, maybe one for the garden. Our goal was a lake about 1 1/2 hours away, but our Ordesa fatigued legs gave out about a half hour away from the lake and we turned back.
After our wonderful walk we stopped and one more church and then came back to the hotel. We decided to try a restaurant in town, which didn’t turn out so well. A mediocre Spanish restaurant can be pretty blah.

posted by Jim @ 7:37 AM 0 comments

Friday July 13 - Torla to Pont de Suert

So long to Torla. As we were leaving, we decide that we could have spent another day here easily enough, as there are some other things to do int the area, and another walk (not hike) in the park would be nice. Today is a driving day, with a stop or two along the way to enjoy the view. As we’re driving we see more construction. The amount of building around the Pyrenees is boggling. Every town, no matter how dull is sprouting cranes building apartment complexes, which all look alike. They are all three or four stories tall, the have reinforced concrete slabs and pillars, and then are faced in stone. The stone is real stone, not just surface stone, so the walls a almost two feet thick. They’re all built in the style of the area, so they don’t look bad, but they are obvious. Panticosa was filled with them, but we see them everywhere. They must be for vacation homes, since the population is sparse.
We stop to look at the town of Ainsa. Every trip has a place that we wished we’d stayed in, and Ainsa is the place. It is a beautiful town (surrounded by new construction) an hour south of Torla, so it is in the front range of the mountains. Its the principal town of the Sobrarbe region. It has been heavily restored,maybe over restored for some. The town has a small castillo at one end, a large arcaded plaza mayor and then two main streets the run parallel to each other for 100 yards or so. Right off the plaza mayor is a little church that is just charming. You enter in to the nave, which is a large Romanesque barrel vault with almost no light. The interior is very plain and serene. Below the altar is a crypt with Romanesque arches and vaulting, about fifteen feet square, again dark, the arches dramatically displayed in the light. Upstairs again there is a tiny triangular cloister, each side with only two or three slightly pointed arches. The tower is open, so you make your way up the narrow staircase to the bells. The staircase is barely big enough for us to walk up, my shoulders touch both sides and I have to double over. While we are on the top floor, the quarter hour arrived so the bells pealed. Sean was standing next to one and jumped out of his skin.
There is a little traditional folkways museum in town, which has a nice collection of carpentry, pottery and weaving implements. According to the museum, the valleys in the Pyrenees were so remote until recently that many of these traditional crafts were practiced until recently. I don’t know if that means the 1930’s or the 1970’s.
We ate a delightful luch under the arcade in the plaza mayor. If we want to pick a spot to rent an apartment for a week or so, Ainsa might be the place. The region has a lot of sights, Ordesa park is only an hour away and the local Turismo had a good selection of day trips with different themes. Something to think about.
The drive to Pont de Suert was uneventful from there. The road took us along the front edge of the mountains, so we could admire the yellow flowers covering them. We made a quick side trip to Benasque, more apartment construction, similar to Panticosa. We crossed into Catalunya and found Pont de Suert, We finally realized why it was spelled funny - its Catalan. Pont de Suert won’t win any prizes for quaintness or charm, it is a rather drab place with a mix of ugly modern and run down old. The Can Mestre, our hotel is nice enough, and everyone we’ve met in town is very pleasant. I wouldn’t recommend this to someone as a destination, but in an odd way I like it.

posted by Jim @ 5:57 PM 0 comments

Thursday July 12- Ordesa and the Long Hike

Today we planned an easy hike through the Ordesa National Park. We left at 8:30 with expectations high since the mountains are so spectacular. Our guide is Curro, who we set up through one of the teachers at the kid’s school. They had originally suggested a trip that looked great, but we decided that holding onto a rope while walking along a rope over a chasm wasn’t our speed. So we’re going to to the Foca de Roncon which should take about three hours.
What to say. I loved the hike, but Kathy and Sean hated it. It was too much for us. I should have realized that this might be a larger bite than we could chew when Curro mentioned that we’d be climbing 500 meters before we started moving horizontally along the base of the rock face. As we ascended, gasping, Curro slowed his speed to our level. We finally got up to the top of the ascent. Lovely view. We debated whether we wanted to continue, since we were pretty gassed. Eventually we decided that we’d keep on going. Walking along a narrow path 1500 feet above the valley floor does tend to induce vertigo, but the views are spectacular. Its as if you’re on top of the world. I’ve always wanted to walk up along one of these huge mountains. Of course, I was only half way up. The path just kept going on and on. Instead of a nice walk through the woods, it became a tiny, narrow trail along the edge of the rocks, in some places with a sheer drop. I don’t think you’d fall 500 feet if you slipped, but it would be far enough to hurt. Its hard to enjoy the view when you have to keep looking down to avoid tripping. Each time you look up however, the view is amazing. The mountains are made of calzia, which I think means calcite. It is a soft rock, so it erodes quickly. Everywhere you look there are carved rock faces. It is spectacular. I didn’t have a watch, so I had no idea what time it was. It turns out our three hour tour turned into a 6 hour trek. Oops. I guess we’re a bit slow. Halfway through the hike we came to a waterfall, which marked the way down. Again the view was terrific. Kathy and Sean however were miserable. Neither of them enjoys this sort of thing so they were not comfortable at all. We finally completed our trek and got back to our hotel room to vegetate until dinner. The advantage of the tourist town displayed itself again as we have an internet connection in our room. We got a message from Jenny. Our adventures continue to pale in comparison to hers. We’re a bunch of city slickers, obviously. I’ll have to console myself with the duck with apple cream at the restaurant tonight. That maybe is a better place for me than on a mountain trail. But we decided at dinner that we do have a family lore story.

posted by Jim @ 7:53 AM 0 comments

Wednesday July 11- Anso to Torla

What a good day. We said good-bye to Hostal Kimboa - a wonderful place. As I said earlier, the food was very simply prepared, but excellent, and the people couldn’t be nicer. We drove to Jaca to look at the Citadel. Neither Kathy or I was particularly looking forward to the visit, but Sean was eager and had put up with a lot of monasteries so we owed him at least one. It turned out great. The citadel is still an active military post, the headquarters of the 64th Galicia High Mountain Regiment, the oldest in Spain. The guided tour was in Spanish, but there was an excellent English guide that we were given. The citadel is the best preserved 17th century fortress extant. The worst job in the fortress was the guy who had to detonate the powder magazine if the fortress was about to fall. Also in the citadel was a military miniatures museum, which sounds corny and is corny and is also quite neat. It had representations of various military environments from the Egyptians to modern Spanish soldiers in Afghanistan. We in the US certainly don’t perceive how major the European NATO deployments to Bosnia, Albania and Afghanistan are to people here.
Next we headed to Sabinanigo, which I thought was an interesting place. The man in the Turismo set me straight, its a ciudad nuevo and is dull. But the Ruta de la Serrablo is worth looking for. In the early middle ages, a Muslim political dominance in this area inspired a Romanesque/Mozarabic architecture, and the ruta takes you from on tiny 11th century church to another. Really quite fun, its too bad you can’t enter the churchs, as they’re all closed up during the week. Tiny little things, maybe 20 feet square, with small bell towers and transepts that have the markings of the style. The last one we saw, in Larrede was the most interesting , with a high bell tower with Moorish arches. Cool. Having completed la Ruta, we headed up the Gallego Valley towards Panticosa. We turned off to cross the river on the dam. I hate dams. They combine height, water, and my inability to understand the physics that keeps them up. Crossing a dam in a car creeps me out. Then we got the great idea to stop and walk out on the dam for a view. I hate dams. Panicosa was a disappointment. Great views. Many new apartments and condos being built. (Actually the amount of construction in this area is amazing. I assume its for second homes, because I don’t think that many people live here). Panicosa is all new construction, with all of the soul of an American planned community. The aesthetics are slightly better though. Oddly, in a resort town like Panicosa, we couldn’t find a place to get a drink. We ended up in dumpy bar, with pre-made donuts and poor coffee, all expensive. You’d think the town would support a nice cafe.
Then to Torla. The drive was along the front range of the mountains, very pretty. We stopped at a spot to gawk at the wildflowers All of the mountains have banks of yellow flowers, always on the south facing slope. Very appealing.
Torla is a very pretty tourist town. It looks great, but when you get close you notice that it was all built recently to look old. It does look great though, tucked up against the mountains. And being a tourist towns has some service advantages, like Restaurante El Duende, were we had a wonderful dinner. Sean and Kathy started with an enormous platter of prawns in garlic. I had the white asparagus and jamon. Sean had roast lamb and potatoes. Lamb is always served well-done here, which takes some getting used to for us, but it wasn’t hard getting used to this. Well-done, but nicely flavored with garlic and salt. Sean wouldn’t share. Kathy and I each had vension with raspberry sauce. Muy bueno. Along with a nice wine from Somontano, Vina del Vero Grand Vuy Riserva, We’ll go back tomorrow.

posted by Jim @ 7:42 AM 0 comments

Tuesday July 10 - Saguesa and Sos del Rey Catolico

We touched into the ancient kingdom of Navarre today. As we drove to Sos del Rey Catolico, the birthplace of Ferdinand of Aragon, we crossed regional border with Navarre, and stopped in Saguesa. I forgot that Navarre in partly Basque, until we saw the street signs in both Spanish and Basque. We finally found the Turismo - the woman spoke English before we said a word, I guess we really blend in - and quickly saw the church of Santa Maria la Real, another nice Romanesque church. One Gothic chapel had been added later, so the Gothic arch stepped on the earlier Romanesque arch. The Turismo told us that if we got to the monastery at exactly noon, right after the monks finished their 11:30 service they would let us see the cloister. Off we dashed and we were at the monastery of Saint Francis at 12:00 exactly. A very devout man helped us get into the cloister which we admired for a few minutes. We didn’t feel a strong sense of welcome. On the way out one of the monks glared at me as a tried to make a contribution. Uncharitable thoughts crossed my mind at that moment, I’ll admit.
We walked around for a bit more, seeing some attractive buildings and then headed to Sos del Rey Catolico. Since Ferdinand was born there, he apparently granted some royal benefits to the town which made it rich. Its an extremely well-preserved medieval town. We parked and saw almost the entire town before we finally found the Turismo. Memo to the head of the tourist agency: Locate the Turismo at the entrance to the town. The Turismos are great though, the folks who staff them are invariably helpful, even if there is a language barrier, They always have good brochures about local sites. We find some of our best adventures come from going to spots recommended by them. Anyway, once we found the Turismo we walked around Ferdinand’s home town for some time before driving back towards the hotel. We intended to drive up the Ronca valley, but it was too far. We contented ourselves with the Foz de Arbayun and a pretty river valley. Then, the final attractive Romanesque church for the day, Santa Cruz de la Seros. Massive and austere, the widows and sisters of the kings and nobility of Aragon ended up in this convent. Unusually, the tower was open so we were able to climb to the top. That was it for the sightseeing for today. A quick drive home and dinner, followed by orujo hierbo. I now know how to order it thanks to our new bartender friend who was happy to see us. Clearly he mistakes us for someone from Spain.

posted by Jim @ 12:15 PM 0 comments

Monday July 9- Hecho Valley and Jaca

The road to Hecho from Anso starts out awful but rapidly becomes excellent, so this will be our preferred route out of the valley. Our plan is to visit the church in Siresa outside of Hecho and than drive into Jaca, but the view of the mountains is so compelling that we keep driving deeper into the valley. It is rather spectacular, with the sheer walls and the river cutting through the gorge. I think it must be some kind of soft rock, since it seems to erode easily. We’re a little gun shy about the roads after last night, but each time we stop we decide to go on a little further, and each time we’re happy we did. It is a beautiful valley. It would be nice to be able to hike up into the mountains. We eventually stop at an area called Selva de Oza, where the valley widens out and there is a camping area. We admire the view for awhile and head back to Siresa. The monastery there is small and charming, a little Romanesque building started in 895. Some of the art work was stolen by the art thief Erik ‘the Belgian’ in the 1970’s, but the English brochure doesn’t say whether it was returned or not! A Christ figure, still with it’s original paint, was just discovered under the alter in 1995. Stylistically it almost looks modern. Interesting.
Then to Jaca, which is quite an attractive city, although its was little spoiled for us by the fact that we can’t find the Turismo, and then when we do find it it is closing. Argh. Quickly to the hulking cathedral before it closes for siesta. Its dark and foreboding. The checkerboard decoration we’ve been seeing on many religious buildings originating here, so its called the Jaca chessboard. A struggle to find lunch, everything is a restaurant, one place we sit down won’t bring a menu so we leave, we forget a sweatshirt so we have to go back...anyway we eat and then drive out to the town of Aiso which has an alluring picture in the Turismo brochure. The road is another adventure, barely one car wide, clinging to the side of the mountain with blind curve following blind curve. I honk my way up and down the mountain hoping that anyone coming the other way will slow down. After all of that Aiso is a bit of a letdown. Kind of cute, but nothing that makes us want to stop. Oh well. Back to Jaca where we find an internet connection and try to connect with Jenny. Walking around Jaca makes us like it more and more. It has an interesting old section, the new parts are well integrated into the city, and the trees and flowers make it very pleasant. I’m struck by the flowers in the windows and entranceways in this area. Its more predominant than in Zaragoza.

After dinner we have the other ourujo - blanco. We decide we prefer hierbo.

posted by Jim @ 12:11 PM 0 comments

Sunday July 8 - Zaragoza to Ainso

Getting out of Zaragoza was easier than getting in. A small hang up at the parking lot, they wouldn’t accept a credit card for amounts over 45 euros, but the kind attendant worked the machine for us and off we went. There isn’t much in the Ebro River valley between Zaragoza and Huesca, just flat, dusty, dry farmland.Once we reached Huesca the mountains were close enough to break up the scenery and we drove along the front off the mountains towards the northwest. Our first stop was Castillo Loarre, begun in the 11th century by King Sancho III of Navarre. There were alot of kings around this area in the 10th and 11th century. Kings of Navarre, Aragon, Urugell, etc. A monastery was added later. Anyway, its neat, 3000’ above sea level overlooking the valley with a terrific view. It looks impregnable, although it doesn’t sound like it ever found out. The romanesque church in it is lovely. We explored it for a while and looked for lunch, We stopped in the town of Loarre, which I had planned on staying in. The entire population stared at us as we went from one establishment to another trying to find a light lunch. If we could have spoken Spanish better we could have asked someone and gotten more help than we could have used. Oh well, we amused them for awhile and then headed off to Ayerbe where we did find lunch and a nice bar owner who explained to me how to order Bitter Kas. I saw someone drinking it, asked for it and its name, the owner went out of his way to explain the it had no alcohol, that bitter was the name and Kas the brand. Its good, like Campari. I had grilled sardines which were just right. I should have skipped to patatas bravas, too big. Kathy and Sean had immense bacan and queso bocadillos. Originally the town struck us as bleak but the nice lunch left us well disposed to Ayerbe.
Off to Auguero, which has a great location and a nice romanesque church. Along the way we started to see giant cliffs. A sign pointed to Los Mallos de Riglos. These are sheer cliffs, several hundred feet tall looming over the valley, painted in rust and white. We drove up to the base of the in the town of Riglos. Unfortunately, we were stuck with the problem of what to do with a cliff once your at the bottom of it, in blinding light, 100 degrees Farenheit and no climbing skill. So we looked, took pictures and left. Back to Auguero. Again, same problem. Spectacular location. But the roads into the village had the intensely narrow aspect that I sometimes don’t feel like dealing with. That meant we needed to walk to the church. Light and hear overcame our desire to appreciate the Romanesque. On to San Juan de la Pena, a monastery high in the mountains built in a cave. We decided to take the pretty way there. Oh my, what a narrow road in the mountains. I didn’t feel safe driving more that about 45 km/hr, so that made it a longer trip than we had supposed. Once we got there though it was worth it. San Juan de la Pena is in the middle of a protected natural area, stuck inside a cave halfway down a cliff. It is spectacular. The new monastery was built in the 18th century, the old began in the 10th. The legend is that a nobleman on a hunt chased a deer, and fell off of the cliff. On the way down he prayed to St. James and miraculously landed unhurt. He found a hermit living in the cave (along with his dead co-hermit) and decided to establish a monastery there. It became the burial place of the Kings of Aragon. Its tucked up inside of a cave, so the roof of the main church is the cave roof, the cloister (with expressive carvings of Adam and Eve) is inside the cave, all quite cool. A highly recommended place to go.
On to Anso. The mountains are steep in Aragon. We drove down from San Juan de la Pena to the road leading from Jaca to the west, the Aragon river valley. On the one side are the Pyrenees, the other the mountains we descended from. We skipped the church at Santa Cruz de la Seros because of time, but will see it soon. Around 6:00 we started up the Anso Valley towards our hotel. Oh my. What had been a narrow road earlier today looked like an interstate. No guardrails, one lane (maybe) wide, sheer drop into the river a hundred feet below, oncoming traffic. The scenery is beautiful, but we can’t really describe it well. I can’t believe people drive this road regularly, it is too bad. Finally, after an hour to drive 25 kilometers we arrived at Anso. Its great. A stone village with highly polished pine shutters and accents, surrounded by mountains, with three main streets and a couple a nice plazas. The Hostal Kimboa has three stories, the polished shutters and a delightful staff. Very simple and plain inside (spotless though). A perfect spot. The restaurant is an asador, so everything is grilled or roasted. We had lamb chops and sausage. Classic Spanish food, simple meats grilled with salt and garlic. Along with a good soup and a delicious chickpea, garlic and chard dish. After dinner we walk down to the nearby bar for an ourujo hierba, and then to sleep.

posted by Jim @ 11:52 AM 0 comments

Saturday, July 7 - Zaragoza - The Search for the Internet

The goal for the day is the Aljaferia, the Moorish/Christian fortress. And find a Internet connection. Our hotel doesn’t have Wi-Fi yet. We walked toward the Aljaferia with my computer, hoping to find a hip coffee shop with WiFi. Wrong part of town for hip. This was a little more gritty than hip. Oh well. The Aljaferia is pretty neat.Its been heavily restored since it was a pile of rubble in the 1930’s. It’s also the Cortes for the region of Aragon, so it was closed yesterday because the legislature was in session. The outside is massive castle, inside is a mix of Moorish and Mudehar. I really liked it. After Ferdinand and Isabella tossed out the Moors they rebuilt a number of rooms. Their motto seems to have been Tanta Monta which we think means tantamount. Back to Plaza de Pilar. We walked through the Mercado Central which is quite a market, meat, fish, produce, people. Then we rode the ascensor to the top of one of the towers in the Basilica. Great view. A bit of vertigo for Sean and me. We had stopped at an place that offered internet connections, but only on their computers. The woman told us about a hot spot in the Plaza. I had assumed that many of the bars would have hot spots. I was wrong. We found the hot spot on the Plaza de Pilar, but I couldn’t connect anywhere. It turns out it only allows you to connect to sites for the local government. The kind folks at the Turismo (they recognized us) told us about a mall (!?) that has free WiFi, so off we went, back to the Paseo de Independencia. We found a coffee shop and I found a connection but couldn’t get it to work. Ack!. Finally we gave up and left. As we stood outside the entrance we saw a little tiny sign that gave the name of the network to use and the password. Success. We got a couple of emails from Jenny, so we finally found out how her trip was going. She sounds like she is having a great time. We are reconnected to the electronic world.
Its brutally hot. One unfortunate aspect of our visit is that four of the museums we want to visit are closed, I imagine to prepare for the Zaragoza 2008 Expo. Note for future trips. Do not visit a city preparing for a giant event one year before the event. Everything will be under construction or closed in preparation. So back to the hotel for a brief siesta while we wait for everything to re-open at 5:00.
After siesta we walked back to the hot spot to post to the blog, re-read Jenny’s trip info and other electronic chores. We sat there for two hours, the bliss of the European cafe, and then set out hunting for our dinner. I saw another Plaza on the map, San Felipe which looked promising. It is west of Calle Alfonso I, which I think must be a dividing line between the gritty and not so gritty sections of Zaragoza. Suddenly there was an abandoned lot, lots of disturbing ‘art’ on the walls and slightly more dirt around.
Nonetheless we found dinner in the Plaza de Santa Cruz, a nice plaza we had seen several times before. There always seemed to be a bunch of children bounding around while their parents sat at tables watching them. Casa Portoles was terrific. They were doing some interesting things with traditional style Spanish food. Kathy and I had goat chops, Sean had veal with foie gras (he didn’t care for the foie gras) and we had a nice bottle of wine from Somontano, Senorio de Lazan. Again, the orujo was pale yellow. Why does orujo come in different shades?

posted by Jim @ 4:34 PM 0 comments

Zaragoza Day 1

OK, we changed our minds. Zaragoza is quite nice actually, if you don’t drive in it at rush hour. The Plaza de Pilar is huge, with the Basilica to St. Pilar lining on whole side of it. The Basilica is a bit plain on the outside with just a brown brick facade. The roof has several (eleven I’m told) cupolas with blue and yellow tiles. The interior is spectacular, although it’s too baroque for my taste. It is a vast open space, broken up into different chapels. It seems much more open than a typical Gothic cathedral. From there we found the Ruta de Cesar Augusta, the four Roman sites. They are the forum, the old docks, the baths and the theater. There is not much left, just foundations. The museums are well done, although they have audio visual events that turn off the lights in the entire museum so you have to watch them. The ones in the baths and the theater are in English or sub-titled, the others are Spanish only so it was a little less compelling for us.
After lunch, we visited the Seo, or cathedral. The brochure they gave us for our visit was the best we’ve seen. It gave a brief description (in English) of each chapel, the highlights of the church and other details. I wish they all did this. No photos were allowed inside. Its a big square space, very light and open. Again unlike most Gothic cathedrals. The exterior is Mudehar brick and tile. The Seo also has a Tapestry Museum, a collection of fifteenth century tapestries. Kathy noticed that each person’s nose was different. I guess that means they were representations of actual models or people.
Next we walked to the Museo de Zaragoza. Clearly the area is one of the nicer parts of Zaragoza, with BMWs and Mercedes the predominant car. The museum is on a pleasant park and it was a great place. It has a nicely laid out set of galleries for ancient finds. It takes you chronologically through the history of the Ebro river valley from Paleolithic to Late Roman. Upstairs is a fine arts gallery with a collection of Goyas (he was born nearby). Its an old Mudehar style building, with an attractive courtyard with the larger Roman statues. We loved the place. Then back to the Paseo de Independencia, which is the happening commercial place for a drink. After that to the Real for dinner on the Plaza del Pilar. We realized at dinner that we have yet to see anyone from the US. The only tourists we have seen so far have been Russian (?), some French and Spanish

posted by Jim @ 7:31 PM 0 comments

Monestery de Piedra to Zaragoza

We woke up to a beautiful day and headed off to Ambrona. The woman at the Turismo was very enthusiastic about the museum there. The countryside is rolling hills with very few trees. The museum was a tiny room that cost only .60 Euros to enter, and had a collection of mastodon bones. The highlight was the reproduction mastodon. There wasn’t much to see but it was charming.
From there we headed towards Zaragoza. The woman at the Turismo recommended the Monastery of Santa Maria de la Huerta and was she right on that. The monastery was Cistercian and was a terrific site. Other than a load Russian tour group departing, we were alone. Two cloisters, renaissance and gothic, a nice chapel and a great organ.
Back in the car, we decided we couldn’t get to our original destination, Bilbilis, a Roman site outside Catalayud before it closed for siesta. Instead we decided to head for the Monastery de la Piedra. I had read about it. It seemed like a spot to go if we didn’t have anything better to do...an expensive hotel in an old monastery in a park. I was wrong. It was a terrific place to visit. The park extended over several hundred acres. The primary features were waterfalls, various cataracts dropping over cliffs into narrow channels. The intriguing thing about it was the way the water dropped down over the cliff. Sometimes a direct drop, other times as if it was dropping dow the lawn in your back yard. The paths took us along the waterfalls, the climax being the path
Santa Maria de la Huerta
that dropped behind the fall in a cave. That was fun. Rather damp and wet, but fun. Along the way we say these huge birds circling in the sky. I asked the server at the kiosk what the word for the bird was. Buitre (vulture). Success. After the hike through the park we toured the monastery. Also pleasant. In 1835 the monasteries in Spain were forced to desolve and auction off their land. The family that now owns it (obviously pretty rich) .converted it into a hotel and have preserved the land around it. I’m sure glad we decided to go there. None of the guide books do it justice.
Looking at the clock, we decided we could see Bilbilis. Off on the N202 to Calatayud. The countryside is similar to Southern California around Ventura, semi-arid rolling hills with some steep spots. The inland parts of Spain are surprisingly attractive, in a dry, slightly bleak way. It is very attractive from the interior of an air-conditioned car.
Calatayud looks like many Spanish provincial towns, dusty, many new Euro-ugly buildings and attractive plazas. We didn’t give the town a chance, since we wanted to get to Bilbilis, but they do do outside cafes right. As we drove along the main road we passed a lovely stretch that was lined with trees and tables. Very inviting. The road to Bilbilis was blocked for construction. No signs for the detour. We wandered around a bit and violia! the way appeared. Another intersection without signposts arrived. A guess and we lucked upon the correct road. Drive, drive, drive and without warning the turn appears. We screech to a stop, back up and up the road. Obviously we are meant to visit this place. The museum is a tiny quonset hut with a very lonely, but nice guy in it. He gives us the what information is available and we head up the track, park and walk up to...nothing. Its a dramatic site, tremendous views, but not much to grab our attention. Unfortunately, we’re jaded by previous sites. If we had never seen a Roman site before, this would be good. Having seen some before, I think you’d have to be a professional to appreciate the site.
On to Zaragoza. Jump on the freeway and it should only be an hour. Wrong. Traffic jam because of an accident. We don’t arrive until 7:30 PM, the rush hour. We know where we want to be but the lack of a good map, and the fact that many of the main roads are dug up for construction mean that it takes two hours to finally get into the hotel. Desperate for food and wine we find a little restaurant, eat dinner and collapse. Right now we don’t like this city.

posted by Jim @ 6:29 PM 0 comments

Arrival in Spain

posted by Jim @ 6:26 PM 0 comments