A last scene from Bilbao...
We spent the night near Santander and then headed south through the Picos de Europa.
They are quite beautiful but don't have nearly enough snow!!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Continuing weekend travels...
A last scene from Bilbao...
We spent the night near Santander and then headed south through the Picos de Europa.
They are quite beautiful but don't have nearly enough snow!!
A weekend in the north of Spain
Genya flew into Madrid last week, Yay!
Here we are in front of the Guggenheim, in Bilbao...strangely enough, the exhibit was "300 years of American Art."
A walk through Burgos
Having a rental car let us get off the beaten track a bit, like passing through this idyllic Spanish town.
The cordillera Cantabrica (the Cantabrica range) is full of interesting old cities and cathedrals.
Here we are in front of the Guggenheim, in Bilbao...strangely enough, the exhibit was "300 years of American Art."
A walk through Burgos
Having a rental car let us get off the beaten track a bit, like passing through this idyllic Spanish town.
The cordillera Cantabrica (the Cantabrica range) is full of interesting old cities and cathedrals.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The biking Scotsman
One of the great things about travel is meeting all sorts of folks, both locals and travelers alike. This is Ian, who has biked over 120,000 miles in the last ten years. He is doing a loop through Spain, Morocco and Portugal on this trip before heading back to his occasional home in Scotland. Fantastic fellow.
Casablanca (A.K.A. Dar-el-Beida)
Here are a few shots from Casablanca, Morocco, where I spent the weekend:
From the air, the Hassan II mosque (second largest in the world) is plainly visible on the coast.
A wealthy district above the Corniche, where Moroccans dress in remarkably Western fashion and go walking, jogging, and drive about in their expensive cars (notice that I'm shooting from a Mercedes, not my usual class for sure!)
The beach past La Corniche, a popular spot on a Sunday afternoon.
From the air, the Hassan II mosque (second largest in the world) is plainly visible on the coast.
A wealthy district above the Corniche, where Moroccans dress in remarkably Western fashion and go walking, jogging, and drive about in their expensive cars (notice that I'm shooting from a Mercedes, not my usual class for sure!)
The beach past La Corniche, a popular spot on a Sunday afternoon.
The Hassan II mosque dominates the city skyline. 25,000 people can fit inside with room for an additional 80,000 estimated outside.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
A bike ride in the countryside
Today I hopped on the sweet (heavy, rattly, but still sweet) cruiser and took a ride into the countryside. My destination was Cubo de Tierra de los Vinos, or "crossroads of the land of the vines." I figured it was as good a spot as any and would give me a good goal. It's about halfway between Salamanca and Zamora, the next major city to the north.
I got lost on some backroads almost immediately, which was scenic while confusing. The wind was whipping up quite a blow and made biking in the crosswind quite difficult.
I was expecting the "land of the vine" to have more vineyards, but this is the only one I saw.
Finally, my destination.
I got into town, walked into a local pub (there appeared to be three, I picked the one where everyone went right away after church) and had a cup of coffee and some tapas pinchos, little snacks on a plate. I watched a pretty exciting football (soccer in the US) game and got ready for the big ride back home.
When I got back to my bike I discovered that a slow leak in my tire had ended up making it completely flat. Like an idiot I hadn't brought my pump and patch kit. Doh!
I had to wait two more hours, some of it spent walking around town, the rest of it back in the bar, until I could catch the bus back to Salamanca.
The two-lane highway between Salamanca and Zamora will soon be replaced with a four-lane divided highway.
I got lost on some backroads almost immediately, which was scenic while confusing. The wind was whipping up quite a blow and made biking in the crosswind quite difficult.
I was expecting the "land of the vine" to have more vineyards, but this is the only one I saw.
Finally, my destination.
I got into town, walked into a local pub (there appeared to be three, I picked the one where everyone went right away after church) and had a cup of coffee and some tapas pinchos, little snacks on a plate. I watched a pretty exciting football (soccer in the US) game and got ready for the big ride back home.
When I got back to my bike I discovered that a slow leak in my tire had ended up making it completely flat. Like an idiot I hadn't brought my pump and patch kit. Doh!
I had to wait two more hours, some of it spent walking around town, the rest of it back in the bar, until I could catch the bus back to Salamanca.
The two-lane highway between Salamanca and Zamora will soon be replaced with a four-lane divided highway.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
And on to the bullfight.
After the running/taunting of the bulls, everyone who hasn't already been up all night drinking goes into the streets to have a few. The picture below is from around 1 PM today; the bars are a bit more full so people just spill out of them onto the street.
By early afternoon, it's time to watch a few bulls be put to death in a fairly cruel manner:
...and why not some whiskey while we are at it?
I hypnotize you with the power of my incredibly tight pants....
Evidently part of the "art" of bullfighting is for the bullfighter to get really close to the animal as it pants, nearly completely exhausted, and bleeds to death. Here the bullfighter is demonstrating this skill before he finaly killed it by sticking a sword into it. He met with great applause, in part because he killed the bull quickly, so they cut off both the bull's ears and gave them to him. He promptly threw both ears into the stands like prize footballs or baseballs.
I had enough of bull killing so I spent the rest of the afternoon taking a walk in the countryside. The walls of the old city are visible in the background, some pigs in the foregroud. Pork is huge in the Castillian diet.
By early afternoon, it's time to watch a few bulls be put to death in a fairly cruel manner:
...and why not some whiskey while we are at it?
I hypnotize you with the power of my incredibly tight pants....
Evidently part of the "art" of bullfighting is for the bullfighter to get really close to the animal as it pants, nearly completely exhausted, and bleeds to death. Here the bullfighter is demonstrating this skill before he finaly killed it by sticking a sword into it. He met with great applause, in part because he killed the bull quickly, so they cut off both the bull's ears and gave them to him. He promptly threw both ears into the stands like prize footballs or baseballs.
I had enough of bull killing so I spent the rest of the afternoon taking a walk in the countryside. The walls of the old city are visible in the background, some pigs in the foregroud. Pork is huge in the Castillian diet.
Running with the bulls...no, really
Hi Everyone,
I checked at least one of those "things I should do before I die, but not die in the process" off my list: Running with bulls in Spain. The event was at San Blas, a Carnaval festival where everyone uses the quickly arriving Lent as an excuse to drink excessively and take uncalled-for risks with bulls.
We went to Ciudad Rodrigo, a small medieval-era walled town in the southwestern corner of Salamanca Province, about 1 hour from Salamanca. They are famous for having a huge fiesta (party) on the weekend before Lent, including a bull running and a bullfight.
For the bull run, an entire street is barricaded rather cleverly with bull-proof bars between all the doorways and side streets. Then a group of bulls is let loose at the end of the street, with the other end being the bullring at the center of town. Anyone over the age of 18 can be in the street when the bulls are set loose.
That's not all, though--rather than just stay the heck away from the bulls (as I did, don't worry Mom), it is apparently a Spanish obligation, especially if drunken and male, to taunt the bulls in amateur bullfighter fashion. It's also part of the tradition to dress up for Carnaval/San Blas into your penha, or club, outfit.
The combinations of these cicumstances explains how it's possible to see a group of grown men dressed as Smurfs taunting an angry bull in Ciudad Rodrigo on the weekend before Lent:
Danger, danger, danger.
[Insert clever caption about bulls and asses here.]
Nobody died, three were gored (that's human blood on the ground), one badly enough to be rushed to the regional hospital in Salamanca.
I checked at least one of those "things I should do before I die, but not die in the process" off my list: Running with bulls in Spain. The event was at San Blas, a Carnaval festival where everyone uses the quickly arriving Lent as an excuse to drink excessively and take uncalled-for risks with bulls.
We went to Ciudad Rodrigo, a small medieval-era walled town in the southwestern corner of Salamanca Province, about 1 hour from Salamanca. They are famous for having a huge fiesta (party) on the weekend before Lent, including a bull running and a bullfight.
For the bull run, an entire street is barricaded rather cleverly with bull-proof bars between all the doorways and side streets. Then a group of bulls is let loose at the end of the street, with the other end being the bullring at the center of town. Anyone over the age of 18 can be in the street when the bulls are set loose.
That's not all, though--rather than just stay the heck away from the bulls (as I did, don't worry Mom), it is apparently a Spanish obligation, especially if drunken and male, to taunt the bulls in amateur bullfighter fashion. It's also part of the tradition to dress up for Carnaval/San Blas into your penha, or club, outfit.
The combinations of these cicumstances explains how it's possible to see a group of grown men dressed as Smurfs taunting an angry bull in Ciudad Rodrigo on the weekend before Lent:
Danger, danger, danger.
[Insert clever caption about bulls and asses here.]
Nobody died, three were gored (that's human blood on the ground), one badly enough to be rushed to the regional hospital in Salamanca.
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