Friday, October 07, 2005

I'm Such A Selfish SOB...


so selfish
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Just a break from the Spain journal...

Today at lunch Tommy, Dan, Ed and I decided to have lunch at Ale House. Parking lot was relatively empty so I helped myself and parked the MDX in what I guess was once a space for a dumpster. No dividing lines, no handicap signs, no nothing. The guys gave me hell about parking the SUV in the middle of the huge space, but hey what can I say? I'm a selfish SOB. At least that's what someone else thought when we came back and found this on my truck...

Awesome!

Wednesday, October 05, 2005


breakin' it down
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Each generation came out and did their thing and at the end they started to bring us up to dance. I felt compelled to show them new steps to "freshen up" their act, such as the Sprinkler, the Beavis and Butthead Booty Smack and a club favorite, the Pole Dancer. They all seemed into it - well at least I thought they were, but it could've been the Sangria talking! You know how we do! Yeah yayaaah!

spinning
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Once the show started we were immersed in their music and dance style. Two guitars and a makeshift bass drum were all that were needed to perform. Twirling, brightly colored dresses intermingled with the stomping of their heels (the little girl even stomped on my foot!) made for quite a show. You could see the intensity they put into each performance.

Gypsy Dancers Casa
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Apparently this family had been doing well for themselves over the years.

Granada Gypsy Home
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
The home itself was one of the nicer ones we've seen. Three levels each with their own stone courtyard/patio and even a pool.

10 year old gypsy dancer
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


Gypsy Dancers
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
According to Marte, Spanish nationals actually resent the gypsy culture because of their nomadic nature they get away with quite a bit. They don't always have to pay taxes and such. Their darker, stronger features definitely set them apart from some of the fairer skinned Spaniards.

Gypsy Hottie
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


Gypsy Granny
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


performing
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
"Spanish Gypsy—the words themselves conjure up the sound of castanets, heels tapping the floor, plaintive yet passionate singing and the unforgettable sight of a seductive figure, back arched, skirts swirling, dancing with fierce grace. This creature, this stereotype, has been all but synonymous with Spain since the 19th century, and there are no signs that her power as a national icon is on the wane."
-From The Spanish Gypsy, The History of a European Obsession By Lou Charnon-Deutsch

Gypsy family
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
The family itself had a history of traveling and performing all over Spain and consisted of three generations of gypsy dancers ranging from the grandmother to the 10 year old granddaughter.

Inside the performing area
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Once we got back to the hotel in Granada we were allowed to chill out and spend some time to explore the city. In the evening Marte took us up the more hilly part to check out a family of gypsys who were to perform for us. The evening has definitely cooled down and sipped on Sangria.

Troglodyte Caves - Museum
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Afterwards, Jen and El did their favorite part of each excursion - shop. Jen was able to pick up some clay plates for her madre and El picked up a nice platter for us. Back on the bus!
Our guide explained that the walls were somewhat porous so it was always warm in the winter and cool in the summer (maybe 70 degrees year round). They allowed us to explore their home with no hesitation. it ended up being three floors with plumbing for the bathroom out back and electricity fed in thru a series of extension cords (internet access as well). The place was cozy enough - definitely not a "cave" in the typical sense. There was even another room in the process of being added on - a giant hole dug out.

Gaudix
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
What we saw were homes dug into the mountainside that people STILL lived in. Each room no wider than maybe 9 feet and each wall about 1.5 feet thick, these were home to about 7,000 of the maybe 27,000 inhabitants of Gaudix and gaining in popularity. I expected it to be a "model home", but was surprised to discover that a family actually lived here.

on the road to Granada
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
The drive to Granada seemed to take quite awhile again, but we managed to take a short break in the mountains to see the Troglodyte Caves in Guadix. I had no idea what this was about other than caves dug out that people lived in for awhile.

Caffe at a roadside cafe
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Quick restroom and coffee break...

Sick as a dog
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
DAY 6

The next morning I had gotten most of the virus out of my system and even skipped breakfast before our trip to Granada. I wasn't taking any chances.

Driving the porcelain bus
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Once back at the hotel, I was struck by the dreaded 24 hour virus going around our tour group. I decided to bail out of the night's dinner excursion to have Paella. Seafood was the last thing on my mind once I was hugging the porcelain bowl in the bathroom (coincidentally "See Food" was exactly what I got to do throwing up all through the night). El took pity on me and brought me back crackers and Sprite to ease my stomach. I'm out for the rest of the night...

fountain
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


colosseo
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


Valencia
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
We unleashed and purchased some handmade wooden toys along with some other trinkets. Something I was on a mission to find was some old prints of bullfights and/or Flamenco shows - something representative of Old Spain. We searched high and low to no avail.

Valencia
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


little girl
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


Valencia
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
This changed once we got here. Most of the group decided to head over to the ceramics museum and such, but we wanted to SHOP.

Bullring of Valencia
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Once we got to Valencia we chowed down on the rest of our cold pizza and decided to hit the town so the girl's could go shopping again. Since we've been on the trip El and I have been barely able to pick up any cool items to bring home.

Peniscola Beach
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
As soon as we got down to beach level we were pretty hungry and decided to locate a decent looking cafe for a quick bite. One thing that immediately evident to me was the beach was TOPLESS. Awesome - kinda. You usually have two varietals sprouting on a topless beach - hot European women or really out of shape old people in speedos. I think at this time it probably more of the older crowd with a small group or two of younger people. Eew.

With any group of people looking for some place to eat, there's always some disagreement about where to go. We had 45 minutes and I was all for ANY spot quick. Jen and El were of the mindset to find the "Perfect" spot which ended up eating more time. Once we found a really nice one we tried to order as quick as we could. Unfortunately, Spanish time is a little slower so it took quite awhile to get all of our food. We basically had 10 minutes to get our food, eat, pay and run back to the bus. Luckily Raul, Sr. and Silvia were eating with Lupe and Miguel next to us so we asked Raul to translate to the manager and waiter that we were running late. We ate as quick as we could, paid and ran off to catch Raul and crew already at the bus. 15 minutes late on any guided tour is VERY late. We got the stink eye from some of our traveling companions along with a tongue lashing from Marte. C'mon it was our first time to be late and we weren't even the absolute last ones on the bus!

Shopping AGAIN!
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


top of Peniscola
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


Peniscola
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Definitely worth the hike since we got a great bird's eye view and some cool pics to boot. We made our way back down capturing images of the quaint beach town and stopping into small shops here and there.

bird's eye
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Once we made it to the top of the fortress we got a fantastic view of the blue water and white sand beaches.

Ristorante
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


Shops
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Plenty of souvenir shops and ristorantes dotted our climb.

Peniscola entrance
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Welp the girls opted for shopping (of course) so we made our steep climb up that part of town.

Peniscola
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Once we were in Peniscola we were greeted by sharp salty air. You could tell everyone was looking forward to spending sometime on the beach. Traveling and exploring cities are great, but usually El and I gravitate towards the more rural areas and this was just what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately we barely had three hours to soak in the beach so we had two options presented us. We could make our way up the fortress looking buildings or hit the beach and relax.

Peniscola and Valencia

DAY 5

After a nice two-day stay in Barcelona, we were out of the hotel early once again to make our way south to Valencia. But before we were to reach Valencia we were planning on a pitstop in the beach resort of Peniscola (NOT PENIS Cola, but peh-niss-coh-lah). Since we left Madrid we've had very hot weather, rainy weather or slightly chilly weather, but since we were moving closer to the coast I was looking forward to some nice breezy weather with no humidity. It was a fairly long drive. I usually use this time to catch on some much needed sleep - usually my nights consist of repacking my suitcase, recharging the laptop and camera, uploading and editing photos. Kinda starting to feel like work!

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Only a couple of families bought into the community and built houses. Today the land is still privately owned by the same families and is considered a national treasure. Too late to build now if you wanted to! Our guide also told us that the family that did buy into the property years ago also introduced South American parrots to the community, which ended up blossoming into a flock. The only ones Ryan and I ever saw were the stone gray variety which we kept pointing out to everyone. Later they told me they were pigeons.
As interesting as these model homes and buildings were, they were very small inside. When I went into the building on the right hand side it had a staircase that spiraled all the way up to the tiny loft. Kinda reminded me of Dr. Seuss.
Here's a shot of the steps leading up to the Marketplace/Music Hall with the sitting area right above it. In no time this place also filled up with tourists, but we were able to explore before it did and even managed to pick up a local guitarist's CD while he played in side.

Antonio Gaudi's concepted residential area/marketplace

We ate lunch and shopped for trinkets at Montserrat and then made our journey back down the mountain to see another of Antonio Gaudi's amazing creations, a residential community planned by him. Once there it's immediately evident with his rock carved designs and bright color mosaics. He pitched this community with little success. It featured "gingerbread" looking houses and a column festooned market place (which was never used as such) that was designed to capture rainwater and thus supply the community's plumbing and excellent acoustics that it was to be used as a concert/dance hall in the evening. On top of the market place is a walking/sitting area spotlighting the world's largest mosaic covered benched which were designed to be very comfortable to lean back on.

Choirboys of Montserrat
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
The crowd patiently waiting for the choirboys to perform was enormous. In addition to that was the LONG line that wrapped around outside the Cathedral, up the stairs to the Black Madonna. People came from all over to touch the Madonna if they wished to improve their chances of having a baby. We would've liked to have done this, as well, but time was too short.

Altar at Montserrat
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
It's almost like a Disneyfied monastery, but without all the commercial extravagances (Get your Shroud of Turin tee shirts here! Ice cold bottled holy water with sipper!).

IMG_0726
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Today it is so successful in it's revival that all the modern shops, restaurants, fenicula, trains and galleries are all OWNED by the monks. Don't be misled. This is no run of the mill monastery. Everything here is beautifully designed and spacious.

Cheese!
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Another feature Montserrat is known for is for the local cheeses and honeys. Apparently refrigeration isn't needed. Of course, I wouldn't stake my stomach on that. Still we sampled a few, which were quite tasty.

Square of Montserrat
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Square leading up to Montserrat's Cathedral. Weather here was wonderfully cool. It wasn't too crowded once we initally got here - it was definitely worth leaving early in the morning to beat the crowd and the sun.

DSCN9760
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Our next stop was to the mountains to Montserrat, a monastery which featured an all boys' choir famous in Spain. People from all over travel thru the steep roads to see the boys. During, Napoleon's army destroyed the monastery and executing almost all the monks during the early 1800's. A few escaped and in the mid 1850's the monastery was rebuilt.

DSCN9698
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah Gaudi's Cathedral was cool. Planned about 200 years ago and carved by Gaudi it was never completed and to this day is still under construction. Originally designed to represent the 12 Apostles, the building is truly unique in its look. The explanation, not surprisingly, was that Gaudi was a bit of a heroin addict. Of course the materials to construct it have been replaced by a cheaper concrete and artists are contracted who can emulate his very cubist/organic look.

Here's a detail of the amount off work and detail Gaudi put into this monument.

Barcelona and Montserrat


DSCN9683
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
DAY 4

After only a couple hours of sleep and a good cry from El all night we got up to board the bus and check out the Gaudi Cathedral, the Sagrada Familia. Antonio Gaudi was one of the Spanish artists I got a minor in art history studying at SCAD so I was kind off stoked to check out his work, but that damn ring was on my mindd. During breakfast I got word that Pepe was already downstairs (7am!) and I left my food untouched to search on the bus once more. He had been unsuccessful in looking that morning and I was pretty much resigned that it was gone.

The trip led to a minor argument with El (somehow I was responsible for it happening) that kind took the wind out of our sails. I guess it showed on our faces. We got off once at our destination, but I was too upset to pay attention. After a brief restroom break Marte got the call from Pepe "He found it!" wedged between seats on a metal railing underneath. Yay! I RAN all the way back to the bus to retrieve it and give Pepe his reward of 100 Euros, which he refused. Everyone on the bus was also relieved to hear the good news .