Trash service continues as does bus transport. You can only enter the bus by the side door to reduce contact with the driver. When we have been out to get supplies the buses we have seen have been empty or carrying only one or two people. The street traffic is a fraction of its former self.
At 8 p.m. the clapping starts every night. Cars passing by honk happily also for our health care workers. We can see a couple we know on the same flight as ours a few buildings down. On the 19th, what would have been the last day of Fallas, we had a fireworks on our street. It was short but sweet.
The Spanish are treating this matter very seriously but not without a sense of humor. Check out the videos below! (posted on my Youtube channel)
Italy now has 38,500 active cases. Our friends there said that the streets of Rome are finally empty, blaming the crisis there on the unwillingness of people to follow the order to stay at home. The number of cases in Germany has mushroomed. Everywhere in Europe is up. The US has surpassed Spain in total numbers, with comparatively few deaths reported so far.
I am so glad they included the score!
The daily mascleta (enormous firework displays) takes off in this courtyard
The Ofrenda is a huge parade where they place flowers on a gigantic frame that forms Mary’s cape.
We are up to around 10,000 cases in Spain with 500 deaths. Land borders are closed except to returning citizens and residents. China is sending materials and some experts. At least 19 dead in a nursing home in Madrid. Some 150 died in one day. The Health ministry says they can not test everyone that might be infected. Now there are 500 deaths.
The Spanish government expected to approve a moratorium on mortgage payments for those effected by the pandemic. See in Spanish https://elpais.com/economia/2020-03-17/el-gobierno-aprobara-una-moratoria-para-el-pago-de-hipotecas.html
Grocery stores have slightly reduced hours and limit the number of people at one time. Lidl limits entrance to one per family. In some they limit the number of identical articles you can purchase.
Starts at hour 11 eight minutes
Peg writes: The City falla was being assembled when Fallas was cancelled. This morning it was burned. The video is 11 hours long because no one knew when the burning would take place – the officials did not want a crowd to assemble. Apparently, it was at about 4 a.m. this morning.
The main part of the falla was Ayto, a woman seated in a Lotus position. On the left side of her torso you see her head still on the pavement. You can see that the artistas falleros added a surgical mask on the day Fallas was cancelled.
The fire actually starts at about 11:08 on the video. It is a pretty good representation of how they all burn on March 19, except that it took longer for the fire to start because it rained for a couple of hours before the burn.
The burning is even sadder with the music playing, and there has been a constant stream of sad comments since the video was posted.
Every night at 8 p.m. everyone opens their window or steps outside onto their terrace to clap for the health care workers who are working on everyone’s behalf.
Travel plans, smavel plans. Our flight to on April 1st to Egypt went through Bergamo, one of two airports serving Milan, a region infected with Covid-19 and the area first shut down by the Italian government. I had already started drawing some of the sculptures and wall paintings. Latest update on the situation at end of post.
Head of Amenhotep, conte crayon
Our issues are as nothing compared to those who have become ill or those whose family members have died, but is part of the economic devastation the virus spread has caused. Here in Spain all non-essential activities are prohibited. The police can stop and question those whose activities might not be in compliance. Bars and restaurants can not make a centavo for the next two weeks at least as the government attempts to reduce and spread out the stress on the health care system. The biggie is the cancelatin of Fallas, the annual festival that brings some 800,000 people into the city each March. It was rescheduled to July, creating economic hardship for thousands of workers.
Before the Valencian government canceled we attended the first night’s fireworks at the port. The crowds were a bit less than the usual huge but it was far from vacant. The display was terrific!
They had installed street lights and transported some of the sculptures. We took a walk through an area known for its fantastic and large works.
The venders were set up, selling buñuelos (donuts made with pumpkin) and porras (deep fried cones stuffed with sweet creaminess) on street corners throughout the closer in areas of the city. After the closure they left.
Bus routes had already been changed to deal with the streets being converted to pedestrian only. The trash containers, recycling bins (separate for paper, glass, metal-plastic being combined) had already been moved. City workers had delivered the barricades that the casals (the local groups that organize and fund the sculptures, street paellas and the like) use when they have paella (they make small fires on the pavement to make the rice dish) and to cordon off music and other events. In the main plaza the huge fence was set up to contain the magnificent daily mascletas, one each day at 2 p.m. from March 1-19. They managed to do ten before the cancellation. In the video you can hear the Fallera Mayor order the commencement of the display.
The enormous fallas’ (sculpture) for city hall was in place awaiting assembly. I can not find a photo. Below is a photo of the crowd. Perfect place to pass along an infectious disease!
40-50,000 people squeeze into Plaza de Ayuntamiento
Falleras (the lady members of the casals) had prepared their fabulous gowns for the many parties and the major event called La Ofrenda (the Offer), where they walk from their casal to the Plaza de la Virgin each with a bouquet that is placed on the 25 meter (80′) tall rendition of Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms and two children at her feet.
The Ofrenda
Dresses are back in the closets. I suppose those who make the bouquets will get their paychecks and those who deliver them will have this job again in July if in fact Fallas makes it back.
In the meantime people panic buy toilet paper, meat, pasta and jarred beans while standing in long lines to check out. I hope they are all being careful as they stand there. In our trips for groceries they were, and everyone was respectful and orderly. The supermarkets in some cases were not able to fully replenish supplies each night of the several that have passed since the lock down was announced.
Last night at 10 PM we heard clapping and cheering. We went out to the balcony. Friends from across the street were out there too – they’d had lunch with us that day. It turns out to have been a gigantic applause for the health care workers in the clinics and hospitals. It was a heart warming gesture in the midst of so much gloom.
LATEST UPDATE: I’ll keep you updated on the situation here. Deaths have skyrocketed overnight to near 200, from just 1 on March 3rd, doubling overnight. Number of cases doubled from 2 days ago to 8000.
Nefertari ( d. circa 1255 BCE) was the first wife of Ramses II. Her tomb is in the Valley of the Queens. The astounding art of the tomb in the Valley of the Queens ( d. circa 1255 BCE) is at 38 minutes.
The film is about the powerful women of ancient Egypt. Gary Bob says check it out!
As a result of my interest in Italian citizenship I made contact with a high school classmate with expertise in the scientific aspects of genealogy in 2008. She arranged for me to have a Y-DNA test to the 37th allele. The Y test traces your paternal heritage. This is more appropriate for heritage tracing where the mother drops her family name for that of the father. The results of my test are in https://www.familytreedna.com/. The test showed the presence of relatives from the general area of Central Europe west to Ireland. This was to be expected given my father’s Scottish Celtic heritage.
While in Ireland in the mid 1990’s I went to a shop and bought a print out dealing with the Kirkpatrick clan, my first notification that the family originated in Scotland, not Ireland as we had been told. By 1998 I’d learned of a town called Kirkpatrick-Fleming in Scotland near the border with England. We drove past it on the way to Glasgow. While in Glasgow for a two month period I noticed the many instances of the Kirkpatrick-Kilpatrick name such as Kilpatrick Hills (Kilpatrick is a variation). When we were in Flackwell Heath, England in 2014, one of the volunteers helped me research the Kirkpatricks using their ancestry.com account, at which point I learned about Roger de Kirkpatrick and the Closeburn Castle, owned by the Kirkpatricks from around 1200 to circa 1750.
Several years later I decided to see if I could trace the lineage back to Sir Roger de Kirkpatrick, our most famous ancestor. I used an ancestry.com paid account. I started with the people whose names I knew, the oldest being my great grandfather, whose name and other details I’d learned thanks to the family tree made by my cousin Lois. I then found his father and then the next and so forth, back to around 1200 and Sir Roger. I added this information to my ancestry.com account Kirkpatrick-Palermo-Peloso.
Among my findings was a James Kirkpatrick who was born in 1719 in Dumfries, Dumfries-shire (same area as Kirkpatrick-Fleming), Scotland and who died in South Carolina. The record I found shows that James moved to Ireland, had at least one child there, then moved to America. He had at least one child born in America, in Pennsylvania. James’ father, Alexander Kirkpatrick, left Scotland and settled in Belfast, Ireland in 1725, presumably bringing James with him. He also immigrated to America but I do not think any of his children were born there. This is the link between our Scottish and Irish heritage. You can say we came from Ireland and to be correct but at the same time it is clear the family originated in Scotland circa 1200. This modifies the family story that we are Irish in origin. We are, in a sense, but much more Scottish, by a long shot.
There you find a reference to Closeburn: “In 1232, Ivone de Kirkpatrick was granted a charter of ‘Kelosburn’ by Alexander II, and here they remained until 1783, when an imprudent heir was obliged to dispose of his inheritance. ” Kelosburn is now spelled Closeburn and is near Kirkpatrick-Fleming.
In Closeburn the Kirkpatricks built a castle called, appropriately enough, Closeburn Castle. It is still in existence and is now a B and B. It is a Category B listed tower house that was until 1783 the family seat. It was sold apparently to settle debts.
Per Wikipedia, the family was granted the lands called Closeburn in 1232 by Alexander II, consistent with the aforementioned rambling account. The tower house dates from circa 1200.
In 1306 Sir Roger de Kirkpatrick (circa 1280-1357) reportedly finished off John “the Red” Comyn, a rival to the throne, whom Robert the Bruce (Brus) had seriously injured. Bruce fled from the scene of the crime saying he was not sure his rival was dead. Sir Roger reportedly said, “I mak sikker” (I’ll make sure). The drawing below memorialized the scene. Less than seven weeks after the killing in Dumfries, Bruce was crowned King of Scotland. He granted de Kirkpatrick an armorial, which you see below. “I mak sikker” became the family motto.
The killing of John Comyn in the Greyfriars church in Dumfries, as seen by Felix Philippoteaux, a 19th-century illustrator.
Sir Roger was a 3rd cousin of Robert the Bruce. He was a 1st cousin of Sir William Wallace, a well known historical figure. Sir Roger recaptured Caerlaverock and Dalswinton castles from the English in 1355. He was murdered by Sir James Lindsay at Caerlaverock in 1357.
Sir Charles Sharpe Kirkpatrick, 9th Baronet (1874–1937)
Sir James Alexander Kirkpatrick, 10th Baronet (1918–1954)
Sir Ivone Elliott Kirkpatrick, 11th Baronet (born 1942)
In the 17th century the family moved from Closeburn Castle to a newly built manor house next door. The manor house burned down in 1748. They repaired the castle and moved back in. The castle was sold in 1783 to a local minister, James Stewart-Menteith. Since then it has since changed hands.
Coat of Arms of the Kirkpatrick Baronets, of Closeburn
The oldest form of communication that reaches us from ancient man comes from artists. The oldest drawing, found on a rock in South Africa last year, is some 73,000 years old. In Germany there is a 40,000-year-old sculpture of a human with lion’s head. In France, a 14,000- to 21,000-year old mural depicts a figure fighting a bison, with the faces sporting a beak.
A new discovery extends narrative cave painting back 44,000 years. In caves on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, archaeologists discovered a painting of a hunt or ritual. There are two wild pigs and four dwarf buffaloes chased by mythical human-animal figures hunting with rope- and spear-like weapons. They are not just individual pieces as in older discoveries but tell a story. If the age of the paintings is confirmed independently, these become the oldest known narrative cave paintings.
It was a bit past midnight. We were on the way home from the theater, passing through Parque Turia, when we came across this group doing some worship dancing. There is an impromptu shrine to Mary in front of which they dance.
There were perhaps 100 people in the crowd. Children were running about like it was afternoon. People were laughing, watching the dance, clapping, chatting.
The Festival Internacional de Mediometrajes (Short Films) is an annual event in Valencia. This year the venue was the historical Centre Cultural de la Nau on the campus of the Universidad de Valencia and at the Filomteca. The former is an impressive building with a large courtyard where they seated hundreds and it where we were this evening. Spoiler alert- I go though the plot of Notre Dame de la Zad.
The film was introduced in person by the French director. He told is that Our Lady of the Zad is a comedy about a fictitious group’s effort to block highway construction through a forested area containing an endangered species, a huge escargot. Well, you know how the French love snails.
A priest visits the site. He is met by a young woman who spins a tale, obviously made up as she goes. It is about the appearance of the Virgin Mary, who tells her that the highway must not be built as this is now a holy place.
The priest is not convinced by the story but is a supporter of the protest so tells her he will report to the bishop. He convinces the bishop that it’s worth a visit to the site to determine the veracity of the claim. The bishop brings his laptop so he can fill in the app, which asks questions about the predominant colors, rosey or pale pink. She says black, so the priest asks if the Mary was an immigrant (no), then concludes is was a black Madonna. There are statues of such, by the way. During the exchange the priest interrupts by banging the table as the young woman tries to bring up the highway protest in connection with the apparition, the banging causing the lights to fail. Protecting endangered species does not appear as an option in the app, noted in the tongue in cheek dialogue.
Once the app gives him the positive result, the bishop leaves to spread the word of the appearance of Mary. Later, as the police are about to arrest the protesters, pilgrims looking for Mary’s assistance appear with walkers and canes. The police chase the protesters, who circle around, bringing the police back to the supplicants. The police think they are all in it together at first, wading into the pilgrims with clumsily wielded batons, before they distinguish the groups from one another, not at all difficult unless you are really into batoning people. The cops finally arrest just the protesters. Instructions then come from the Prefect, the priest’s sister, say to arrest the priest as well. However, the officer says, the orders are to arrest the Protestants, misreading protesters for Protestants, and the priest is clearly a Catholic, so must not be arrested. They sort that confusion out finally. The priest is thrown in with the woman, the two alone at first. They kiss, but not before she asks, “What about God.” The priest replies, “He already knows.”
The protesters are then packed in with the couple. The van shortly has a flat yet again – a running gag (pun intended) – and it is suddenly dark (part of another running gag), but there is no jack and they are still in the middle of the forest. The rest of the police force is nowhere to be seen. As they ponder the problem, a woman in robes appears out of the fog. They stare, look at each other, and when they look back she is holding a jack. One of the officers approaches with pointed pistol – imagine approaching someone you think is Mary with a gun for protecton – retrieving the jack. In the meantime the protesters have escaped unnoticed – how could that happen? – running off into the woods. The two officers drive on without a glance back.
No one died laughing but most enjoyed the cleverness of the farce. If you get the chance, check it out!
The lovely St Nicolas Church of Piraeus was finished around 1900. It stands near the main harbor in Piraeus, the port city next to Athens from which many ferries depart for the multitude of Greek islands. Of the Greek Orthodox churches we have seen, it comes closest to the magnificent Orthodox churches we saw in St Petersburg. There are good examples of the religious art typical of these churches. The Mary icon you see below, in gold, was kissed by multiple visitors during our visit, behavior that is common to the Orthodox, as is the sign of the cross which includes touching the floor.
I am impressed with what’s on offer in Greece, both the raw ingredients and prepared foods either in restaurants or in the grocery stores. Commonly used spices include allspice, cardamon, cloves, coriander, mahlab, mastic (also an after dinner drink), nutmeg, saffron, and sumac. I suggest you forget about ordering moussaka and pastitsio while here as they are not any different from what you get in Greek restaurants abroad. In addition, mussaka is not traditional, being of 20th century origin, introduced by Nikolaos Tselementes, a Greek chef who worked in the St. Moritz Hotel in New York. Greek salad is everywhere and not as good as I have had in Greek restaurants abroad, lacking the dressing that gives the salad its zing, also lacking the spicy jarred peppers. There is a slice of feta atop, which is quite good but I find it lacks integration, and would be better if cubed. I suggest skipping it and trying some of the other salads or even the cooked vegetable side dishes.
Not to worry about losing these three dishes! There is a great deal to enjoy as you explore this complex, sophisticated cuisine. The Greeks love grilled meats. These they generally call souvlaki, served on a skewer sometimes with grilled vegetables. The meat is very tender, often marinated. Throw it on a pita bread and you have an inexpensive lunch, about 2.5 euros. A gyro is the equivalent of the kebab, which is the meat grilled on a vertical spit then shaved. You will find beef, chicken, pork and to a lesser extent lamb. Sandwiches may have fries inside. They are limp, as are those ordered separately or included in quantity. Fries in Greece do not rank with those of France, Belgium and Nederlands in my book, where they know how to fry them: a second time to make them crispy.
Saganaki is a fried cheese, the name coming from the pan in which the cheese is fried. The cheese is usually graviera, kefalograviera, halloumi, kasseri, kefalotyri, or sheep’s milk feta. Mussels or shrimp saganaki are served in a superb tomato base. The mussels I tried were heavenly at a small place near the port. The shrimp was in one case superb and in the other the sauce tasted like an Italian was in the kitchen, very good but not it did not seem Greek to me.
We have had several stews that were outstanding and which cost no more than 8 euros at a non-tourist restaurant. One near us called their dish “pork bites.” I have no idea what it is made from but a very rich flavor and amazingly tender pork. There are probably hundreds of recipes. The meat in general has been very tender and juicy, a matter of good igredients and technique.
There is a variety of cheese pies, in addition to spanakopita. Tiropita (or tyropita) is made from the usual layers of filo dough filled with a cheese and egg mixture. There are dozens of versions of these pies, served as main dishes or as snacks from the bakeries.
I have tried several main course vegetable dishes. The eggplant at our local restaurant called the Olýmpion (Anapafseos 9, Athina 116 36) is a whole eggplant split in half. In Syros at a cafeteria I tried the okra. Best okra I have ever tasted! I have seen bean dishes but have not tried any. Moussaka and pastitsio are available especially in tourist areas but not being a fan of bechamel I have avoided them.
okra!
Bakeries offer a wide selection of crusty bread, not as crunchy a crust as the bread that you get in Italy (the stuff you get in the US called Italian bread is a pale imitation). I was surprised to find a huge variety of bread sticks, much better than the tasteless crostini you sometimes find in Italy and the US. In Rome and other Italian cities you can find an excellent bread stick, a thick crusty one with sesame seeds, that are still my favorite even after tasting many of the Greek varieties. The Greek versions are nearly as good but there are many more varieties to choose from and they are widely available, although they do not serve them in restaurants. The restaurant bread is generally of high quality bakery bread.
An excellent olive bread
bread sticks
The desserts are amazing. They are primarily made with honey, nuts, cream and fruit. There is the usual baklava, large servings rather than the tiny diamonds one finds in the US. Bougatsa is also made with filo then filled with a creamy custard. Diples are fried turnovers. Halva is made with with semolina flour or sesame with raisins and cinnamon. Melomakarona are soft cookies dipped in honey or syrup then covered with walnuts. At the Acropolis museum I had a kind of nut cake. I think there was nutmeg. I did not taste any honey. Kataifi is made with a dough that lookes like shredded wheat. You add walnuts and perhaps other nuts), clove and cinnamon, and covered with a lemon scented syrup. Wow!
The dessert possibilities are nearly endless. Writing this is making me hungry so I am stopping here.
The market near our house is top notch. Olives, melons, figs. Greens! The Greeks love greens. There are several varieties of cicoria like in Italy. They sell beet greens, and various forms of endive and a variety of lettuces. And reasonable prices, if not sometimes dirt cheap.
figs!
eggplant, peppers and more
greens!
Nuts in bulk
Wine. The white is very good, even the inexpensive ones. You can get a half liter of the house white for 4 to 6 euros and not be disappointed. We have only found one good red house wine and have spent as much as 13 euros for a bottle and still not found anything worth mentioning. Per one commentary, ” For fans of lively whites like Sauvignon Blanc and Albariño, Greek white wines offer astounding quality for a reasonable cost. While Greek reds are not as uniformly compelling, the best bottlings are terrific.” Stick with the white or spend a lot.
After almost a month here I have barely begun to know the Greek kitchen. I certainly have a new appreciation for it.
Cookie Consent
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By using our site, you consent to cookies.
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
Marketing cookies are used to follow visitors to websites. The intention is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to the individual user.
A video-sharing platform for users to upload, view, and share videos across various genres and topics.
Registers a unique ID on mobile devices to enable tracking based on geographical GPS location.
1 day
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Tries to estimate the users' bandwidth on pages with integrated YouTube videos. Also used for marketing
179 days
PREF
This cookie stores your preferences and other information, in particular preferred language, how many search results you wish to be shown on your page, and whether or not you wish to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on.
10 years from set/ update
YSC
Registers a unique ID to keep statistics of what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
Session
DEVICE_INFO
Used to detect if the visitor has accepted the marketing category in the cookie banner. This cookie is necessary for GDPR-compliance of the website.
179 days
LOGIN_INFO
This cookie is used to play YouTube videos embedded on the website.
-ksKG--739x455%40Las%2520Provincias.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
