Processions on St. Vincent’s day feature an effeminate Vincent flinging his index finger skyward. Curates in procession wore the bishop’s red or plain black for the rank and file. Women joined in, dressed in black, middled aged and older women, with veils and a little rigid curved piece on the back of the head from which fell more black lace. They looked quite somber and dignified. A military contingent marched in goose step and bands played. Sparse crowds watched as the city’s patron saint rolled pass, some clapping as he went by. How odd, i thought, to clap for a statue. I guess if you can believe in magic bread you can clap for a statue.
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Pasta paella
Peg made a pasta paella yesterday, with clams and shrimp. Interesting you can have a saffron dish using pasta- a real thin pasta. With the excess clams I made pasta with clams today. They don’t call it a paella here, only rice with a bean called a garafon, chicken and rabbit is called a paella- there is never seafood in paella here. And this is where paella was invented.
This weekend there is a ceramic fair in the Plaza de la Virgen and the city band plays and you can dance at 11. PM that is. You know what late owls the Spanish are. At midnight there are, guess —- fireworks. And more music and dancing.
These people know how to have a good time!
Gaudi’s Barcelona and Dali’s Figueres
March 22, 2011
Photos/slide show from Barcelona, Figueres and Tarragona
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After Fallas we drove to Barcelona, about 350 kilometers to the north. There were 6 of us in the van. Four of our good friends are here for a visit.
Barcelona is Spain’s second largest city and among the most gorgeous of Europe in large part due to the architectural style called Modernismo. Antonio Gaudi, an architect whose flamboyant style is to be found nowhere else, makes a visit here obligatory for those who want to see in person what they have marveled at in photos.
We were there just two days and in that short a time you have to see La Sagrada Familia, the Holy Family, a cathedral whose height dwarfs its footprint. The structure gives meaning to the phrase ‘over the top’: it is over the everything.
The Gothic quarter has many small streets, not haphazard as in most medieval quarters, but laid out on a grid that is left over from the Romans. On one edge you find a Roman wall. Within the quarter there are a few Roman era buildings, some medieval, others modern, including a Gaudi apartment building. This was his first apartment building, as I recall, which we stumbled across while looking for a bar for an early beer with Neal. We were returning from a visit to the Maritime Museum.
Since we came by car we had a few adventures in parking. When we first arrived we tried a garage. It was so cramped that not only was making a turn difficult, it was claustrophobic as well. We finally found a spot on the street. Parking is free between 2 and 4 pm and after 8 pm until 8 am, otherwise we tried to feed it from the parking ticket dispenser, which accept coins, bills or credit cards.
We drove to Figueres after visiting Gaudi’s park. Figueres is known for the Dali Museum. The Dali mansion is 30 kilometers outside town. The famous Cadillac that showers the mannequin occupants is gimmicky in my book, as are some of Dali’s dual image paintings, which, unlike the Caddy at least needed great skill to do.
But the man could draw, so I spent time lots of time on his drawings.
He can also paint what he wants, in various styles. A rare example of the diversity of his skills was the exhibit of his Disney movie work. It was never completed as the agreement with Disney fell apart.
I have been wanting to see this museum for years and I would not mind going again.
We left the mom and pop hotel/restaurant bar, I think it is called the Gallego, to start our return. We stopped off in Tarragona, another Roman era town perched on a cliff with gorgeous views of the Med. There’s a small excavation in the town center. They have uncovered the Forum.
Our first restaurant meal in Valencia
Spanish restaurants can be disappointing, despite having some of the best ingredients to work with. But today we were certainly not disappointed with our experience at Peregrino (the Pilgrim).
The meal started with a complimentary appetizer. Today it was a small bowl of a kind of beef stew with a few potatoes. I know it does not sound like an appetizer, but it worked. It was excellently and uniquely spiced. It came with some very good bread with a bit of olive oil sprinkled on. Some Spanish bread tastes stale no matter how fresh it is, and is very dry as if they use no oil, and there is little or no salt to boot. This was nearly as good as the best French baguette.
The offerings here are quite ambitious, especially for such a small place. For today’s specials (menu of the day) we could choose between a soup from Gallegos or a mixed vegetable plate for the first course, and between a beef joint with fried potato slices (not french fries) and a selection small fried fish for the second. (Note- Gallegos refers to the region of Galicia, which is a variation on Gaul, the Roman word for Celtic). The soup had greens in broth, and tasted like the collard green soup we’ve had in a Cuban restaurant in Tampa. My veggies were wok-cooked but tasted like a ratatouille. We enjoyed both ‘primeros platos’ a lot. The portions were ample.
We shared the stew and the fried fish, some of which looked like sardines. But don’t think of canned sardines. These are much bigger and generally milder. They were breaded lightly and deep fried. They must have used very hot oil as they were not too oily. Though not as small as canned sardines generally are, they are still a bit of a challenge to eat. They were not de-boned and the small spine was nonetheless to big to eat. They were kind of fun if you like that sort of thing, like eating crawfish. The meat was braised and tender. with a delicious light sauce. The side potatoes were well cooked.
The menu comes with a really good house wine, their own blend of 3 tempranillos. I think this grape is only or mostly grown in Spain. Nice body, good fruit. It went well with everything.
I was full before it, but the menu included dessert. They make a bunch of them here but the menu includes a choice of an almond cake, which is very Spanish, and a brownie with peanuts, which isn’t- in fact I’ve never heard of it before. Both were fabulous. The almond cake was moist and almondy enough and came with a (briefly) flaming sauce. The brownie was dense and chocolatey but I could not taste the peanuts. They were finely chopped.
For 2.45 euros, you get a delicious Segafreddo (our favorite, an Italian brand) coffee and after dinner drink. We got an alcoholic one called “Yerbas” (herbs) and another made of raspberries, but no seeds and no alcohol. I liked both. The former was a bit strong for Peg.
The service was very good. The waitress (the daughter who was filling in for the waiter who was off sick) and the mom, then later the dad, all were right on top of things. They talked to us, saw to it everything was as it should be, and said a friendly hello and goodbye.
All of this came to 15 euros each. We’ll take friends there and probably go on our own as well – it’s only four blocks from our apartment, very close to the supermarket we use.
Concert in Honor of John Barry at the James Bond Festival
This is a short video of the wonderful free concert at the Plaza de la Virgin April 9, 2011
The medieval fair, the pillow fight
On the way back from the Museum of Modern Art – new exhibitions of Matta, sculptures of Degas, and the sculptures of Balasar Lobo, and more – we wandered through the old part of the old town called Carmen and into a medieval fair.
Medieval fair in Valencia, April 2011
Video
Booths with candles, cakes and hand creams. A roped off section of birds of prey including several owls. Arabic themes- a belly dancer with two musicians walked through the narrow streets and tiny plaza; a camel or two riding youngsters on their backs. Processions of ‘princesses’ on horseback.
Susan happened upon a pillow fight in the Plaza de la Virgen. Huge pillows and big crowds, parents swatting children who swatted parents. This was part of a health fair.
All this just a few blocks from the Wine and Food Fair.
I thought the weeks following Fallas would be boring.
Odd depictions at old Templar church San Juan de la Hospital
Not far from our place there is an old Templar church (1238) from a grant from King Jaume I, who captured Valencia from the Moors. I’d read about a Templar church in The Templars, Knights of God (Edward Burman) but finding it in tourist literature is not so easy.
The building is much changed over time. It is Romanesque, but also Gothic and Baroqe in style. The tiny windows give it a Romanesque darkness and the heavy walls add to the feeling. The Moorish influences are in the rectangular plan of the single nave and the polygonal shape of the apse, according to the fabulous four page print out the give out for free, available in well translated English.
At the street entrance there are Templar crosses painted on a wall, protected by a glass or plastic panel. There is an attractive courtyard leading to the church entrance, on one side the old thick walls.
- Templar cross at San Juan Hospital
Inside you make a sharp left and to the right are Jesus, Mary and John the Evangelist hanging together. These are among the oddest depictions I have seen, followed in weirdness only by another painting in the same building. The Jesus is in one scale and the other two figures are in another. The John looks like a Mary to such an extent that I thought I was looking at a depiction of the two Marys.
- Mary on the left, an effeminate John on the right.
Here is another view of the interior in black and white:
- Iglesia San Juan de la Hospital
Regional wine and food fair
This weekend, March 31 through April 3, there? a regional wine and food fair near our apartment in the old river bed. It is the 25th year (more or less) for this event which also features deserts, mussels at one booth, liquors and more. You pay 10 Euros per person. You get 4 food items, 4 drinks, a wine glass and a ceramic ramekin for your food items. Or you can enter without paying and buy anything you want individually.
There are four rows of booths and a fifth line has another set of tastings for another 10 euros and some restaurant offerings, also not included. In the main rows there are lots of cheeses to try, including a surprising number of amazingly mild goat cheeses. Manchego, made from sheep? milk, is everywhere. Some of the cheeses are sharply flavorful. I was also surprised by the number of rose wines locally produced. There was one, just one, who sold organic wine free of sulfites. I visited him twice.
One booth was giving away free coke and coffee liquor mix. It was very odd but quite popular with a hoard of young people milling about right there.
I stood on line for the mussels. There were two youngsters in front of me. I asked if they were standing in line or just hanging around. In line, they said, and we talked about the mussels. They told me that they are serving local mussels, which they said were better than others you can get here. They are farmed in the ocean and they showed me that the booth listed the numbers of the sections of the farm from which came their critters tonight. They prepare the mussels only with lemon and salt, and a little water, steamed open and served.
They were fabulous, very small, as the young women said, and very tender.
Peg and Susan at the fair
Later Peg, Susan and I all remarked on how easy it is to start a conversation here in Spain. While I was waiting for the mussles Peg and Susan were approached by a young guy. I forget what they talked about but no matter, here you can talk about anything. It was a bit harder for me to keep the conversation going at the bar we visit on Tuesdays. This is in English so perhaps that? why.
We ended the night with 12 ramekins and a half dozen wine glasses. People kept asking us if we wanted them. Well, they left them on tables and walked away. For a long time. We timed them.
The Adventure of Thinking
The Adventure of Thinking at the Museum of the Enlightenment and Modernity (Museo de Ilustracion y Modernidad) is a sophisticated presentation of the intellectual history of Western Europe starting with Copernicius and Galileo, extending through the late 20th century. The innovative installation includes projections, paintings, drawings, models and what their brochure calls architectonic elements, referring to the moving and turning structures that show you parts of the exhibit.
You are greeted by a robed and mute monk and a wall a sound. I got the feeling we were about to be tried before the Inquisition. The exhibit shows the early conflicts between religion on the one hand, reason and science on the other.
As the Age of Reason arrives the monk disappears – how appropriate- and a new guide appears, a woman dressed in an 18th century gown. The exhibit takes you through the subsequent rise of the scientific method as we began to distinguish what we know from what we want to believe, a very important distinction indeed, and whose repercussions are still playing out to this day.
There is a turning room which made me feel as if i were traveling through time into the transition between relgion and reason. There are paintings of important characters, such as Rousseau and Locke and a representation of Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Models of buildings show parlors where people discuss the developments of the day and a rather strong emphasis on the movement of knowledge from the Bible to the Encyclopedia.
Garybob says check it out!
Video of parade March 12, 2011
This is a link to a video we took of the parade on Saturday night, March 12, 2011. The parade started at 11 pm and lasted until around 130 am. These are not unusual hours in Spain!
There were numerous groups of dancers. We filmed a few. Unfortunately the film conditions were not great so there are light streaks visible. Also the sound from one group sometime overwhelmed the sound from the one being filmed.
