Spanish Album - South

The Meseta (between Valencia and Cordoba - south of Madrid)


On the road. The soil here is a lot more red than it appears in the picture.


A teahouse in old Cordoba.


Our hotel in Cordoba was on this square. There was a coffee shop on the ground floor with free internet, so that is where we would start and end our days in Cordoba. I had a lovely plate of 'gambas' on a sunny Saturday afternoon at a cafe on this square.


Groves of olive trees.


Typical Andalucia - Moorish fortresses everywhere.


Aaste checks her email in Granada.

Spanish Album - Barcelona

CP Bear takes his first look at Barcelona.


The Ramblas.


Bird vendor on the Ramblas.


Street musician - Plaza Catalunya

Spanish Album - Girona

Swedish winter

Well, the Spanish road trip is behind us now and we've been back in Gothenburg for a week. The weather here has turned chilly, windy and wet - exactly what you would expect for the west coast of Sweden in December. It is dark too! I'd forgotten what it is like to live in the north. Gothenburg is at about latitude 57 N. Edmonton is at about 53 N. Toronto on the other hand lies at about the same latitude as Monaco, where the temperature yesterday was a sunny 14 degrees. (Monaco not Toronto). All this is to say that even on a sunny day in Gothenburg in December it is getting dark by about 4:30 in the afternoon and at 7:30 in the morning as I have my morning coffee and watch the folk head out to their jobs - it is as dark as if it were the middle of the night.

I remember the winter darkness from my childhood, and in a somewhat strange way it feels kind of comforting. It is kind of cozy to be all warm and toasty inside with the dark wind howling outside. Makes me yearn for a fireplace though!

I went out to the bar last night. Those of you who know me won't be surprised to hear that I already have a 'regular' bar. It is, of course, a friendly place that is quite crowded and busy by about 9pm on most evenings. It was 'hopping' last night. One thing I will not miss about Sweden is being constantly asked about hockey. Once they find out you are from Canada, almost all Swedes (or at least Swedish men) immediately start talking about hockey players. I suppose it may be the one thing our two countries have most in common. I will however, miss the happy friendly partying people.

Some of our 'homes'

More often than not I try and find affordable 'apartments' for us to stay in. Quite often these apartments are barely more expensive than low cost hotels and allow us to cook our own meals. It is definately a compromise for me as one of my favourite things when travelling is dining out - both for the foody experience and for the cultural experience. However, given that Aaste is a picky 13 year old vegetarian and that food can be a major cost - renting apartments works for us. Of course, when we are lucky, it also provides free internet access which is also helpful.


Our tiny, but wonderful apartment in Barcelona.


Aaste sitting in the window of our Barcelona home, overlooking the courtyard.


The courtyard.


Our apartment in Granada.


The bedroom in Granada. The place is called Arte Vida and is filled with original art work, some of which is quite good.

West meets East

At one point I had hoped to maybe include Istanbul as a destination in this journey. My desire to visit Istanbul was to explore a place where the west and east collide. In these days of increasing tensions between Islam and the 'Christian' west I think I was unconsciously pulled to places where I could explore the historic roots of this tension and experience places where the two cultures co-exist. Unfortunately it does not appear that a visit to Istanbul will be on the agenda this year. However, I had totally forgotten the Islamic history of Spain - of which we have been immersed in here in Andalucia. Even Girona, our first stop in Spain, has an Arabic history.

At this point I feel I must stop to muse that I did chose a week in Egypt.... a country whose official name (which I had not known) is: The Arab Republic of Egypt; and during our week there we were greeted multiple times each day with the call to prayer broadcast via loudspeakers from the Mosques of the city.

Similarly I found myself drawn and compelled while on the Queen Mary to attend lectures that explored the growing animosity of the American empire towards Islam.


The Mezquita Mosque in Cordoba.

At the airport in Sweden, I bought 4 films with which I hoped to keep Aaste entertained during the next two weeks. One of them is entitled "Kingdom of Heaven" and is a Hollywood story by Ridley Scott (a director I mostly enjoy) of the crusades and the struggle between Muslim and Christian for possession of Jerusalem. (Historical accuracy of this film is of course extremely negligible see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Heaven_(film)

Today, we spent the afternoon in the Alhambra. The Alhambra is an ancient, famous, and beautiful Moorish city and palace in Granada. Afterwards I sought out an English bookstore in Granada as both Aaste and I are nearing the ends of our books and starting to panic. I purchased "Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree: by Tariq Ali - the first in his 'Islam Quintet'.

It is strange how the universe works.... or my subconscious perhaps?

Images from the Alhambra:

Spanish Road Trip

My original plan was to visit far more places than we actually will. Between my sciatica and my varicose veins, driving for long periods of time is not really a possibility for me. But we spent a couple of days in Cordoba, and are now in Granada - so aregetting a bit of a feel for Andalucia.Lots of olive groves! When I get our computer online again I´ll try and get some pictures up.