Gran Canaria was formed by a volcano that grew out of the sea and continued to spew enough lava onto the surface to break through the ocean and form an island. It is circular in shape with a mountain peak in the middle which separates the island into two distinct sectors, north and south. Viewed from above it looks rather like a beached jellyfish.
Posted in Beaches, Cathedrals, Childhood, Europe, Food, History, Literature, Postcards, Spain, Travel
Tagged Canary Islands, Culture, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Life, Palmitos Park, Sioux City Gran Canaria, Sioux City Iowa
This part of the journey was reminder of just how big Spain is as we motored for mile after mile without meeting any other traffic or without passing through towns or villages. The road just kept grinding endlessly on in an easterly direction in a way that reminded me of the tortuous journey through Andalusia in a clapped out Ford Escort in 1986.
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, History, Natural Environment, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Almagro, Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Culture, Extremadura, Life, Olives, Spain, Trujillo
I had always thought of Spain as a Mediterranean country but closer inspection of the map shows that a third of the Country’s coastline is along the much more dramatic Atlantic Ocean and the Cantabrian coast is over two hundred kilometres of panoramic beaches, hidden coves tucked into the pleats of the cliffs, green headlands and little towns where fishing boats shelter below harbour cafés.
For a small town the cathedral is an immense building and one of the most important late Romanesque buildings in Spain which was built to symbolise the power of Bishop Don Bernardo who began construction in the twelfth century. It has three naves and a main chapel with an ambulatory and a dome and around the outer walls are a series of commemorative chapels which reads like a who’s who of the local campaigns of the Reconquista.
Posted in Cathedrals, El Cid, History, Literature, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Atienza, ‘el doncel de Sigüenza’, Cathedral of Siguenza, Culture, Don Martín Vázquez de Arce, El Cid, Life, Sigüenza
“Catedral?” I enquired and the poor man (victim) that I had selected just stared back at me with an expressionless face as though I was a visitor from the planet Mars.
So I tried again but this time, remembering that upside down question mark thing at the beginning of the sentence I tried to sound a bit more Spanish, “¿Catedral?” but his face went so blank that I though rigor mortis had set in. I have to say that Catedral sounds a bit like Cathedral to me so I don’t know why this was so difficult but his solution was to call someone else over who was an obviously educated man who spoke excellent English and with optimism I tried again “¿Catedral?”
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, History, Literature, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Canal de Castilla, Canal du Midi, Castilla y Leon, Culture, Life, Paencia, Plaza Mayor, Spanish language
Oviedo is only a small city, only just scraping into the top twenty largest cities in Spain and it isn’t even the largest in Asturias so it didn’t take that long to walk around the historical centre and soon there was only one thing left to do – visit the Cathedral.
The building was severely damaged during the Spanish Civil War when the conflict more or less started here and there was fierce Nationalist oppression inflicted by General Franco but it has been restored now and has been returned to its former medieval grandeur.
Posted in Cantabria, Cathedrals, Europe, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Portugal, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Asturias, Castilla y Leon, Cudicillo, Culture, Life, Oviedo, Photography
I have had to decide between two strong candidates for the letter G, Granada in Andalusia and Girona in Catalonia.
I have picked Girona…
Eventually and inevitably we arrived in the square in front of Santa Maria Cathedral whose Baroque façade conceals an austere Gothic interior that was built around a previous Romanesque church, of which the cloisters and a single tower remain.
We found the energy to climb the steps from the square to the Cathedral but once there Kim declined the opportunity to go inside and left me to visit the interior of the building alone and see the World’s widest Gothic nave and the second widest overall after St. Peter’s in Rome.
This, by the way is the Cathedral in Granada…
I also considered the Royal Monastery in Guadalupe but that technically isn’t a Cathedral so that would be cheating and I have to save my cheating for later…
Posted in Beaches, Cathedrals, Europe, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Albany Park Patrice Chaplin, Barcelona, Catalonia, Culture, Girona, Girona Postcards, Life, Patrice Chaplain, River Onyer
Click on an image to scroll through the pictures…
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Cathedrals, Europe, History, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Alicante, Burgos, cor, Guardamar del Segura, León, Madrid, matador, Oviedo, Salamanca, Street Art, Street Statues
The village is built in an obscure valley and it only finally came into view as we turned a sharp corner in the road.
Unusual architecture for a monastery it has to be said with turrets, castellated towers and tiled cupolas that could be mistaken for a fortress or a castle. A towering pot-pourri of grand style in contrast to the rather shabby town below.
I hadn’t realised this but visitors cannot simply wander around the monastery unaccompanied because it has too many precious treasures which are kept behind locked doors so we paid up and tagged onto a tour in meaningless Spanish. It didn’t really matter all that much we just ignored the rat-a-tat-tat of the machine gun commentary and made up our own stories about the exhibits. Visitors are not permitted to take photographs either.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Cantabria, Cathedrals, Europe, History, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Uclés, Uclés Monastery
The plan for our three days at the seaside in Furadouro was to take a break from travelling and the trains, the drag-bags and the packing and unpacking and to spend some time relaxing on the beach.
Unfortunately our plan was scuppered by the weather because when we woke the next day there was a thick sea mist which would have challenged anything that the North Sea can throw at us back home.
Posted in Age of Innocence, Childhood, Europe, Growing up in the 1950s, History, Portugal, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Aviero, Bikers, Culture, Furadouro, Life, Ovar, Praia de Esmoriz
Have Bag, Will Travel 