dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Mont Saint Michel

September 30, 2023.

We awoke early and said good-bye to "nos cheri" Francoise. What a delight to meet her and I had a lump in the throat as we said good-bye even though it is for just 4 months.

Our final destination for the day in Paris - but we could not be this close to Mont St. Michel and not see it.

Annie & Carl had been there - but they insisted we go since Mark and I had not.

Let me just say WOWZA!!! You can see this from miles away - FYI.

If you want better pictures and a professional explanation here is a 5 minute snippet from Rick Steve's show on Normandy. Go to minute 21 if you just want to learn about Mont Saint Michel. It is great and will give you a good look at all the steps Annie and I climbed to get to that Abbey.

However, this film was done in 2004 so there have been some changes - not in the abbey - but in the approach to the Abbey. Gone is the causeway.

Beginning in 2009 the causeway and parking areas were removed. It was replaced by a bridge open to the residents on the town (less that 50 at latest count), delivery trucks and shuttles to bring the millions of visitors to the Abbey. Since April 2014, the new car park on the mainland has been located 1.5 miles from the island. Visitors can walk or use shuttles to cross the causeway. The light bridge allows the waters to flow freely around the island and improves the efficiency of the now operational dam. The island is once again an island.

I have a little more info about how this abbey became an abbey too. According to a legend, the archangel  Michael appeared in 708 to Aubert of Avranches, the bishop of Avranches, and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. But the bishop thought his dream was just that - a dream. Weeks passed and Michael came again. Still, the bishop thought - surely this didn't happen. The third time came and Michael was a little ticked off. He once again commanded him to build an Abbey and church to honor St. Michael and this time he put his finger on Aubert's head - a little too hard and caused a hole in his skull. When he awoke with the hole in his head - he thought - uh-oh, I better get busy! The first part of the abbey was dedicated on 16 October 709. The picture below is from that first building.

And to prove that that story is 100% true, Aubert's skull, complete with hole where the archangel's finger pierced it, can still be seen at the Saint-Gervais Basilica in Avranches, Normandy.

Now, today is place is still a pilgrimage site - but most of the people who visit have no religious interest in St. Aubert or St. Michel. They are just tourists and stores abound everywhere to fleece those tourists. BUT - and this is interesting - once the first part of the abbey was built the monks created flyers and distributed them all around Europe encouraging a pilgrimage to Mont. Saint Michel. Then they built inns and restaurants and stores to buy items made by the monks. - like pieces of word with a cross branded into the wood. The church recognized the this was a steady income source and as the abbey grew so did the town.

The cloisters were beautiful.

Rick Steves says that the tide comes in and goes out at the speed of a galloping horse - but that is not true. It is a legend that has lived more than 1000 year though. The highest tides in continental Europe are found at Mont Saint-Michel, reaching a difference of up to 15 metres (45 ft!) between low and high tide. During high tides, the sea withdraws 15 kilometres from the coast and rises very quickly.The tide is AMAZING but it travels about the average speed of a fit person jogging.

The Abbey was used as a prison during the Napoleon times and one of the most interesting things was that there was a lift or a crane there to bring up supplies. Under the reign of Louis-Philippe d’Orléans (1773-1850), there was a population of approximately 700 prisoners. A fire destroyed in 1834 the roof of the abbey. By 1852, due to problems with the tides, the supply of the prison became very difficult. The poor state of the prison was such that it became inoperable, which forced Napoleon III to close it in 1863. The prisoners were transferred to other prisons and the abbey was rented to the bishop of Coutances.

Convicts were used for the operation of the Treadwheel crane, walking inside the wheel. Possibly there were two for each wheel and the estimated load capacity was three tons. The diameter of the crane wheels is 4.3 meters. There are indications that there was another Treadwheel crane of somewhat smaller size on the north side, to supply the winery. More than lifting loads were used as drag. So you can say that more than a treadwheel crane was a treadmill crane

I have no idea how many steps we climbed but I think my watch said 21 flights. I believe THAT! We asked an employee where the restrooms were and she said - "just up 90 steps." You can imagine my surprise when the bathrooms were in the middle of a flight of stairs.

At the top of the steps we finally reached the cathedral

The place is simply breath-taking. We stayed about 4 hours total. Annie and I took a t2- hour tour and the guys found a place to sit and chat while they waited on us to meet them for lunch.

They found a very small garden with a table and a couple of chairs and they were very happy.

When we arrived it looked like this:

When we left it looked like this:

And there were people everywhere on the mudflats.

It is quite a place and we're glad we got the chance to see it. We didn't see it at night - but now it is much easier to imagine.

We continued on toward Paris and we arrived at our hotel around 8:00. Thank you so much Annie & Carl. Great friends and so easy to be with. Lucky us.

As you know - we took our flight home on October 1 without incident. My brother picked us up and our Mom celebrated her 97th birthday.

Happy Birthday Mom!

We have had a amazing month of travel. We are happy to be home, but feel energized by all we have seen and done. Travel is the best education!!! So, signing off.

Mark and Gayl

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Paimpol

I’m more than a week behind - but today I will finish the trip of September 2023.  Life just get in the way.  Here is the next to the last entry!

September 29, 2023

This is the last full day with Francois - but she is not done with us yet. We used the morning to organize and re-pack and Francois did some shopping. Tomorrow, Mark and I will be heading to a Paris hotel in the Charles de Gaulle Airport in preparation for our flight home on Oct. 1st, and Annie and Carl will visit Helen in Paris for a few days before returning to the US on Oct. 4.

We headed to Paimpol today for lunch at a Crêperie. Remember more Crêperies in Brittany than coffee shops!!!

Brittany is the home of the crepe. And I am so excited because while crepes are made with wheat flour, galettes are made with buckwheat flour - which despite the name "buckwheat" is completely gluten-free. Buckwheat is a seed, while wheat is a grain. No gluten from seeds! YAY!!

Gallettes are used for savory crepes - but in my case they can be substituted for dessert. Get out of my way!!!

My main is on the left - a smoked salmon crepe. Mark's main in on the right - I think he had steak. Everyone had a great dessert crepes too and I wish I had taken pics - but I only have a pic of my dessert - something my grandkids love - a Nutella Crepe. It would have been better with strawberries and whip cream - I"m guessing - but I loved every bite!

Next stop - the ruins of the Abbey Notre Dame of Beauport founded in the 1200s. Now, I LOVE ruins of any kind, but Abbey ruins are just the best.

Isn't this FABULOUS!!! This building is 800 years old. Some places have roofs and some do not. Below is the kitchen - still in tact.

The room below was a meeting room designed for religious services for a small group.

The monks that inhabited this place raised all their food and had a thriving business of cider sales. The cider press as the in crypt.

We wandered about this place for a couple of hours and it held new amazement every time we turned the corner or went up or down the steps.

The weather was perfect, the company delightful and walking through the ruins of a 800 year old abbey - was just my idea of a perfect way to spend our last day here. Not sure how we can thank Annie & Carl for asking us to join them on this adventure - but we will come up with something. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

And having the chance to meet Francoise, Gabby & Danielle was a gift - for sure. We look forward to seeing them again in CA next year.

After our abbey visit we returned to Loguvivy de la Mer. Francoise headed to the beach for a swim, and we all had a little down time 0 in our own little way...

We loaded the luggage while it was still daylight and Francoise made another wonderful meal. Then - Francoise and I beat the pants off Carl and Mark in cards!!! We won BIG!!! Sorry guys. This team is unstoppable1!!

We will have a re-match in the dessert - IF we feel like it.

What a wonderful time we have had. We will leave this wonderful place early tomorrow - but we have one more thing on our agenda before we head back to the USA.

Stay tuned.

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Île de Brehât

September 28, 2023

Another overcast day and cool but so what!?! Without Carl this time, we headed to the ferry that would take us first around île de Bre-hât (pronounced "Eel de Bree - at") and then to the Island. We have only 2 more full days in this region and we are going to milk it for all it is worth. Below are some views from our trip around the island. There was a running commentary - but it was all in French. Francoise voiced her complaint about that after we disembarked.

The trip around the island took about and hour and it is a beautiful place and as you can see by the map below the "island" is a series of islands. There is one village with homes and shops spread out throughout the "Île." And farms. There are 380 people who live here fulltime, but during the summer the population swells to almost 5,000. The island government (they have a mayor and city council) just put a limit of 4,100people per day cap citing '"over-touristing" as the reason.

We approached during low tide and it was low.

During high tide the ferry would dock on the big dock by the houses you see on the left (above)or right here (below)

Lots of famous people have had vacation homes there - for example Marc Chagall, where he painted this:

"La fenêtre de l'Ile de Brehat"

But "whatever" for Chagall, the person I am most interested in was Francoise's grandmother who was a teacher on the island when the language she and her students' spoke, Breton, was "supressed" and the suppression enforced

France has never officially banned the Breton language, but it has been subjected to policies that have led to its decline and marginalization.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the French government implemented a policy of "assimilation" aimed at suppressing regional languages like Breton, which it saw as a threat to national unity. This policy included the imposition of French as the only official language, the banning of regional languages in schools, and the discouragement of their use in public life. As a result, many Breton speakers were forced to switch to French, and the language began to decline rapidly.

Francoise's grandmother suddenly had to teach in a language that was not her native tongue. Francoise's grandfather was also a teacher experiencing the same thing, but in Paimpol. They were not married at the time. After they married, grandmother, by law, could no longer teach - you know, married women and work was a no-no. What did happen was that Breton - the language of the young married couple - was no longer their language. Perhaps, their children spoke Breton and French - but for Francoise and Gabby their native language was French. Neither speak Breton now. I find that transition fascinating.

But, back to this enchanting island.

We got off the ferry and walked up the LONG sidewalk to the city. That sidewalk is used at low tide and then disappears as the tide goes up leaving tidal pools everywhere. Remember, this region has a tide of 4 to 6 metres.

We walked past where the ferry would be docking in less than 5 five hours and on into the main village square. There are no cars allowed on this island - but there are tractors and many of them pulling trailers of hay or seed bags or crops. Now, I am not talking about huge tractors that take up 1.5 lanes on a road - these a much smaller tractors because they have MUCH smaller roads.

This might look like a sidewalk - but NOPE - it is a road.

Stone is the building material and the houses, barns and fences are beautiful and meant to last.

Also a reminder - NO cars but bikes are good. We did not see many though - very different than Michigan's Mackinac Island

This is a hiker's paradise and trails criss cross the entire island.

We opted to have lunch in the main square

I had the island specialty - Moules y Frites. Mussles and Fries. OMG!!! Scrumptious!!! Plus I learned to eat them like a local.

It was cool and occasionally spitting rain- so we opted to eat under an umbrella. Annie was with us - but I cropped her out of this pic because she is a beautiful human being but able to screw her face up something awful - which I captured on this pic - so no to that! Annie - you are welcome!

After lunch we took a little tour on this:

We went all over the island - sometimes down little lanes that I was sure would not fit our little train- but no crashing or even scraping - although we couldn't have had more than 5 inches on each side - more than once. We saw lots of places dealing with the tide and lots of places that were just beautiful. We saw lots of people living their daily life. We saw churches and cemeteries.

We finished our tour and headed back to the ferry - on a much shorter sidewalk. We guessed that the next ferry would be docking at the end of the city dock. We headed back to Francois' home. We all had some down time and then dinner and cards. Sadly, Francois and I lost to Mark and Carl but tomorrow we will have our sweet revenge. Carl is much improved and feels the day off was a good idea.

Tomorrow we will use some of our time to pack and prepare to leave early on Saturday AM. But we don't need the whole day for that - so stay tuned.

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Brittany/Bretagne/Briezh - partie trois

It is October 7 and we have been home 5 full days. I am back on Michigan time but due to my new "job" (watching Freya on Tuesdays and Fridays) there has been little time to sit and write. It doesn't mean I haven't been having a blast explaining about PSI and gravity and how a pump works. I have such a receptive student...

Mark has also had different duties - and the cornbread taste test went very well.

But back to our trip...

September 27, 2023

Gabby and Danielle left to return to their home about an hour away after breakfast this morning. Sometime during our often broken conversations in Franglish, we discovered that Gabby and Danielle are sailors and have a Beneteau 48 ft sailboat. That gave Gabby and Mark plenty to try to talk about. (Gabby's English is so much better than Mark's French - but they did communicate without too much trouble. Gabby and Danielle are a delightful couple and we look forward to seeing them next year in California.

The day was overcast and threatening rain - but full speed ahead. Francoise suggested we take a road trip to see Côte de Granite Rose (The Pink Granite Coast) about an hour away. She had other things to show us on the route too. So off we went.

Carl was driving, Mark was in the front seat and Annie, Francoise and I were in the back seat - BUT the only person who knew where we were going was the only non-native English speaker. One would like that everyone would just listen carefully to Francoise - but NOPE! Everyone - including the car GPS - had a plan. But Francoise pushed forward and got us to everywhere she had planned. (Damned pushy, pig-headed Americans!!).

And what a treat for us! We stopped for some lovely views along the way and then we arrived. The coast is indeed Pink Granite! Francoise was disappointed that it was overcast because the sunshine makes the place much pinker to the eye - but we loved it clouds and all.

I could not help but see the resemblance to the Canadian North Channel where Mark and I spent 15 magnificent summers on our sailboat.

Below are a couple of pics from the North Channel...

It is as if these locations so far away shared the same planet - or something. Beauty abounds.

The weather threatened rain - but it held off until we were having a lovely lunch by the harbor. After a lovely lunch Francoise had another trick up her sleeve - a trip to a sleepy village named Tréguier established during the 6th century and somehow escaped destruction during WWII. It was delightful.

But then, we turned the corner and saw this:

WHAT!?!? A massive cathedral in this tiny town!?!?!?

The history of this still active Catholic Cathedral - this not really a cathedral - is fascinating. A "Cathedral" is the church of a bishop and this place hasn't had a bishop since 1802, however the church is still referred to as Tréguier Cathedral or Saint Yves' Cathedral.

I'm lifting this right off the WWW. "It was in the 6th century that Anglo-Saxon invasions caused Saint Tugdual to leave Wales and settle in Brittany. Tugdual had been a pupil at the monastery of Llanwit Major founded by Saint Iltud, but now, with his mother and several fellow monks, he braved the seas and settled in Brittany at a point where the rivers Guidy, Jaudy and their estuary joined and eventually and in around 532, founded a monastery there which he called "Landreguer" ("the monastery of three rivers") and around this monastery and the village of Minihy grew what was to eventually be the town of Tréguier."

From that monastery grew a church - made of wood. After Tugdual was made a saint and was buried there and a few hundred later it was decided that this place needed something a LOT better than a wooden church -- so in 970 a new cathedral was built in the Romanesque style. Only a little bit of it remains - look at the tower in the center of the picture below. If the windows have a round top - Romanesque. If the windows are arched - Gothic. Cool huh?

In 1339 - the construction of the Gothic cathedral began to replace the completely old fashioned and way too small Romanesque building. Why had it become too small? St. Yves. In 1252, the soon to be Saint Yves, a native son of Brittany was born. He proved to be a brilliant student, a pious, kind and generous man and from the website Catholic Saints: "During a famine God almighty came to the assistance of his generosity by visible miracles. A flour bin which a domestic had found empty was found filled when Yves himself went with the domestic to examine it. Once he fed two hundred hungry persons with seven loaves of bread; at another time he fed twenty-four persons with a small loaf." TA-DA!!! Upon his death in 1303 he was buried next to Saint Tugdual. And at that point this church became a pilgrimage destination.

Anyway, what we see today is what happened from 1339 to the 1700s as the cathedral grew. It is quite impressive inside and out.

I loved the cloisters.

We walked around this quaint little village and then headed back to Loguivy de la Mer.

There were naps and downtime and then our darling hostess, Francois took her position back in the kitchen meeting all our needs before we even knew we had them. What a sweetheart! Nos chérie!

Carl has developed a cough and feels a bit rundown, so tomorrow he will rest while the we go to Île de Bréhat for the day. Our time here is quickly drawing to a close and I will truly be sad to leave. This part of the world is just extraordinary and let me say again - we have been treated like royalty by our wonderful hosts.

We finished the night with a card game with Francoise by my side learning. Tomorrow night she will sub in. Fun in Brittany/Bretagne/Breizh!!

Stay tuned.

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Brittany/Bretagne/Breizh, France

Deuxième partie:

After our walking tour of the neighborhood and village we returned to the house, had a lovely lunch and used their washing machine and their European dryer: Sun and wind!

Crazy as this sounds, we then took a "siesta" although this is not the French way. While we rested ,Francoise and Gabby headed down to the beach for a swim. (Overachievers!). Afterward, we piled into two cars - one driven by Francoise and one driven by Gabby and took another tour of the region near the house. The streets in the village are all two way but made for one small car. They are also quite unforgiving since the roads are snaking between walls or buildings made of stone - and I was so glad I wasn't driving. We traveled through the village and into the farm land and had one amazing vista after another. We learned there is a hiking trail that follows the coast and that it takes only 2 hours by foot to reach the beautiful city of Paimpol - a darling city we had driven through on the way to Loguivy de la Mer. We will be visiting this city tomorrow when we go to the weekly marché (market)

We also got a better view of Ile d Bréhat/Enez Vriad, an island that we could see from the front yard. This will be a destination spot soon and it is a place without cars and with bucolic farmlands and villages.

We also saw some statues and monuments that reminded us that this was a historic fishing community and as such was often a community of widows and fatherless children. We were admiring the view from here but many women over the centuries have stood where we were hoping to for the safe return of their husbands. A hard life!! Francois and Gabby's great-grandfather, the original owner of the home in which we are sleeping, was indeed a fisherman.

From here we headed into a fisherman's paradise to see some of the sea's bounty from today...

The tanks of flowing water are amazing. This area continues to be depend on fishing - but with much greater safety than the fleet of the 1700s. We saw every type of shellfish - and let's face it - I LOVED EVERYTHING I saw!

After that from one more vantage point we saw this private island. Owned by one family for generations - it is a potato farm. "pomme de terre". Sea food and potatoes what could go wrong.

After the wonderful tour - we headed back to the house for dinner close to 8:00 PM or 20:00. Coco de Bretagne - the local white bean, and fresh - swimming earlier in the day - scallops. The next course was cheeses and fruit including these absolutely delicious, mirabella plums. They are the size of a big grape, with a seed larger than a grape seed and they are completely delectable! They were new to all of us but we loved them. Can we get them in the US? I don't know.

This was followed by dessert of another local food, "Gâteau Breton," a custardy prune cake. I couldn't eat it - but I determined by the words of praise that this was a big hit.

Magnificent!! Eat Local, my friends!!

Having not been allowed to even clear a dish, we announced that henceforth our midday meal would be in some restaurant somewhere and on our dime. Happily our hosts agreed and volunteered to make reservation for us for tomorrow.

We turned in after dinner with plans to go to the Paimpol marché early on Tuesday.

September 26, 2023

Breakfast - local crepes and homemade jam! Our hosts even had gluten-free bread for me. The crepes are eaten by dipping a section of the crepe into your tea or coffee - which is served in a bowl. When in Rome...

Soon we headed into the market and to explore the harbor town of Paimpol. The market is HUGE and filed with people. While some roads are blocked off for the food trucks, there are booths set up on all the pedestrian walkways and it just seemed to go on forever. Francois said she was surprised at how small the market was compared to June or July - but it still looked HUGE to us. While there were many tourists, the bulk of the shoppers were locals getting their foods for the week.

Top left - Coco de Bretagne beans, Top right - Danielle orders up a selection of 6 different local cheeses. Bottom - Gabby and Francoise look at the seafood selection - which she pronounces "très limité". She thinks it is because it is almost noon - too late to get the best choices from the fish mongers. Gabby makes his choice, but has the fish monger hold it on ice, until we are ready to head home.

After a couple of hours "dans la marché" we settled into a cafe by the harbor for a break. (There are more Creperies in Bretagne than cafes - FYI.) Gabby headed back to the fish monger and then ran his purchase home. The market - by the way - wasn't just fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses, fish, beef, chicken and pork and other foods. It also included booths of clothing, shoes, homewares, art and jewelry, books, etc. But the bread, crepes and galettes, cakes and pies - are still from the bakery (boulangerie) or a pasty shop (pâtisserie) and we saw lines. FYI - A galette is a crepe made from buckwheat and is used for savory dishes. It is also gluten-free. OMG!!!

Lunch was later than is normal in the US and it is a big meal. We had a wonderful meal at a place on the harbor!

I could look at this all day - Beautiful Paimpol.

It was close to 5:00 (17:00) when we got back to the house. Gabby and Francoise went for a swim, Mark and Annie read, Carl opted for the siesta and I worked on my blog. It was a lovely afternoon with sunshine and summer temperatures. In Europe no one has screens. Doors and windows are just open and while I made it my business to kill every single fly that entered the house - there were not many. (Although those of you who know me well - know that one fly in a room is WAY too many - and can draw out my crazy quite quickly!)

Around 7:00, (19:00) Francois came out of the kitchen with the pre-dinner appetizers as usual. Wine, water and tonight a fish pate, grapes, crackers and GF bread. About 7:30 (19:30) Gabby started working on dinner and here was the plan - straight from the fishmonger this morning:

He is giving these guys and opportunity to see their homeland one last time. This is only half the catch - FYI. We were treated like royalty - I tell you!

And before you knew it these guys looked like this...

Then the seven people of us gathered with seven lobsters and two bottles of wine and fresh bread.

It didn't take too long for the table to look like this:

Like a proper family living on the sea they had lobster crackers tools and specialized forks for everyone. I'm guessing this was not a one off situation. This haul was followed with a big plate of cheeses selected from the marché, fresh fruit (We LOVE those little mirabella plums!) and finished off with what I think was Kouign-amann from the pâtisserie.

This cake has so much butter in it the word "butter" is in its name. It also has wheat flour - so... Anyway it looked amazing and by the look on the faces of all my buddies - I think it was! We are feeling like kings and queens.

By the time dinner was over it was about 9:30 (21:30) and we travelers were crashing. Being waited on and given such wonderful LOCAL food is apparently exhausting. Everyone was in bed by 10:00 (22:00). What a great day!

Stay tuned.

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Brittany/Bretagne/Breizh, France

Oct. 4, 2023

We are home and I have been too busy "being home" to finish my journal - but today I will get back at it. Our suitcases are unpacked and put away and our clothes are laundered and back where they live. We have had one sleepover, spent the day at a petting zoo, watched one soccer game and have seen 3/7 of our grandkids and 1/3 of our kids. We have had 3 Dr. appts too. No dawdling around here!

We have doled out our grandkid gifts to only one kid - but the rest of the gift giving will happen soon.

Oh - and I am still on Europe time... I am also still glowing from all the wonderful times we had during our month away and now I will re-live the last week. So, here goes...

On September 24th said farewell most of our buddies and flew from Madrid Spain to Paris, France with Annie & Carl. We rented a car and drove 5 hours northwest to Brittany. Of course at this time, I didn't realize that this region had 3 names and that "Brittany" is the English word for this region.

Before I get too far - let's look at France. It is the biggest country in Europe and is about 2.2 times the size of Michigan. But the population of France is 63.3 million people while little Michigan is struggling to reach 10 million making the population of France six times that of Michigan. Interesting.

We were the guests of long-time friends of Annie & Carl's, Francoise, her brother Gabby and his wife Danielle and they were hosting us in their Loguivy de la Mer summer house that was the original home of Francoise and Gabby's great-grandparents. Charming!!!

And here is the "de la mer" view from their front yard...

Let me just say that we were treated like royalty!! The connection here is that Francoise's daughter, Helen (prounounced "a - LYNN) was Annie & Carl exchange student in 2002.

While our pace was certainly less intense than our on OAT trip we did a lot of stuff and learned so much. Have I mentioned that the best education is travel?

So let's begin with the name of the province we call Brittany: Bretagne/Breizh. Like Basque Country, Breizh is a diverse region in northwestern France and a historic country with a distinct identity, sharing much of its Celtic heritage with Cornwall and Wales. It has its own language, (Breton) its own food specialities (crepes and sea food of all kinds), and its own flag and culture.

The flag is relatively new - from the 1970's and was first considered a "separatist" flag but it is now accepted as the province flag and is considered apolitical. Breizh has been part of France for a long, long time and while they had good times during the 700 years they were a country before 1498 - they are not getting out of France and are no longer making an effort to do so. They are - however - working hard to save their language.

All the signage is in two languages: French on top and Breton on the bottom.

I read an article that said the average age of a person who speaks Breton is 74 and that in 1950 there were one million Breton speakers, in 2000 there were 200,000 Breton speakers today is number is 80,000. Breton is regional and is spoken primarily in the western part of the province - caller Lower Brittany (in the colors on the map below). The division between Upper and Lower Brittany is language. Upper Brittany (called "upper" based on altitude of the land) speaks French, French and only French.

Francoise and Gabby, grandparents were both teachers in the 1920s when Breton was outlawed. Breton was their native language and the language of their students but to keep their jobs - they had to teach ONLY in French. If you wanted to be employed anywhere - you had to speak French. Francoise and Gabby do not speak Breton and Francoise told me she couldn't even understand it. It is not even close to French, just as Basque is not even close to Spanish.

Hey - Is there some kind of a rule book that conquerors use to get the conquered to assimilate? It is the same ol' method since time began, it appears. When we visited Tibet in 2014, all of the buildings, shops and signage was written in Tibetan on the top and Chinese on the top - in much bigger font and lit. The Tibetan people were told to learn Chinese if they wanted to work and all the schools were teaching in Chinese and that was relatively new. But I digress....

There are schools where Breton is taught as a foreign language and there are a few schools in Lower Brittany where Breton is the language of instruction. The language is listed as "Endangered" by UNESCO.

Staying in the topic of "language", I had a BLAST digging deep to try to speak French. I studied French in high school from 1966-1970 (with the dinosaurs) and took one French Literature class (in French) in college. I have brushed up repeatedly with Duo Lingo or some other app - BUT the one thing I have never done was engage in meaningful conversation with a French speaker. Our hosts' English was better than my French and I think they all had excellent receptive English - but to communicate we spoke "Franglish". I was pulling all kinds of French words right out of my butt - so to speak. I still can read French fairly well and I can buy train tickets or ask for simple directions or order food - but to converse... nope! I loved it. They were so kind and patient and if felt safe to try and make mistakes. We were able to share all kinds of information. I asked "Comment dit-on..." (How do you say...) repeatedly during a sentence and most of the time saying the word in English or pointing at the item worked. But sometimes a more info or even a little charades was necessary - for example I wanted the word for "nephew" and I had to add "the boy baby of my brother) to my sentence. It is "neveu" in case you are wondering. It was delightful and makes me want to get back to studying. My new French friends, Francoise, Gabby and Danielle are coming to the US in February and will stay with Annie and Carl in Palm Desert (while we are there) so I have a good reason to get back at it. YAY!!

We arrived around 8:00 PM on Sunday, September 24 to a lovely meal. We visited a little bit after dinner - but turned in, exhausted after a full day of travel.

Next morning we awoke to a lovely breakfast, lots of conversation and then a walk through their community.

We walked down a couple of streets filled with quaint rock homes and into a park called La Roche aux Oiseaux (Bird's Rock) and onto a trail. BEAUTIFUL!

The first photo below is the river Roc'h ar Hon that flows into the bay - the next photo. This is the same bay we can see from the front porch.

We continued our walk to the Loguivy de la Mer harbor and village. Delightful! There are indications everywhere that this village has been here a long, long time.

The tides here are high - between 5 and 6 metres (15-18 feet). At low tide all the water is gone from the harbor and all the boats are sitting in the mud.

Across from the harbor is the church where Francoise and Gabby's grandparents were married. The gate was locked so this was the pic I took. Notice the palm tree. From the harbor we looking at the English Channel and yet - palm trees grow with ease here. It has snowed - once or twice - but this is a region that doesn't get below freezing much.

This pic I snagged off the Internet.

Of course this palm tree caused me to go down a rabbit hole - but now you won't have to. Check out the map below. Where you see shades of yellow, or orange or red are indeed where you might find a palm tree. Norway? Iceland? WHAT!?! Also it turns out there are low temperature tolerant palm trees too. Who knew?!?!

I'm going to stop here - just because I have other things to do at home. I'll pick up the rest of the day with our French friends soon.

Stay tuned.

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Part 1 of this trip draws to an end…

October 1, 2023 - Happy 97th Birthday to my Mom!!!

We are back in Michigan and once again we have super Internet, so I will be posting things I wrote over the last week. We have had an amazing month of travel and learning. Again, I will say that travel is the best education a person can get. Get out there and experience the lives of people you don't know. It may feel uncomfortable - but that feeling only means you are growing. You will be much richer for it. Here is where I left off....

Sept 23, 2023

Today we started our day with a city tour of Oviedo.  This place was hopping last night well into the morning.  We have a beautiful corner room with two window balconies.  This time our windows overlooked the city and all its activities. 

 We heard rock and roll and a drum choir but the most surprising sounds were the bagpipers.

We learned that anywhere the Celts were - and let’s face it they were in a LOT of places, bagpiping exists today. 

These pipers do not play Amazing Grace nor any other Scottish associated tune.  The play Spanish music and these pipers in particular play Asturais Spanish music.  I HAD NO IDEA.  Again - with my motto - You don’t know what you don’t know.

The first part of the tour was on the bus.  We saw different parts of this very active city and we learned that the Crown Prince - or in the current case - the Crown Princess is given the total of Princess of Asturias.  It follows the same kind of thing as the Prince or Princess of Wales - will someday rule Great Britain.

We saw another major work of the very famous architect Santigo Calatrava. (and according to our trip leader Fran, “a horrible human being”)  

It might be the ugliest building I have ever seen - BUT it is one you will not forget and it is certainly recognizable from the sky or from a very high vista - which takes me to our next event.  

A bus ride to the top of Mount Naranco  high above Oviedo with the bonus gift - another statue of Jesus, Rio de Janeiro style. “Monument al Sagrado Corazón de Jesus”. 

What stunning views!!!  From there we visited two additional building ruins, the first San Miguel de Lillo built in the 9th century, and this is what is left of that very large church.

 The brick work surrounding the ruin is the footprint of the original building. 

We walked down  the road to discover this:   

Built by Ramiro I (842–50), Alfonso II’s successor – is an exquisite example of Asturias’ unique pre-Romanesque architecture. It marks an advance in Asturian art: an outstanding decorative feature iimitating rope used in its columns.  Very cool!

We returned to Oviedo and did a city walk.  It is very hopping city - especially the Saturday after St. Matthew’s Fiesta.  But we meandered this way and that way from one square to another.  In each square was a statue marking something that happened here and would be important to the citizens of the area.  I liked this one.

Since she was a girl until she died in her mid-90s this woman brought her milk to market.

Mark liked this one - so much that he let this guy who owned a shop on this square of more than 75 years - use his headphones.  Mark’s a nice guy!

In the square closest to us and home to the giant-ass party is the home of The Cathedral of San Salvador of Oviedo.

It displays an array of architectural styles, from Pre-Romanesque to Baroque  including Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance parts.  There is a reason for this  and it is called REMODELING.  Built first in 780 CE the first remodel and enlargement was in 810 CE.  Then in the 1100s - much was torn down and changed.The Cloisters were added in the 1200s and the bell town in the 1300s.  But the bell tower didn’t look good with the front now - so in the 1400s the entrance was “improved”. You get the picture.  Frankly I couldn’t NOT keep up.

BUT - and here is why it was so important to keep this place looking great - it is the home to some of the most sacred relics of Christendom.  The chief feature of the cathedral is the "Camara Santa", with its venerable relics. A Bishop in the 12th century wrote that the Agate Box, was a coffer made by the disciples of the Apostles  and containing the most precious relics of the Holy City, was taken from Jerusalem to Africa, and after residing in several locations was finally placed at Oviedo by Alfonso II. In the 16th century, Bishop Cristóbal de Sandoval y Rojas wished to open it, but could not, being overcome with religious fear. Yah-yah...

BUT the real big deal is this: The Sudarium of Oviedo, or Shroud of Oviedo, is a bloodstained piece of cloth measuring c. 84 x 53 cm (33 x 21 inches) The Sudarium ( Latin for sweat cloth) is thought to be the cloth that was wrapped around the head of Jesus Christ after he died as described in the Bible.

This is believed by many to be the actual thing and as such people make a pilgrimage to see this box.

On 14 March 1075, King Alfonso VI, his sister and Rodrigo Diaz Vivar (El Cid) opened the chest after days of fasting. The event was recorded on a document preserved in the Capitular Archives at the Cathedral of San Salvador in Oviedo. The king had the oak chest covered in silver with an inscription which reads, "The Sacred Sudarium of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We had our farewell lunch with food that just kept coming.  All traditional Asturias foods.

The afternoon was ours to do as we wished and Mark and headed to the Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias.  The place is huge and is actually 5 buildings converted into one.  Each building is different and marks a new time period.  The truth is that I know a few Spanish artists but not many.  The usual suspects, Goya, El Greco, Velazquez, Dali, Murillo, Picasso and Miro - to name a few - but OMG - the talent was incredible and of course not all the artists were Spanish..  There were so many artists there that I could identify the period - but had never heard of the name.  I took some photos of my favorites and I will try to watch for other works by the same talented people.

I loved this by Carl Firthjof Smith

But this was my all time favorite by Juan Martinez Abades 

Mark and I met up with Joe and had a drink on the square before headed to our room to pack.  Tomorrow we will end this tour and head to Bretagne, France with our friends for a week.  Our pace will be different but I expect to learn plenty.

We have been so lucky with the weather and with no days left, I just going to say it.  We have had rain periodically but it delayed nothing and kept us from doing not one thing.  On the day we drove to the top of Mount Naraco the sun was shining and everything was bright and clear.  Had this been scheduled for yesterday we could have seen nothing.  I’m not sure if it the rabbit’s foot I wear around my neck or the four leaf clover I keep in my wallet or my voodoo chants before bed - but who cares.  Something is working….  (Of course none of my “charming” story is true - but it is true that we have had amazing weather.)

I has been a real pleasure to travel with this group of friends.  How lucky are we to have a chance to see the world with like-minded people.  Then you put in two amazing trip leaders that this trip gets and A+ from me.

I have had a request to pass on the website I used to learn a little more about our fabulous Basque guide, so here you go:

Stay tuned for our Bretagne adventures.

#Youtube

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Oviedo

Bonjour from beautiful Bretagne, France.  We are having a wonderful time BUT we do not have Internet.  I’m not sure when I will be able to post this but I will continue to write and know that eventually I will be easily connected to the World Wide Web again.  Some people might enjoy this break from technology - but me - not so much!  But I am coping because we are doing so much - this time in France.  I’m hoping this reaches you...

Sept 22, 2023

Tonight we sleep in Oviedo - but there is much to see and do before we get there.  This area is called España Verde, (Green Spain). BEAUTIFUL!!!

We are in the region (think “state”) of Asturias.  That is the 8th region we have visited.  Mark and I have spent time in the Canary Islands - a region unto themselves and in Catalonia too, so we have visited 10 of the 17 regions -which I will say is pretty impressive. 

Many of the regions are quite different from each other in traditions and food -and even language - but all are quite Catholic.  (And yet they believe a woman should control her body and reproductive decisions and have laws that codify that.  WOW!!!)

The Catholic designation makes me think that I need a little more description about the “Caminos”. Especially the Camino for Santiago - the way of St. James.

There are many “caminos” and connectors to “caminos” in Spain and France and Italy - and who knows where else.  Poland - I’m guessing but none in Czechia - which has the lowest religion participation in Europe.  A “camino” is a pilgrimage that ends at a certain holy point.  The Camino de Santiago, or in English the Way of St. James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition holds that the remains of the apostle are buried.  This has been a walking event for a thousand years or more but now Compostela has advertised it as a tourist event and with the exception of the Covid years, more than 300,000 people walk parts of this path.  Pilgrims arriving in Santiago de Compostela who have walked at least the last 100 km (62 mi), or cycled 200 km (120 mi) to get there and who state that their motivation was at least “partially" religious, are eligible for the compostela from the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago.

So after talking about the caminos it is time to share what we did on the way to Oviedo - Covadonga.  According to the placards: Covadonga is famous due to a small-scale clash between Islamic Moors and a force of Christians from Asturias in northern Spain—led by their king, Don Pelayo. It guaranteed the survival of a Christian foothold in Iberia and is sometimes described as the start of the "Reconquista"—the reconquest of Spain from the Muslims.  BUT the real miracle here is that a statue of the Virgin Mary, hidden in one of the caves, was believed to have miraculously aided the Christian victory.  That turned the cave from a battlefield to a pilgrimage location.  And as is often the case where region goes, opportunities to make money off those beliefs follow.  This capitalistic endeavor is disgusting - I thought.

So visiting this cave is a BIG deal.  The grave of King Don Pelayo is there - but that is nothing like the shrine built with a chapel.  

But more visitors came than could fit the tiny chapel so they built a bigger chapel.    

Then they built a huge gift store.  Then they built a huge hotel.

Our trip leader Frans, was equally disgusted.  He said - FIRST there is no evidence that Moors ever traveled nor lived in this area.  There are no Moorish buildings, nor any Moorish customs or foods.  There are no indication of Moorish craftsmanship either.    BUT the “story” is that this King - who was hiding in a cave - found this icon and ta-da!!!  Now he can take his tiny army and defeat the massive army of the Moors.  Of course that icon was lost - but do not despair - we can make another.  And that takes you to this.  The third chapel.  This one is pretty big.

On a less cynical item - this is cow country.  They are everywhere and this is the area of cheese, cheese and more cheese.  We saw thousands of cows in small herds as we crisscrossed the Asturias and we also saw these:  Horrieos - the grain storage building of this region.

These are protected buildings and are very regional.  Many are 500 years old.  We saw them everywhere.

Because cheese is such a “thing” here - for lunch we had a starter of just cheese and apple jelly.  Every piece of cheese you see on the plate below is a different type of cheese from a different area of Asturias.  DELICIOUS!!! (Well - except for the blue cheese, which I think is GROSS!!! Some people liked it though... YUCK!)

Our lunch was another regional food - “Fabada” (bean and pork stew.)  It was wonderful!!!   Additional we had cider - always made from apples and always an alcohol drink.  Watch this to get the pouring technique down.  Don’t drink it if can’t get a correct pour!!

After a late lunch we checked into our hotel - just in time for siesta - something I am really enjoying.  It was an evening on our own - but sadly Mark ate too much blue cheese and was not in a partying mood - so I just went to the grocery store and got a salad, wine and some “aqua con gas” for Mark.  He felt better before we went to bed and listened to the party that was rocking the city until 5:00 AM.  It is Friday night and the end of Festival of St. Matthew week but the hotel staff assured us that tonight’s event was not religious.

Buenos Noches!

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Spain.  What a trip we are on!!!

Stay tuned and I’m hoping you get this…...

#Youtube

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Santander, Day 2

Buenas Dias

September 21, 2023

Today we started the day with rain and an hour bus ride to visit Altamira, home of the Museo Nacional y Centro de Investigación de Altamira and undoubted a whole lot more.  I will begin by saying we did NOT have enough time here - we needed at least one more hour and as the day wore on I thought - MAN - I wish I had had this hour at that Museo instead of ….. Fill in the blank.

This region is most famous for the Altamira Cave system and its spectacular cave drawings.  This area is home to 18 caves of Northern  Spain making up the apogee of Upper Paleolithic cave art in Europe between 35,000 and 11,000 year ago.  And I was geeked to go!!!

Some background on my over-the-top excitement:  In 2013 we went to France with our daughter and her family - the photo below is from 2013. 

She did all the arranging and she managed to secure tickets to Font-de-Gaume, a cave near Les Eyries-de Tayac-Sireuil  in the Dordogne region of southwest France.    At that time, Font-de-Gaume was the only site in France with polychrome cave paintings that is still open to the public.  In it’s heyday (1980s) more than 10,000 people per day paraded in to see these caves, but then it was discovered that the CO2 from all the visitors was degrading the art - and visitors were forbidden or dramatically reduced.  The day we went on the only English speaking tour, there were only 100 people per day allowed and only 8 on our tour:  A family of 3 and Marka, Steve, Kepler, Anson and me.  Our guide was reverent and his love and respect for this art and the ancient people who made them filled my heart and brought me to tears as we guided in through this holy place.  I can still recall his hushed toned as he reminded us that our feet were standing in the same spots as these ancient people.  For me this place for magical and I had truly spiritual experience.  I bought a silk scarf while I was there with many of the drawings on it - and I wear it often and feel that same since of wonder and awe.  OF COURSE I had it on for this event!

So NOW we were going to cave art Mecca in Northern Spain.  See why I was so crazy excited?  Anyway - I am not sure you can visit any cave now - but many of the caves have exact replica’s of the caves to see.  And that is what we saw.  You access the fake cave from the museum and other than the floor being flat making the journey safer and much easier - I’m sure the cave looks the same - but I’m here to tell you it is NOT the same.

All of the paintings in this cave were on the ceiling and sometimes the ceiling and the floor were just a foot from each other.  Clearly the artists were laying on their backs - but not here - not in this spot.

Also, clearly, I would never have seen this - if you had to crawl in the cave to see it.  But it was not the same thing.  The painting were nicely illuminated and you could take photos - but it was not the same thing.  There were small beaded lights indicating where the floor would be and that was nice - but…. Well you know.

The crack below is also a replica - but because of that crack eventually the ceiling in the real cave will fall.  Could be tomorrow - could be 10,000 years - but it will fall.

The museum was wonderful!  We didn’t have enough time though - and for the rest of the day I just wanted more time in that damned museum.  Oh well.

Next up for a tour of a medieval village, Santillana del Mar  The rain was over for the day. It was lovely - but so hard to walk as there were cobblestones everywhere. This was a village of nobility and the Coat of Arms are everywhere.  Apparently, a Coat of Arms, granted and verified by the King was given to ONE guy.  Example - Bob Smith is granted a coat of arms for his bravery and loyalty during a battle fighting for the king.  But that belongs to Bob Smith - not all Smiths.  Bob’s sons can use this crest, and his grandsons, and great-grandsons - but NOT his cousin or any random person named Smith.  Who knew?

This is primarily a tourist Mecca now but there was one very cool thing here: Milk & cake!  This is a dairy region here and for the first time, they are talking milk and all the things that come from the cow.  There is a little store in this city that has been the site of a particular farm for 3  generations.

These two men were in the store - pouring a glass of cold milk and handing out a piece of cake for their customers - something they do everyday and have done since the young man in the photo’s great grandfather started doing this 70+ years ago.  Of course I could not have the cake - but the milk was delicious.

This region has many kinds of cheeses and is also famous for its cider.  This cider is an alcoholic beverage and must be aerated.  In a restaurant the waitstaff does this but there is also a way to do it at home.  With this…

You push the pump and hold your glass under the board level and the cider shoots out into your glass - through the air.  Aerated cider.  Drink up.

On they way back to Santander we stopped at this little town with some big “stuff” - Comillas.  There once lived an ordinary man,  Máximo Díaz de Quijano, who went to Cuba to make his fortunes selling slaves.  He did and returned to his home town to build a little house.

Then he started a college in this tiny village.  Then he made sure that the Camino of St. James (Santiago) was recognized as going through his town.  

Then he invited Gaudi to drop by and build a building.  It is good to have money….

We returned to Santander we had time to explore the city on our own.  We opted for the siesta option, then had drinks with our friends.  We had on experience in the elevator that I really don’t care to share - but AFTER we got out we all thought it was quite amusing.  Not so funny as the whole thing was playing out….

Tomorrow we head for our last location of this tour, Ovieto.

Stay tuned.

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Castro Urdiales and Santander

September 20, 2023

We left Bilbao this morning and I felt sad.

I really loved this city and I would truly enjoy taking a deep dive there.

I also think I said too little about the Guggenheim - so I will correct that. The building itself designed by Frank Gehry, is amazing! We did see some great pieces but the one artist I was excited to see was Yayoi Kusama who had a special exhibit at the Guggenheim. Kusama is a Japanese artist who is famous for her use of polka dots. Kusama creates paintings, sculptures and even entire rooms filled with dots. I was VERY disappointed with the exhibit - so that may be why I kind of brushed off the museum. Kusama is quite amazing. She is in her 90s and has spoken openly about her struggles with mental health. Her work has helped her deal with her health. She is the polka dot queen. The exhibit in the Guggenheim was just too small and the only thing I thought truly gave us a look at her work with the light room.

But I loved Tulips by Jeff Koons.

And this by Richard Serra, "A Matter of Time."

Ok - I feel better about that!! If ever you are in Bilbao you MUST visit this museum. Back to the day:

We drove about an hour westward on the coast. until we reached a little fishing village, Castro Urdiales from the Middle Ages, on the Bay of Biscay. It is a sleepy little town.

This little village was once a whaling town where the brave fisherman used row boats to bring in the catch. That spawned this..

This was a society that was designed to care for the families of the fishermen who did not return. Today the fleet goes after anchovies. I am please to announce that I like anchovies that are GRILLED. The kind in the can or jar are just too salty for me.

I borrowed the picture above from the Internet but the rest are mine. What a beautiful place!!! From here we headed west to Santander through some beautiful county.

Just before we arrived at our destination we took a little detour to a cemetery. NOW - those of you who know we well, know I LOVE cemeteries. I love to know the life and death traditions of the people who live in the places we visit - so I was thrilled - but there was more.

This very modern cemetery was built on top of an ancient church that was built on top of ancient Roman baths.

It was as if someone knew this place had been used for sacred events. It was AWESOME to walk around here and see the today, yesterday and far yesterday uses of this site. I LOVED it!

Then we arrived in Santander.... SWEET!

Our hotel was lovely and enjoyed the town and the local guide tour. There was a golf course here - which some people in our group super happy! (Mark, Daphne, Joe and George to name names.)

We went around the city and saw the summer palace of the Spanish royalty. I don't know who they were - but I do know that the woman is a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England - but who wasn't - really.

We saw many things in the city and then went to a place where we went to the rooftop. The elevator started low with "si" and went up the scale until we reached the top. We could see the whole city from this vantage point.

On the way down, the "no" started high and went low. Fun in Santander!!!

Stay tuned.

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Exploring Northern Spain (modified)

I am writing this on the evening of September 22 from our last destination of this planned trip, Oviedo, Spain. We have two days here before we leave for a trip with Annie & Carl to Brittany, France. I'm afraid my social life has gotten in the way of my journaling - so tonight I'm staying in and writing. It is NOT like I am cloistered though, we are in the center of the city and currently a marching band is passing our hotel. Mark is trying to figure out if this is just a Friday event or a pre-football event. Real Oviedo is playing Langroe tomorrow - and I know y'all know this is NOT pointy ball football but the real thing. Anyway it is awesome.

This is pretty much our route with mini variations as we have veered off to see this or that amazing thing. Today we went went through Picos de Europa National Park. We are in España Verde (Green Spain) and it is simply beautiful. Here is a bigger shot of our route. Our eastern most point was San Sebastian or Donostia as it is called in the Basque language. That is what I will talk about today.

Sept 19, 2023

San Sebastian or Donostia

What an absolutely gorgeous place!!

This beach is protected on 3 sides by land (the beach is like a clam shell) and people swim here year round - although this is the North Atlantic. This place was was Queen Isabella II can 3 times a year to bathe to address her skin condition. Now - I'm going out on a limb here - but truly she bathed ONLY 3 times a year. I'm guessing had she bathed - let's just say once a month or every other week - or gods forbid DAILY - her skin condition would have gone away. But that is just me...

This might be a good time to talk about the Spanish Royals. Let me just say - What the hell?

Spain has a constitutional monarchy - like Great Britain. But there are a few differences.

Before the death of Franco, he had hand-picked his successor someone who would carry on his vision of Spain as a deeply conservative Catholic country, and thought he had found that person in Juan Carlos I, a member of the Spanish royal family. (His grandmother was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria.) In 1969, he named Juan Carlos as his successor, certain that the future king would keep Spain on its authoritarian path. But Franco badly misjudged his chosen successor. After the dictator’s death, Juan Carlos turned out to be a reformer. The constitution was rewritten, Spain transitioned to a democratic system, and elections were held soon after. Due to lots of issues Juan Carlos 1 - decided that this dictator of a Catholic nation was not really his gig - so he decided to be king instead and slowly transitioned the country to democracy. But even after passing laws saying every person was equal under the law EXCEPT the king, he realized he was not going to be free for long - so June 19, 2014, he abdicated while he had a parliament that was pro-monachy and would accept his son Felipe as king. Felipe is King and Juan Carlos is in exile - without the queen - who has had it with his shenanigans.

And the photo below is the queen and crown princess congratulation the women of the Spanish team after winning the World Cup this year. ( Notice - no kissing here)

With no male heir, Leonor, Princess of Asturias born 31 October 2005) is the heir presumptive to the throne of Spain as the elder daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.

FYI - we are in the region (think state) of Asturian tonight. Just like the crown prince/princess of Great Britain is the Prince of Wales - in Spain the crown prince/princess is the Prince/Princess of Asturia

Enough about that. Back to San Sebastian or Donostia .

After Queen Isabella II decided it was "fashionable" to bathe, the trend was established and the who's who of money followed. It became all that - AND a bag of chips - so many historical figures dipped their toes in the water. People like Leon Trotsky and Mata Hari come to mind.

This town is know for its food and I could not fail to mention the Txokos, or private male gastronomic societies that characterize Basque culinary culture. These men cooking clubs are now accepting women - but they are forbidden to enter the kitchen. Sounds like something I would like.

If you can get an invitation you can expect to enjoy things like bacalau (salt cod) with browned garlic olive oil emulsion and piperade (basque pepper sauce), kokotxas (cheeks of hake fish), langoustine with serrano ham, and hard cider in the company of the other men who are members of the society.

We had these items in different restaurants but no doubt the men's club food would have been better.

This city has had some tragedies. It was a hot bed of fighting during the Civil War

From the city's website:

"31st August of the year eighteen thirteen – a date marked in red in the history of San Sebastián. On that day, blood and fire tainted the streets of our city, raising it to the ground. A huge civilian tragedy to which this building bore witness.

These were the years of the Peninsula War that pitched Spain against France. San Sebastián was under the control of the French army at that time. The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, which had become involved in the war to support Spain, had started to gain the upper hand over Napoleon Bonaparte’s army.  In the summer of that year, English troops, backed up by Portuguese soldiers, besieged the city of San Sebastián. On the morning of 31st August, troops led by General Sir Thomas Graham, who was acting on orders from the Duke of Wellington, managed to breach the defences and enter the city. The French troops, who were completely overcome, withdraw to Mt. Urgull, seeking to protect themselves inside the La Mota castle. 

The locals endured a succession of unmentionable atrocities. Under the pretext that San Sebastián sympathised with French interests, English soldiers fired their guns the whole day at balconies and windows, gained access to houses and seized everything of value. The vandalism and looting spread throughout all the streets, houses and churches. As in all wars, many women were raped, and hundreds of locals were shot dead: children, the elderly…. nobody was safe. Ultimately, they set fire to the whole city. 

The huge fire reduced practically all houses to cinders in the old city. This building, below (San Sebastion Cathedral) is one of the few that remained standing and is the only one to maintain the façades and construction elements typical of the time."

Not much remained. The city was built back in standard at-the-time construction so the old town looks pretty uniform today. I was however intrigued by this:

This is the city square and during the Franco times, these homes faced the bull fighting arena. You may own your home - but the city owned your balcony and for event - like a bullfight - the city sold tickets to your balcony. Hmmmm..

We loved this place and enjoyed every minute there including this beach art. Sadly it will be gone in about 5 hours. But for now, it was awesome.

I snapped a picture of this guy in a store window:

¡Eguberri on! (Happy Christmas in Basque)

This is Olentzero

Some historians believe Olentzero's origins can be traced back to pre-Christian Navarre and are linked to pagan winter solstice traditions, although the character was later adapted to conform with Catholic rituals

The story goes that Olentzero began his life as an abandoned infant who is found by a fairy godmother.

After bestowing the child with the gifts of “strength, courage, and love," the fairy leaves him with a childless couple who raise him as their own in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

Olentzero whittles wooden toys and at Christmas comes down from the mountains to the villages to distribute his crafts among the children.

Then one day as he is taking the gifts to a nearby town he passes a house that is engulfed in flames and charges in to save all the children inside. After performing this heroic deed, however, he perishes in the flames.

But his fairy godmother grants him eternal life so that he can continue to make toys for all the Basque children.

So - a couple of things: Olentzero has been cleaned up a bit over the years. Now he is a pipe-smoking jolly drunk filled with love. But 100 years ago, he would come to your house and leave a gift IF you had been good BUT if you had been bad - he would slit your throat. Talk about some motivation to mind to your parents - hey?

This character and the celebration that welcomed him were banned under Franco's rule. Catholicism was required so only the "approved" Catholic way of celebration Christmas were allowed. Below is a photo from 1930 Pre-Franco times:

Did you know that under Franco rule parents had to name their children Franco approved names? And no Basque names made the list. If you were on the Franco team - times were good (unless you pissed him off). On the side against Franco - not so good.

After lunch we headed back to Bilbao for our afternoon at the Guggenheim Museum. But you already know about that - so tomorrow I will write about Castro Urdiales and Santander. Loving Northern Spain.

Stay tuned.

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

The map says we are in Spain, but..

September 17, 2023

Kaixo!

We are in Bilbao and according to the map - we are in northern Spain - but it doesn't feel like Spain, it doesn't sound like Spain and it doesn't taste like Spain. We are actually in the land of the Basque people: Basque Country or “Euzkadi" in the Basque language.

We have a new trip leader, Fran (Francisco José Valle de Tarazaga Montero, PhD). He is a Basque and passionate about his country. He is also gregarious, funny and extremely knowledgeable - but that is just part of the trip leader requirement, it seems. He is an archeologist when he is not helping people to understand his country.

The Basques are NOT Spanish. PERIOD!!!

Basque Country (Euskadi) is an autonomous community in northern Spain and south western France with strong cultural traditions, a celebrated cuisine and a distinct language that pre-dates the Romance languages. The vibrant riverside city of Bilbao is a hub of architecture and design, where gritty factories and shipyards give way to cutting-edge landmarks such as the titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum along a revitalized waterfront. It is a beautiful place - but this is NOT Spain. Do NOT make that mistake!

This is not the first time we have encountered this. The Faroe Islands is an autonomous community that is working with Denmark to become completely independent. I don't think Sciliy is working to be independent but DO NOT call them Italian.

The Basque people hate the Spaniards. HATE THEM! And for good reason. Here is just one reason: One of the main cities of Basque Country is Guernica - long considered the spiritual capital of the Basques.

During the Spanish Civil War the Basque people fought against the Franco troops. During Market Day, April 26, 1938, Guernica was bombed. The attack gained controversy because it involved the bombing of civilians by a military air force. Even more controversial was who did the bombing - The Nazi Luftwaffe. Franco and Hitler and Mussolini were buddies and members of the dictator mutual admiration society. Plans were in the works for a new type of warfare - but Hitler and Mussolini needed a practice run. Franco gave it to them and they destroyed Guernica killing civilians - a new type of warfare, terror from the sky.

The Basque language is alive and well although during the Franco years it was illegal to speak it. Now it is the language of Basque people with everything written in Basque and Spanish. Public schools and universities are taught in Basque - although there are some private schools that teach in Spanish - or English. Spanish and English are taught as foreign languages. The origins of Basque language are unknow - BUT they are not like any other European language - for sure. Linguistically, Basque is a language isolate.

The first day - our travel day from Madrid to Bilbao - was an easy day. We took a little ride around the city then did a little walking tour around the old city. Our hotel is very conveniently located and the city is indeed walkable. Fran explained how this autonomous region - thing works and many of the rules that exist that keep this place clean, debt-free, and keep the traffic manageable.

They do pay high taxes but they received great services for taxes paid. School from pre-school through post graduate degrees are free. All medical, dental, eye and hearing services are free. The Basque Country is filled with community education opportunities including sport courts, areas, fields, etc. They are serious about recycling and their are massive opportunities every few blocks. We were able to open the top of a container and put in our glass bottle - but as a resident you scan your card and then deposit. The weight of what you deposit is recorded and you get a discount on your trash bill. One of the bins in composting and I watched a restaurant staff member transferring all the returned food into a giant bin. I loved it.

To illustrate the traffic management we did a travel morning in which we walked, road a funicular, a bus, a boat, a passenger transporter and a subway as we explored the city. it make NO sense to have a car in this city - and most people do not. So even at rush hours, cars are are few. The streets are filled with busses and trams - mass transit at its finest.

We began the day taking a funicular to the upper city. Beautiful views:

Then we took a bus to the transporter.

Then a boat and finally a subway that brought us back to the Old Town.

And finally a subway that brought us back to the Old Town.

And here is the deal...because Fran is a resident and we are over 65 the cost for all this was between 16 cents and 32 cents per ride. Sometimes we seniors were free.

Food: Pintxos. (Pinchos)

Pintxos are NOT Tapas. They are open face sandwiches containing all kinds of stuff - and I mean all kinds of stuff.

You get in line - point to what you want - pick at least 3, order your drink and then wait until they are given to you. Being gluten free is a bummer here - but they fixed me us and I was find. This is a big deal here and there are pintxos places everywhere. The stuff I had was delicious and I didn't see any empty plates - so I'm guessing we were all happy.

I really love eating like a local.

Bilbao is beatuiful. The River Nervión flows through the town and is crossed many times by foot bridges. The bridge below was designed by the same guy that designed the Vasco da Gama Bridge that we took out of Lisboa - just a couple of weeks ago - but it feels like months! This bridge has a glass floor and while that is cool - it rains most days in Bilbao making that impractiable. The city opted to carpet it. - which the artist did not like. He sued the city and won but his award was one Euro. We crossed the carpeted bridge more than once.

This is not something I usually do but when it works - it works. Watch this video from Rick Steves. We have done almost everything in the first 19 minutes of the video - although we went to Bilbao first and St. Sebastian second. AWESOME!!!

Our trip to the Guggenheim was amazing but I have to say that the building itself it the "thing." I couldn't tell you much about the contents of that building - but the building OMG!!!

Here is another thing one of us liked: Public bathrooms and urinals.

Bottom line - we are loving exploring Basque Country!

Stay tuned.

#Youtube

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Toledo again and a good-bye

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Today is our last day of our base trip and tonight we will have our farewell dinner. Joyce and Dave will head home. Carolina will head home and the rest of us will board a flight to Bilboa, Spain in Basque Country to meet trip leader, Fran Valle. But this part off the trip is not quite over. This morning we had a great pleasure to meet the flamenco team of Monica, Jaime and Angle. Delightful!!!

We often have the opportunity to attend a performance but this is so much more. These artists give us an opportunity to learn more about their art and them as a people. We don't do this kind of thing on every trip but when we have these private events - they are unforgettable. This is a perfect example of the ambassadorship of travel.

Enjoy some of the performance we saw live.

Then - yes - we got into the act. These people were warm, genuine and fun. Enjoy watching so of the fun we had with flamenco!! Warning: Most of these people are NOT professionals.

After our flamenco experience we went to a store to watch a craftsman demonstrate the art of  Damascene, ("Damasquinado" in Spanish)

Here is the Internet definition of this craft: Damascene is engraved and ornamented with metal (silver or gold) and black enamel. This unique jewelry originated in the 1400’s in Damascus - thus, its name. Furthermore, damascening is the technique of ornamenting various metals into one another in hopes to generate intricate designs that are parallel to niello. In Damascene jewelry, there are typically small pictures or designs created within. It's an enchanting process, traditionally handcrafted. Doves, flowers, and geometric shapes are very common to see in Damascene, however, many of the designs reflect the artist's personal flair. In English, Damascene originates from a distinguished comparison to the affluent drapery designs of damask silk.

We watched a 4th generation craftman - with apparently really good eyes - create beautiful things. Check out his vice set up. Can you say "cannon ball."

A design is drawn on the metal - here he is using steel. Then he, using one of the many tools on his table removes a tiny line from the steel leaving a groove.

Next he pounds silver or gold thread into the groove. His wife shows is the gold thread in the picture above.

Here are some examples of this type of art:

Pretty sweet - huh? I may have some new earrings from this store. Ok - I do have have some new earrings from this store.

This artist learned this technique from his father who learned it from his father - rinse, repeat. Now he has taught his sons. Simply striking work.

The afternoon was our own. I went shopping with Daphne and Judith and Mark met up with Joe and Ken to drink a some beer. A lovely afternoon in Toledo from everyone!

All too soon it was time for our farewell dinner. And our Carolina has a box of surprises for us. Remember weeks ago - when we painted a tile in the ceramic studio in Portugal? - Here is my finished product. I love it. The Rooster is a symbol of Portugal.

I feel so artistic!!! This will be my new favorite trivet and will remind me of this trip every time I use it.

I cannot say enough about our trip leader, Carolina Silva.

We have had many fabulous tour leaders - MANY - and she is right up there with our A++++ group. She has helped us discover so many things.

And as I am writing this I thought of one more thing. While we were in La Mancha, she bought a pastry for us called the "FLOWERS of LA MANCHA." Somewhere between a donut and puff pastry. Everyone seemed to love them - but why? Because this region is famous for growing crocuses. Ok - so what? And then she told us that Saffron is taken from the stigmas of the crocus.  A labour-intensive crop, the three stigmas are handpicked from each flower, spread on trays, and dried over charcoal fires for use as a food flavoring and coloring.

Maybe you knew this - but I did NOT!!!! You just do not know what you do not know. But I know this - we have had a wonderful trip exploring Portugal and Spain. Thank you so much dear Carolina.

Tomorrow we fly to Bilboa for a chance to explore the Basque Country. Carolina has told us it will be pretty different from what we have experienced. I am ready!

Stay tuned!

#Youtube

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Madrid

September 16, 2023

While Toledo, Castilla La Mancha will be our home base for 3 nights - we left today to explore Madrid, the capital of Spain.

The bus ride was about an hour and we got to see some of the traffic that is Madrid. All of our weather apps told us that the day would be rainy and cool. It is a beautiful city and despite the forecast, we were welcomed with beautiful rain-free weather and occasionally sunshine. First for us - the palace of the king. Sadly, it hasn't been used for years - but here it was.

Lots of ancient squares.

And the home of the President. Right there - about 15 feet from where we were standing.

And not too far from the President's home Carolina planned another edible discovery - Torrone flavored ice cream. OMG!! I would never have tried this - but it was fabulous!

From here we took a bus to explore the beautiful city and then headed to the main purpose of the day - The Prado Museum!

Here we discovered lots of works for Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez - a painter I love ONLY because I read a book with Sagan and Katelyn during the Pandemic about him. We have only one of his works in the Detroit Institute of Arts - but here I was surrounded by them. (We saw other things too - but this was the most important to me.)

He was a court artist who lived in the castle and painted the royal family of King Philip IV of Spain. His works was not widely recognized until after his death. The palace in Madrid caught fire in 1734 - more than 100 years after Velázquez's death. The paintings that hung on the walls all over the palace were thrown from the windows as the palace burned. Lucky for us!

But most exciting for me was this:

by Juan de Pareja, the forever slave of Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez . In the book, I, Juan de Pareja, we meet both the famous artist and his slave who by watching Velázquez becomes himself an amazing artist. I was so excited to see a piece by this man!

We also went to see some Hieronymus Bosch works. The jewel in the crown is the Graden of Earthly Delights. This was our second time to see this - having seen it in Budapest in the spring of 2022 - but still OMG! This guys was sick - I think. I will say that you can look at this painting for a month and never see all of it.

In the Prado there are no photos allowed - which was frustrating - but soon I was snapping away. in the Sophia.

From the Prado we had a lovely lunch and then headed to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía to see Picasso's Guernica. This was really what I had hoped to see while in Madrid. FREAKING AMAZING!!

This is HUGE and that was my surprise. It is 137.4 in × 305.5 in. I have seen pictures of it and I know the motivation - but I had no idea how huge it was. I was dumbfounded.

This masterpiece is all in black and white and represents the horrible aerial bombing of the city of Guernica in the Basque Region by the Nazi's in 1937 - with permission of Franco. Remember this is 2 years before the Nazi's move into Poland and WWII is officially started. This was considered "practice."

Daphne, Joe and I opted to spend more time in Madrid and take the train back to Toledo, which was perfect. The Madrid Train station was just across the street from the Sophia.

The trains were awesome and the fares were cheap.

We were back in Toledo in 25 minutes.

We caught a cab and got back to have paella with our group. A day well spent!!

Our main trip ends tomorrow and we say good-bye to our fabulous Carolina. :(. We have been so lucky to have her - and we know it!

We all LOVE her!!

Stay tuned.

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Toledo and what we learned on the way to Toledo...

September 13, 2023

We left Ubeda and headed north to Toledo.

It was a long trip today but with Carolina you know you will be learning a lot on the way. There have been many conversations about the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the dictatorship of Generalisemo Francisco Franco, so today Carolina spent a lot of time filling in our gaps. I am AGAIN so frustrated to not know this history. Oh, I knew some aspects. I knew Hemmingway was not a Franco fan but i really did not know that this brutal war lasted for nearly three years (July 1936-March 1939), claimed at least one-half million lives and sent another one-half million refugees into exile.

This entire thing has taken on new meaning to me since I hope to see Picasso's "Guernica" at the that Reyna Sophia Museum when we go to Madrid.

First, I think we can all agree - in retrospect - that Franco was a deluded, sick and twisted man. His strong belief that Spain must be a 100% Catholic country caused the deaths of 100s of thousands of people. Additionally, his believe that if you held a viewpoint that was not aligned with his - imprisonment or death was a great "persuader" to get you to change was evil. He used all of the methods Hilter used to cleanse the population of Spain - but he did it first. He called the Catalonians the "Jews of Spain" and did what was necessary to rid the world of them. He arranged to have the Nazis bomb the Basque region. He took Fascism to a new low. and historians have said that he and his regime previewed the WWII for all to see.

While Spain remained "neutral" in WWII, Franco supported the Axis Powers and did whatever he could to support them including sending troops, money and equipment while claiming neutrality.

So what were the sides in the war? The left side, known as the Republicans, was formed by the Spanish government together with unions, communists, anarchists, workers, and peasants. On the other side were the Nationalists, the rebel part of the army, the bourgeoisie, the landlords, and, generally, the upper classes. The Nationalists won the war, which ended in early 1939, and ruled Spain with an iron fist until Franco's death in November 1975.

Franco's regime did not end after WWII but continued into the 1970s reigning terror on his enemies. Spain is #2 behind Cambodia with the greatest number of mass graves. Think about that - my friends. The Basque Region - where we will be visiting on Sunday - were also considered traitors and people were tortured and imprisoned.

Franco was considered unwelcome in the international community because after WWII dictators that killed their own people and arrested political opponents were kinda' frowned upon. They were not allowed to join NATO even though they had leaned hard into the Allies once it appeared Germany would be defeated. BUT then this happened:

I am still NOT sure what happened to make President Eisenhower so happy to greet Franco - but I'm guessing it was Franco's strong anti-communist stance. You know the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing. Anyway, Spain's fortunes turned at this point.

Now, I am NOT naive enough to think I would explain to you all the happened under the Franco regime - but for most people it was not a good time from 1939-1974 BUT what I do know is that there are people who long to go back to that time. No doubt it was people who WERE having a good time during that time period - but it is very upsetting to many Spaniards.

We stopped at a place that supports the return to the Franco style regime. It reminded me of places that support Nazism in the US - and probably in other places around the world. It made me sick - but there we were at Casa Pepe.

I thought this was interesting as well:

My Spanish is not great - but I know this says (sorta') protection from the virus, De Sanchez (the current president of Spain) and all the groups of Communists and Separatists." The Separatists are of course referring to the Basques and the Catalonians. Fascists unite!!!

Enough of that!

We have left Andalusia and are in Castilla La Mancha.

And what famous author lived in Castilla, long ago? Miguel de Cervantes who wrote the 17th-century novel Don Quixote. Which was adapted into a Broadway musical in the mid 1960s "The Man of La Mancha". (Now in my head I'm hearing "To Dream the Impossible Dream. But that is just me.). Anyway as we drove along, we saw these:

and then...

Don Quixote is always fighting the windmills that he believes are monsters - and low and behold - there they are in the middle of Spain. This place used to be a wheat mecca and they needed windmills - lots of them, but I didn't know that! In recognition of this famous author - Don Quixote statues are everywhere.

Then finally we arrived to TOLEDO!!!! Located on the banks of the Tagus in central Iberia, Toledo is known as the "City of the Three Cultures" for the cultural influences of Christians, Muslims, and Jews. In Portugal this river is called Tegas and runs through Lisboa. FYI - don't look for any Muslim or Jewish communities today. Sad...

And of course there are Roman Ruins - those darn roaming Romans....

What a beautiful city. We settled into our hotel had a great lunch of vegetable soup and carcamusas (pork stew) and began a walking tour of this city. First up, St. Tomé Church and El Grego's masterpiece - "The Burial of the Lord of Orgaz."

Ok - this sucker is huge and you can look and look and never really know what you are looking at - but our city guide, Carlos, knew and he enlightened us. This painting is about a well-liked city patron, Lord or Orgaz and how important he was that even his death both out the big guys of the church on earth and in heaven. You would have to be there to get the full picture - but there are lost of well know city people in this pic, including El Greco, his wife and children. It was a who's who of Toledo at the time. Pretty cool.

And while we were there we took a look inside St. Tomé Church.

We also visited the Jewish neighborhood a population that was very importance in the history Toledo - until they were run out or killed or "converted." in the 1490s.

Toledo had the biggest Jewish population in Europe prior to the 1490s. There were 10 synagogues in Toledo in 1400 and the oldest written document from the Jewish quarter date back to 300 CE. The most famous synagogue in Toledo is the synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca erected in the city of Toledo, Spain in 1180 (according to the inscription on a beam). It was constructed in Christian territory, the Kingdom of Castile, by Islamic constructors, for Jewish use. It is considered a symbol of the cooperation of the three cultures who populated the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages. The synagogue is a Mudejar construction, created by Moorish architects in Christian soil, for non-Islamic purposes.

By 1500, this was a Catholic church but the name and the architecture was left untouched. It is the oldest Synagogue in Europe today.

Toledo is also home to a Cathedral built in the 13th century. You will be happy to know it is still a Catholic Church.

The inside is magnificent.

The truth is I'm starting to get Cathedral overload. I am WAY over the opulent golden walls and icons that the hungry cannot eat.

Clearly, I am tired.

One more thing - TOLEDO STEEL.

From the Toledo website:

Toledo has been a traditional sword-making, steel-working centre since about 500 BCE, and came to the attention of Rome when used by Hannibal in the Punic Wars. Soon, it became a standard source of weaponry for Roman legions.

Toledo steel was famed for its very high quality alloy, whereas Damascene steel, a competitor from the Middle Ages on, was also famed for a specific metal-working technique.

Today there is a significant trade, and many shops offer all kinds of swords to their customers, whether historical or modern films swords, as well as medieval armors and from other times, which are also exported to other countries.

Toledo is magnificent!

Madrid tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Ubeda, Spain

August 12-14 2023

After having our minds blown in Cordeba, we headed to Ubeda - a tiny village located in the "Mer de Olives" - the sea of olives. Spain has 300 MILLION plus olive trees and I'm not kidding. One can travel miles and miles and miles and see only olive groves.

We are in the region (think “state”) of Andalusia and we have been here for most of our time in Spain, so far.

Úbeda is a municipality of Spain of 35,000 people located in the region of Andalusia. The town lies on the southern ridge of the Sierra Nevada's so-called Loma de Úbeda, a table sandwiched in between the Guadalquivir and the Guadalimar river beds.

The Parador de Úbeda was the first palace converted into a Parador in Spain in 1910 and is located in a former palace which belonged to the dean of the Sacred chapel of El Salvador.  It was built in the 16th century and altered in the 17th century. It is beautiful.

Our room:

And the view from both our balconies:

The beautiful Church of San Salvador! The photo below shows are parador to the left of the church and in the shade. Our room is in the upper corner by the church.

From the website:

The building, of Renaissance architecture, stands out for its façade and the splendid central patio, one of the most beautiful in Úbeda. The large windows on the façade flood the interior with light, where the elegant rooms and majestic halls are fully equipped for holding meetings and events.

Úbeda was declared a World Heritage City for its Renaissance monumental complex. A walk through its historic center explains this title granted by the heritage and historical wealth found in its streets, palaces, churches and museums. The city is also rich in crafts, gastronomy and Andalusian folklore. The title is shared with the city of Baeza, also notable for its Renaissance monumental complex and located a few kilometers from Úbeda.

The Parador Ubeda is the former palace of Don Fernando Ortega Salido.  Originally a Moorish palace – he had it rebuilt to his liking – then had the chapel built right next to it.  Hemingway, Pio Baroja, Garcia Lorca, and Paul Bowles have all stayed here at the Parador, so it has attracted a particularly literary crowd!

We took a little walk around the place town and then had dinner and went to bed. We had a big day the next day exploring the olive oil process. This begins with us going into the groves and picking the olives.

Below is Ken, olive gatherer extraordinaire, holding his high tech olive harvesting tool and his trusted assistant, Judith.

Next lay out the net...

And get some instructions on what to do and what to pick and not pick...

Then the "combing" begins...

Lots of people used the high tech tool - but Mark just used the walking sticks - Amateur!

Lots of people got into the action and we got a pretty good crop. Then we gathered up our olives

And I snapped this. I have entitled it "Spanish Gothic"

We also visited an olive tree that was 200 years old and still producing olives. I'm impressed!

This might look - to the untrained eye - liike it is 4 trees - but nope - one root. Next step - take the booty to the factory to turn those olive into olive oil.

George is the designated "pourer" and the process begins. We didn't just go so some ol' olive oil producer, we visited the producer that won the grand prize for the best Olive Oil for 2023, Oleícola San Francisco Olive Oil Factory.

We learned that a black olive and a green olive are the same - just in different stages of ripening. The are more than 700 varieties of olives but we picked Picual Olives. There are only three types of olive oil - 1. Extra Virgin. 2. Virgin and 3 Lambaste (DO NOT EAT THIS!!). Extra Virgin must be perfect in lots of categories and have no chemical and process with no heat. Virgin is just not quite Extra Virgin and the last is used for lots of things - but is low quality and should not be eaten. I wrote "should" because while it is illegal to sell for consumption in the EU - it is not illegal in the lots of other places - like the US. If the bottle says "Olive Oil" you are getting Lambaste. Or CRAP! We also learned they harvest from October to January - but depending on weather it may be September to February. They went through every step which was fascinating - BUT I found this YouTube that can tell you much better than I can. Two things... She begins the video right outside our parador AND she doesn't know that in Spain - you do NOT say "hasta la vista" (as in the Terminator.). I'm sure you say many other farewell greetings - but all I can think of now is "Adios." But despite those things - this video is great!

After the process was explained to us - we tasted some oil, (spoiler alert - the one in the blue glass is the best in the world.)

Next, we went to work making lunch. It was so much fun!

We made a delicious salad - but I took no pics of that. :(

Lunch was great and then with our newly found knowledge and some olive oil, we headed back to Ubeda. After our seista - i could get real use to this - FYI - we took a nice walk around the city stopping at a a potters shop who is bringing back pottery of the past - like this birthing pot.

The midwife is there to catch the baby - but this cuts down on the mess. Used centuries ago - this potter is bringing back the vessel. I'll get back you on how I feel about this.

We continued our walk until Carolina had another edible discovery, churros and hot chocolate. Both the churros and hot chocolate were different for the things we know in the states.

The churros in the US are covered with cinnamon and sugar - but not here. The hot chocolate here is like a warm chocolate pudding. I heard rave review.

For dinner, Joe, Daphne, Mark and I did a supermarket run and did wine, cheese and jamon in the room. We didn't START in the room, we started in the courtyard after I made sure it was OK - but then - when we were almost done - the guy who told me it was OK - came toward us waving his hands - saying "FORBIDDEN!!! No big deal - be packed up and went to our room. You can't scare us!

Ubeda was a wonderful place and we loved our time there - but tomorrow we leave for Toledo.

We are loving Spain.

Stay tuned.

#Youtube

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Cordoba

September 12, 2023

Everyone agreed that leaving Ronda was hard and we all plan to say we needed an extra day in Ronda on our post trip evaluation. But more wonderful things await - so on the bus we went.

Our destination for tonight is Ubeda (OO-ba-da). This is a small village located within the "mar de olivos" (Sea of Olives) but before we got there Carolina had other things to show us. Cordoba!! (CORE-de-ba)

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!??!? Just a stopping off point on the way.... and it just got better.

This city - like Seville - sets on the River Guadalquivir. At one time it was a navigable river all the way to Cordoba - but no longer. The river is just a small stream here now.

This is another city that was founded long ago - by the Phoenicians , Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths, Moors and Christians - then Moors again - then Christians (and by that I mean Catholics). It was the same ol' same ol': conquer, destroy, build your place on top of theirs over and over again. Then something AMAZING happened. In the late 1400s - Ferdinand (of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella - decided NOT to demolish the massive mosque of the Moors - but instead keep in and simply make part of it into a Cathedral. Today is it know of the Mosque Cathedral - and it was simply amazing.

Can you see what is mosque and what is cathedral? I mean how cool is it that the cathedral - now the owner of this exquisite site - was able to save this beautiful art done by the Moors hundreds of years ago. It kinda' give you hope.

Following are just some of the amazing sites we saw under this roof:

Whatever you prefer - Christian or Muslim architecture - you can certainly agree that Ferdinand made the right decision. It gave me hope think that both of these styles that represent so much to so many live under the same roof.

This is from their website:

"The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (World Heritage Site since 1984) is arguably the most significant monument in the whole of the western Moslem World and one of the most amazing buildings in the world in its own right. The complete evolution of the Omeyan style in Spain can be seen in its different sections, as well as the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles of the Christian part.

The site which the Mosque-Cathedral occupies has been used for the worship of different divinities since ancient times. Under the rule of the Visigoths, the Basilica of San Vicente occupied this very site, and later, after the Moslems bought part of the plot of land, a primitive Mosque was built. The basilica was rectangular in shape, and for a while was shared by Christians and Moslems. As the Moslem population increased, the ruler Abderraman I acquired the whole site and demolished the basilica to make way for the first Alhama (main) Mosque in the city. Some of the original building materials from the Visigothic basilica can still be seen in the first section of the Mosque built by Abderraman I.

The great Mosque is made up of two distinct areas, the courtyard or sahn, with its porticos (the only part built by Abd al- Rahman III), where the minaret stands - nowadays, encased in the Renaissance tower - and the prayer hall, or haram. The area inside is made up of a forest of columns with a harmonious colour scheme of red and white arches. The five separate areas of the Mosque correspond to each of the Five Pillars of Islam."

The Five Pillars of Islam are:

The Profession of Faith

Pray every day, 5 times a day- facing Mecca

Almsgiving

The Fast of Ramadan

The Pilgrimage: The Hajj

One significant point: The quest to build your holy building on top of the conquered holy building was so great that one significant tenant of a mosque was ignored. The building does not face Mecca. The quibla had those in prayer facing south. Below is where the quibla would have been - but it is not there now - of course.

We asked our local guide how Muslim people feel when they come in and see this masterpiece that once was their place of worship. He said - they view it as a art museum. (I'm sorry, I had a hard time buying that.) Then he told us that one time he was touring a group of Muslim women who really wanted to pray in the mosque. They went to their knees but the security force stopped them saying that they could not pray there as it was now sanctified as a cathedral. As he told the story - my mind raced to how absurd it was that prayer of any kind was forbidden in this building built by people who call their god a different name. It got me hot! But his story continued... As they went into the cathedral sanctuary, the Muslim women sitting on pews, asked for a few moments of privacy, and they prayed silently. After that they were happy to continue the tour. You have to wonder if their prayers from the pews of the Cathedral reached their god OR if he/she would only hear them in the parts of the building that had not been re-modeled.

It is this kind of absurd behavior from those who have found the ONLY way, the ONLY truth and the ONLY light that keeps me where I am on the believer scale. A reminder that EVERY devout believer in Janism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Shikism, Zoroastrianism, and, and, and believes they have found IT and sadly anyone who believes the other stuff has not.

Back to the building: The courtyard is lush and filled with beautiful trees - but this is a very arid region that gets very little rain. When it was originally built in 785 it contained the ablution fonts as well. The water to keep this area growing and to supply water for the fonts came from a water collection system built into the the structure of the building. Look at the photo below of the arches:

They are indeed structural - but the top arch serves as an aqueduct carrying rainwater that falls on the zigzag roof line to a cistern in the courtyard. I found this great pic on the web that clearly explains what I am talking about. FREAKING BRILLIANT!

We were here for just a few hours and we returned to the bus and headed to Ubeda. That will be what I write about tomorrow.

Stay tuned.