We woke this morning to more showery rain which lasted all day, with the only change being in its intensity. Today is a good day to go underground. This valley is renowned for its fantastic prehistoric caves, many of which contain the finest examples of cave art ever found. There are over 175 known sites around here and as you drive down the narrow country roads, there is another signpost every couple of hundred meters directing you to the next grotto or cave.
We started by going to the Museum to give us some background before heading into the caves. Here we saw reconstructions of animals that roamed this area (Megaceros – huge deer – 3m antler span), bones, artifacts, weapons and arrowheads of the people that lived here thousands of years ago. We learnt that the Neanderthal man wasn’t as simple as we had thought, they lived in societies, they buried their dead (the first to be known to have done this) and they cared for their sick and elderly. This is an incredible museum with thousands of exhibits with not enough time to explore them all. This was evident in the way that we were virtually hered out at their closing time of 12:30pm. We could certainly feel them breathing down our necks … literally.
From here it was a choice of which cave to visit first. We decided to go to Lascaux II first. This is a reconstruction of a cave that has been closed (for preservation reasons) but the bulk of which has been reconstructed with an accuracy of within 5mm. This took 10 years to complete (opened in 1972) and reconstructed in original materials. The cave has two chambers and is 200m long.
The paintings in this cave are incredible, showing bulls, cows, horses, and man. What is incredible is that these paintings were completed about 17,000 years ago and yet they manage to depict movement, perspective, depth of field, detail, and even an element of cubism that Picasso would have been proud of. With the majority of the elements they included the form of the rock walls to create the form, bulk and shape of what they were painting. You can imagine what they would have looked like under their flickering candles and lamps, they really would have looked like they were running.
What we liked about the commentary that went with this tour was that they didn’t pretend to know all the answers (there are many unanswered questions), but they gave the opinion of various scientists and what they may mean.
Regarding the original cave, it was discovered in 1940 by an 18 year old boy who was out walking his dog, when his dog fell down a hole. He went back the next day with three of his friends and climbed down the hole and discovered the cave and its paintings. They made a vow between themselves that they would keep it a secret to themselves until they died. The secret lasted for three days. And the rest is history. It has changed the lives of the villages around here forever.
We finished the day today wandering around a couple of the villages in this valley, Montignac and Sarlat. Both very cool little villages with light sandstone houses draped in creepers and vines, narrow little lanes and back alleys, and a people so helpful and friendly that they quickly dispel any reputation that you may have heard about the rudeness of the French. As we wandered around it made us think about how many little undiscovered towns there must be in a county like this. Probably towns that time has completely bypassed. Makes you wonder what would have happened in this area if those four boys had managed to keep their secret.
Saturday, 24 October 2009
MARQUAY – France (Fri 23 Oct)
We walked out the door this morning to get a bakery breakfast, to be greeted by a queue of people winding past our hostel and around the corner towards a locked door a couple of blocks away. They looked like they had been there most of the night they way they were settled in with their deck chairs, blankets and hot thermos’. We wondered what the gig was that they were queuing for and the demographic was no giveaway as there was old, young, male, female, large, petite, dressed in suits, roughing it, attractive, and not so much. It wasn’t until we emerged from the bakery that we saw the sign that they were queued behind. They were queued up for the casting for a porn movie! Why would so many ‘want in’, why would they queue all night, and exactly how do you get to know about these things?
We left the queue, and San Sebastian behind us, with many questions unanswered as we headed into France … again. Through South West France and into Bordeaux with its wall to wall vineyards. The vines are browning off now and we can only imagine how it would have looked as their colour started to turn a few weeks back.
From here it was winding through small villages of stone houses seemingly held together with russet coloured vines and ivies. We are now in the Dordogne region and the scenery is spectacular. Unfortunately the rain and drizzle from San Sebastian seems to be following us north, but doesn’t spoil the beauty of the area at all. Driving alongside canals with dark water, lined on both sides with lines of trees in various tones of green, orange and red. A walking path alongside invokes images of heavy horses dragging canal boats behind them.
We are spending the next few nights in a very small village called Marquay. It was approaching dark when we got there, so we can’t say much about it yet, but if what we saw on the way in is anything to go by, this is going to be a very enjoyable stay. We just hope that the weather clears.
Before coming back into France we did a quick read on their history, and it goes something like this:
The Neanderthals were here about 90,000 – 40,000 BC. Cro-Magnons from 35,000 years ago and were responsible for the cave drawings. Neolithic, 7,500 – 4,000 years ago of the menhirs and dolmen fame. Celtic Gauls – 1500 – 500 BC. The Romans in 52 BC. The Franks from the 5th – 10th Century. William the Conqueror brought the English over in 1066. Joan of Arc encouraged the French to kick the English out in 1429 (she was then sold to the English in 1430 and burnt at the stake for her trouble – a witch they said). From then until now it has been an endless procession of kings, wars, protests, riots, political strife, civil unrest and beheadings. Quite a history wouldn’t you agree.
We left the queue, and San Sebastian behind us, with many questions unanswered as we headed into France … again. Through South West France and into Bordeaux with its wall to wall vineyards. The vines are browning off now and we can only imagine how it would have looked as their colour started to turn a few weeks back.
From here it was winding through small villages of stone houses seemingly held together with russet coloured vines and ivies. We are now in the Dordogne region and the scenery is spectacular. Unfortunately the rain and drizzle from San Sebastian seems to be following us north, but doesn’t spoil the beauty of the area at all. Driving alongside canals with dark water, lined on both sides with lines of trees in various tones of green, orange and red. A walking path alongside invokes images of heavy horses dragging canal boats behind them.
We are spending the next few nights in a very small village called Marquay. It was approaching dark when we got there, so we can’t say much about it yet, but if what we saw on the way in is anything to go by, this is going to be a very enjoyable stay. We just hope that the weather clears.
Before coming back into France we did a quick read on their history, and it goes something like this:
The Neanderthals were here about 90,000 – 40,000 BC. Cro-Magnons from 35,000 years ago and were responsible for the cave drawings. Neolithic, 7,500 – 4,000 years ago of the menhirs and dolmen fame. Celtic Gauls – 1500 – 500 BC. The Romans in 52 BC. The Franks from the 5th – 10th Century. William the Conqueror brought the English over in 1066. Joan of Arc encouraged the French to kick the English out in 1429 (she was then sold to the English in 1430 and burnt at the stake for her trouble – a witch they said). From then until now it has been an endless procession of kings, wars, protests, riots, political strife, civil unrest and beheadings. Quite a history wouldn’t you agree.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
SAN SEBASTION – Spain (Wed 21 Oct)
‘You aren’t in Spain, you aren’t in Portugal, you are in Basque Country’. That’s what the posters and the locals tell you around here. They even have their own language, and are quite proud of that. Just walking around the city, it has quite a different feel to what we have experienced elsewhere in Spain. It somehow feels more … civilized and nice.
We have planned on having a couple of quiet days here just to ‘chill out’. So we spent most of this time just walking around the city. We started at the far end of the beach searching out a sculpture that we had read about. The name of this is the ‘Wind Comb’, combining wind, sea and steel. Albeit very cool, we found the natural environment stole the show today. Although the sea (the Atlantic we are looking at now) seems to be quite calm, there is a big swell coming in, and this is just crashing against the rock shoreline with incredible force. The swell just seems to build and build and build, so that by the time it hits the rocks it just climbs straight into the air above you like a huge salt water geyser wall, and then slams down on any unsuspecting passers by. And then a few seconds later, in comes the next one. Created inside the stone walkway that goes out to the point, there are a few manmade blowholes that regularly surprise pedestrians when they suddenly gush, salt air and seawater, vertically upwards from 100mm holes in the pavement. Very funny to watch.
After seeing how calm the sea was, we were wondering just how rough it got when the sea got up. Then in the evening we saw that San Sebastian made it to the national TV news, so although we didn’t understand a word of it, we wondered if it was a freak occurrence due to a cyclone somewhere. But then we found out that this is an annual occurrence. Every year about this time they get big waves here, and we managed to be here to greet it. Where they normally have a swell of about 1-2 metres, for a couple of weeks they get swells of about 6-8 metres, which is what we are having today. They call it the ‘Sea of Life’. Evidently a few years ago, someone was killed by the force of the water coming down on them, so the police monitor it pretty closely and close roads when necessary. Very exciting to watch and witness.
Just to show the effectiveness of the natural breakwaters around this harbour, the inside of the harbour was very calm and there were even people going for a swim in the sunshine. Also inside this harbour is the local fishing fleet, obviously still a strong industry in this city.
When we were out at the point of the harbour we were surprised to that the rocks that they had used for the breakwater were large black granite slabs, about two metres square by about four metres long. These are all piled up along the length of the wall. It is the same black granite that is used throughout the old part of the city for the cobblestones on the roads and footpaths. It is enough to make any kitchen designer weep. There must be a plentiful supply around here somewhere. We wondered how hard it would be to flog one, put it on the back of a truck and ship back to NZ? All this beautiful stone seemingly just tossed around like it is worthless. Incredible.
This whole city is very cool with old buildings, fantastic little narrow streets, an amazing array of little tapas bars. We started the day with a visit to the church, and we finished in the cathedral, before indulging in the tapas and wine that this country is known for. Fantastic.
We have planned on having a couple of quiet days here just to ‘chill out’. So we spent most of this time just walking around the city. We started at the far end of the beach searching out a sculpture that we had read about. The name of this is the ‘Wind Comb’, combining wind, sea and steel. Albeit very cool, we found the natural environment stole the show today. Although the sea (the Atlantic we are looking at now) seems to be quite calm, there is a big swell coming in, and this is just crashing against the rock shoreline with incredible force. The swell just seems to build and build and build, so that by the time it hits the rocks it just climbs straight into the air above you like a huge salt water geyser wall, and then slams down on any unsuspecting passers by. And then a few seconds later, in comes the next one. Created inside the stone walkway that goes out to the point, there are a few manmade blowholes that regularly surprise pedestrians when they suddenly gush, salt air and seawater, vertically upwards from 100mm holes in the pavement. Very funny to watch.
After seeing how calm the sea was, we were wondering just how rough it got when the sea got up. Then in the evening we saw that San Sebastian made it to the national TV news, so although we didn’t understand a word of it, we wondered if it was a freak occurrence due to a cyclone somewhere. But then we found out that this is an annual occurrence. Every year about this time they get big waves here, and we managed to be here to greet it. Where they normally have a swell of about 1-2 metres, for a couple of weeks they get swells of about 6-8 metres, which is what we are having today. They call it the ‘Sea of Life’. Evidently a few years ago, someone was killed by the force of the water coming down on them, so the police monitor it pretty closely and close roads when necessary. Very exciting to watch and witness.
Just to show the effectiveness of the natural breakwaters around this harbour, the inside of the harbour was very calm and there were even people going for a swim in the sunshine. Also inside this harbour is the local fishing fleet, obviously still a strong industry in this city.
When we were out at the point of the harbour we were surprised to that the rocks that they had used for the breakwater were large black granite slabs, about two metres square by about four metres long. These are all piled up along the length of the wall. It is the same black granite that is used throughout the old part of the city for the cobblestones on the roads and footpaths. It is enough to make any kitchen designer weep. There must be a plentiful supply around here somewhere. We wondered how hard it would be to flog one, put it on the back of a truck and ship back to NZ? All this beautiful stone seemingly just tossed around like it is worthless. Incredible.
This whole city is very cool with old buildings, fantastic little narrow streets, an amazing array of little tapas bars. We started the day with a visit to the church, and we finished in the cathedral, before indulging in the tapas and wine that this country is known for. Fantastic.
Thursday, we did more of the same, only this time in the rain. How can one day be so brilliant, and the next, so much rain. Perhaps the weather gods are preparing us for the UK. Justine treated herself to a hot chocolate to help combat the cold, only the hot chocolate here isn’t quite what you would expect. It is hot chocolate. 100% chocolate, melted in a cup. Mmmmmmm.
SAN SEBASTION – Spain (Tues 20 Oct)
We left Navalcarnero this morning still discussing the bullfight that we had seen two days ago, we were just wondering what the population of Spain thought of this sport or whether it was just followed by a small percentage, when we passed by what appears to be a brand new bullring built in Navalcarnero, just a few meters down the road from where we were staying. I guess if they are still building these things, then that answers our questions. They wouldn’t build them in these smaller towns if they didn’t have a following. Shame on them.
Our first port of call though was the Madrid airport to cash some travelers cheques. As an aside, if you are thinking of traveling forget travelers cheques, they are a waste of time. You pay a fee when you buy them and then you are charged another fee when they are cashed (despite them already being in euro). And then finding somewhere that will accept them and cash them is another matter. Despite telling you before you leave home that you can cash them anywhere in the world, they are closing their offices all over Europe, with only a handful left. They are more hassle then they are worth.
Finding the right place to go at the airport was quite a mission, this place is huge, with terminal four (where we needed to go) separated by 10 kms from the rest of the airport. Fortunately we had googled detailed instructions and found it without too much trouble. What they do have is a good electronic parking system. At terminal four there are five parking ‘modules’, each with about six levels of parking. As you drive through the parking area, they have an electronic board telling you how many parking spaces are available, not only in each module, but also on each level of that module. Very simple and very effective.
Once we had everything sorted out we hit the road again, we had about 500kms to drive today. But it was a good day fro driving as it rained all the way.
We stopped at Bilbao on the way to see the Guggenheim Museum. Once you manage to find your way around this strange city, the sight of this building really is the icing on the cake. It was evidently inspired by fish ‘n’ ships, two of the mainstays of this city. Personally I found the strange contours and curves of this building to be more like the waves of the sea, but I can see how the large titanium plates that make up its surface could be seen as fish scales. Whatever your interpretation, it is a very cool building, which dominates the area that it sits in. As you enter the building you can’t help but be impressed by the size, height, and the complex array of catwalks that seem to wend and weave their way around the interior of solid walls and glass. When you look at this building, in this city, you can’t help but ask the question … why here? I guess they had their reasons, but there really doesn’t seem to be any other reason to come here.
Unfortunately the contents of the interior in our view, left a little to be desired. This is a huge, purpose built gallery, that has been open for about 12 years now, and yet the majority of the works inside made us question who defines those items as art. There is no way to say this without upsetting someone, but we felt that the majority of the contents of this gallery was … well … crap. They make a point of saying that they support ‘up and coming’ artists, but who defines it as art.
There were a lot of multi media items there like: A video focusing solely on Zidane throughout a whole game of football. A video of a dough factory with various women pushing and squeezing dough. There was a video compilation of three singers including Michael Jackson (not original footage). There was a documentary about a bankrobbery. Hmmmm … art? Not so sure. More like a collection from a collectors archives and very bad home movies with hand held camera. Perhaps that is why Lonely Planet discusses the building and doesn’t mention the content.
However there were three small rooms (in the entire galley) that did redeem it slightly with paintings by Picasso, Chagall, Jackson Pollack, and some other great works. They were very cool. Particularly because they were often their early pieces, before they found the style for which we now know them. Who knows, perhaps some of the artists behind the videos I have mentioned may become great once they find their niche.
From here we headed to our destination San Sebastian, where we arrived after dark, in the rain, in a city that is renown for its lack of parking. We are staying in a small Pension in the central city (pedestrian access only) just to compound the issue, but we found it easy enough and tumbled into a welcome bed.
Just to finish on a strange note, we finished the day watching ‘Monk’ on TV, dubbed in Spanish. From the strange to the weird.
Our first port of call though was the Madrid airport to cash some travelers cheques. As an aside, if you are thinking of traveling forget travelers cheques, they are a waste of time. You pay a fee when you buy them and then you are charged another fee when they are cashed (despite them already being in euro). And then finding somewhere that will accept them and cash them is another matter. Despite telling you before you leave home that you can cash them anywhere in the world, they are closing their offices all over Europe, with only a handful left. They are more hassle then they are worth.
Finding the right place to go at the airport was quite a mission, this place is huge, with terminal four (where we needed to go) separated by 10 kms from the rest of the airport. Fortunately we had googled detailed instructions and found it without too much trouble. What they do have is a good electronic parking system. At terminal four there are five parking ‘modules’, each with about six levels of parking. As you drive through the parking area, they have an electronic board telling you how many parking spaces are available, not only in each module, but also on each level of that module. Very simple and very effective.
Once we had everything sorted out we hit the road again, we had about 500kms to drive today. But it was a good day fro driving as it rained all the way.
We stopped at Bilbao on the way to see the Guggenheim Museum. Once you manage to find your way around this strange city, the sight of this building really is the icing on the cake. It was evidently inspired by fish ‘n’ ships, two of the mainstays of this city. Personally I found the strange contours and curves of this building to be more like the waves of the sea, but I can see how the large titanium plates that make up its surface could be seen as fish scales. Whatever your interpretation, it is a very cool building, which dominates the area that it sits in. As you enter the building you can’t help but be impressed by the size, height, and the complex array of catwalks that seem to wend and weave their way around the interior of solid walls and glass. When you look at this building, in this city, you can’t help but ask the question … why here? I guess they had their reasons, but there really doesn’t seem to be any other reason to come here.
Unfortunately the contents of the interior in our view, left a little to be desired. This is a huge, purpose built gallery, that has been open for about 12 years now, and yet the majority of the works inside made us question who defines those items as art. There is no way to say this without upsetting someone, but we felt that the majority of the contents of this gallery was … well … crap. They make a point of saying that they support ‘up and coming’ artists, but who defines it as art.
There were a lot of multi media items there like: A video focusing solely on Zidane throughout a whole game of football. A video of a dough factory with various women pushing and squeezing dough. There was a video compilation of three singers including Michael Jackson (not original footage). There was a documentary about a bankrobbery. Hmmmm … art? Not so sure. More like a collection from a collectors archives and very bad home movies with hand held camera. Perhaps that is why Lonely Planet discusses the building and doesn’t mention the content.
However there were three small rooms (in the entire galley) that did redeem it slightly with paintings by Picasso, Chagall, Jackson Pollack, and some other great works. They were very cool. Particularly because they were often their early pieces, before they found the style for which we now know them. Who knows, perhaps some of the artists behind the videos I have mentioned may become great once they find their niche.
From here we headed to our destination San Sebastian, where we arrived after dark, in the rain, in a city that is renown for its lack of parking. We are staying in a small Pension in the central city (pedestrian access only) just to compound the issue, but we found it easy enough and tumbled into a welcome bed.
Just to finish on a strange note, we finished the day watching ‘Monk’ on TV, dubbed in Spanish. From the strange to the weird.
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
MADRID – Spain (Mon 19 Oct)
We had a quiet day today. Headed into the city again with the intent of visiting the Palace, however the palace was closed due a function. Judging by the number of police and armed personnel around the Palace area it must have been something pretty important. We have been told that the Palace remains largely empty so we do wonder how much of a white elephant it is.
Instead we headed up to the park and spent some time in the sun. The weather does seem to be definitely cooling off, so we are hoping that it isn’t the end of summer for us.
This city seems to be full of parks and with a population of over 3.5 million, plenty of people to support them. Unfortunately there are also plenty of people that we saw trying to take advantage of those relaxing a little too much in the sun. One very dodgy character walked past us checking out our bags and those of those around us. We have found that those types disappear pretty quickly when you start to follow and watch them. However you know that there are always plenty more we he came from that you haven’t noticed. They are just so brazen in the way that they work.
Next to the Palace is the Cathedral which we visited. Despite its looks it is a very recent creation having been opened by Pope John Paul II in 2004. It is large, light and has an excellent mix of both old and new artworks throughout its interior.
We finished the day with dinner a student tapas bar. A small place that was packed to the gunwales with students and we soon found out why. For every drink that you order you get a free plate of tapas. We discovered that the strategy of the day was to order small drinks. So after three small drinks and three plates of tapas each … well … that was dinner. An interesting concept, but one that seems to go down very well. You could argue that this is just encouraging them to drink more, but I think they are going to drink anyway, so why not be responsible and feed them as well. You know of course that you will be paying more than usual for the drinks, but that is part of the deal. A very enjoyable experience.
Instead we headed up to the park and spent some time in the sun. The weather does seem to be definitely cooling off, so we are hoping that it isn’t the end of summer for us.
This city seems to be full of parks and with a population of over 3.5 million, plenty of people to support them. Unfortunately there are also plenty of people that we saw trying to take advantage of those relaxing a little too much in the sun. One very dodgy character walked past us checking out our bags and those of those around us. We have found that those types disappear pretty quickly when you start to follow and watch them. However you know that there are always plenty more we he came from that you haven’t noticed. They are just so brazen in the way that they work.
Next to the Palace is the Cathedral which we visited. Despite its looks it is a very recent creation having been opened by Pope John Paul II in 2004. It is large, light and has an excellent mix of both old and new artworks throughout its interior.
We finished the day with dinner a student tapas bar. A small place that was packed to the gunwales with students and we soon found out why. For every drink that you order you get a free plate of tapas. We discovered that the strategy of the day was to order small drinks. So after three small drinks and three plates of tapas each … well … that was dinner. An interesting concept, but one that seems to go down very well. You could argue that this is just encouraging them to drink more, but I think they are going to drink anyway, so why not be responsible and feed them as well. You know of course that you will be paying more than usual for the drinks, but that is part of the deal. A very enjoyable experience.
BULLFIGHTS
We went to a bullfight last night. The Bull ring here is the largest there is, with a seating capacity of 25,000 people. These fights occur every week for most of the year. And not only here in Madrid, as you travel through this country you see bullrings in every and town or city that can support it. Being in Madrid, the centre of this event, we felt that it is something that we should see.
Call us naive, but what we saw was quite different to what we expected it to be like. We expected it to be dramatic, exciting, full of thrill, anticipation, and atmosphere. What we witnessed was sad, cruel, and sometimes brutal. We expected it to be one man pitted against an animal. What we saw was the incessant teasing and brutalizing of an animal ending in its death. A death that served no purpose apart from the entertainment of the crowd. This was primitive and no different to the gladiator fights of old, and made us wonder how a supposed civilized country can support a ritual killing that displays such a primal display of brutality. What have they been doing over the last 2000 years whilst the rest of the world has been developing?
To explain the process of this sacrificial offering, it goes like this.
1 - The Bull charges into the ring full of anger and spirit to be confronted by six men around the circumference of the ring who wave capes and make him charge each of them in turn, around and around the ring, until you can see him heaving and gasping for breath.
2 - Two men ride out on horses that are blind folded and padded up about their bodies. You soon find out why they are padded. When the bull sees them he charges full speed into the horses. I don’t know what they do to the bull to make him do this, but when the bull see the horse, they see red.
3 - While the bull is pushing and shoving the horse around, the rider is stabbing the bull in the back with a long spear. The result of this is that the bull has blood pouring down its sides and often pumping out of the wounds. Their job complete the horses leave the ring.
4 - The teasers (the six men with the pink capes) come out again and make the bull run around some more.
5 - Now that the bull is worn out and bleeding, the Matador comes out. He has two short spears in his hands which he raises and spears into the bulls back as he runs past. He does this twice more until there are now six spears protruding from the bulls back.
6 - The matador now grabs his red cape and he dances around dodging the charges of the bull.
7 - Now that the bull is almost exhausted and slowed down considerably, the matador gets a fresh sword and as the bull charges past, stabs it into the bull as he runs past. If this goes according to plan, it will go in up to the hilt and pierce the bulls lungs and the bull will start to blow blood out of his nose and mouth.
8 - Out come the teasers again to make the bull run around, and hopefully he will stop though exhaustion and loss of blood etc.
9 - Finally they back the bull into a corner, absolutely exhausted, his head dropped almost to the ground. They still wave the cape in front of him, and you know that if he had the energy he would charge, but he is unable to move.
10 - At this point the Matador steps forward and raises another sward and thrusts it down through the bulls neck and the bull will drop like a stone, dead.
11 - Out comes a team of donkeys which they hitch the dead bull to, and they drag him out of the ring. The same bull that was 20 minutes ago charging around the ring and jumping over the barricade, is now dead and being dragged out leaving a trail of blood. And what can they do with the remains of this animal … nothing.
As if all this isn’t bad enough, some of what we saw was just butchery. When the sword was stabbed through his back, one bull ended up with it protruding out halfway down its side. Another Matador took six goes with the sword to finish it off. There seemed to be no consideration for any of the bulls as animals.
There were six bulls killed the night that we were there. The only respite was that two bulls were released (not sure what the story was here but we understood it to be the rules of the game), and also that the Matadors that didn’t make a clean kill got booed by the crowd. The strange thing is that you can read about these bullfights and the achievements of the matadors on the front page of the sports section tomorrow. They call this a sport worth reporting on?!
It seemed like a good idea to go and see something that is inherent with the local culture, it ended up in making us feel sick. We have accepted that no matter how hard you try to expand your mind and come to understand why certain cultures do certain things, there are some things that we will never understand and we will never agree with. What we have come away with, is an experience that means that we can argue about this subject with some integrity.
Call us naive, but what we saw was quite different to what we expected it to be like. We expected it to be dramatic, exciting, full of thrill, anticipation, and atmosphere. What we witnessed was sad, cruel, and sometimes brutal. We expected it to be one man pitted against an animal. What we saw was the incessant teasing and brutalizing of an animal ending in its death. A death that served no purpose apart from the entertainment of the crowd. This was primitive and no different to the gladiator fights of old, and made us wonder how a supposed civilized country can support a ritual killing that displays such a primal display of brutality. What have they been doing over the last 2000 years whilst the rest of the world has been developing?
To explain the process of this sacrificial offering, it goes like this.
1 - The Bull charges into the ring full of anger and spirit to be confronted by six men around the circumference of the ring who wave capes and make him charge each of them in turn, around and around the ring, until you can see him heaving and gasping for breath.
2 - Two men ride out on horses that are blind folded and padded up about their bodies. You soon find out why they are padded. When the bull sees them he charges full speed into the horses. I don’t know what they do to the bull to make him do this, but when the bull see the horse, they see red.
3 - While the bull is pushing and shoving the horse around, the rider is stabbing the bull in the back with a long spear. The result of this is that the bull has blood pouring down its sides and often pumping out of the wounds. Their job complete the horses leave the ring.
4 - The teasers (the six men with the pink capes) come out again and make the bull run around some more.
5 - Now that the bull is worn out and bleeding, the Matador comes out. He has two short spears in his hands which he raises and spears into the bulls back as he runs past. He does this twice more until there are now six spears protruding from the bulls back.
6 - The matador now grabs his red cape and he dances around dodging the charges of the bull.
7 - Now that the bull is almost exhausted and slowed down considerably, the matador gets a fresh sword and as the bull charges past, stabs it into the bull as he runs past. If this goes according to plan, it will go in up to the hilt and pierce the bulls lungs and the bull will start to blow blood out of his nose and mouth.
8 - Out come the teasers again to make the bull run around, and hopefully he will stop though exhaustion and loss of blood etc.
9 - Finally they back the bull into a corner, absolutely exhausted, his head dropped almost to the ground. They still wave the cape in front of him, and you know that if he had the energy he would charge, but he is unable to move.
10 - At this point the Matador steps forward and raises another sward and thrusts it down through the bulls neck and the bull will drop like a stone, dead.
11 - Out comes a team of donkeys which they hitch the dead bull to, and they drag him out of the ring. The same bull that was 20 minutes ago charging around the ring and jumping over the barricade, is now dead and being dragged out leaving a trail of blood. And what can they do with the remains of this animal … nothing.
As if all this isn’t bad enough, some of what we saw was just butchery. When the sword was stabbed through his back, one bull ended up with it protruding out halfway down its side. Another Matador took six goes with the sword to finish it off. There seemed to be no consideration for any of the bulls as animals.
There were six bulls killed the night that we were there. The only respite was that two bulls were released (not sure what the story was here but we understood it to be the rules of the game), and also that the Matadors that didn’t make a clean kill got booed by the crowd. The strange thing is that you can read about these bullfights and the achievements of the matadors on the front page of the sports section tomorrow. They call this a sport worth reporting on?!
It seemed like a good idea to go and see something that is inherent with the local culture, it ended up in making us feel sick. We have accepted that no matter how hard you try to expand your mind and come to understand why certain cultures do certain things, there are some things that we will never understand and we will never agree with. What we have come away with, is an experience that means that we can argue about this subject with some integrity.
MADRID – Spain (Sun 18 Oct)
We made an early start this morning as we wanted to get into the city in time to do a guided tour. We were sitting at the bus stop at 8:00am, in the dark, in the cold, waiting for a bus that was running half an hour late. Did I mention the cold? It was freezing. It feels like autumn is finally coming to meet us.
We arrived in the city and made a quick dash to the Tourist Info, only to be told that their tour doesn’t start until noon (it is now the winter season). So we went for a walk to a shop to pick up the tickets for tonight’s event, only to find it was closed and wouldn’t open until 11:30am. Time for a new plan.
Our new plan involved going to the Museo National del Prado, until we were due back for the walking tour. This an extremely cool gallery and well worth a visit if you are in this town. The majority of work here is by pre 19th Century Spanish artists which is fantastic to see. Large sections were dedicated to Goya, but there were also many Rubens. We wondered why there were so many Flemish works and then we were reminded that the Netherlands were governed by the Spanish crown for a long time. It has been an interesting learning through our travels, how the various lands have been integrated and separated at various times. It all becomes a giant jigsaw of who belongs to who, who governs who, who marries who, and at what time. It all makes sense in the end.
From here it was back to the walking tour, which to say the least was a little disappointing. Not the wealth of knowledge and learning that we have come to expect from these things. However we did pass a church with an interesting story. The Basillica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, a certain farm labourer of old times who to say the least was a little ‘work shy’. But despite being a ‘lazy sod’ he prayed a lot. When his employer was about to ‘fire’ him for not doing his work, he found that despite his lazyness and perchance for running off to church, the fields were well kept. It was ascertained that by praying all the time, that angels did his work for him. Now that the miracle had been established, there was a basilica built in honor of him and his wife. Hmmmm … we had been wondering what you needed to do to become a saint, apparently nothing. Sit around drink beer, pray and have someone else do your work. And that is the patron saint of Madrid, not a good role model one would think.
We finished the day on a completely different level. We went to a bullfight, but that deserves a whole new chapter.
We arrived in the city and made a quick dash to the Tourist Info, only to be told that their tour doesn’t start until noon (it is now the winter season). So we went for a walk to a shop to pick up the tickets for tonight’s event, only to find it was closed and wouldn’t open until 11:30am. Time for a new plan.
Our new plan involved going to the Museo National del Prado, until we were due back for the walking tour. This an extremely cool gallery and well worth a visit if you are in this town. The majority of work here is by pre 19th Century Spanish artists which is fantastic to see. Large sections were dedicated to Goya, but there were also many Rubens. We wondered why there were so many Flemish works and then we were reminded that the Netherlands were governed by the Spanish crown for a long time. It has been an interesting learning through our travels, how the various lands have been integrated and separated at various times. It all becomes a giant jigsaw of who belongs to who, who governs who, who marries who, and at what time. It all makes sense in the end.
From here it was back to the walking tour, which to say the least was a little disappointing. Not the wealth of knowledge and learning that we have come to expect from these things. However we did pass a church with an interesting story. The Basillica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, a certain farm labourer of old times who to say the least was a little ‘work shy’. But despite being a ‘lazy sod’ he prayed a lot. When his employer was about to ‘fire’ him for not doing his work, he found that despite his lazyness and perchance for running off to church, the fields were well kept. It was ascertained that by praying all the time, that angels did his work for him. Now that the miracle had been established, there was a basilica built in honor of him and his wife. Hmmmm … we had been wondering what you needed to do to become a saint, apparently nothing. Sit around drink beer, pray and have someone else do your work. And that is the patron saint of Madrid, not a good role model one would think.
We finished the day on a completely different level. We went to a bullfight, but that deserves a whole new chapter.
MADRID – Spain (Sat 17 Oct)
We left Portugal today with fond memories and reflections. As we drove away we wondered how the people of Portugal that we experienced could be so different from their dominant neighbours that Spanish. We have the impression that they are the underdogs in this part of the world (being the poorest of the EU countries) and therefore don’t have the arrogance of some of their neighbours. What ever the reason, we have enjoyed the hospitality and warmth of the Portuguese people.
With regard to Porto, we were a little disappointed with the Port tasting. It is a little too commercial and catering to the tourists we felt. All of the Port houses along the river front offer the same service, four euro and you get to visit their museum and to taste two of their ports. We would have rather skipped the museum and sat down with someone knowledgeable to taste a variety of ports from that particular maker, and be educated on the merits and differences in the ports that they make. Even if it did cost more, we were there to learn, and no one offers that service. Now there’s an opening for someone.
Now back to the subject in hand, the trip north was rather mundane. The first part of the trip was shrouded in smoke with the evidence of numerous fires. We thought at first that this may have been a deliberate ‘burning off’, but then saw the helicopters with monsoon buckets doing their best to bring some of them under control.
With the countryside as dry as it is, these fires are a recipe for disaster. Whoever said that ‘the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain’ wasn’t here today, because currently there is no rain to be had. All there is long, dry, straight roads. Roads that go in a straight line disappearing as a pin prick on the horizon. It makes you wonder if some sections of these roads have been designed as runways.
The highlight of this drive was a wreckers yard that we passed. It was huge and covered hectares upon hectares of tractors, farm machinery, and combine harvesters. A bit like ‘Smash Palace’ on an agricultural level. Sitting in the middle of nowhere you wonder who comes here, and for what.
We traveled 650 kms today in 7.5 hrs and we spent much of that time talking about where to from here. Our driving days are nearing an end, what are we going to do in the UK, and shall we just skip the UK and head northwards instead. What about Paris? What shall we do there?
We finally arrived in Madrid, or more accurately where we were staying which was in Navalcarnero, a town which is a 30 minute bus ride out of the city. We knew as soon as we had arrived that we were now back in Spain. Our host in Porto had been so helpful, bending over backwards to overcome the separation of language to help us with everything that we should require. Our new host, well he was just rude. Despite advertising the accommodation as including parking, we were to find out that he only had one parking space and that was full. It was up to us to find a place in town, a town that is full with no parking signs and signs that offer all sorts of conditions that we could neither read nor understand.
We then spent the next two hours trudging through the town to find some dinner and when we did find somewhere, we discovered that their processes hadn’t improved since the last time we were in this country. On the plus side we do have a bed to sleep in.
With regard to Porto, we were a little disappointed with the Port tasting. It is a little too commercial and catering to the tourists we felt. All of the Port houses along the river front offer the same service, four euro and you get to visit their museum and to taste two of their ports. We would have rather skipped the museum and sat down with someone knowledgeable to taste a variety of ports from that particular maker, and be educated on the merits and differences in the ports that they make. Even if it did cost more, we were there to learn, and no one offers that service. Now there’s an opening for someone.
Now back to the subject in hand, the trip north was rather mundane. The first part of the trip was shrouded in smoke with the evidence of numerous fires. We thought at first that this may have been a deliberate ‘burning off’, but then saw the helicopters with monsoon buckets doing their best to bring some of them under control.
With the countryside as dry as it is, these fires are a recipe for disaster. Whoever said that ‘the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain’ wasn’t here today, because currently there is no rain to be had. All there is long, dry, straight roads. Roads that go in a straight line disappearing as a pin prick on the horizon. It makes you wonder if some sections of these roads have been designed as runways.
The highlight of this drive was a wreckers yard that we passed. It was huge and covered hectares upon hectares of tractors, farm machinery, and combine harvesters. A bit like ‘Smash Palace’ on an agricultural level. Sitting in the middle of nowhere you wonder who comes here, and for what.
We traveled 650 kms today in 7.5 hrs and we spent much of that time talking about where to from here. Our driving days are nearing an end, what are we going to do in the UK, and shall we just skip the UK and head northwards instead. What about Paris? What shall we do there?
We finally arrived in Madrid, or more accurately where we were staying which was in Navalcarnero, a town which is a 30 minute bus ride out of the city. We knew as soon as we had arrived that we were now back in Spain. Our host in Porto had been so helpful, bending over backwards to overcome the separation of language to help us with everything that we should require. Our new host, well he was just rude. Despite advertising the accommodation as including parking, we were to find out that he only had one parking space and that was full. It was up to us to find a place in town, a town that is full with no parking signs and signs that offer all sorts of conditions that we could neither read nor understand.
We then spent the next two hours trudging through the town to find some dinner and when we did find somewhere, we discovered that their processes hadn’t improved since the last time we were in this country. On the plus side we do have a bed to sleep in.
Friday, 16 October 2009
PORTO – Portugal (Fri 16 Oct)
Today we are going for a river cruise up the Rio Douro, well to be more accurate we are going to cruise down after catching a train up to Regua. The train left the central station at 9:15am and we were in Regua by 11:05am. But before going into that, the train station is worth visiting. The foyer is lined with big ceramic tile paintings that are characteristic of this area. They depict various historical events and are very cool. Everywhere around this city and this area, buildings both old and new will have their frontages covered in ceramic tiles and patterns. Even the most run down, decrepit building, will have the most amazing ceramic tiles covering its front.
Anyway, back to the train, once again we were entertained by the people that take public transport. It was a pretty dumpy old train compared to the nice modern ones that we had seen at the station, and it seemed to be filled with lots of large and loud Portugese women, that my father would refer to as ‘Fishwives’. And now I understand completely what he was referring too. These women spend their entire time berating their husbands at every turn, in a volume that involves the whole carriage. And the way that they work together you would think that they were the originators of the solidarity movement.
We moved from the train to the bus glad that we had survived unscathed. This was all going swimmingly, but it was when lunch was served that we observed that we seemed to be the youngest ones on the boat, and it seemed to be the ‘Probus big day out’. Our first observation was that once the food came out they pulled the curtains. We wondered if the view was distracting them from their food. Lunch turned into trough night with one guy eating so vigorously that he splashed himself in the eye with overspray. We had to take our hat off to him though, he managed to sustain his pace of consumption, rubbing his eye with one hand and still transferring food with the other. It really was a laugh a minute.
It was about this time that the boat slowed down, at first we thought that it had to change down a gear to cope with the extra loading, but it was the first of the locks going down stream. It dropped us down 34 meters in 10 minutes. We were surprised with just how quickly it emptied out.
We finished the cruise back in the city at about 5:00pm. The journey down was quite a mixed bag through areas that seemed quite remote, some quite large villages, vineyards, narrow sections with great rocks on either side. We had heard rave reviews about these cruise, which is why we decided to do it. We wouldn’t rave about it, but it was certainly interesting, it was certainly entertaining, and it was a great way to see a part of this area that you wouldn’t see otherwise.
We finished the day by getting our Port tasting. This is the city of Port, with all the big names on bold display on the river bank. But all it really comes down to is, “how much do you want to spend?” One little wine shop we went into had a bottle of port that had been bottled in 1879 and for 1250 euro you can take it home. Evidently it was s very unique wine, from a very small boutique vineyard, that the owner of the shop had only read about until he came across that bottle. And there is was on the shelf with all the others. We didn’t get to taste that one though. A shame.
Anyway, back to the train, once again we were entertained by the people that take public transport. It was a pretty dumpy old train compared to the nice modern ones that we had seen at the station, and it seemed to be filled with lots of large and loud Portugese women, that my father would refer to as ‘Fishwives’. And now I understand completely what he was referring too. These women spend their entire time berating their husbands at every turn, in a volume that involves the whole carriage. And the way that they work together you would think that they were the originators of the solidarity movement.
We moved from the train to the bus glad that we had survived unscathed. This was all going swimmingly, but it was when lunch was served that we observed that we seemed to be the youngest ones on the boat, and it seemed to be the ‘Probus big day out’. Our first observation was that once the food came out they pulled the curtains. We wondered if the view was distracting them from their food. Lunch turned into trough night with one guy eating so vigorously that he splashed himself in the eye with overspray. We had to take our hat off to him though, he managed to sustain his pace of consumption, rubbing his eye with one hand and still transferring food with the other. It really was a laugh a minute.
It was about this time that the boat slowed down, at first we thought that it had to change down a gear to cope with the extra loading, but it was the first of the locks going down stream. It dropped us down 34 meters in 10 minutes. We were surprised with just how quickly it emptied out.
We finished the cruise back in the city at about 5:00pm. The journey down was quite a mixed bag through areas that seemed quite remote, some quite large villages, vineyards, narrow sections with great rocks on either side. We had heard rave reviews about these cruise, which is why we decided to do it. We wouldn’t rave about it, but it was certainly interesting, it was certainly entertaining, and it was a great way to see a part of this area that you wouldn’t see otherwise.
We finished the day by getting our Port tasting. This is the city of Port, with all the big names on bold display on the river bank. But all it really comes down to is, “how much do you want to spend?” One little wine shop we went into had a bottle of port that had been bottled in 1879 and for 1250 euro you can take it home. Evidently it was s very unique wine, from a very small boutique vineyard, that the owner of the shop had only read about until he came across that bottle. And there is was on the shelf with all the others. We didn’t get to taste that one though. A shame.
PORTO – Portugal (Thurs 15 Oct)
We went for a walk around the city today to discover the sights. It didn’t start too well, a few meters down the road, whist watching my feet my head collided with the traffic lights. This caused amusement for the passersby, and a reminder of how everything here is built for those of a shorter statue. Even Justine feels decidedly tall, which she rather enjoys.
It is still extremely hot here and not a cloud in the sky. On the basis of that we decided to catch a tram to the beach. After waiting quite some time we connected the dots and realized that it was probably them that we had seen earlier taking some sort of strike/protest action. So in the time that it would have taken to walk to the beach we finally managed to find a bus heading that direction.
The bus ride was well worth the 1.40 euro that it cost us just for the entertainment. It must have been shopping day for the oldies, and they were crammed on there with their bags of shopping, and trolley bags. Having high volume conversations from one end of the bus to the other, and arguments with anyone and everyone in between. One old lady got on with a trolley bag so loaded up that she had broken a wheel trying to get it on the bus. She got into a huge banter with an older guy that was trying to help her, when he asked her ‘what on earth she had in there?’ The poor guy just about put his back out trying to help her get off the bus at the other end too.
Once at the beach we started walking back towards the city centre, along the Atlantic and then into the river mouth. All along the beach there were little groups of men huddled under beach umbrellas playing cards. What we don’t understand is how they can stand to wear long dress trousers, dress shirts, and leather shoes and socks in this heat. The brave ones do take their shirts off.
After drinking way too much at breakfast, we spent some time trying to find a WC that was relatively savoury. We did find one of the ones that Justine refers to as ‘evil’. The automatic ones that self clean etc. On the list of rules outside the door it says, ‘Maximum time 20 minutes’. It makes you wonder what happens then? Do the doors open without warning? Does it start its cleaning process, giving you a free shower as well? Or does it lock you in there? It’s tempting to go in there and overstay your welcome just to see.
It took longer to walk back from the beach than we thought and so we were too late for the Port tasting that we had in mind. After looking around the streets for dinner, we decided after last nights offal we would go for the safe option and went for fast food. Perhaps the offal has lowered our standards somewhat, but it wasn’t too bad.
It is still extremely hot here and not a cloud in the sky. On the basis of that we decided to catch a tram to the beach. After waiting quite some time we connected the dots and realized that it was probably them that we had seen earlier taking some sort of strike/protest action. So in the time that it would have taken to walk to the beach we finally managed to find a bus heading that direction.
The bus ride was well worth the 1.40 euro that it cost us just for the entertainment. It must have been shopping day for the oldies, and they were crammed on there with their bags of shopping, and trolley bags. Having high volume conversations from one end of the bus to the other, and arguments with anyone and everyone in between. One old lady got on with a trolley bag so loaded up that she had broken a wheel trying to get it on the bus. She got into a huge banter with an older guy that was trying to help her, when he asked her ‘what on earth she had in there?’ The poor guy just about put his back out trying to help her get off the bus at the other end too.
Once at the beach we started walking back towards the city centre, along the Atlantic and then into the river mouth. All along the beach there were little groups of men huddled under beach umbrellas playing cards. What we don’t understand is how they can stand to wear long dress trousers, dress shirts, and leather shoes and socks in this heat. The brave ones do take their shirts off.
After drinking way too much at breakfast, we spent some time trying to find a WC that was relatively savoury. We did find one of the ones that Justine refers to as ‘evil’. The automatic ones that self clean etc. On the list of rules outside the door it says, ‘Maximum time 20 minutes’. It makes you wonder what happens then? Do the doors open without warning? Does it start its cleaning process, giving you a free shower as well? Or does it lock you in there? It’s tempting to go in there and overstay your welcome just to see.
It took longer to walk back from the beach than we thought and so we were too late for the Port tasting that we had in mind. After looking around the streets for dinner, we decided after last nights offal we would go for the safe option and went for fast food. Perhaps the offal has lowered our standards somewhat, but it wasn’t too bad.
PORTO – Portugal (Wed 14 Oct)
We said good bye to our hostess today, and we were a little sad that it had to be so brief. Hopefully one day we will get to meet again. This really has been a fantastic place to stay and we feel that it will be one of the highlights of our trip. One of the places that will be remembered.
We spent some time in Obidos this morning. A fantastic little walled city that was deemed so pretty by Dom Dinis that he gave it to his wife Dona Isabel as a wedding present. We were only here for a few hours and it was time to see everything. We walked the circumference of the city on the top of the city wall, and then walked through the city looking at the white houses edged in blue of yellow Ochre. The main street through is lined with souvenir shops and not much else, which is a giveaway that this is on the tour bus route.
If the city wall was located in NZ if would definitely be a forbidden zone and a ‘Health and Safety’ nightmare. The path around the top is about 1200mm wide, a continuous trip hazard, with the ramparts on one side of you and a vertical drop on the other with no barriers at all. It is certainly safe enough, and there are signs saying that ‘concentration is required at all times’, but you can just imagine what would happen with the red tape in NZ.
From here it was a straight run through to Porto. Checked into the hotel, which we found without too much trouble (that makes a pleasant change), and then headed out on foot to orient ourselves. One of the bridges over the river is another Eiffel creation and it shows. Another Meccano job. We got a little waylaid and ended up trying to find some dinner before everything closed down. We thought we had found somewhere cheap and cheerful, but we didn’t discover until after we had been served that the dishes that sounded so appealing were actually various forms of offal, and even then not very well cooked. I don’t think there was anything in the house that wasn’t some form of offal. Hmmm … the perils of ordering unknown items, in a foreign language, without a menu. All we need is some of that fine Port to wash it down. On the plus side Portugal won against Malta (4-0) in the football tonight so everyone seems happy.
We spent some time in Obidos this morning. A fantastic little walled city that was deemed so pretty by Dom Dinis that he gave it to his wife Dona Isabel as a wedding present. We were only here for a few hours and it was time to see everything. We walked the circumference of the city on the top of the city wall, and then walked through the city looking at the white houses edged in blue of yellow Ochre. The main street through is lined with souvenir shops and not much else, which is a giveaway that this is on the tour bus route.
If the city wall was located in NZ if would definitely be a forbidden zone and a ‘Health and Safety’ nightmare. The path around the top is about 1200mm wide, a continuous trip hazard, with the ramparts on one side of you and a vertical drop on the other with no barriers at all. It is certainly safe enough, and there are signs saying that ‘concentration is required at all times’, but you can just imagine what would happen with the red tape in NZ.
From here it was a straight run through to Porto. Checked into the hotel, which we found without too much trouble (that makes a pleasant change), and then headed out on foot to orient ourselves. One of the bridges over the river is another Eiffel creation and it shows. Another Meccano job. We got a little waylaid and ended up trying to find some dinner before everything closed down. We thought we had found somewhere cheap and cheerful, but we didn’t discover until after we had been served that the dishes that sounded so appealing were actually various forms of offal, and even then not very well cooked. I don’t think there was anything in the house that wasn’t some form of offal. Hmmm … the perils of ordering unknown items, in a foreign language, without a menu. All we need is some of that fine Port to wash it down. On the plus side Portugal won against Malta (4-0) in the football tonight so everyone seems happy.
OBIDOS – Portugal (Tues 13 Oct
We left Lisbon today bound for Obidos via Sintra. In Sintra we went for a tour around the palace. A cool little town which has two white, conical shaped towers, attached to the palace, which are a prominent feature of the town. As you walk through the Palace you soon discover that those two conical features are actually the kitchen chimneys. It is one very large kitchen, accustomed to catering for large parties, but I wouldn’t like to clean it. The Palace was built in the 10th Century and was the summer residence of the royal family, and is the sole survivor of the Royal Palaces from the middle ages. When you look at the countryside around here you can understand why they liked to spend time here, it is like an oasis of green after the parched earth around it.
We found a little café in town for lunch, we won’t say that it was a ‘nice little café’ because actually it wasn’t, but we weren’t to know that just yet. We were surprised to see a store owner from across the street hop into his car and drive off, apparently for lunch. Customers came and went, made enquiries at the nearby stores, and then came back an hour later when he had returned. Nothing in his store was moved, removed, or stolen. We couldn’t believe it, but similar to other things that we have witnessed whilst in Portugal. It is like an expectation of honesty, it is nice.
As we were returning to our car we were enticed into a museum by someone that we had no understanding of. It was the natural history museum, very interesting, very cool and worth a visit, after all it is free.
The drive from here to Obidus was through an endless procession of small unremarkable towns, becoming bored with looking at the backends of the street of trucks heading in the same direction. However there was one small town that got our attention. They seemed to be in the process of putting up some very solid looking barricades all down the main street. We wondered what was going on, until we saw where they were leading to … the Bullring. We can only guess that they run the bulls down the street.
Our accommodation for tonight is about 3kms out of town and it is absolute magic. Our hostess Zita and her friend Carla made it a like a home away from home. It seems we were the only guests and we had the whole house available to use. They were friendly, welcoming, and made us feel like we were real friends. It really was magic. We started by having a quiet wine and watching the sun go down, but as one thing led to another, more bottles of wine and then they insisted that we shared dinner with them. Our conversations all the important issues like Portugal’s past, present and future, its place in the EU, politics, wine, music and particularly Fado. We tried to solve all the problems of the world but we weren’t entirely successful, however the conversation was very, very interesting. They even told us that NZ English is beautiful to listen to, that was after a few wines so that may just have been flattery. If anyone out there is thinking of going to Obidos, this is one place that we would definitely recommend.
We found a little café in town for lunch, we won’t say that it was a ‘nice little café’ because actually it wasn’t, but we weren’t to know that just yet. We were surprised to see a store owner from across the street hop into his car and drive off, apparently for lunch. Customers came and went, made enquiries at the nearby stores, and then came back an hour later when he had returned. Nothing in his store was moved, removed, or stolen. We couldn’t believe it, but similar to other things that we have witnessed whilst in Portugal. It is like an expectation of honesty, it is nice.
As we were returning to our car we were enticed into a museum by someone that we had no understanding of. It was the natural history museum, very interesting, very cool and worth a visit, after all it is free.
The drive from here to Obidus was through an endless procession of small unremarkable towns, becoming bored with looking at the backends of the street of trucks heading in the same direction. However there was one small town that got our attention. They seemed to be in the process of putting up some very solid looking barricades all down the main street. We wondered what was going on, until we saw where they were leading to … the Bullring. We can only guess that they run the bulls down the street.
Our accommodation for tonight is about 3kms out of town and it is absolute magic. Our hostess Zita and her friend Carla made it a like a home away from home. It seems we were the only guests and we had the whole house available to use. They were friendly, welcoming, and made us feel like we were real friends. It really was magic. We started by having a quiet wine and watching the sun go down, but as one thing led to another, more bottles of wine and then they insisted that we shared dinner with them. Our conversations all the important issues like Portugal’s past, present and future, its place in the EU, politics, wine, music and particularly Fado. We tried to solve all the problems of the world but we weren’t entirely successful, however the conversation was very, very interesting. They even told us that NZ English is beautiful to listen to, that was after a few wines so that may just have been flattery. If anyone out there is thinking of going to Obidos, this is one place that we would definitely recommend.
LISBON – Portugal (Mon 12 Oct)
We have been astounded with how friendly and helpful every one is here, so unlike some of our previous experiences. We were catching the bus into town this morning and we came close to receiving a personal guide to make sure that we got on the right bus and going in the direction, and then he hopped off when we did just make sure that we understood how to get home again. So far, we love the Portugese. What has also surprised us is how many things are translated into English, but when you look back through history and see how they aligned themselves with England, rather than the French, I guess this makes sense.
We took a walking tour around the city today, with a lovely guide called Maria, and well … we were the only two being guided so it felt like a personal tour. It gave us the opportunity to ask lots of questions that you wouldn’t normally be able to ask, so we learnt quite a lot. The tour took us all over the old part of the city, through the various squares, and even on one of the vintage street trams that shuddered and ground its way up the hill. After a few minutes on the tram, it made me wonder whether the ‘Portugese Sardines’ that my grandfather used to rave about weren’t actually fish at all, but rather the occupants of the trams.
Being a more personal tour we got to go inside some of the buildings that they would normally just stand out side of. One of these is the old casino, and the other is a church (I can’t remember the name of it). But what is remarkable about this church is that it was demolished and rebuilt several times and for several reasons, so when the 1755 earthquake hit it with both demolition and a thorough ravaging by fire, they decided to leave it as it was and to just rebuild a shell around it. Inside you can see the pillars all broken, chipped, and blackened. It is like being inside a functioning ruin. The effect is incredible.
We have been told that the earthquake was about 8.7 on the Richter scale, it devastated much of both Portugal and Spain. When the earthquake hit, what didn’t fall down, caught fire from the candles. In Lisbon those that sought refuge from the fire by heading to the water, got hit by the tsunami that followed. No one really knows how many people died here that day as the records were destroyed in the church, but it has been estimated at about 60,000.
We found the elevator that was designed by the same guy that did the Eiffel tower. This takes you up to the upper city and you can definitely see the Eiffel design influence. Looks like a Meccano set.
We finished the tour by winding down through the old Moorish part of town, with its extremely narrow streets, run down houses, and what appears to be an extremely poor part of town. But we know that appearances can be deceiving, but you would certainly need to know your neighbours very well to live here.
We stopped at Belem on the way home and found the Monument to the Discoveries, which was very cool. Further along the waterfront we came across the war memorial next to the Pirate Museum. The eternal flame and the thousands of names on the walls is very sobering, however the sound of the Beatles ‘Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, life goes on …’ that was blasting out from the speakers next door was a bit unfortunate.
It’s still very hot and humid (30 degrees plus) so it was time to call into that fine Scottish restaurant … McDonalds, for a beer and WiFi. Yep … they have beer on tap at McDonalds. And that followed by another late night swim, seemed to work quite well to quell the temperature.
We took a walking tour around the city today, with a lovely guide called Maria, and well … we were the only two being guided so it felt like a personal tour. It gave us the opportunity to ask lots of questions that you wouldn’t normally be able to ask, so we learnt quite a lot. The tour took us all over the old part of the city, through the various squares, and even on one of the vintage street trams that shuddered and ground its way up the hill. After a few minutes on the tram, it made me wonder whether the ‘Portugese Sardines’ that my grandfather used to rave about weren’t actually fish at all, but rather the occupants of the trams.
Being a more personal tour we got to go inside some of the buildings that they would normally just stand out side of. One of these is the old casino, and the other is a church (I can’t remember the name of it). But what is remarkable about this church is that it was demolished and rebuilt several times and for several reasons, so when the 1755 earthquake hit it with both demolition and a thorough ravaging by fire, they decided to leave it as it was and to just rebuild a shell around it. Inside you can see the pillars all broken, chipped, and blackened. It is like being inside a functioning ruin. The effect is incredible.
We have been told that the earthquake was about 8.7 on the Richter scale, it devastated much of both Portugal and Spain. When the earthquake hit, what didn’t fall down, caught fire from the candles. In Lisbon those that sought refuge from the fire by heading to the water, got hit by the tsunami that followed. No one really knows how many people died here that day as the records were destroyed in the church, but it has been estimated at about 60,000.
We found the elevator that was designed by the same guy that did the Eiffel tower. This takes you up to the upper city and you can definitely see the Eiffel design influence. Looks like a Meccano set.
We finished the tour by winding down through the old Moorish part of town, with its extremely narrow streets, run down houses, and what appears to be an extremely poor part of town. But we know that appearances can be deceiving, but you would certainly need to know your neighbours very well to live here.
We stopped at Belem on the way home and found the Monument to the Discoveries, which was very cool. Further along the waterfront we came across the war memorial next to the Pirate Museum. The eternal flame and the thousands of names on the walls is very sobering, however the sound of the Beatles ‘Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, life goes on …’ that was blasting out from the speakers next door was a bit unfortunate.
It’s still very hot and humid (30 degrees plus) so it was time to call into that fine Scottish restaurant … McDonalds, for a beer and WiFi. Yep … they have beer on tap at McDonalds. And that followed by another late night swim, seemed to work quite well to quell the temperature.
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