Spain Complete

Hey Folks!

So being in Spain for just over a month has allowed me to experience the sights and sounds that make Spain famous.

My first stop in Spain was Pamplona. This modern city built around the old quarter housing the world famous festival of San Fermina, The Running of the Bulls.

Locals, Spanish tourists, and foreign tourists don their white and red attire to give the city great colour. I started by throwing on my white Turkish shirt then purchasing white pants, a red sash, and a red scarf. Fitting in I was now able to navigate through the massive old quarter, commonly named Centro.

Arriving during the opening ceremonies was probably a bad idea. A solid percentage of the activities required copious amounts of alcohol. Now as Canadians we are no stranger to drinking. We have great Okanagan wines and strong beers. But I think we exercise a certain amount of discretion when it comes to outdoor daytime partying.

Pamplona's festival throws caution to the wind and things got messy by 1pm. The streets were littered with beer cups, cigarettes, and urine. The central party area takes about 20-30 minutes to walk from end to end. You can imagine that the bathrooms would be difficult and laborious to find. Men and women alike were squatting in corners with total disregard for each other and the historic streets around them. So my first impression of Spain was interesting. Canadians certainly don't celebrate festivals this way.

The fireworks were quite a treat. The explosion effects were magnified greatly due to the small narrow streets. The music was also nice. There were some stages set up to listen to traditional and modern Spanish music.

I scouted out a great quiet section of the park and had a four hour nap. By sunrise it was pretty chilly so I headed down towards the main bull running road.

The 8 am bull run came closer as I struggled to figure out where I could stand and achieve good photos. Sadly all the veteran watchers had all the good spots and I was forced to use my camcorder to tape the sounds and bobbing heads of the 3 min run.

As soon as the run was finished I wanted out of Pamplona ASAP.

Later that afternoon I arrived in Bilbao, home of the famous Guggenheim museum, designed by Canadian Frank Gehry. The museum itself is quite spectacular. I very much enjoyed getting the audio tour and walking through the thoughts of Gehry's genius.

From Bilbao I ventured over to the Pyrenees mountains in NE Spain. Getting to the mountains took several days as the transportation was very sporadic. After the chaos of Pamplona and the looming trip with my mother, a week in the Pyrenees was needed.

I think I spent just about 5 days all together on the Spanish side of the range and another day and a half on the french side. My photos show most of the good stuff. It was especially nice relaxing after a long day in the Refugio's. These small cabins house the trekkers. It was fun switching from French, Spanish and English along the routes depending on how the people looked.

The last push to the summit was just so thrilling. Exhausted from the days of trekking you aren't prepared for the views from the top. Running down the route to the first Refugio only took about 2 hours. This was really fast considering going up lasted 2 days.

From the Pyrenees I went south-east to Valencia. Valencia has some architectural wonders. The architect that designed the newest cultural complex in Valencia has also designing the WTO transportation hub in NYC.

Valencia is where I got my first taste of Spain's heat. Being a coastal city the humidity and high temperatures just crush you. I don't remember Indonesia being that hot.

The hostel in Valencia was really memorable. Housed in a 17th century convent the hostel was an attraction in itself. Relaxing and catching up on BBC (a must to stay sane), I was ready to head north to Barcelona.

My mother, Patsy, flew into Barcelona on the 20th of July. I slept at the airport to greet her out of the gates. After an emotional reunion we caught the subway to the main terminal in downtown Barcelona. From their our hotel was another 20 min train ride. Sadly this added some time to our Barcelona tour.

Now you can imagine how much you can see in 2 weeks. The itinerary I put together was crammed with stuff and my expectations were very high. There was a crucial aspect that kept me from relaxing. Ill get to that, but first ill talk about our two weeks.

The five cities and towns we planned for are all typical European cities. The routine goes something like this: old quarter, old museum, new museum, food, plazas, old churches, old buildings. All these things are wonderful to the new traveller and this was the norm for our trip.

I think the highlights were Gaudis architectural works, including La Familia Sagrada, the massive cathedral to be completed in the 2020's. Also Madrid's beautifully kept old quarter and Granada's Alhambra Palace.

I mentioned that there was something that kept me from relaxing. Anxiety. My constant reminder of things left behind in Calgary caused me to always be tense. Just looking at my mother caused me to feel anxious. Anxiety is something I rarely feel. I don't deal well with it. So during the two weeks I was frustrated, quick to anger, and as my mother put it, a prick. I was not ready to have a constant reminder of past pain. And I didn't do well with that test.

Now don't get me wrong, its wasn't all bad. We had some really fun moments. The heat was something we sorta joked about. It was just so bloody hot and we were chasing after signs to catch the climbing mercury. Yes it hit 50C.

We also had a great night watching a flamenco show. Amazing passion.

I regret my reactions to the stressful situations travelling with family members. I just hope that when I return to reality I won't continue the trend.

Back to Spain. From Granada I worked my way over to Cordoba to visit Spain's most beautiful mosque, which you can view from my last post. Cordoba was hot so I quickly went south to Africa.

Time for the category summaries.

Culture: Spain loves to go out and enjoy the activities that come with adapting to the heat. Cruising the streets, enjoying a cold cervesa in the vast plazas into the early morning is the norm. You can seem families with small children out way past midnight. Passion seems to be a big park of these activities. From the bullfights, the food, the music to the football, Spain doesn't let up.

Religion: I think the hippy post-modern has pretty much dominated the religious forum for a while now. You never actually see people attending that beautiful catherdral, mosque or synagogue.

Food: They do say that in heaven all the cooks with be Spanish. I still prefer my mothers cooking.

Transportation and Tourism: Pretty awesome. After France, Spain is the most visited country in Europe. The infrastructure is certainly up to speed. Although the transit is difficult due to the shape of the country.

Spain was on and off for me. I'm certainly glad I've only got Portugal left for Europe. I think if Spain was isolated on its own trip I would have enjoyed it more. I did really enjoy the overall feel of the country.

I should mention something. What the heck is with the fashion in Spain. The current thing here is mullets and see through skirts. I kid you not, women wear these transparent skirts with thongs. Id like to keep my imagination alive thank you very much. Cut your hair hippy.

Hasta Luego,

D.