Farewell Espana 2019

I'll miss the orange trees and palms of Seville, the bustle of Madrid, the charm of Zaragoza and the daring architecture of Bilboa.  And, of course, the food.  We've had incredible good luck in finding wonderful restaurants and markets.  Every day at the Triana Mercado around the corner from our apartment in Seville is a wonderful world of spices, cured meats, fresh bread and pastries being baked all amid the tumult of people shopping and eating and drinking and having loud conversations.
My Spanish has improved although I'm a long way from fluent.  I have picked up a lot of vocabulary and phrases that help me get by.  I can shop, order a meal, talk to the butcher and make my way on public transportation without any English so I'm feeling more comfortable with the language.  Until next time.  Adios.

The Sacred and Profane in Seville

The Basilica or Our Lady of Hope of Macarena (above) .  The name Macarena is believed to derive from a Moorish word and yes it is the basis of the song and dance the macarena.  The Basilico is built inside the ancient walls of the Muslim city but the Basilico itself was built in the early twentieth century.   It is built in a neo-classical style so it looks very old.  But in Spain something that's nearly a mere century old is considered new.  Inside the church is so ornate there is barely an empty spot on any of the walls, alters or ceilings.  Everything is covered with sculpture, bas relief or fresco, most of it covered in gold leaf.  Despite this deeply religious spot the Catholic church in Spain has lost most of its power and many of its parishioners, even though it has far fewer of the scandals that have touched the Church in other places.
The lower mural, which I found around the corner from the Church symbolizes to me much of the very youthful forward looking and optimistic young people who travel the streets in large, boisterous numbers.

Four hundred years of Murillo

Seville is celebrating the work of one of it's most famous sons Bartolome Estaban Murillo, who was born in 1617.  The Museum of Fine Arts here has gathered fifty-five paintings from museums around the world to showcase Murillo.  There are contributions from the Met, and from museums in London, Munich, Mexico City and numerous other places.  Even a piece from the University of Illinois in Champaign. 
Although Murillo was painting earlier than Vermeer there seem to be many similarities in their work.  The use of lighting and the use of ordinary people as models is very similar.  Even in Murillo's very religious works the figures look like ordinary people and seem very approachable.  I personally like the touching pictures of mothers and babies which are usually labeled Virgin and Christ child, but could clearly be any mother and child.  He also has many pictures of children playing and workers at various tasks.
There are a number of other museums in Seville that are showcasing Murillo art.

Paloma Blanca in Seville

We are back in Seville and I think it auspicious that the white doves were flocking near our apartment.
We have found a lovely, spacious apartment with a balcony and a roof deck in Triana, the old city part.  It is the former Jewish and Gypsy quarter but is now a trendy place full of lovely old buildings and tapas bars and shops. 
I am turning into a Sevillista.  I sleep late and then spend the morning drinking cafe con leche and walking slowly around the neighborhood and reading the papers.  Then maybe a small adventure to explore a bit in the city and get some lunch.  Then back around 2, siesta time and relax and read.  In late afternoon it's time for a bit more exploring then we come back to the apartment and get ready to go out for a late dinner.  It's so civilized. 
I'm getting more comfortable on the bus system which is the best way to get around the city.  Also I think my Spanish is improving.  I've been able to navigate OK when I don't have Jim to translate, although it certainly helps when he's around and I get stuck.  Google translate has been a great help when I'm stuck for a word also.

Bilboa

Julius Caesar said Gaul was divided into three parts.  Good thing he didn't opt for Spain as it seems to be divided into at least seventeen separate regions and cultures.  We are in Bilboa which is in the Basque region and it couldn't be more different from Aragon which we just came from if they were two different countries.  The Basque's, of course, have their own language which doesn't seem to be related to anything else linguistically (although most people speak Spanish.)  The food, which is wonderful, also seems quite different.  But the main thing that impressed me, as it does many others is the architecture, exemplified by the Guggenheim Museum pictured above.  It really is stunning, and unlike many iconic places I've visited, seeing this in person is a totally different experience from viewing it in pictures.  It's pretty awesome to walk around it watch the play of light on the various flying wings.  The sky was like pewter and seemed to press down on the structure in a way that made the planes seem mysterious and hallucinatory.  

Goya in Zaragoza

One of the most famous sons of the Aragonese city of Zaragoza is Francisco de Goya.  There is a small but lovely museum here devoted to his works including a series of dozens of engravings.  Some were satirical about life in Spain.  These included his men in sacks (the first picture here) that shows the artistocrary concealing themselves in sacks so they don't have to see the suffering and problems around them.   He particularly skewered the church and the aristocracy.  He did this even though he was a court painter and painted portraits of many prominent people of the times.  There is also a series on war after the French invasion 1808-14 which are devastating in their depictions of war.  The second picture is one of these.

In addition to the engravings the museum also has some oil paintings and although their also excellent they're mostly court portraits and don't have the emotional impact of the engravings.

There is also a Goya fresco in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Pilar.

(If you google Goya Engravings you can see reproductions of most of those in the museum,  Well worth looking at)

Carnival in Zaragoza

There's nothing like arriving in a new city just in time for Carnival.  The beautiful cathedral of Our Lady of Pilar is on the large main square, which today is filled with Carnival revelers dressed in outlandish costumes.  There's lots of little kids running around in costume and face paint, lots of Disney princesses and Supermen, but also some more traditional getups.

Founded in 14 BC by the Romans and named Caesar Augustus or Cassagustus, which became Zaragoza.  Anyway, there are still a lot of Roman ruins as well as many 17th, 18th and 19th Century buildings in the center city.  The surrounding area is pretty modern and the city seems to be doing well economically.  There's some manufacturing, cars and other things and a fair amount of high tech stuff.
The street scene is highly lively even without Carnival.  Lots of great restaurants and bars.

One of my yoga buddies has a cousin who is a doctor here and we went out with him several times.  He's totally charming and took us to a great Cuban restaurant.  This is a terrific city.

Wandering in Madrid

If you looked at a map of our neighborhood it would resemble the scribbles of a three year old playing with crayons.  Short streets that stop and start and then wind around on themselves.  So we have spent most of the last couple of days just wandering around, getting lost and then finding a familiar landmark.  Many of the streets contain tile murals like those above that are breathtakingly beautiful.  In fact Madrid is an art festival.  In addition to the world class museums like the Prado and Thyssen-Bornemissa there are many art fairs and galleries and craft shops with local artisans displaying their wares.
We've of course continued eating our way through the city.  We had two wonderful meals, one at La Sanabresa which we discovered around the corner from our place and La Gloria de Montera which we discovered several years ago and have returned to a number of times.  Sanabresa opens at 8:30 and when we arrived at 8:15 there was a half dozen people lined up in front of a totally dark place.  We all stood around asking each other if it was in fact going to open or whether we had the wrong night.  Suddenly, at 8:30 on the dot, the whole place lit up, the doors opened and we all rushed in.  It's seat yourself and within 15 minutes the place was packed and people were lined up on the street to get into the next seating.  Jim had a tasty sea bass and I had ribs.  So yummy.   Gloria is a much larger, more formal white table cloth place but the food is hearty and excellent.
We also came across a trio playing Hava Negilah on some sort of oriental zither.  

Scarecrow in the city

On our wanderings we stopped by the Jardin Botanico, which is a lovely botanical park right next to the Prado.  There are beautifully designed beds of plants neatly arranged by botanic classification.  Since spring is barely here there was not much blooming, but I was very taken with this scarecrow which was in a section devoted to vegetables.  I expected Dorothy to come bounding down the yellow brick road (actually brown brick).  There were several school classes there and they seemed to be enjoyed the fellow as well.