那我贴一些,也是流水账性质,发现手机特别适合制造流水账,好处是可以及时记录防
止拖延,回来马上就没有心情写了,在巴塞罗那住了四天,还没有动笔。。
140407 Madrid
Finally got to Madrid after 24 hours of flights and train.
Spent my first afternoon here walking around, Madrid is a great place to
hang out, the old town Is built upon hills, with tiny alleys branching off
at haphazard angles, this layout may look confusing on the map, in practice
it's very easy to navigate, because the major landmarks are tall enough to
be seen from a distance. I didn't need to look at the map at all after
finding my hotel.
Climbing up some stairs I came to a small quiet plaza and had a moment of
deja vu, there are lots of great sights to see, but nothing I want to
photograph... Probably because Madrid is not "new" to me, it feels like a
very familiar place.
Vegetarians will suffer a little here, my hostal is right next to a very
large and popular tapas food court in Plaza de la San Miguel, there must be
thousands of nicely decorated tapas here, but I only found about five
vegetarian ones, and nothing made of real vegetable... That said, I really
enjoyed the mozzarella ball, and hope to try the churros this morning.
The sun here doesn't start to set until 8pm, towards the evening the street
and plazas started to fill up with people, the crowd at Puerta del Sol
gathered around some street performers, I walked past and noted a nice
pastry store at Calle Mayor... Had one more coffee and headed back into the
hotel. A little regretful because I booked a really cheap hotel whose rooms
have no window..
140408 Segovia
Learned the necessity of planning today, first I was several minutes late
for the morning train to Segovia, and had to wait an hour for the next train
, which itself was late, everyone on the train missed the bus to downtown,
luckily taxi was not much more expensive.
Segovia is a lovely town, again built in hills, with the imposing structure
of the Roman aqueduct as the background for the lower half of town, and a
stretch of snow capped mountains sits further away. The old town is very
touristy, but also full of quiet corners and secret gardens. Even with the
busloads of kids pouring in, it still gives people the impression of a
sleepy town in the heat of the afternoon.
To add to the list of failed missions of the day, I stopped at the Reina
Sofia after getting back to Madrid, only to find that it's closed on Tuesday
. And the planned gallery visit became a stroll down the Calle Atocha, the
Plaza Mayor was still very much alive when I got back around 10pm, street
vendors were throwing lighted propeller toy high up into darkened sky.
140409 Toledo
In Toledo now, sitting in front of the window and gazing at lightnings
strikes down at the old town in an evening thunderstorm, while pigging out
on chocolate puff pastry!
Today started off by a visit to the Atocha train station, it's very big,
confusing, and beautiful, so far my experience with trains in Spain has been
a costly one due to my own mistakes, I have almost forgotten that to
successfully take advantage of public transportation usually means planning
ahead.
Before I left for Spain I booked a train ticket to Toledo around noon,
thinking I could visit a museum in the morning, but most of the museums here
doesn't open until 10, and the online train tickets are not exchangeable,
after some inner debate I decided to buy another ticket for the afternoon,
and have Burger King for lunch.
The extra trip and train ticket for the Reina Sofia were certainly worth it,
their collection was very impressive, so impressive that it was also very
tiring. Apart from the numerous Picasso, Dali, and Miro, there's also a few
movies by Bruñel on show, a lot of the themes were rather dark and
imposing, that didn't seem to deter the schoolchildren and teachers who
quickly filled the museum. Schoolkids here must take a lot of field trips, I
'm bumping into them all the time.
140410 Toledo
Maybe it isn't fair to compare Toledo and Segovia since I was only in
Segovia for half a day, while Toledo gave me a thundered evening, and lovely
morning light, after just one day here Toledo already feels like a place
one can stay for a while, but I have to keep moving.
Last night I got a little lost in the dark alleys when the thunderstorm was
approaching, this morning after walking around for a while I realized that
the entire perimeter of the old town was probably less than a mile. I also
found a trail named "ruta de Don Quixote" along the river, connecting Toledo
to Cuenca and other Castello La Mancha towns, the trail was very quiet, too
quiet for a while that it was unnerving when I saw a decayed carcass of a
dead cat by the road, just as I was going to turn back, a few runners
appeared. I felt bad to be just walking, but my injured knee was still weak,
all I could do was to repeat to myself, "hill walking is running in
disguise".
Back in town at the Cathedral, I caved in and bought the smallest souvenir
and some pieces of marzipan, it was very sweet and didn't taste very
different from those sold in California, so much for buying souvenirs..
One problem with hauling around a smartphone was that I found myself using
it to take pictures a lot more than my regular camera, I haven't taken much
photos at all these few days, had to keep telling myself to stop walking and
enjoy the place slowly. Lentamente!
140411 Madrid
Diving into the crowd in the middle of the day on Gran Via makes Madrid feel
like the biggest city in the world. This neighborhood is full of shops and
young people, and in addition to the traditional Spanish restaurants and
bars, a few Chinese, Italian, and Japanese signs also dotted the street.
There's not much specific sights to see, it was fun just to watch the street.
I spent the afternoon in the immense Prado Museum, a treasure cove of
masterpieces indeed, but I was suffering from too-much-of-a-good-thing
syndrome once more, and could not bear too see another image of royalties or
mythological and religious figures no matter it's by Titian or Rubens... My
most lasting impression of the museum was the room with Goya's "dark
paintings", maybe it was because due to the instinct to pick out the
strongest stuff during this information overload.
I walked around Gran Via as the sun sets and took some pictures, quite a few
other street photographers were working on stretch of the road, I didn't
get many pictures but was delighted to find a Chinese vegetarian restaurant.
For most part food in Spain is very good and abundant, I had some decent
salad in Toledo, and the little coffee shop next to the hotel sells a basic
tomato and cheese sandwich, which I improved a little by smushing an avocado
in between. Coffee is always great, there's also the Spanish gazpacho which
goes down nicely in a hot afternoon. But the formal dinners are decidedly
traditional with no vegetables in sight. After eating sandwich and salad for
a week a hot meal sounded very appealing. Earlier this day I almost went to
the Sichuan restaurant across from the train station in Toledo, but this is
even better.
The back streets of Madrid were still packed and alive when I finished the
late dinner around 10pm. Being in the crowd brought new problem, I went to
bed feeling symptoms of a flu creeping up.
140412 Seville
In Seville now, having a flu and lost my sense of direction, took the wrong
bus around the city, then tripped and fell by the river, it's like what
Lorca said: "Sevilla to get wounded, Cordoba to die.." Hmm, I don't know if
I should go to Cordoba tomorrow..
This morning I have got a full blown flu, sore throat, stuffed nose and ears
, and foggy head, I went out and bought some medicine, but based on
experience the only thing to do is to wait it out.
Unfortunately I also need to spread the flu a bit more by traveling from
Madrid to Seville, the train went through rolling green hills while the sky
got darker, for the first time in the trip, it feels like I could make use
of my rain parka.
The first shock of Seville came from the bus ride from the train station, I
took the bus that circles the city before getting to the old town, thinking
that it's a good idea to take a look at the city first. The bus went across
the river and spent a whole hour traversing the modern part of the city.
This side of Seville looks almost like neighborhoods in Beijing, with fairly
dense 90's buildings, the first floor of their street facing side lined
with stores.
When the bus crossed back the river I got off to walk the rest of the way,
having looked at the map the previous night, I decided the route has too
many turns to write down, I could just try to use the GPS on my cellphone,
but as soon as I tried this I found out the GPS program doesn't work. Back
to buying a paper map..
After walking in Seville for some more I realized this city is impossible to
navigate without a map. Its scale is even larger than Madrid's old town, my
usual exhaustive search method just wouldn't work.
The city has just got itself ready for Semana Santa processions, the main
street and a few plazas are blocked off, people filled the streets until
late into the night. Most of the Spanish people are dressed up nicely for
this event, the only shirt I brought is suddenly looking rather old.
140413 Seville
The mornings here are deceptively quiet and chilly, still feeling down with
the flu, I decided to spend an easy day in Seville. Crossing the
Guadalquivir River at San Telmo Bridge, the Triana district is much more
neatly laid out than the old town proper, around every corner people are
already gathering for the first day or the holy week. I crossed back the
river and walked aimlessly for a while, until the day started to get hot and
stuffy.
Spain is getting hotter every day since I arrived, of course the daily
temperature swing can be huge, not surprisingly people's attire can be
confusing, today a lot of people are dressed up in formal suits and dresses,
although over half of the people on the street of Seville must be tourists,
most of them are not from far away, and it's easy to spot the difference
between the quasi-locals and real tourists (the one with the same shirt from
yesterday)..
Still foggy from the flu and flu medication, I decided to change my pace
slightly today, and came back to the hotel for a siesta after a late lunch,
it was also because the light in the afternoon was too harsh. The hotel was
quite noisy being just one block away from the procession route, but I woke
up feeling a lot better.
The following several hours in the streets around the procession was
completely overwhelming, I have seen big crowds before, but pack a big crowd
into the narrow roadways of Seville, it becomes the most intense and
chaotic experience. I tried to walk around the procession routes but there
are a dozen of them going well into the evening, and the streets are
literally overflowing with people, beer, coffee, conversations, gestures...
One siesta was not enough for a whole afternoon of this. Or maybe it's my
flu, I'm amazed at how many little kids are holding up in good shape in the
face of all these, some all even dressed in the thick rope and mask of the
procession!
140414 Jerez de la Frontera
Today to escape the crowd in Seville I took the morning train to Jerez as an
excursion. Jerez greeted me with chilly gray skies, the train station was a
short walk from town center, and here, my sense of direction again worked
without a map.
There is nothing to characterize Jerez by, except to say that it is a very
down to earth small town, there are old ladies selling shrimps and snails by
the market, coffee and water are both cheaper here, I went to a rather
fancy restaurant to have a small lunch, the food was nondescript, but it was
really nice to have the large dining hall to myself.
In a small town like this, one must live by Spanish time strictly, at 3pm,
as if the class bell has rang, every establishment, big or small, shuttered
their door and people retreated from the street, the town at once became a
sleepy quiet place. I'm glad that I bought an earlier return ticket..
140415 Seville
Today was a long day with lots of walking, for the second part of my trip I
was joined by a friend, finally someone to appreciate Spanish food!
We took a tour bus around town in the morning, then went to see the Spanish
Plaza, which was built for the world fair in 1929. Even in the unflattering
midday light it was a delightful sight, lots of fine tiling and complete
with a canal, horse carriages, and ballet dancers stretching out on the
tiled handrails. In contrast the modern buildings for the world expo in 1992
across the river are almost in ruins.
The crowds were pouring into the town again when we headed for this evening'
s flamenco performance in the Flamenco Museum, the performance was short and
very intense, the small venue worked great, we immediately decided to go
see another one tomorrow evening.
The easy walk back to our hotels after the show became quite an exercise
when we found ourselves stuck at the other side of the town, with the Holy
week processions blocking off all viable routes. After trying to walk around
them in futile, we stopped to watch one which was going in our direction.
It was very striking visually, especially with the candles all lit after
dark, and the air filled with incense and smoke, we must have stood for over
an hour and totally forgot the time.
140416 Cordoba
On the train to Cordoba I quickly read up on the city's history, and was a
little surprised to know that it was once the most populous city of the
world, the only Cordoba I know of was from Lorca's poems, "far and alone"..
Obviously current day Cordoba is none of these, the city is of modest scale,
the train station located at a comfortable walk from the town center. Once
in the old town the streets are quiet and bright in early afternoon sun. We
stopped every few steps to peek into the courtyards of local houses, all of
them are beautifully landscaped, most of the plants here are recognizable as
similar varieties we have in California, pothos, philodendron, shefflera..
but they are growing with such gusto that they practically dominated the
courtyards.
We got into the huge Mesquite cathedral after wandering in the town for a
while, it's an amazing space starting from the courtyard, again perfectly
landscaped with rows of orange trees and pebbled ground. It remains a cool
and peaceful place despite of the crowds. Here I gave in and bought some
more souvenirs...
Our day ended with another long and confusing walk through the crowd of
Seville, I would have liked Seville more at another time or when I was
younger, or maybe if I don't have the flu, it's a truly vibrant city,
overflowing with life and energy, tonight the crowd is almost delirious, but
as I walked through it I got a little impatient, and started to think about
our next destination for tomorrow.
140417 Nerja
I have never heard of Nerja before taking this trip, it was almost a random
decision to come here to stay by the sea for a day or two. We took a bus
from Malaga along the southern coast, known as Costa del Sol. The terrain,
vegetation, and light on this part of the coastline can easily be mistaken
for California on drowsy afternoons. The bus climbed and turned with a
huffing sound, for a while I'd forgotten where I am again.
Nerja is a compact whitewashed town with an easygoing atmosphere, part of it
was built up for tourism, with pretty hotels and restaurants overlooking
the sea, around the streets people are lugging beach chairs and umbrellas
back from the beach. Despite of the crowded tourist side, half of the
businesses in the living quarters in Nerja are closed, we couldn’t figure
out if it’s due to the holiday or a general economic trend. We picked a
fancy restaurant with a Roman garden for dinner, and ended the day looking
for a laundromat.
In the middle of the night I was awoken by the familiar sound of Holy Week
procession and went out to the balcony, the brass bands and cloaked
nazarenos soon walked slowly past my hotel window, without the crowd of
Seville looking on, it was like a solemn dream.
140418 Frigiliana
We started our day slow on the "Balcony of Europe", a large platform on the
cliff side of Nerja facing the Mediterranean sea. After lunch I did my
random walk in Nerja until every shop are shuttering their door for Siesta
again. Then we took the bus to Frigiliana for the afternoon.
When I chatted with the people in the hostel later that night, it seems that
opinions are firmly divided on Frigiliana, it's a small mountain town up in
the hills ten miles away from Nerja, in the tradition of Spanish white
towns, every building here is blindingly white, making for beautiful photos
from every spot. The main street is a winding alley up the hill lined with
artisan stores and cats, down by the bus stop people are drinking an
inordinate amount of beer in the open air restaurant overlooking the old
town. In a word this town was built for tourism, and very successful at that
too.
Since we don't have strong feelings against tourist towns, we had a good
time here, drinking local wine in the bus stop restaurant (where I had a
large plate of curried mushroom pasta), walking up and down the hills
chasing cats. We even found a trail in the mountain back to Nerja, but still
took the bus back following our good senses.
I went back to the Balcony of Europe to catch the last glimpse of the
setting sun, this time it is packed to the point of collapsing in
anticipation for the Good Friday procession. Downstairs the beach was
completely quiet in contrast, I dipped my feet in the sea for a while, too
cold for swimming, sadly the only things in my backpack that didn't get any
use during the trip seems to be my swimsuit and running watch.
Later in the night we went to see a flamenco performance, the performers are
much younger than the ones in Seville, and their style more modern, but
still impressive, it was especially unforgettable to watch the half modern
dance half flamenco style interpretation of "Recuerdos de la Alhambra"
The next day, we will ride the bus inland to get to Alhambra.
140419 Granada
When the bus pulled into Granada at midday I was slightly taken back, the
city was gray and lifeless, an immense modern city wraps around the center
area. The famous Alhambra is nowhere to be seen.
Later it proved that bus stations tend to show the worse side of a place,
although Granada was still overcast during my afternoon walk, it's easy to
see the romance of this place and fall for it quickly. Every street and
plaza here is filled with the fragrance of orange flowers. Turning off the
center area and crossing into the Albayzin region, another part of the town
built on hills reveals itself, the Arabic culture influence is the strongest
I've seen, and the gitanos lingering on the streets look as if they've been
here for a long time.
Later this afternoon we took a bus up to the Alhambra and picked up the
tickets I bought online, only to find out that in my hasted reservation made
on the cellphone with big fingers, I've chosen the time slot for the same
day next month...
We went in the direction of Albayzin, climbed a few alleys when the sun came
out, just in time for a glorious sunset to illuminate the staggered white
houses, it was the most beautiful light even before we reached the plaza to
turn around and take a good look at the Alhambra.
In the evening we found an Arabic restaurant to have Moroccan tea, couscous,
and vegetables cooked in tagine. Walking back after dark, the quiet city is
fully alive now, to quote Lorca: "Ahora es la hora de visitar la bella
ciudad de Granada".
140420 Granada
After our failure to get into the Alhambra yesterday, I got up
uncharacteristically early and took a taxi to the ticket booth to line up
for the same day entrance ticket, the line was already very long when I got
to the ticket booth, everyone was shuffling their feet in a light morning
drizzle, luckily the wait was just over an hour, I ran back downhill with a
pair of tickets in my pocket feeling triumphant.
For the rest of the morning, we had churros in a street side cafe, watched
the last bit of the Holy Week procession, and walked back up the hill to the
park entrance, while the sky turned grayer and big droplets of rain started
to fall.
Such were the recuerdos de la alhambra for me: wet pebblestone road, wet
marble floor, wet sleeves, raindrops on camera lens, lush green gardens,
raindrops in water fountains, dark skies, dark grim buildings, dark cats,
lush white towns on green hills. It was every bit as elaborated and refined
as I expected, I wish we had more time here to see it on a sunny day, and
see more of Granada, but time to leave the gitanos and flamencas. Adios
Andalusia..