Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Girona, Cadaques
Post by Charlie: Girona has a river going through it with several bridges. Our hotel is right by one of the bridges, a red steel one, designed by Gustav Eiffel tower of Eiffel Tower fame. On the corner is this redbud tree. There are lots of redbud trees around Girona. We come back from all four directions and it is always so nice to see our redbud tree and know we are almost back.
Post by Charlie: Some of you may think that I am obsessed with bathroom fixtures. Well so be it. Here is our sink in Girona. Still square but sloped for better draining and with a slider for hotel goodies on one side.
And you fellow bathroom fixture fans should check out our sink in Sorrento from last year’s Italy blog, linked to in a previous post.
Post by Charlie: That is what Wynette called some of the pastries at the deli/bakery around the corner. Also note the pizza, which we have had for two meals so far.
Post by Charlie: The national lottery is a big deal here. There are ticket-selling places all over. We saw this lottery ticket booth drive by while we were walking down the street.
Post by Charlie: Girona also has a big covered market like the one in Barcelona. We wish we could try all the kinds of olives.
Post by Charlie: This is the little deli around the corner from our hotel in Girona. We have eaten there a few times you can see some of the sandwiches they have above the Easter eggs. they also have bread:
and more right next door:
Post by Wynette: Earlier, Charlie posted a picture of a plaque we saw in the ground saying that an imprint of Christ’s bloody foot had been found in the mud there in 1975. Next to it was this shrine, below. So far, we haven’t seen a lot of this type of thing on our trip (we were on a walk outside the city walls when we came across it) but I loved it because it reminded me of shrines you come across in northern New Mexico. I’ve seen many things in Spain that have reminded me of northern New Mexico. NM was settled by the Spanish long before the Anglos arrived there so I shouldn’t be too surprised.
Post by Wynette: If you’ve read our blogs from trips to Italy you know we were always raving about the coffee. To our surprise, we like the coffee in Spain even more. It’s been fantastic. We always order cafe con leche (coffee with hot milk) which is pretty much like a cappuccino except the milk is not as foamy. So it’s really like coffee latte in the States except in a cappuccino-sized cup. And the coffee tastes a lot better than any coffee I’ve ever had in the States. It’s rich and full bodied but never bitter or harsh. We liked the coffee in Toledo (where we spent the first 5 days) and we find we like the coffee in Catalonia (NE Spain) even more.
A few times, when we would leave a bar, we’d tell the person behind the counter how much we liked the coffee. Their face would light up. They really seemed to appreciate that we told them that.
I wanted to include this picture because it’s only one of a couple we have of us together so far. The nice woman behind the bar asked us if we’d like a picture when she saw us taking pictures of each other. Wouldn’t you know, this happens to be an Italian coffee bar (Illy) that we stopped into while waiting for a train in Madrid, on the way to Barcelona. (You can see our suitcase handles there behind us.)
Post by Charlie: Holy week. This was our bane when we were planning the trip because things were full and prices higher. We were thinking about going to Granada after Toledo but Granada is packed and expensive during Semana Santa so we went east where we we thinking they were less devout.
But it has turned out to be very nice. We have enjoyed the processions and going to Palm Sunday services. So on Easter, we thought we would go to Easter services. We showed up at the big cathedral around 10:30 for the service at 11 and no one was around. We had coffee at the “Arc” which our guidebook said is the only cafe in Girona with a cathedral on its terrace (photo below). We didn’t see many people going in but went up again a few minutes before 11. There was a service but it was not as well-attended as I would have expected for such a large cathedral, maybe 150 people were there and another 100 straggled in as it went on.
On Palm Sunday we were standing around the edges and moving around the big cathedral but this time we went and sat in the pews like I used to do on Sundays back in Duluth. They didn’t stint on the priests though, they had three alter-boys, five priests and the bishop (or possibly arch-bishop, I guess I could google it but what does it matter?) He had the golden bishop’s hat and a big scepter and looked good. He seemed a little friendlier than the archbishop of Toledo who had kind of a severe look about him. Maybe he was practicing for his portrait in the cathedral when he retired.
They had a lot of incense and were swinging it around all the time creating clouds of smoke that made me think of the smoke machines they use on Dancing with the Stars. They started by all proceeding up the aisle and it was pretty impressive. Then in the middle they all went down the aisle and the bishop was using the wand-like thing they use to sprinkle holy water on the people. People who grew up Catholic will remember these. As he was coming by and sprinkling I was thinking of the Buffy episode where she tricked the crazy vampire into drinking holy water when her Slayer powers had been temporarily lost due to Giles’ magic crystal (in a Slayer competency test, long story). I thought of the wonderful mish-mash that is our popular culture. Josh Whedon, the Catholic Church, they are all in the business of telling a good story, and they are all very good at it.
So we enjoyed the service both weeks. Maybe I’ll join those people who convert or go back to Catholicism in later life: Tony Blair, Newt Gingrich, Anne Rice,… But then Anne Rice converted back out again, I have to say I have respect for her following her beliefs.
But these were definitely the largest churches I have ever attended services at. The Girona one has the longest nave in Europe and it, like all the cathedrals is really, really tall. There was a lot of “my church is bigger, taller, wider than your church” going on over the centuries. But the result is some very cool looking churches.
