Weekend and Week 3

We spent a relaxing weekend here in Valencia exploring the city and trying to catch up on our homework. On Friday evening we went to one of the main squares in the historic district and tried agua de Valencia, one of the most popular beverages here comprised of orange juice, gin, vodka, champagne, and lots of sugar. On Saturday we visited the Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas, with its amazing alabaster facade and interesting ceramics collection. Our instructor called it a "mini Versaille", but we're hoping for more when we visit the actual Versaille in two weeks. It was most interesting to see traditional ceramics alongside modern works of art, including 5 plates by Picasso. We spent Sunday morning at the beach, reading on the shore and swimming in the Mediterranean. 

On Monday we watched a Spanish film after class entitled Los Amantes del Círculo Polar (Lovers of the Arctic Circle). It was beautiful, deep and thought-provoking, even without English subtitles. We particularly enjoyed getting to hear our instructor's interpretations of the film and talk about the symbolism.  We would definitely recommend this film to anyone. 

The same evening we attended Wagner's opera Das Rheingold at Valencia's Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. In addition to impeccable singing (confirmed by an 

opera student who came with us), the choreography, costumes, and scenery corresponded to the architectural design of the building. That is to say, it was very modern, using three-dimensional technological effects, human bodies to represent gold and other material resources, and an outer space-like setting for the gods. It was well worth the price to get to experience a small part of the huge music festival that is taking place right now. People are coming from around the world to attend Wagner's cycle of operas entitled Der Ring des Nibelungen, as well as participate in concerts, and discussions.

We've also visited the Lladró factory, the only sight in the world where these valuable porcelain figures are handmade, and the Museum of las Fallas. Las Fallas is a festival held yearly in Valencia, of which Valencianos are extremely proud. Hundreds of giant paper-mache statues are constructed as part of a competition. At the conclusion of the week-long festival one is chosen as the winner and all the rest are burned. The museum contains the life-size figure that won for each year from 1930 to the present (except for the years during the Spanish Civil War). It was interesting to see how the emphasis on theme and designed changed over the years, especially after having just studied 20th century Spanish history. 

Valencia - Week 2

Our educational experience in Valencia has, to our surprise, been much richer than we anticipated at the beginning. Although we have been occupied with our daily classwork in addition to seeing the sights in Valencia - of course! - it has been helpful in a variety of areas. Our first class covers the history of Spain. . . that is, all of it. Our professor lectures over the historical events and artistic developments throughout the centuries. It has been particularly rewarding to understand the historical and symbolic significance behind many of the paintings and buildings we have thus far seen. In our second class of the day, we have been reading poetry by Bécquer and fragments of a play by Frederico García Lorca. We like the material but our instructor knows little English and, well, would probably be difficult to understand in any language. Nevertheless, our third class makes up for any shortcomings. We have written a few compositions for this instructor, whom we find inspirational and admire, and, surprisingly, have learned a thing or two about writing in English. What most impresses us is this instructor's ability to instill in the students a desire to explore the descriptive and poe

tic possibilities of the Spanish language. Finally, our communication class is taught by a lively Uruguayan instructor, who pronounces "y"s and "ll"s as the sh sound in English. These courses have indubitably contributed to our ability to converse with our family and others we have met over the last couple of weeks.

In fact, we have even had a few conversations about the current, global economic situation (called la crisis in Spain) and health insurance.  The other night, we discussed how life has changed for many people in Spain after the death of Franco.  Although he was a brutal dictator, we had heard that many people who lived while he was in power feel that life was better at that time.  According to the grandfather of the man with whom we are living, that this is probably due to, on the one hand, the lack of violence perpetrated by civilians in the past--for fear of Franco's "iron fist"--and, on the other, the supposed moral decadence associated with liberal society and religious tolerance. 

Our conversations aren't always so intense, however. One evening Lisa learned how to make tortilla española. This is nothing like the tortillas to which we are accustomed; rather, it is basically a fat omelette composed of eggs, pota

toes, and onions. We also learned how to make paella, a common Spanish dish that originated in Valencia. We all went as a group to a small town outside of Valencia named Sagunto. This is the sight of Roman ruins dating back to the second century BCE and a (controversially reconstructed) ampitheater. At a park nearby we had a competition over who could cook the best paella. We had to first make an open fire from twigs that we collected in the park. (Ian, being an Eagle Scout, succ

essfully took charge in this area.) We then cooked the dish in giant pans, starting with lots of olive oil and chicken, adding vegetables, spices, and tomato sauce shortly thereafter, and ending with rice and water. The winner of the competition became apparent when the opposing group set its paella ablaze. It was a fun experience and the food was flavorful -- a meal that definitely deserves some experimentation.

Barcelona

We arrived in 

Barcelona by bus on Thursday evening, had dinner at "La Fonda" and took a walk along the famous street, Las Ramblas. The restaurant was large (3 stories) with a romantic atmosphere. They served traditional Spanish dishes as well as other more diverse cuisines and seemed to cater to tourists and non-tourists alike. The prices were great for such a fine dining experience; we were able to order a 1/2-liter of wine for only 3 euros. The Ramblas were filled with people: tourists, street performers, salesman, and con-artists. Perhaps it used to be more elegant,  but we quickly decided that this "must-see" wasn't going to be one of our favorite sights.

However, along Las Ramblas is the large Mercado de Bocquería, which we loved! We walked through this market in the morning to buy fresh fruit to snack on later in the day. The variety of fresh food available is incredible - you really have to see it. During the late morning and early afternoon, when people are shopping as well as eating there, it is a place of more vivacity and liveliness than the street scene at night.  After this grocery stop we joined the rest of our group on tours of two buildings designed by the modernista architect Antonio Gaudí, La Perdera/Casa Milá, and the cathedral of the Sagrada Familia. Walking along the streets of Barcelona Gaudí's influence is ubiquitous. The lamp posts along the Gran Via are designed by him and there are apartments on every block of the city displaying the modernista style, some of them designed and constructed by Gaudí himself. 

The roof of La Perdera offers an incredible view of the city, including the Sagrada Familia. It is a unique roof because the design of the chimneys and ventilation shafts give it the feeling of a large playground for children. Inside the museum, one floor has been converted into a museum displaying models of other works by Gaudí, furniture he designed, and an explanation of his inspiration from the natural world. Another floor is set up as an apartment in the late 1800s might have been decorated (very art nouveau).

The Sagrada Familia has been one of the most incredible places we have ever been. Construction began in 1882 and the projected date for completion is 2030 (but only two years

 ago it was 2020, so we'll see...) Gaudí uses figures from nature, like fruits and seashells, as if to convey the idea of heaven in a way that anybody can relate to, rather than using the elaborate style and golden ornamentation of more traditional cathedrals. Some of the towers are topped by vegetables and grains, surrounded by the words "sanctus, sanctus.. hosanna", as if to offer these goods to heaven. Viewing this cathedral is like seeing something from another world; perhaps this was the goal of architects of every cathedral but we are so far-removed from their time that they now seem common. 

We began Saturday at the Picasso museum. After seeing some of Picasso's  master works in Madrid we had really been looking forward to seeing the development of this great artist. The museum contains landscapes and portraits that he painted at the age of 15 that demonstrate such a genius ability to realistically portray what he saw. It is no wonder he felt the need to experiment with more abstract forms later in his life. After a formal education in art Picasso went to Paris and picked up a lot from other painters on the scene at the time. The influences of Seurot, Cezanne, Toulouse-Loutrec, and Matisse can be clearly scene in many of his paintings. The museum also contains a collection of his 50-some variations on Las Meninas by Diego Velázques.  One last interesting note about this museum: most of the paintings were donated by Picasso himself, an artist who actually lived to see his works become famous.

After two weeks of sight-seeing throughout Spain we realized we had actually tired a bit of nonstop touring, so we took the rest of the weekend a bit more slowly. For lunch we returned to the Mercado and bought ham, cheese, and figs that were larger and more lush than we have ever tasted before. We had a lovely picnic in our hotel before taking a train to the area of Barcelona known as Montjüic. This is the old Jewish area of the city, on the top of a hill that gives another incredible view of this enormous city. We walked through some of the gardens, preferring this tranquility to the overstimulation that the many museums of art and history offered us.

We spent our last morning in Gaudí's Parque Güell. He designed an entire hillside to be a suburban-like residence area, complete with parks and a market area. Unfortunately, Gaudí was before his time. The idea of living in a "suburb" did not yet exist and nobody was interested in moving to this (previously) remote area of the city. Now it is a unique park, filled with benches and fountains decorated with colorful tiles and a few buildings in Gaudí's usual style.

Valencia Week 1

Valencia will be a great city to live in for 4 weeks. Without all the tourism of Madrid and Barcelona, it still has just about anything one could want: museums, concert halls, shops, parks, the beach. The river that once ran through the city dried up years ago and has been converted into a huge park with sports fields, fountains, orange trees, benches, flowers, and shady fields for picnicking. We get to walk through this park every day on our way to and from school.

Our host family couldn't be more perfect! We are living with a young married couple who has a 3-year-old daughter and a 9-month-old son. They host students year-round so they are accustomed to having strangers in the house and great about talking with us a lot and correcting us. We're able to have surprisingly good conversations - our Spanish has improved so much since we arrived and we've barely even begun classes. The location of the apartment is ideal. Our room has a full-length window looking out onto the Plaza Cánovas de Castille, one of the popular places for evening tapas, beer, or coffee. We can walk to the school, downtown, or the beach in less han 30 minutes. The food is also great. We are getting to try many common Spanish dishes and our host family likes to eat a lot of fish and vegetables (just like us).

Day 6

For our last morning in Madrid we went to the Parque Retiro, the last major thing on our list for this city. It is a lovely park, comparable to New York's Central Park. It seems like a good thing to have such a place of tranquility in the midst of a bustling city. We bought a few pastries from the shop next to our hotel before boarding the bus. The pastries here are great! but one of these, an empanada bonito, was not so good - it was filled with tuna and other unexpected spices.

On our way to Valencia we stopped in the small old Moorish town of Alarcón. It has only 215 residents and an old castle that has been converted into a Parador where tourists can spend the night. It was a beautiful little town with white walls, red roofs, and dried-up palm branches in many windows, remainders from the celebration of Corpus Christi. Driving through the countryside, scattered with white-walled towns, ancient ruins, and orchards of olive trees, was beautiful. We were in the area of Spain known as Catille-la Mancha, which is where much of Cervantes' don Quixote takes place.

Day 5

We finally went to the Prado! This art museum is incredible; often compared to the Louvre. It contains many paintings by the most famous Spanish artists: Francisco de Goya, Diego Velázquez, and El Greco. It also contains many other great artists and paintings like Ruben's Three Graces, Heironymous Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, and paintings by Raphael, Carvaggio, and Titian. Our favorite artist of this visit was de Goya. His career as an artists consisted mainly of painting for the palace, as he was also a magistrate of sorts. Some of his famous paintings include the La Maja - Desnuda and Vestida, and Third of May. 

We found the collection of Pinturas Negras (The Black Paintings)  to be the most interesting. After de Goya's death these paintings were removed from his house, where he had painted them directly on the wall of of his basement. They are called the Black Paintings not only for their dark colors, but for the subject matter. De Goya painted these after experiencing the brutal war between Spaina and France and many of them are deeply symbolic. For example, the painting Saturn Devouring One of His Sons is thought to symbolize what Spain did to surrounding countries as well as its own people. The style of these paintings, from the early 1800s, are ahead of their time, and completely different from de Goya's earlier paintings for the aristocracy. This contrast is especially striking in a few dark paintings that depict the   same subject matter as earlier paintings, like El ciego de la guitarra (The blind man playing guitar). These paintings demand more thought, but we never seem to have enough time in museums - we had to go join our group for dinner.

Day 4

The entire group traveled by bus to El Escorial, about a 2-hour drive. El Escorial is a grand palace that was built by King Philip II. He designed it so that he could live like a monk; thus, many of the walls are undecorated and everything is centered around the church, the altar of which can be seen from a window in each bedroom. The library was one of the most fantastic parts, and we had a great guide to tell us all about it. It is an amazing library because it contains many books that were prohibited during the Inquisition about astronomy, Tarot, the natural sciences, etc., as well as books written in Arabic, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The palace is also the burial site of all the kings and queens of Spain since Carlos V, including two empty tombs for the king and queen that would have been buried there had it not been for the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

On that note, we also went to the Valle de los Caídos, or, Valley of the Fallen. This is a memorial to all those who died during Spain's civil war from 1936-1939. A basilica was built into the side of a mountain, and the granite that was removed was used to form a 500-foot tall cross above the site. Buried here are not only Francisco Franco and José Antonio Primo de Rivera, but nearly 50,000 Loyalists and Nationalists as well. Franco decided to build this monument/church in an apparent attempt to reunite the people of Spain, but there are many things that make us suspicious of his intent, the first of which is that it was the Republican prisoners who dug out the 220,000 tons of granite, twelve of which died during the process.  Also, it is an incredibly unique and haunting place: the statues of angels have cloaks that cover their faces, they are dark and tower over the viewers, many hold swords. The lanterns are shaped like swords and torches and the main room of the church is decorated with tapestries depicting the Apocalypse.