Santa dropped off my bronze pin for Photography in the Show 2010. And by Santa I mean Connor. Thanks!
Blog • Page 9
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It's always fun to get a car in the studio.....Or a van.....Or and icecream delivery van.
And it's always fun to have the folks from Spunk by. (Free Icecream from Izzy's was a bonus as well!)
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To the victor go the spoils. France has one, the UK has a few, but Rome has no fewer than 8 ancient Egyptian obelisks. Egypt itself only has 9 left after thousands of years of plunder. This obelisk in the Piazza Del Popolo was initially built by Rameses II and used to reside near the Nile Delta. The U.S. decided they needed an Obelisk too, but by the time they wanted one, it was considered in poor taste to steal one, so we had the Washington Monument built instead.
Above: The arch of Septimius Severus. Pretty much like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, just 2000 years older.
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Above: The Pantheon. Click on it to enlarge. It's worth a second to take a closer look.
The Pantheon (Greek meaning "to every god") was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Rome, and rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD. The opening at the top is called an oculus. It's open to the sky. It was actually raining inside that morning. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.
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Above: A fountain at the palace of the Alhambra.
Above: By this time I'm sure you've noticed that I'm a sucker for topiary and gardens.
The battlements surrounding the Alhambra are ringed with passageways so defenders could quickly move around the fortress.
These scrawny little ferral cats reminded me of our cat Franey.
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The Alhambra (Arabic for the red one) is a palace and fortress built during the mid 14th century by the Moors in Granada, Spain.
It was a rainy day when we traveled to Granada. The rain did let up for a few hours while we toured the sprawling Alhambra. It was well worth the trip, full of history, amazing gardens, and breathtaking vistas.
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Above: The Torre Del Oro. (Yup, you got it, the tower of gold). A watchtower built by the Berbers in the 13th century, it was also used as a prison in the Middle Ages and occasionally used to store gold and other precious metals.
Luckily the URL "bambalinaarticulosreligiosos.com" was available for these religious entreprenuers. (Etched on the window lower right).
Who doesn't like a Frenchie?!?
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Above: The Giralda (named for the giraldillo or weather vane on its summit) was the minaret of the mosque that was replaced by Seville Cathedral after the Christian conquest of the city in 1248.
Below: Another angle.
Below: I think this is called a Banyon Tree. Whatever it is, I call it cool.
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Seriously, there's no way you can post everything you see at the Alcazar in one day, so here's round 2. Above: A maze on the grounds of the Jardines. (Gardens)
Below: A passageway in the palace.
Below: One of the many fountains among the Gardens.
Below: The entrance to the Palace.
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Unlike the Sistine Chapel, Islamic art forbides representations of people or animals. Moorish artists seem to throw their efforts into amazing patterns and fine detail. Sevilla's Royal Palace, the Alcazar, is one of three buildings in the world that has been in constant use for more than 1000 years. The palace, erected in the 10th Century by the Arab caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III is still used as a place of royal residence when King Juan Carlos and his family are in Sevilla. Its name "Al Qasr" in Arabic means "the fortress". Basically, when the Christians retook Spain after nearly 800 years of Moorish rule they found the Alcazar so beautiful they had the forsight to preserve it and merely alter it to fit their own uses. The resulting Arab - Hispanic architecture is rerfered to as "Mudéjar". This room is where King Ferdinand and Isabella met Christopher Columbus after he returned from America.
The room follows the style of a "qubba" (Islamic mausoleum) but when you take a closer look you can see the Spainish influences such as the alternating castles and lions representing the Spanish Royal family.
Below: Patio de las Doncellas "The Courtyard of the Maidens." The name refers to the legend that the Moors demanded 100 virgins every year as tribute from Christian kingdoms in Iberia. A myth to bolster the Reconquista movement.
Below: The Queens Bath. (Don't really know the story behind this, it just looked cool.)
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Security is tight at the Sistine Chapel. Photos and videos are strictly forbidden. But, being a recovering Catholic, I recall that it's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission, so here you go.
A closer peek.
Michelangelo "Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni" was actually called to work on the Sistine Chapel twice, completing the ceiling in about 5 years (1508 and 1512) and then being called upon to paint the Last Judgment (1535–1541). He didn't really want to paint the Sistine Chapel, but many art Historians consider some of it's panels to be his best work.
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I'm back in Spain today, in Sevilla. Generally only tourists ride in these carriages. In the background, the Alcázares Reales (Royal Castle).
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I'm kind of sad to be wrapping up the blog from my latest hike on the Camino. It was nice to relive the experience. I've hiked just over half of the 500 mile Camino. I hope that I get an chance to hike the rest.
In this final post, I'm actually combining my last two legs (Belorado to San Juan de Ortega, and San Juan de Ortega to Burgos), because I wanted to wrap it up before I go out of town again today (and I didn't want to leave you hanging).
Ruins of the Monastery of San Felix.
My father-in-law took this shot of me, my sister-in-law Ann, and my daughter Laney.
In my humble opinion, the Cathedral at Burgos is easily more spectacular than Notre Dame.
As luck would have it, there was a week long festival going on in the town of Burgos. These amazing, oversized figures were lined up in the streets.
Suddenly, they stood up and began to move!
The figures would move around the town and line up while dancers, jugglers, and other participants performed.
We later found out that the Festival went on all night as well! It made it virtually impossible for hikers to sleep as the fireworks started booming around midnight followed by loud music well into the early hours of the morning. Many of us gave up attempting to sleep, and just headed up to the 6th floor balcony of the albergue to watch the fireworks.
Well that's it. After a tearful goodbye, my troup headed back on the trail and I headed up to Bilbao for the day. It was overcast and raining on and off most of the day. I only got one decent shot while I was there. There was a bridge overlooking the walkway next to the Guggenheim. I just found out yesterday that it got a bronze award in the local MNADFED show last week. Icing on the cake.
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Above. An early morning view of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada as we hit the road.
We typically start walking before 6:30AM. This morning we got out before 6AM. The days have been hot, and it's best to reach your destination before mid afternoon.
Wheat fields at sunrise.
A group shot.
What's one of my blog posts without a cemetary shot?
Just another beautiful vista.
Wild poppies growing in a wheat field. Luckily for the Spaniards, this variety of poppy doesn't produce Opium.
I've been told that these hobbit-like hillside dwellings were once used by hermits, but now are parish residences for the church of San Pedro.
The church of San Pedro is covered with bird nests.
A detail from the stagering amount of religious iconography in the church.
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I heard this proverb years ago, and it became our montra for the Camino. I have never developed blisters on a hike, but I've never met anyone, myself included, who didn't get blisters on the Camino. Pilgrims switch into sandals as soon as they've reached the day's destination to give their feet a break. One of the first things you do in the morning is to tape, bandage, moleskin, or otherwise prep your feet for the day's trek.
This Albergue in Santo Domingo de la Calzada provided a volunteer to tend to the battered feet of pilgims.
It was a mostly overcast day on our way from Nájera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, but the landscape was still beautiful.
Remains of walls that used to ring the city of Santo Domingo de la Calazada.
The cathedral in Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
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Above: My passport (Credencial) stamps from Logroño and Nejera.
It was a slow day for photos. I took less than a dozen shots on this leg! Hours went by without me lifting the camera to my eye. It might have been a visualy boring hike that day, or maybe I was just in the moment. (Probably the former).
I'm a sucker for Spanish cemeteries though.
Once in Najera, I did see these girls playing with a bubble gun.
Racks of drying clothes are a common sight at Albergues. With two sets of clothes, not a day goes by without doing some laundry. This albergue had a coin operated washing machine which isn't entirely out of the ordinary, but it's best to take advantage when one is available.
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The scallop is the symbol of the Camino. (That's the short version. Move on to photos now, or be very, very afraid.) I'm not a scholar, and a blog is not the place for covering this exhaustively, but it's worth a paragraph or two because of it's importance to the Camino. The Scallop is native to area on the coast West of Santiago de Compostela. It may first have been used in pre Christian religious rituals, the Scallop looking like the setting sun. The Romans considered the point on the coast West of Santiago, Finisterre, as the end of the world. (Finisterrae literally means the end of the world in Latin). It is said that people would watch the sun set at Finisterre, and pray for it's return in the morning. (That system seems to have worked, thanks pre-Christians).
In the case of St. James, it is said that he briefly preached on the Iberian peninsula. The story has many variations, but the coolest one is that after death, his body was transported back to Finisterre by a ship with no crew, and washed ashore in a scallop encrusted boat. The Roman Catholic Church affirmed the relics were indeed the remains of St. James. and a Cathedral was built in Santiago de Compostela to inter them.
Also, the scallop is a symbol of the many routes thoughout Europe leading to a single point in Santiago de Compostela. You'll find Scallops all along the Camino, on buildings, waymarkers, even pilgrims backpacks.
Los Arcos to Logrono
Leaving Los Arcos.
Passing the town of Torres Del Rio.
Looking at the road ahead.
I saw a wedding party leave a church in Logrono. Fireworks, confetti, laughing, crying. It was beautiful.
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On the hill is the monastery of Nuestra Senora la Real in the town of Irache. To the right are the Bodegas Irache (Wineries of Irache) where since 1991 pilgrims on the Camino can help themselves to wine from a fountain installed there. (Seriously)
Most hikers were aware of this, and were happy to partake in a little (or a lot of) wine even at 6:30AM.
The metal work of the fountain is probably provided by Forjas Ayegui, an amazing iron forger in Irache. Here are a couple shots of a gate they created.
Notice the yellow blaze they included directing hikers to the Camino.
Just another beautiful Vista.
Above: In the foreground, the ruins of a home. In the distance is the La iglesia de Yanez near Los Arcos.
There is some urban blight along the Camino in some of these Spanish towns, it just looks prettier than blight might look elsewhere.
We arrive at the Albergue La Fuente de Austria, (not surprizingly, much sought out by many germans we met on the Camino). I generally don't like a German weiss (Wheat) beer, but it turns out that a weiss beer tastes just fine after hiking 22 kilometers.
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Puente La Reiña means the "bridge of the Queen". Doña Mayor, a local queen, built this bridge over the Río Arga for the use of pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela.
Below. A lone cypress tree.
Above. Approaching the town of Cirauqui.
We are entering the Rioja region. It's wine is known around the world. Ask for it next time you're shopping for wine. They'll have a selection, and you won't be disappointed.
The last image in the world I want to see is another shot of a door somewhere in Europe. But seriously, how can you not throw one in?
A cross overlooking the town of Estella.
A boy chases pigeons in the town square.
