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Last updated:
October 17, 2006
Due to technical difficulties (leaving the camera cord on the dining room table) the pictures that go along with these ramblings won't be here until I can find a new cord.....hopefully tomorrow. Hey! Quit whining! Just think how much more you will appreciate them with a little more anticipation. Several days later............ The technical difficulties are more serious than first we thought them to be. Apparently the cord my camera takes is some uber special cord with magic powers and there are not any in the country......unless of course I want to buy a new digital camera. The next best route was to buy a card reader of which we now own two. The first is quite useless, the second will work on one of my XD cards. Unfortunately 90% of the pictures taken in Granada are on the high capacity that will not work.....unless of course I want to buy yet another card reader. Guess you will just have to wait until October to see some of the pictures. Here at last! Day 1.....or is it actually day two. Do travel days count on vacation? After a short flight to Philly (no really, getting on and off the plane actually took longer than the flight) and a four and a half hour lay over, we were on the plane and on our way to Spain. For the record, the man who designed coach class airplane seats had close family ties to the Marquis de Sade. After seven hours, a really bad meal and a small bottle of Chilean wine that taste like something that had been filtered through a heavy fighters jock strap after a week at Pennsic, we were on the ground. Walking from the plane to the terminal three things suddenly struck us. 1. It is 7:30 a.m. and it is still dark. 2. It is cold (this is important when you packed linen pants, short sleeved silk shirts and no coat. 3. It is raining (see #2). One hour later the rain has stopped, we are through customs, through the rental car process and on our way to downtown Madrid. Non sequitur; for those of you who have never driven a car in Spain, driving here is a cross between Indy car racing and roller derby. Scooter riders do not know the meaning of the word fear and taxi drivers could make a fortune in Nascar. On the streets here.....you hesitate, you die! After a short E ticket (not my first choice of words but it sounded better than sphincter puckering) ride to the hotel, which thanks to Violante’s careful planning, was right across the street from the Museo del Prado (wanna guess where we went first) we were finally set to start our adventure. Now if you guessed the Museo as our first stop, you were wrong.....this is Violante we're talking about......Starbucks! Second stop, El Corte Ingles....had to buy an iron. She gets her coffee, I get to press my clothes, all is right with the world. Now we head for the Museo! Incredible late period art! Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Berruguete... and post period, Zurbarán, Goya, and some guy named Velázquez. Unfortunately about half way thru, my mind and body remembered I hadn't slept in thirty-six hours. Between that and the temperature they keep the museum, I shut down and don't remember much. Fortunately Violante bought the catalog so I can see what I saw...but didn't see. See? Back to the room for a few hours of sleep and we are off and running again. Quest for food! We walk, we look, we walk some more. After an hour or so of waffling about what to eat for dinner in downtown Madrid, Spain we take the plunge................wait for it.................Burger King! Yes, I know, pathetic! There is an up side......In Spain, Burger King serves beer! Life is Good. Day 2 Well, by noon at least. We decided to see the National Archaeological Museum before leaving town. We thought it would free up some time for other things when we are back in Madrid near the end of the trip. Wrong! It just whetted the appetite. OMG! This place will require a whole day by itself! A few wrong turns getting out of Madrid but all in all not too bad. The drive to Granada was actually relaxing. Once you get away from the city with the taxi drivers and the scooter jocks there isn't really much traffic at all, well, except for the occasional Mercedes, driven by someone who thinks the posted speed limit is more of a guideline rather than a rule. Guess some things don't change no matter where you go. Open plains, olive groves, the occasional ruin that pops up out of nowhere and one windy mountain road (driving tip.....when the Spanish put a posted speed before a curve, they really are not joking!) If you have never been driving through an olive grove when they are making olive oil at one of the processing points, add it to your list of things to do before you die. the billowing white smoke and the smell....beyond words! "Weep like a woman for the city you could not protect like a
man" All the relaxed feeling achieved during the drive from Madrid to Granada quickly disappeared once we reached the Albayzín (medieval Arabic) district. Picture if you will, all the insanity of driving in Madrid....got it? Now take it and put it on cobble stone streets that are the width of goat paths. No, really, people driving down these streets with no more than a few inches clearance on either side of the vehicle, like they were on the beltway. While in Granada we are staying at a wonderful little bed and breakfast across a ravine from the Alhambra. This is the view from our balcony. As I sit here typing this, staring up at this majestic fortress, I suddenly feel very insignificant.
After a light breakfast we hopped a bus from the Albayzín district to the Alhambra. A twenty minute ride that costs one Euro and takes ten years off your life. Remember my description of the cars on the narrow streets? Picture that same experience in a bus! The Alhambra is beyond words, so I'll just shut up and show you pictures. These pictures will do very little to convey the grandeur of the structures within these ancient walls but hey, I'm saving you a lot of money and walking! We ended up spending about six hours walking the battlements, climbing the towers, wandering around the palace in a daze and of course searching through the bookshop (again, this is Violante we are talking about) and could have easily spent another six. Everything about the place was awe inspiring. The only part that didn't rock my world was the Palace of Charles V, built in the sixteenth century. Don't get me wrong, the building by itself was awesome, but putting that particular structure in the center of an incredible Moorish fortress, parts of which date back to the eleventh century.....not so much. After the Alhambra we headed for the city's archaeological museum. Small, but some cool stuff dating back to Phoenician times. Sitting here looking thru all the pictures I've taken thus far, most of them are of pottery. See Eadric, told you I'd bring you something from Spain! Day 4 Today we meandered back down the hill to the Plaza Nueva. We have actually gotten pretty good at finding our way around the giant maze that makes up the Albayzín district......main rule: always go down hill. We spent a few hours wandering around the Alcaicería (silk market in medieval times) then headed to the Royal Chapel. Wish I could have taken pictures. Guess they don't want to cut into their post card sales. Lots of walking, lots of stairs, lots of climbing....tonight we pack up for the trip to Sevilla then hang around the room and relax a bit. Not really by choice mind you, but Granada on a Sunday night......you get me. Day 5 Another trip down the hill to Plaza Nueva to hit a book store that was closed yesterday. Funny how much the weight of the suit cases has increased since Violante started buying books. We may have to get another suit case to be under the weight limit on the airplane. Found a really great book on medieval Spanish military orders.....well at least the pictures look good, can't read Spanish so I'll just make stuff up. Because of the way the streets are in the Albayzín we had decided to just haul all of the luggage from the house to the car........in retrospect, this was not one of the smartest decisions ever made. Books are really heavy, and a lot of books....yeah. I won't go in to great detail about our adventures trying to get out of modern Granada. Lots of construction, lots of detours, street signs....not so much three and a half hours later........................... About twenty km outside of Sevilla is one of the oldest cities in Europe known as Carmona. At the high end of the city sits the Alcazar del Rey Don Pedro (castle of King Pedro) The fortress was build by Moorish workers during the reign of Pedro I, also know as Pedro the cruel or Pedro the Just.....depending on which end of the sword you found yourself. Currently a portion of the fortress is a State run hotel, called a Parador. The rest is ruins that unfortunately have recently been fenced off. Someone must have told Gov't I wanted to climb on them! Oh well....I'll still manage to get a small piece of rock from one of the walls....somehow. Think I saw a hole small enough for Violante to get through. ;) Day 6 First off, the hotel we are staying in is of modern creation. Guess the Spanish government isn't concerned with "truth in advertising" It is a really cool building and I guess they tried, to a certain extent, to make it look medieval, but, when you look at the over all picture..........kind of like a land pimple in the middle of (insert your favorite period encampment) Anyway, struck out for Sevilla this morning. First stop....the underground parking lot! So far every Spanish city we have visited has had a serious parking problem. Read: if you visit España, don't rent a car! We did but hey!, we were stupid! Second stop.....Starbucks! (see day 1) Legally parked, caffeined up.....time to play turista! First touristy stop, the Real Alcazar (royal castle) Current configuration is largely thanks to Rey Pedro (same guy from above) Homeboy was big into castles! Again.....AWSOME! The Real Alcazar is also the current living quarters of the Monarchs of España when visiting Sevilla, so the upkeep has been somewhat better than other locations. Pedro "employed" (yea right) Mudejar craftsmen to re-do said Alcazar. The detail is incredible! Negative space is not something these guys believed in. If there is a space larger than an square inch or so, something is carved in it! Although Pedro was a Christian king, the builders got the last laugh. Over the entrance to the palace from the main courtyard is written in Arabic, "There is no conqueror but God" Forward, backward, and upside down, all in a pattern that looks like interlocking crosses. Wonder if Pedro ever got the joke? Next stop, Burger King. Ok, I know what you are thinking.....fly all the way to Spain and repeatedly eat "American" fast food. Let me tell you a little story. While in Granada, Violante and I stopped at a really wonderful open air "cafe." Well into a pitcher of sangría we decided to have a traditional Spanish meal, starting with an appetizer of a tray of different kinds of "cured pork" Read: cured does not necessarily mean thoroughly cooked. Some of the "ham" items looked familiar. Then there was some sausage stuff that looked sort of similar to salami. Similar in taste.....but, yet, somehow disturbingly different at the same time. Another item that appeared to be sausage.....ummmmmmm.........I'm not quite sure how to describe....but I'm going to try. Take one cup of Crisco lard, mix it with enough pig blood to give it a dark....blood color, squeeze it into pig intestines, chill, slice, toss it in your mouth and chew! Enough said? Now you know why we are eating at Burger King.....and McDonald’s and Pizza Hut......although Pizza Hut........well.......... lets just say it isn't quite the same. Back to Sevilla! Next was the fine arts museum. A great collection of, a few period, but mostly post period religious paintings......Oh! and one really detailed sculpture of John the Baptists severed head.....really detailed!.....reminded me of lunch in Granada. Next stop, the archaeological museum. Really cool stuff for anyone with a Roman persona. we walked through this place thinking "this is soooo cool, can't wait to get to the medieval stuff! Apparently not much medieval ever happened in Sevilla. Outside of the museum is a park.....not really the type of park you would see in the states, no grass. Packed dirt paths, neatly trimmed bushes, flowers, fountains, small trees, marble stairs... At the center of it all, where four pathes meet in a large dirt circle, sit several small carts with vendors selling bags of some type of dried beans. Curiosity got the best of me. I bought a bag, opened it, and quickly found out the beans were magic. Pouring them out into my hand, I was suddenly transformed from mild mannered tourist guy to.......Dove Man!
Last stop before leaving was another sidewalk cafe kind of place. Great sangría and an order of calamari......yes squid!......at least it wasn't blood sausage! The trip "home"........it's easier getting out of Sevilla than getting in! Day 7 Somehow Violante managed to spot, not one, but two book stores while we were wandering around Sevilla. Guess what I woke up to! So, back to Sevilla we head. Hey, I know, lets try a new route this time. This is one of those statements that goes along with, "I think I found a better way to get there!" Guess you can figure out the rest. The guy who designed Washington, D.C. .....amateur to the folks over here! I did manage to drag her to the Navel Museo while we were there.....small victory. Another one of those places where you wonder, "why would they take a wonderful, medieval Moorish tower and turn it into something like this?" I guess I really shouldn't complain too much about the book stores. Looking at the stacks of hers VS mine......ummmmmmm.....guess I better shut the hell up! Driving down the hill on our way out of Carmona, Violante spotted
what appeared to be part of an old Day 8 Non sequitur.........If you should be so foolish as to rent a car and drive around in Spain (yes, like Miguel) keep one thing in mind: no amount of maps or map quest directions (or maps24.com, or any other service) will keep you from getting lost.....especially in a city like Cordoba, where the one way streets change direction and names like most people change underwear. After a pleasant and uneventful drive to Cordoba, we were patting ourselves on the back and further inflating our sense of "hey, we are really getting this driving in Spain thing down" the long arm of reality reached out and delivered a king sized dope slap! We spent at least an hour driving around more of those tiny little streets trying to get to the hotel. One way streets, no vehicles allowed, closed due to construction...we were starting to think it was one of those "you can't get there from here" situations. The final act of desperation, call the hotel and see if they could send up a flare or something. Apparently in Spain when construction closes streets, the whole one way thing on surrounding streets....not so much. Wish Rick Steeves would have put that in the book somewhere! After getting checked in and getting the last remaining parking spot in the hotel parking closet, oh, and a short but intense nervous breakdown, we were ready to hit the streets. We decided to put the Great Mosque (which is five feet from the hotel entrance) and other big monument stuff off until tomorrow when we can start out relaxed and mentally stable. So, what is left to do you ask.....find the best sangría bar in town of course. We walked around for a couple of hours and then, there it was, like a bright light pulling you toward it. Los Patios! The place was only fifty feet from the hotel! To think, had we walked left instead of right when we started, we would have been here two hours ago! Four pitchers of sangría and a great meal (not even Burger King this time) later we ran back to the hotel, trying to dodge rain drops. Hopefully the rain will pass tonight as we didn’t pack for it. You are too drunk to read this any more.....go to bed! Day 9 Great Mosque, Royal Castle, fish market, Roman ruins, archaeological museum, museum of fine art, open air market and four or five other things that have all kind of blurred together. We hit it hard today figuring our trip to Medina Azahara would take most of the day tomorrow. Medina Azahara as described by the brochure: Palatine city which was founded by Abd al-Rahman III in 940. Said city became a symbol of the new political and ideological order in Al-Andalus with the establishment of the Caliphate of Abd al-Rahman III and it was a focus of admiration during the Middle Ages due to its astonishing beauty, refinement and magnificence. Looking forward to actually being able to finally climb on some ruins! With my luck it will be pouring rain in the morning and we will have to bag the trip. Tired, sore and slightly sun burned so I'm going to bed. On a closing note: in our quest for the perfect pitcher of sangría we discovered something today. If your sangría has crushed cinnamon sticks floating on top.......walk away. ¡Buenas noches! Day 10 Caught the bus at 10am sharp. Something else we have learned while in Spain: if the schedule states a certain time, bet your life that whatever is happening will start promptly at that time. Short bus ride and then, RUINS! Madina Azahara was cool beyond my
wildest imagination! Again though, I think someone told them ahead
of time I was coming and they threw up a bunch of makeshift barriers
to keep me from climbing all over the place. The city is huge and in
the hundred or so years they have been working on the place, only about
one third of of it has been excavated. The throne room of Abd
al Rahman III has been partially restored with the archaeologists best
guess at what it should actually look like. Very cool but the cynic
in me wonders.....being that this place was in a huge pile of rubble.....how
close they came in the reconstruction. Got to see several tenth century Andalusian latrines, lots of marble pillars and capitals, marble stiles, arches, thick walls, gardens....all the things one associates with Moorish ruins. One of the coolest things we saw was all the broken plaster pieces that at one time made up the surfaces of many of the walls in the royal buildings. Almost every flat surface you see in the roped off areas, has these broken chunks laid out like puzzle pieces. I can only wonder how long it will take to put it all together. After returning from the ruins we kicked around the old Roman parts of the city for a while, unfortunately, Cordoba is scheduled to be the cultural capital of Europe in 2016, so a lot of the stuff we hoped to see has been closed for re-furbishing....Guess we will have to come back! Due to sore legs and feet (did I mention the millions of stairs in the ruins) we decided to rest in the room for a bit before trying to track down dinner. Spanish music videos are frightenly like American music videos made in the 80's and early 90's....all except for the whole sung in Spanish thing. We are doing good to figure out how to order dinner and now we are supposed to be able to figure out the words to a song. And for all you Burger King snarks reading this.....today was a totally Spanish food day! On a closing note, I'm starting to worry about Violante a little.......it's been three days since she last bought a book! Post closing note.....Saturday nights at 11pm on the music video channel....Spannish thrash metal! (And people think Marilyn Manson is disturbing!)
I went to Toledo and all I got was this stupid
T-shirt I know, I missed day 11. We will get back to it, just bare with me a bit. So, finally, the part of the trip I have been most looking foward to.....Toledo! Toledo Spain, sword and armor Mecca of the world. Miguel has been a good boy, doing extra nice stuff like going to fine art museums and standing around patiently waiting while Violante goes through every book , in countless book stores, saving his pennies for soooo long, and we are finally here! Actually we got here last night but being a Sunday a large number of the stores were closed. Anyway, we headed out on what promises to be a great day of guy shopping. First stop, a store just down the street from the hotel. Man this is gonna be great! Toledo steel! I'm gonna buy a helm and a dagger and a sword and a.....wait, whats this? These aren't real swords! These are the stamped steel crap you get from Design Toscano! This armor is 20 guage costume doodoo! OK, this must be a shop just for tourists, we will head deeper into old town and find one of the real places. Store number two....starting to get excited....here we go! And .......ummmm, is this the back door to the same store we were just in? Must be another tourist stop. Store three....store four....store five....WTF! This isn't right! This is Toledo Spain, sword and armor Mecca of the world! Where is the armor! Where are the swords!!!! This went on for a good portion of the day. Every store with something shiny in the window or seen through an open door I had to walk in. Unfortunately all ended with the same tragic results. But, but, but, this is Toledo Spain, sword and armor Mecca of the world. After a heart breaking day of walking and climbing (BTW, everything in Toledo Spain, sword and armor Mecca of the world, is up hill) I can only say this. Don't believe the hype. I did find two stores that actually had hand made swords but they were no better than some of the SCA blacksmiths I've seen and didn't hold a candle to Albion Armory...well in anything other than price. I also found one shop with surviving rapier type swords but they were all way post period. Sniff, but this is Toledo Spain............................ Ok lets go over this. The swords and armor portion of the trip sucked, the castle in the middle of town is closed until 2008, but that doesn't really matter because Franco destroyed 75% of it and re-built it in the 30's, so it isn't medieval anyway, no archaeological museum to speak of. The narrow cobblestone streets are full of busses that will run over you and not slow down, the WiFi in the hotel doesn't seem to work so I'm not sure when you will actually read this, and the final insult to injury.....There is a O'Brians Irish Pub up the street that we tried to eat at last night but couldnt because the cook was sick......I've been looking foward to a big plate of shepheards pie all day....eight o'clock, the place finally opens, we check out the menu....hmmmm, this isn't Irish food....this isn't even Spanish food....It's Mexican food....not even good Mexican food. Why does this not surprise me? I'm so done with Toledo. Tomorrow we check out the open air and then head back to the most incredible place I have found to date on earth...........day 11
Cordoba to Toledo, the sword and armor Mecca of the world, is a very uneventful three and a half hour drive. About an hour South of Toledo we spotted a huge Fortress on top of a hill, surrounded by wind mills. Consuegra, an 12th century castle. How friggen cool it must be to live in a country that actually has history! Apparently I missed the exit to get to the castle. We debated turning around (which on Spanish highways is a piece of cake since they have a thing called a cambio del sentido (change of direction) about every two miles. American highway makers could learn a thing or two hundred from Spain! Decided not to as there was a huge crane set up and tour busses heading up the hill. Besides, I'm certain there were guys in blue pants and white shirts setting up rope barricades to keep me from climbing on stuff, just incase I decided to turn around. The blue pants and white shirt comment will make more sense once I get around to the "Modern Spanish Livery" section. On we drive. Heading down the A4 E5 at 120 kph, about fifteen minutes out of Toledo and we spot another hill top fortress with a small village below. OK, not gonna miss this one so we get off the highway and start making our way toward the village. The village was really cool but kind of eerie....not a single person or vihicle on the street. Serioulsy, not a sign of life. We wander through the village and finally find ourselves at the base of a hill, looking up at the ruins of the castle of Almonacid de Toledo (the city name). A very narrow dirt road snaking its way back and forth up the hill, which BTW looked like a mountain from where I was standing. No way a bus could get up there! This is starting to look promising. We very slowly drove a mile or so up this glorified horse trail to the base of.....HOLY S**T!
This is why I came here! HOLY S**T! Ruins....I mean real ruins! No ticket booth, no tour busses, no tourists.....and best of all, no one to say, Hey! You can't climb on that! Bailed out of the car and almost watched it roll down the hill/mountain...Parking brake and in gear...good idea on a hill/mountain. Grabbed the cameras and took off toward my dream.....only to quickly return to the car, now safely in gear and brake set, to get a coat. It is windy on top of a mountain HOLY S**T! Real Ruins!
We decided to return to the fortress ruins tomorrow after leaving Toledo. More pictures, a sketch book and hopefully a tape measure. I plan to learn everything I can about this place once we return to the States and hopefully building a scale model over the next couple of years. I can't explain what happened there, but standing on that wall with no sound other than the wind whipping my face, imagining the history these stones had seen, nothing from the modern world in sight.....I am forever changed. Back to Almonacid de Toledo The open air market was unfortunately exactly what we feared it would be. Instead of artisans and crafts people, coin and antiques, it was cheap clothes and knock off cd’s, shoes and handbags......again, why did this not surprise me. Cool....we're outta here. Beat feet back to the car, took the terrifying 300 yard ride from the parking spot to the hotel, checked out, loaded up and headed out of town. Somehow, incredibly, Violante managed to spot a hardware store! Way cool....tape measure! We catch the CM42 and head back to Almonacid de Toledo. A thought strikes me as the mountaintop fortress comes into view.....What if it was all a fluke? What if we get there only to find my castle full of rude, picture snapping, garbage dropping, graffiti writing, no appreciation for such an incredible place, wouldn't know something medieval if it fell out of the sky, landed on their face and started to wiggle, tourists. I feel my stomach start to churn. We reach the village. A bit of life on the streets this time but still no cars. Slowly we snake our way up the steep windy horse path...I mean road. Coming to the final turn I feel like I might be sick.....what am I going to find in the flat area at the end of the road?....Cars? People everywhere?.....Busses? AHHHHGGGGGGG! I found........nothing. I found my fortress waiting for me right where I left it. We waste little time getting started, measuring walls, sketching details, making notes, taking well over 200 pictures. Four hours only stopping long enough to eat some lunch and leave a small offering of bread and water. Of all the places we have been in Spain, of all the things I've seen, to me, this, with out a doubt, was the best. Sometimes the results of unplanned, spur of the moment decisions, turn out to be magic and something you will carry with you forever. Back in Madrid Tonight is the last night with an internet connection until Sunday so I am trying to get more of the pictures loaded to the gallery and a few random thoughts down before we leave for Santa Maria de Huerta in the morning. We are traveling to a small monastery to view, up close the burial clothing of Ximenez de Rada. More on that after it happens. We rolled into Madrid last night, physically and emotionally spent. It was actually nice to be back in a modern city. Madrid is a strange place.....actually all of Spain is.....strange in a good way though. To walk down the street in Madrid you might think you were any American big city....except everyone is speaking Spanish and driving really fast. Like any American big city, but at the same time completely different. There is a feeling here and in all of Spain that I have yet to be able to find the words to describe. There is a particular rhythm to life here.....all things seem to have achieved a certain harmony that they exist within. Spain is a country with a split personality.....the mild mannered Spain where people wake up late, work hard at their jobs all day, whether it be a street sweeper, brick layer, bar owner, guy in blue pants and a white shirt, putting up barriers to keep me from climbing on things, whatever the job, they bust their butts with a smile on their face and always a kind word. Then there is the Spain that comes alive every night about 8pm, where people spill out onto the streets, into the plazas.... Sidewalks sprout tables and chairs like weeds and the party begins. Not a falling down drunk, rowdy party (that’s just the tourists) but a huge community get together. Talking, laughing, lots of cheek kissing. Everyone seems to know everyone, even in the big cities.....again, the harmony that seems to exist here. It's quite intimidating at first, and I think it is the reason that many of the tourists will find corners of their hotel bars to hide in. But if you decide not to hide...... if you decide, not necessarily to join in, but just be there, you suddenly find yourself caught up in an experience beyond words. You also find yourself crawling into bed after 1am, exhausted, then waking up, late, to start your next day of whatever.....with a smile on your face and a kind word. Till Sunday...................................................... Day 15 Santa Maria de Huerta was to Violante what Almonacid de Toledo was to me as far as the "dream come true factor" The Monks were wonderful in every way. We started with a short tour of the monastery, or at least the parts that don't require robes and a vow of celibacy to enter and then we were taken to a room similar to a library to see what we came for. The burial clothing of Arch Bishop Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada. I can picture those of you who know Violante, scratching your heads and thinking......Arch Bishop.....not Moorish. Here is the deal.....shhhhhhhhh (in a whisper) reliable sources have implied that the Nasrid King, Ibn Nasr or Muhammad I, founder of the Nasrid Dynasty, gifted the Christian King, Ferdinand III (now Saint Ferdinand III) with certain articles of clothing which he in turn, re-gifted to the Arch Bishop after his death. By today’s standards "that cheap SOB!". Apparently this was a huge deal back in the day. Anyway, there is a particular item of that clothing, a tunic, that Violante, over the years has developed a love hate relationship with. Pictures of the tunic can be found, descriptions, although brief and not very useful, and some dimensions, again incomplete and only semi useful, are in books and on the net.......Unfortunately the only pictures we had seen to date were from the rear. Apparently decomposing Arch Bishop juices had destroyed a good portion of the front of the tunic. Kind of hard to figure out the neckline if you can't see it. Anyway, now we would get a chance to put the rumors to rest, see the neck line, feel the fabric, look at the stitch work.....and yes, the thought of having Violante distract the Monk so I could actually put it on did cross my mind....but only for a second. Don't give me that look!....it's been washed! Don Rodrigo's tomb was opened at least seven times between his death in 1247 and 1968. Repeated exposure to air....and other wonderful things that occur when a body decomposes, had taken their toll on many of the items. In 1968 it was decided to open the tomb for the last time and replace the original clothing and restore what he was wearing. After restoration the articles of clothing were placed in foam lined, wooden art crates, returned to the Monastery and.........Ok, so that is as far as they ever got in the plan. The boxes are still at the Monastery, scattered about a few different rooms, stacked in corners or under tables, with no real rhyme or reason. We actually spent a fair amount of the precious time we were allowed, looking for one box or another. When Violante first contacted the monks months ago, she only knew about the one tunic and a pair of gloves.....and some strictly religious articles of clothing, figured that was all there was........wrong! Apparently Don Rodrigo was seriously layered up. There was a tunic that went over the love hate tunic, an under tunic, an under under tunic, hose, silk over hose sock type things, cork soled shoe/clog/sandal things.....Hey! I know that look! If you want technical terms, talk to Violante....I work wood and hit people with sticks! Have to admit, even to someone who isn't a costuming geek, it was AWSOME! The cloth, that from looking at the pictures, we both expected to be thick and heavy, even lined, was lighter than a single layer of linen. And...........hmmmm, Think I'll leave the rest for Violante to write up over on her side of the site.....I really have to stop absconding with her projects. Besides, I suddenly feel the need to do something manly.....think I saw another castle on the way here. PS. She did figure out the neckline! PPS. This was not intended to be a history lesson and in no way was I attempting to teach you anything. If for some reason you did learn something.....good on ya! We will post pictures of the adventure soon......promise. Day 16 For the record, after leaving the Archbishop, we did find another castle to stomp around -- Torresaviñan -- another fortified keep of Moorish design. There wasn't much left of the walls but the actual keep did help answer some of my Almonacid construction questions. Bless the Spanish Moors for being so consistent. The hotel we stayed in last night was at a truck stop. Fortunately the truck stops in Spain are quite different than the truck stops in the States, but still we didn't really want to hang around there all night. Took a drive through the mountains to Sigüenza -- even found a random tower on the way. Stomped around another Parador, castle turned hotel (much better job on this one than the one we stayed in) a few hours in a tapas bar and back to the truck stop for a few hours sleep before heading out for the event. So..... on the way to the event we took a little side trip to Calatañazor. Other than the castle falling apart, most of this village doesn't look like it has changed since the fourteenth century. Too cool! I'm really starting to think these small villages are inhabited by vampires though. Every last one of them is deserted during the daytime. We rolled into the event about 3pm....after allowing ourselves to get lost in the neighboring city for about an hour. No, really....it was intentional. The event was being held at a working monastery, the Monastery of Santa Maria de la Vid, parts of which date back to the twelfth century. Incredible place for an event! The local (OK, only) group, Alcazar de Brioga, had this place decked out! A fairly young group and not many members, but what they lack in populace they more than make up for in passion, enthusiasm, and drive to do things correctly. Everyone there went out of their way to make us feel welcome and we had a great time. More later.... Day 17 Done - to accomplish, finish; complete Beyond - 1. On the far side of; past Beyond done.....What Violante and I were both feeling by about noon on Saturday. Nothing in particular had happened or changed ....we were both just ready to be home. Missing the girls, the house, home cooked food....... reliable internet access. We now know that our limit for being away is about fifteen days. Guess that is good for something Day 18 We left the event site right after a traditional breakfast of coffee and toast, in the hope of making it back to Madrid in time to visit the Plaza Mayor where each Sunday from 9am till 2pm there is a stamp and coin bazaar. I figured since I didn't spend any money on "Toledo steel" maybe I could pick up a Moorish coin or two to add to the collection. We checked in to the hotel right at noon, dropped our bags and beat feet for the plaza. The place was huge and vendors were set up all along the perimeter, selling stamps, coins, old post cards and a few tables selling Russian military pins and medals. By the time we got started we only had an hour or so to search for treasures. I must say, this place alone would be worth a trip to Spain. In the end we walked out of the plaza with two new Moorish coins, a pre Roman coin for Violante's step-dad, a few 14 century buckle ends for my Knight and a few old post cards of castles to help with my reconstruction of Almonacid de Toledo. Not a bad trip at all! The rest of the day was a bit strange. We went to El Corte Ingles to get a new suitcase to carry all of the Spain booty home, found a internet cafe to do online check-in for the flight, and......wow! nothing left to do. For the past two and a half weeks we had been going so hard. We always had, "the next thing" to do....now it was over. A few hours left in Spain and nothing left on the "must do" list. We found a restaurant to grab some dinner, then sat around drinking sangría and making quiet fun of some of the fashion tragedies that walked in. Funny how one can be beyond done, yet, given a short amount of down time, you start to think of new things to see and do, and kind of wish there was more time. Guess there will have to be another trip in the future.......or maybe a job in Rota. ;-) Day 19 After one of those nights when you wake up every fifteen minutes to see what time it is, we were up, showered, checked out, loaded (the car, silly!) and on our way to the airport. After getting lost......well maybe not lost but, fearsome confused for a bit, we made it to the airport, dropped off the car and checked our bags for the flight. The rest of the story.......well.....if you have ever flown (especially internationally), you know the rest of the story. Delayed flights, United Airlines sucks, having to run from one end of the airport to another, United sucks, having to go through three different security check points with highly trained, totally competent TSA personnel working each (sorry, typing that was actually painful), and US Customs and Immigration. United sucks. Our bags getting put on a different flight than we did, and did we mention that United sucks? We finally made it home, about two and a half hours later than we expected, physically exhausted, mentally wiped out, but home none the less. We spent about an hour cuddling with the babies, who actually did remember who we were, put them to bed and started rooting through the luggage looking for our treasures. Sitting in the middle of the living room floor, surrounded by mounds of cloths and all the stuff we acquired over the past weeks, a great deal of which most people just wouldn't understand (who, me, collect rocks from the walls of every castle we visited?), a pressed flower from the Alhambra, a sprig of lavender from some random tower we encountered in the middle of nowhere, a cheesy letter opener from Toledo, Spain, the sword and armor Mecca of the world, fourteen rolls of undeveloped film, the world's coolest sangría pitcher.....suddenly feeling very sad. 17 October 2006 Will we go back? Yes. Will we have new adventures? Certainly. Will it be the same? Probably not. Can you ever re-capture magic......... You've heard the song "I left my Heart in San Francisco"....... for me it wasn't my heart, but a tiny piece of my soul, within a mountain top fortress, looming above a tiny village....in Spain. |
