Ahh Roma, my love, I missed you so… what? You’re mad at me? But why? I didn’t want to leave you I promise… no please don’t make me sick… again!
Yes if you haven’t guessed, I have been stricken to bed again, but don’t worry all is fine now. You know for all of the joy I find in Italy, I sure am tired of being sick whenever I come here. The first day in Roma went well, we arrived and met the owners of our hostel (two great guys named Monti and Benji). The hostel, called RetRome, is a retro-themed joint with all kinds of lovely 70’s and 80’s stylings. After that we wandered around the area surrounding Termini and went to the church (Santa Maria degli Angeli e Martyr) adjoining the Baths of Diocletian (sp), which was refurbished by Michelangelo.
For the next couple days I had a bad fever and we stayed in mostly… thank god we planned plenty of extra time here! So on Wednesday we attempted to go to the Vatican Museum, which has of course changed its hours effective Jan 1, 2007, and screwed us royally by closing before we could get there. So we went through St. Peter’s instead. As typical the Pieta was swarmed by tons of Asian tourist… scary… but the rest of the church was fairly navigable. Stunning as ever was the Baldiccino by Bernini, and the piazza outside with its colonnades by Michelangelo. After this we followed il Passeto (secret pope escape route) to the Castel Sant Angelo, otherwise known as Hadrian’s Mausoleum. We then of course went to Piazza Navona, and my favorite place in all of Roma, Campo di Fiori, more on it later. Afterwards we went to my favorite pub in all of Rome, the Abbey Theater. There we watched the Roma game, which was exciting even though it ended in a scoreless tie. Of course while we were there we sampled Abbey’s awesome burgers and had… well a few beers. Afterwards the buses had stopped so we hopped a taxi ride back to Termini.
Thursday we spent wandering through the rest of mid-town. Which of course means we went back to Campo di Fiori for the daytime market and gelato… mmm… gelato. Then we went to the Pantheon, which is still my favorite building in the city. Afterwards we wandered back home and stopped for a beer and hot chocolate at the Nag’s Head. That evening we had dinner near the hostel at a trattoria called Dell’ Omo… it was absolutely awesome, even if our waiter disappeared down the street for 20 minutes or so, I mean hey its Italy… it happens (by the way this place has the best Tiramisu in all of Roma, I garuntee).
So Friday we went on our ill-fated quest to attempt to go the Vatican Museum again… let’s just say the line went all the way from the museum doors, around the city walls, and to the gates of Piazza San Pietro… yea… hmmm… 2.5 mile long line… or go explore… it’s time to explore! (by the way this was the line that formed before the doors even frigging opened, since everyone’s guidebooks said it opens at 8am when now with the new rules its really 10am… awesome job by whoever made that change…yea…) So we made our usual stops at Campo and the Pantheon, we also went by the U of A Rome Center but Davide, the director, was out with the students in Florence for the weekend. We had lunch at the great restaurant just behind the Pantheon that is called, Miscellania. Anyone who is familiar with my last stay in Roma, will know this restaurant as the one which we went to for everyone’s birthday, and yes the food and beer are just as good as ever… oh yeah and that fragola frizzy stuff is still tasty too. Then we went to St. Ivo (the church with Borromini’s spiraled dome), and on to the Capitoline Museum and the Tabularium (which has an awesome view of the Forum). Finally we went to Trinity College for beers, which were terrible and had leave so they could seat a group of people… it was the most disappointing bar of our whole trip so far.
Saturday we went to the northern chunk of central Rome, which includes Piazza de Popolo, the Spanish Steps, Via del Corso, Agustus’s Malsoleum, the Ara Pacis (Richard Meier building), and etc. We had a great time wandering through all of the shops and boutiques in the area and Jeannie finally got to go the church at Piazza de Popolo that has the Carravaggio paintings and Bernini sculptures. That evening we went to the Hard Rock for dinner and meandered our way home. This area is especially fun on the weekends because the streets are largely bare of cars and pedestrians take them over and the streets are so busy it feels like half of Rome is right there walking shoulder to shoulder and shopping.
On Sunday we continued a tradition that started back during my first stay in Rome, and went to the Porto Portese for world’s largest flea market. On the way there we went to the Pyramid in Rome (yes it is real, basically some rich guy back in the day went to Egypt, saw a pyramid, and wanted one for himself when he passed on… hence the Roman pyramid), got lost, made our way to the Circus Massimus, and went into Trasteverre for Porto Portese. Porto was as packed as usual, although there seemed to more clothing vendors than I remember, and incredibly fun just to wander through… you don’t have to buy anything, the fun is just seeing all of the people and the ways that they interact with each other… although bartering there is a ton of fun, and truly an art that seems lost to most Americans. Afterwards we wandered through Trasteverre, and grabbed a bit for late lunch. Then back to Circus Massimus, the Mouth of Truth, the two old temples nearby, the arch of Hercules, and Teatro de Marcelo. That evening we cooked pasta at the hostel that damn near as good as some that we have been having at some restaurants, and notably better than some. Also Monti and Benji have great taste in wine, as all of their suggestions turned out great.
On Monday we were hoping to go to Siena for the day, but it just didn’t work out so we did some things around town that we just didn’t make it to. We of course went to Campo again and went to visit Davide, for all those interested: he is doing well, Emilio and Bruna both just had babies, and Francesco is going to go teach at Miss State next year while David “Biggie” teaches at Auburn’s Rural Studio! After Davide, we went to Pantheon one last time, and on to San Pietro in Vincoli to see Michelangelo’s tomb for Pope Julius II. That thing is huge! But anyway we also went to Santa Maria della Vittorio to see St. Teresa in Ecstasy. That evening we went to Abbey Theater for drinks and a shirt for Jeannie, then we went to the hostaria down the street which was one of my favorite restaurants the last time I was here… we should have let just like that… in the past. It was always hit or miss but usually hit. This time it was pretty bad, the waitress I remembered was still there but she seems to have become more surely than ever… oh well after having to another waiter for our wine again, we got our food… the antipasti’s were great, and my lasagna was really good, but they got Jeannie’s food really wrong. She ordered a Farfelle alla Ragu e Verdura (translation: bowtie with red sauce and veggies)… well unless Ragu has changed to mean al burro (butter sauce) they screwed up… also the pasta was seriously undercooked, and when I tried to tell the waitress she just looked at me like everything was correct… so we eventually left (with me being quite annoyed) and went back down to Abbey Theater for more beers and trivia night. Well our beer was free… but that did require us to run trivia scores down from upstairs… hehe ok Jeannie ran them down, but hey it was still fun. It was quite hard actually but hey we’re not European so half these questions made no sense to us anyway (and in our defense all of the hardcore trivia people were complaining that it was very hard this week… oh well like I said it was fun.
So now we are on our way to Venice, I’m excited I have never been there, so it should be an interesting experience. Although we couldn’t get the post to work in Termini this morning so it should be… interesting to get these damn heavy bags lugged around Venice and the “water taxis”, outside of that headache this should be great. Here’s to hoping that neither of us fall into the canal…
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Florence
Ok sooo….. Siena didn’t work out like we had hoped. Since we had hour and half delays everywhere, we were forced to skip it (with hopes of making a day trip from Roma) and stay a couple of days early… I know, I know, you feel bad for us, but don’t worry I’m sure we get over it eventually… we’re soo deprived.
It actually worked out well though, because for some reason both of us have come down with a good head cold (and I better not hear one of you say we deserve it… whether we do or not). So after Jeannie being conked out for a day, I was… and so by the end of it, we would have been in Florence anyway.
I enjoyed this city a lot more this time around than the last… although not getting my camera stolen was very probably a big part of this. We hit everything… well ok most everything. Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo (damn stairs still under construction… grrr), il Duomo, Santa Croche, piazza Republica, piazza Signoria, The Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Strussi, Hospital of the Innocents, you know mostly everything.
We didn’t make it to the Boboli Gardens or the Piazzale Michangelo or Chapelle Medici this time, but that’s ok. Oh yeah and we of course went shopping… I swear this is the one place in the world I will never be able to stay on budget… now ask me if I care…
You know one thing I love about Italy is that for the price of two beers you can get a liter of casa rossa and get at least 6 good glasses of wine out of it… on a side note red wine seems to do wonders for my cold… hey I’m not going to complain.
One thing I love about this city is its youth. For a place that served as the birthplace for perhaps the most significant period of art of all-time, and for it be still so filled with a vibrant youth and collegiate community it is just awesome. Although I do have say it seems most of the other Americans we meet over here tend to make complete asses of themselves, but hey if you listen to the Italians that is what we do best anyway…
I think the things I appreciate most about Florence are all the great loggias (a kind of colonnaded porch) and the public artworks. The Hospital of the Innocents, piazza de Republica’s arc de triumph, piazza de Signoria, and the Uffizi, all have great loggias attached to them. Whether they are intended for fresh air and a breeze (Hospital), or as a place to promenade (arc de triumph and Uffizi), or as a place to display works of art (piazza de Signoria), all of them become produce air of openness and comfort that has become one of the city’s hallmarks.
Now we are off to Roma… ahh fair city of my heart…
It actually worked out well though, because for some reason both of us have come down with a good head cold (and I better not hear one of you say we deserve it… whether we do or not). So after Jeannie being conked out for a day, I was… and so by the end of it, we would have been in Florence anyway.
I enjoyed this city a lot more this time around than the last… although not getting my camera stolen was very probably a big part of this. We hit everything… well ok most everything. Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo (damn stairs still under construction… grrr), il Duomo, Santa Croche, piazza Republica, piazza Signoria, The Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Strussi, Hospital of the Innocents, you know mostly everything.
We didn’t make it to the Boboli Gardens or the Piazzale Michangelo or Chapelle Medici this time, but that’s ok. Oh yeah and we of course went shopping… I swear this is the one place in the world I will never be able to stay on budget… now ask me if I care…
You know one thing I love about Italy is that for the price of two beers you can get a liter of casa rossa and get at least 6 good glasses of wine out of it… on a side note red wine seems to do wonders for my cold… hey I’m not going to complain.
One thing I love about this city is its youth. For a place that served as the birthplace for perhaps the most significant period of art of all-time, and for it be still so filled with a vibrant youth and collegiate community it is just awesome. Although I do have say it seems most of the other Americans we meet over here tend to make complete asses of themselves, but hey if you listen to the Italians that is what we do best anyway…
I think the things I appreciate most about Florence are all the great loggias (a kind of colonnaded porch) and the public artworks. The Hospital of the Innocents, piazza de Republica’s arc de triumph, piazza de Signoria, and the Uffizi, all have great loggias attached to them. Whether they are intended for fresh air and a breeze (Hospital), or as a place to promenade (arc de triumph and Uffizi), or as a place to display works of art (piazza de Signoria), all of them become produce air of openness and comfort that has become one of the city’s hallmarks.
Now we are off to Roma… ahh fair city of my heart…
Monday, February 12, 2007
Nice
Well Nice was nice…. Hahaha yes ok now that we have gotten that cliché out of the way… it was actually amazing. The Cote d’Azur certainly lives up to its reputation. While no we did not frequent the casinos, we did though hang out on the beach… even if it was too cold to go swimming.
Nice’s rocky beach was a lot nicer than I always assumed a rocky beach would be, and of course my inner child immediately took a liking to the fact that nearly all of stones on the beach were of excellent skipping variety…. Of then I preceded to attempt skip in the ocean…. Which as one would assume is not quite as easy as a lake or river, but I eventually figured out that I should skip them along the waves, not into them… stupid me I know, I know.
What Nice is known for is its boardwalk along the coast (the Promenade de Anglaise… or something close to that… yea can’t spell in French, that’s Jeannie’s job). One can imagine it would be fantastic during the summer months, with tons of people, vendors, street artists, bikers, skaters, and sunbathers… right now during the winter it is still very pleasant and busier than I expected it to be.
Ok now that I think about it… I lied… Carnival is what Nice is really known for… but maybe I was just jaded because we are here a week before Carnival and get to see all the preparations, but not the party.
One thing I find interesting about Nice is that it appears it too has developed former river bed into a strip of parks and cultural centers… this was something that I was not aware of before we arrived and I actually started looking at the map of the city in earnest. So I guess this is another thing I am going to have to research further. It appears that they have either diverted their river or it naturally has gone underground… Either way the river (which currently is barely flowing, and appears that the river bed is either being prepped for some work or is being cleaned) now flows underneath the Acropolis (Nice’s expo center) and a series of public fountains, gardens, and the Carnival grounds, before it goes under the promenade, over the beach and out to sea.
Our hostel here was really nice and was maybe a 2 minute walk from the train station…. Not bad at all. Also the food right around the hotel was excellent. I really enjoyed that blending of the French and Italian cultures that occurs here in Nice. Something I didn’t know was that Nice had been apart of Italy as recently as the mid 1800’s, and was actually the birthplace of that great Italian hero, Guiseppe Garibaldi.
Just some other things while I remember. The old part of Nice was great, it was really interesting to be in those tiny streets with their tall buildings, and then have them open onto the promenade and the sea. Oh god and stupid me I have completely failed to mention the Flower Market… you know the other thing Nice is well known for… boy this getting sad what has happened to my poor memory… anyway… The Nice Aux de Flores is a happening place all week, but Sunday is when it is at its best. It maybe be because Nice is our first truly warm stop but it seems there is nothing nicer than getting to wander through booths and booths of fresh fragrant flowers… and I’m not even that big of a flower person. And of course there is a lot more than just flowers, the Aux de Flores handles all of your other typical market fares as well.
I think one of things I find so remarkable about things the Aux de Flores and Barcelona’s La Ramblas, is that they are common things… not in that they are unremarkable (far from that in fact), but that they are made up of common ingredients that are not taxing a city to provide. I guess what it is that makes these examples succeed where others have not, is the surrounding culture that these spaces work the way they do.
Well off we go to Siena, this part of the trip seems tricky because crazy Italian trains… so we’ll see, we also have to call our hostel in Siena and they are going to meet us there… sounds weird to me but hey I’ll do anything once.
Nice’s rocky beach was a lot nicer than I always assumed a rocky beach would be, and of course my inner child immediately took a liking to the fact that nearly all of stones on the beach were of excellent skipping variety…. Of then I preceded to attempt skip in the ocean…. Which as one would assume is not quite as easy as a lake or river, but I eventually figured out that I should skip them along the waves, not into them… stupid me I know, I know.
What Nice is known for is its boardwalk along the coast (the Promenade de Anglaise… or something close to that… yea can’t spell in French, that’s Jeannie’s job). One can imagine it would be fantastic during the summer months, with tons of people, vendors, street artists, bikers, skaters, and sunbathers… right now during the winter it is still very pleasant and busier than I expected it to be.
Ok now that I think about it… I lied… Carnival is what Nice is really known for… but maybe I was just jaded because we are here a week before Carnival and get to see all the preparations, but not the party.
One thing I find interesting about Nice is that it appears it too has developed former river bed into a strip of parks and cultural centers… this was something that I was not aware of before we arrived and I actually started looking at the map of the city in earnest. So I guess this is another thing I am going to have to research further. It appears that they have either diverted their river or it naturally has gone underground… Either way the river (which currently is barely flowing, and appears that the river bed is either being prepped for some work or is being cleaned) now flows underneath the Acropolis (Nice’s expo center) and a series of public fountains, gardens, and the Carnival grounds, before it goes under the promenade, over the beach and out to sea.
Our hostel here was really nice and was maybe a 2 minute walk from the train station…. Not bad at all. Also the food right around the hotel was excellent. I really enjoyed that blending of the French and Italian cultures that occurs here in Nice. Something I didn’t know was that Nice had been apart of Italy as recently as the mid 1800’s, and was actually the birthplace of that great Italian hero, Guiseppe Garibaldi.
Just some other things while I remember. The old part of Nice was great, it was really interesting to be in those tiny streets with their tall buildings, and then have them open onto the promenade and the sea. Oh god and stupid me I have completely failed to mention the Flower Market… you know the other thing Nice is well known for… boy this getting sad what has happened to my poor memory… anyway… The Nice Aux de Flores is a happening place all week, but Sunday is when it is at its best. It maybe be because Nice is our first truly warm stop but it seems there is nothing nicer than getting to wander through booths and booths of fresh fragrant flowers… and I’m not even that big of a flower person. And of course there is a lot more than just flowers, the Aux de Flores handles all of your other typical market fares as well.
I think one of things I find so remarkable about things the Aux de Flores and Barcelona’s La Ramblas, is that they are common things… not in that they are unremarkable (far from that in fact), but that they are made up of common ingredients that are not taxing a city to provide. I guess what it is that makes these examples succeed where others have not, is the surrounding culture that these spaces work the way they do.
Well off we go to Siena, this part of the trip seems tricky because crazy Italian trains… so we’ll see, we also have to call our hostel in Siena and they are going to meet us there… sounds weird to me but hey I’ll do anything once.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Barcelona
Alas poor Espana, I knew it well…. Ok well not really but I did rather enjoy it. It appears we have finished our time here in Spain, but not before a great time in Barcelona.
After a nice ride from Valencia we spent most of the rest of the first day walking around the port and beach area, which was actually not far from our hostel… damn if it was only warmer… that evening we went to La Ramblas, which is the major pedestrian promenade and shopping area. It may well be my favorite part of a city with many things to love.
On Sunday we spent most of our time wandering around the older and gothic parts of Barcelona. Again we spent a lot of our time in the La Ramblas area walking, shopping, and good ole people-watching. Really it was pretty uneventful and quite enjoyable.
The third day we did all of the Gaudi stuff. For those of you who don’t know Anton Gaudi was a late 19th-early 20th century architect who is famous for his unique style and forms. His work is similar to the works of surrealist artists like Salvador Dali… just in built form. Anyway so we saw Casa Batllo and Le Pedrare, which are a house and an apartment building, respectively. Both are known for their unique facades and Le Pedrare in particular is known for its roof garden (which was unfortunately under construction). Then we went to the Sangrata Familia…. Damn love that building every time I see it… The Sangrata Familia is considered to be Gaudi’s masterpiece, he worked on for the last 40 years of his and it will take at least another 15 or 20 to finish it. Everything is extremely intricate, and it is taking every ounce of available technology to just figure out how to build it… and this guy did all of this in the 1880’s with friggin sandbags…. Just unbelievable… ok moving on now.
The fourth day just kinda bummed out on us. We were going to see the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies van de Rowe…. But the whole entrance area to the Olympic Parks was under construction for another big festival there later this year… damn! So we walked up the street to go see the Joan Miro Park…..it was under construction…damn! So we decided to go to Parc Guell, which was again designed by Gaudi… well it was open… but it was up a giant hill… which did suck though. Again I am not that impressed by Guell but hey whatever floats your boat, right? It’s of course worth seeing… just don’t buy the café there… it’s really bad. So to close the day we again played on La Ramblas (of course).
Then on the last full day we went to the Parc Diagonal Mar and Forum area. While I enjoyed most of it… Jeanne-Marie was a little bored. I’m not a huge fan of the Forum building (which is a giant blue triangle, wait my bad a giant floating blue triangle… yes there that’s better) but I liked the design of the parks in the surrounding area. The Forum itself is not finished, so it is not really fair to judge, but it doesn’t feel successful yet… maybe when they finish everything it will… the Office Da park was cool though. Also the Parc Diagonal Mar was awesome… again, but maybe I just like gabian walls… So as we were closing our time in Barcelona we of course wandered La Ramblas again...
Now we are on our way to Nice (Neece), which according to Jeanne-Marie is very nice, sadly the pun is intended… no one said we are witty… well not very witty…
After a nice ride from Valencia we spent most of the rest of the first day walking around the port and beach area, which was actually not far from our hostel… damn if it was only warmer… that evening we went to La Ramblas, which is the major pedestrian promenade and shopping area. It may well be my favorite part of a city with many things to love.
On Sunday we spent most of our time wandering around the older and gothic parts of Barcelona. Again we spent a lot of our time in the La Ramblas area walking, shopping, and good ole people-watching. Really it was pretty uneventful and quite enjoyable.
The third day we did all of the Gaudi stuff. For those of you who don’t know Anton Gaudi was a late 19th-early 20th century architect who is famous for his unique style and forms. His work is similar to the works of surrealist artists like Salvador Dali… just in built form. Anyway so we saw Casa Batllo and Le Pedrare, which are a house and an apartment building, respectively. Both are known for their unique facades and Le Pedrare in particular is known for its roof garden (which was unfortunately under construction). Then we went to the Sangrata Familia…. Damn love that building every time I see it… The Sangrata Familia is considered to be Gaudi’s masterpiece, he worked on for the last 40 years of his and it will take at least another 15 or 20 to finish it. Everything is extremely intricate, and it is taking every ounce of available technology to just figure out how to build it… and this guy did all of this in the 1880’s with friggin sandbags…. Just unbelievable… ok moving on now.
The fourth day just kinda bummed out on us. We were going to see the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies van de Rowe…. But the whole entrance area to the Olympic Parks was under construction for another big festival there later this year… damn! So we walked up the street to go see the Joan Miro Park…..it was under construction…damn! So we decided to go to Parc Guell, which was again designed by Gaudi… well it was open… but it was up a giant hill… which did suck though. Again I am not that impressed by Guell but hey whatever floats your boat, right? It’s of course worth seeing… just don’t buy the café there… it’s really bad. So to close the day we again played on La Ramblas (of course).
Then on the last full day we went to the Parc Diagonal Mar and Forum area. While I enjoyed most of it… Jeanne-Marie was a little bored. I’m not a huge fan of the Forum building (which is a giant blue triangle, wait my bad a giant floating blue triangle… yes there that’s better) but I liked the design of the parks in the surrounding area. The Forum itself is not finished, so it is not really fair to judge, but it doesn’t feel successful yet… maybe when they finish everything it will… the Office Da park was cool though. Also the Parc Diagonal Mar was awesome… again, but maybe I just like gabian walls… So as we were closing our time in Barcelona we of course wandered La Ramblas again...
Now we are on our way to Nice (Neece), which according to Jeanne-Marie is very nice, sadly the pun is intended… no one said we are witty… well not very witty…
Saturday, February 3, 2007
2-3-07 Valencia
Well even though it was not Las Fallas, Valencia turned out to be more than worth the trip. It started off interestingly enough with our taxi not knowing where the hell our hotel was…. You know its bad when the taxi driver stops every passerby to ask them where your street is. We found it soon enough though and made our way to our room, our hostel apparently believes that each room should have a different theme… so we were in the China Room… thankfully not the plate ware, just some paper lamps and oriental styling.
Since we arrived mid-afternoon we just wandered about and left the big things for the next day, although we did make it to a nice café called Templo de Café, and we went to a horrible restaurant for dinner that isn’t really worth naming. On Friday we did the majority of our exploring… this city is really different without all of the giant sculptures…. Ahhh Las Fallas… anyway we went to the Mercado Centro for the morning rush, the market was very lively and like all markets smelled of fish…yay… After that we wondered down through Plaza de la Reina onto the (former) river.
For those of you not familiar with Valencia, it is famous for the Las Fallas (or Bones) Festival that is held year around Lent time. The city becomes a one week war zone while fireworks are legal and giant paper mache sculptures adorn each street crossing. Anyway the other thing that Valencia is known for is its (former) river. I am not sure of the specifics… I guess I need to look it up sometime… but the river that used to flow through downtown Valencia has either changed course or had it course redirected to the point that water no longer actually flows in the city’s riverbed… gross right? Now they have all of that nasty junk from under the river exposed, right? Well no actually.
Valencia has turned its riverbed into an amazing asset, by converting it into a series of parks, playfields, and museums. So now just 20 ft. below the street level, there is an amazing place protected from the noise of the street and filled with things to do. There are soccer fields, bike paths, gardens, playgrounds (including one that is called Gulliver and is shaped like a fallen matador…. Very cool, think of Gulliver and the Lilliputians, and the kids are the Lilliputians), and a series of famous museums done by Santiago Calatrava (including an art museum, science museum, planetarium, and an aquarium). Also each year during that Las Fallas Festival there is a great fireworks show at the river area, and the fireworks are actually shot from a Calatrava bridge… damn can you tell this is his hometown or what, actually there was even a Carre (street) Calatrava near our hostel.
Anyway after the river we got lost… fun! Again! Then was lunch and on to the Mercado Colon, another amazing market that a series of shops that stay open all day, unlike the Mercado Central which is more like a traditional farmers market. It seemed like there was going to be show, but nothing happened so we eventually we left to go find something to do for dinner. We actually ended up in an area that I was somewhat familiar with from when I came for Las Fallas a couple years ago. And well now we are off to Barcelona for our longest stop yet! I’m excited and well Jeannie is just along for the ride, so until then, Adios!
Since we arrived mid-afternoon we just wandered about and left the big things for the next day, although we did make it to a nice café called Templo de Café, and we went to a horrible restaurant for dinner that isn’t really worth naming. On Friday we did the majority of our exploring… this city is really different without all of the giant sculptures…. Ahhh Las Fallas… anyway we went to the Mercado Centro for the morning rush, the market was very lively and like all markets smelled of fish…yay… After that we wondered down through Plaza de la Reina onto the (former) river.
For those of you not familiar with Valencia, it is famous for the Las Fallas (or Bones) Festival that is held year around Lent time. The city becomes a one week war zone while fireworks are legal and giant paper mache sculptures adorn each street crossing. Anyway the other thing that Valencia is known for is its (former) river. I am not sure of the specifics… I guess I need to look it up sometime… but the river that used to flow through downtown Valencia has either changed course or had it course redirected to the point that water no longer actually flows in the city’s riverbed… gross right? Now they have all of that nasty junk from under the river exposed, right? Well no actually.
Valencia has turned its riverbed into an amazing asset, by converting it into a series of parks, playfields, and museums. So now just 20 ft. below the street level, there is an amazing place protected from the noise of the street and filled with things to do. There are soccer fields, bike paths, gardens, playgrounds (including one that is called Gulliver and is shaped like a fallen matador…. Very cool, think of Gulliver and the Lilliputians, and the kids are the Lilliputians), and a series of famous museums done by Santiago Calatrava (including an art museum, science museum, planetarium, and an aquarium). Also each year during that Las Fallas Festival there is a great fireworks show at the river area, and the fireworks are actually shot from a Calatrava bridge… damn can you tell this is his hometown or what, actually there was even a Carre (street) Calatrava near our hostel.
Anyway after the river we got lost… fun! Again! Then was lunch and on to the Mercado Colon, another amazing market that a series of shops that stay open all day, unlike the Mercado Central which is more like a traditional farmers market. It seemed like there was going to be show, but nothing happened so we eventually we left to go find something to do for dinner. We actually ended up in an area that I was somewhat familiar with from when I came for Las Fallas a couple years ago. And well now we are off to Barcelona for our longest stop yet! I’m excited and well Jeannie is just along for the ride, so until then, Adios!
Thursday, February 1, 2007
2-1-07 Cordoba
Hola! It’s me again. Well Cordoba was fabulous, while it was not the biggest city, it certainly has been the most enjoyable so far. Cordoba is famous for the Mezquita, the city’s former mosque. The mosque was actually converted into a cathedral in the 1200’s, and is just plain amazing. There is a courtyard with a grove of orange trees and then the hypostyle hall, a grid of columns for you non-architecture people. The Christian interventions are rather depressing but at least they left the hypostyle alone.
So anyway our hostel was really nice, it was in a main plaza, called Plaza de la Tendillas. There were some interesting photos inside of what the plaza used to look like a few years ago, when it was covered with asphalt and did not look to dissimilar from things you would expect to see in America. Recently they have ripped up all of the asphalt and replaced with some nice big square pavers and added a couple of water features. Now the plaza is filled with sidewalk cafes and restaurants. The area around the plaza is a big shopping area, the main of which is called Gran Capitan. Gran Capitan it self was interesting in that it had all of its asphalt replaced too, and so the entire space felt continuous even though cars were allowed on the outside edges and the middle was relegated to pedestrians and a series of head sculptures.
On the first day we went to the Mezquita, awesome just awesome, and then walked down to the nearby river area, where we saw the old roman bridge, which was under construction unfortunately, and series of Arabic water mills that leapfrogged across the river. On the way home we walked by the remnants of the old city walls, and then along the major north-south street, Paseo de la Victoria. The street was interesting because it was divided by a huge green strip, which had things like an elementary school, a student driving course, an auditorium, and a series of parks embedded in it. That evening we went out walking looking for food, and then proceeded to get ourselves lost… fun! Eventually we made it home and passed out.
The second day we walked to a cool shopping courtyard, which had tons of shops and a market along the sides and then several floors of patio apartments above them. We had seen a postcard of the space when it was filled with a huge outdoor market…. Well I guess it is just too cold or the wrong day, because there was no market…although there was a nifty rodeo-like setup, yee-haw! The rest of the day we wandered, had a café… shopped, had a café… ate, had a café… you know we lived like Italians.
Well know we are on another train ride, this is filled with olive groves and sheep farms. It is so much fun to ride through the countryside as opposed to fly over it, it really gives you a good feel for the different scales of European life, and not just the metropolitan. On to Valencia and hopefully it is just as warm as Cordoba was… if not warmer.
So anyway our hostel was really nice, it was in a main plaza, called Plaza de la Tendillas. There were some interesting photos inside of what the plaza used to look like a few years ago, when it was covered with asphalt and did not look to dissimilar from things you would expect to see in America. Recently they have ripped up all of the asphalt and replaced with some nice big square pavers and added a couple of water features. Now the plaza is filled with sidewalk cafes and restaurants. The area around the plaza is a big shopping area, the main of which is called Gran Capitan. Gran Capitan it self was interesting in that it had all of its asphalt replaced too, and so the entire space felt continuous even though cars were allowed on the outside edges and the middle was relegated to pedestrians and a series of head sculptures.
On the first day we went to the Mezquita, awesome just awesome, and then walked down to the nearby river area, where we saw the old roman bridge, which was under construction unfortunately, and series of Arabic water mills that leapfrogged across the river. On the way home we walked by the remnants of the old city walls, and then along the major north-south street, Paseo de la Victoria. The street was interesting because it was divided by a huge green strip, which had things like an elementary school, a student driving course, an auditorium, and a series of parks embedded in it. That evening we went out walking looking for food, and then proceeded to get ourselves lost… fun! Eventually we made it home and passed out.
The second day we walked to a cool shopping courtyard, which had tons of shops and a market along the sides and then several floors of patio apartments above them. We had seen a postcard of the space when it was filled with a huge outdoor market…. Well I guess it is just too cold or the wrong day, because there was no market…although there was a nifty rodeo-like setup, yee-haw! The rest of the day we wandered, had a café… shopped, had a café… ate, had a café… you know we lived like Italians.
Well know we are on another train ride, this is filled with olive groves and sheep farms. It is so much fun to ride through the countryside as opposed to fly over it, it really gives you a good feel for the different scales of European life, and not just the metropolitan. On to Valencia and hopefully it is just as warm as Cordoba was… if not warmer.
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