Category Archives: Home Exchange

The Troops Are Mobilizing Around Vilafames

3 Replies

Vilafames

Vilafames is a picturesque town in the interior of the province of Castellón.

Vilafames

Vilafames – Beautiful Restored Homes

Vilafames With The Castle In The Distance

Vilafames – Beautiful Restored Homes

Vilafames

The town, which has been declared of Spanish Cultural Interest, is topped by the ruins of an old Moorish castle that was conquered in 1233 by James 1.

Castle

This small town has three large churches. The most impressive being the Iglesia Parroquial.

Iglesia Parroquial

The town’s real claim to fame is the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Vilafamés, a terrific little museum in a splendid XV century Gothic palace. Opened in 1972 by the renowned art critic D. Vicente Aguilera Cerni, it was the first museum dedicated to contemporary art in Spain. It is home to more than 500 artworks, spanning the various artistic currents from the Valencian artistic renewal of the twenties to the present. The artists exhibiting in the museum have been referred to as Spain’s artistic vanguard for the last 80 years, both nationally and internationally.

Museu d’Art Contemporani de Vilafamés

While I was editing these pictures it occurred to me that we are a little like the soldiers marching behind El Cid. Slowing moving over hardscrabble earth from one dusty narrow laned village to the next under the ever-present punishing glare of the Spanish sun. I also noticed that besides similarities there are some striking differences as well.

Like the 11^th century warriors of lore we have absolutely no idea where we are headed, but then they had El Capitan to point the way. We have Edith and you all know how well that’s working.

While the troops didn’t eat particularly well they did have a pretty good idea what it was. We too are foraging for food as we go, but haven’t found it necessary to slaughter any animals, just yet. On the other hand, we have had meals placed in front of us that have left us scratching our heads in bewilderment. I requested what I thought was a pork chop the other day and got a nicely garnished 2 pound lump of grilled fat. Can’t wait to have that again.

Unlike the defenseless peasants, we haven’t witnessed any decapitations or had to face any psychotic adversaries wielding swords. In the 21^st century the weapon of choice is the automobile. I have very nearly been run over twice now and been screamed and beeped at by half the population.

It isn’t just drivers though. Ticket sellers in train stations seem to find us extremely dim witted and annoying. By the time the train leaves the station we are so confused and anxiety ridden that we are certain we are on the wrong train, headed in the wrong direction and when the conductor checks our tickets he too will begin to yell at us and extricate us from the locomotive leaving us stranded at the next Podunk stop until we can find another ticket seller and begin the process anew.

But I exaggerate, this really hasn’t happened that many times.

Like soldiers trudging over the sun-baked plains of Aragon we have had to stop frequently to replenish our electrolytes. While the Knights of Vivar probably drank stale water from old goatskins we tend to consume copious quantities of cappuccino, cervasa and vino blanco. And, of course, there is the ever-present liter bottle of mineral water.

Water Stop

Very Limited Town Square Parking

Which brings me to my final observation. Prayer.

Saint Jude – The Patron Saint Of Lost Causes

People in the 11^th century prayed a lot. Besides issues involving the afterlife, they prayed for crops. They prayed that the marauding soldiers wouldn’t steal their crops and kill them all. They prayed for it to rain and they prayed for it to stop raining. They pretty much prayed for everything.

We pray too. We pray for bathrooms. Clean bathrooms. Oh yes, and parking, we pray for parking so we can get out of the car and go to the bathroom.

El Rullo – A nice little restaurant with a very clean bathroom.

Our prayers have been answered.

Peniscola

1 Reply

We spent a toasty afternoon in Peniscola, a terrific little seaside city with a great beach and promenade. It was a hot day and the beach was covered with sunbathers and multicolored umbrellas for miles.

Peniscola Playa

Stock Image

The beach sits at the bottom of the old town which clings to a rocky promontory that is crowned with the city’s big attraction, the Castell del Papa Luna. The castle was built in the late 13th century by the infamous Knights of Templar, but really made it’s mark as the residence/hideout for Pope Benedict XIII, i.e. Papa Luna.

The Church of the Castle

Luna was named Pope during the Great Schism that split the Papacy in the 14th century, but was deposed in 1414. He lived here until he died in 1423 and complained about losing the job until the bitter end.

Papa Luna greets all visitors

Because of the Castle’s position, being surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean, some have called Luna “Pope of the Sea”.

From the ramparts towards the beach

Lighthouse from the main entrance

Chapel Door

To the top lookout

From the ramparts out to sea

From the ramparts south to the harbor

Across the Old Town

Peniscola’s fame was reinvigorated in 1961 when Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren arrived to film the epic spectacular EL Cid.

El Cid 1961

A little footnote for you film buffs. Sophia sued because her name is below Charlie’s. The suit read, “It is impossible to determine or even to estimate the extent of the damages which the plaintiff will suffer.” Maybe a whisper touchy?

My trusty companion braves the afternoon heat

Got To Go To Elceigo

5 Replies

On the way to Bilbao we passed through La Rioja, a province that is to Northern Spain what Sonoma and Napa are to Northern California. We stopped for the night in Elceigo.

The Cathedral in Elceigo

The entire region is dotted with hundreds of wineries. Imagine that in the midst of all this you’d like to separate your business from the riff raff. What do you do? Well, if you’re the Marques de Riscal winery, you take a look up the road to Bilbao and think, “Hey, if the Guggenheim can do it, why not us?’ Then you pick up the phone and call “1800GetFrank” and in one bold stroke you elevate your medium sized vino factory above all comers and transform it into to a world class destination complete with extensive tours, every hour, in 5 languages, a great big gift and wine shop, a five star hotel, café, super spa and a renowned restaurant.

Frank Gehry In Elceigo

The Frank Gehry designed building sits at the top of the hill glimmering in the sun. Like a giant magnet it sucks in buses and cars from all over the continent. It is a force of nature, when you see it shining on the horizon you just can’t help but stop. And I don’t even drink wine.

Marques de Riscal Winery

Sundial

Marques de Riscal Winery – Detail

Marques de Riscal Winery

Just be patient

Marques de Riscal

Marques de Riscal Winery and Restaurant

All roads end at the wine tasting.

Wendi and our trusty tour guide.

Bottoms Up

We Hate Edith

12 Replies

Meet Edith

We downloaded an app in Holland called NavFreeNL and it worked so great that when we got to Spain we downloaded NavFree Spain. NavFree speaks to us with a very refined female British accent so we have named her Edith after a dear friend in Northern England who is intelligent and extremely well organized. We have quickly discovered that the GPS Edith is none of these things. In fact, the GPS Edith is slow, dim witted and couldn’t find quicksand if she where buried to her neck in it. And to make matters worse she’s a big fat liar.

Recently we were going to an intercity address in Bilbao to meet a friend of a friend. I transferred the address from my notebook into the phone and Edith led the way. Edith, being a little slow, has a tendency to point out exits just after you have passed them so working with her requires quite a few uturns, but this country has a lot of roundabouts so we have learned to compensate. We’re just like the Griswolds in European Vacation.

No matter, we have made it to Bilbao and have begun winding our way through the narrow streets in the old town. Only now the streets are getting narrower and with the height of the buildings we find ourselves in passageways that the sun never reaches. The doorways and alleys are filling up with pimps and streetwalkers. The police presence has increased.

Just a little scary.

We are clearly not in Kansas anymore and everyone is staring at us like we are foreign missionaries who have been beamed in from an alien church social. It feels as though people are slowly beginning to encircle the car. Right in the middle of this seedy decaying urban jungle our anxiety level has reached DefCom 5 when Edith proudly announces, “You have reached your destination.” Wendi, who’s a little nervous at this point, turns and says, “Bruce, get me out of here. NOW.” A few rights, a couple lefts, we burst out into the sunlight and find ourselves on a narrow passage that runs along the bank of the river. I’m not even sure it’s a road, most probably a pedestrian walkway, but we won’t be turning back at this point. Up ahead I see two well dressed men holding leather notebooks, talking with each other and pointing towards a dilapidated storefront and I think, architects or maybe developers, but clearly educated. I pull up next to them, roll down the window and say in the calmest voice I can muster, “Do you speak English?”. NO!

Undeterred I thrust my notebook at them gesturing wildly at the address written on the page. They take the notebook, study the address and begin to have a discussion about it. Two very scruffy North Africans wander over from a park bench and join the conversation. Now a nasty looking street person with some kind of psychotic disorder staggers up and stands a little off to one side keeping a close eye on the strange activities.

The four men are all passing my notebook around and talking at the same time as they gesture wildly. The whole group is doing a sort of dance now as they keep turning in complete circles clearly looking for some sort landmark or escape route perhaps. Finally, they all stop talking. One of the black men takes my notebook, leans into the car window and in absolutely perfect British School English says, “I am very sorry Sir, we don’t really know where this is, but it is not near here”. He then, very precisely, lays out a long and circuitous route that will take us across a bridge to the other, far more civilized, side of the river. Where we clearly belong.

Size Matters In Bilbao

3 Replies

The Guggenheim Bilbao

We are in Bilbao, a medium sized industrial shipping port in Northern Spain. It’s an interesting little city whose core retains some real character. The real attraction though is the Guggenheim Museum. How exactly the Frank Gehry designed building ended up in Bilbao still eludes me but that’s neither here nor there. Its beauty and grace are without question. Since it’s completion this building has become an instant icon and the city’s star cultural attraction.

Guggenheim Entrance

There are two major exhibits in place now, retrospectives of both George Braque and Yoko Ono.

Braque, the early 20^th century abstract painter, is credited, along with friend Pablo Picasso, with being one of the founders of the cubist movement. The paintings are interesting and thought provoking, but the retrospective is a little like an art history lesson. Are there really enough art historians out there to draw huge crowds to Northern Spain?

The Yoko Ono retrospective shows work from 1963 to 2010. The problem I have with Yoko’s work is her. Like so many people my age, that are a little “stuck in the sixties”, she will always be the person that committed two unforgivably heinous crimes. She popularized the primal scream and broke up the Beatles. Now even if you can get past all that and learn to somehow appreciate what she does as an artist, does she really have the capacity to attract people from around the globe to this somewhat remote Basque city? I don’t think so.

What makes this place work is the sheer scale of it all.

Guggenheim Interior

Puppy by Jeff Koons

Richard Serra

Giant Tulips

Titanium Facade

Guggenheim Interior

Size really does matter at the Guggenheim in Bilbao..

Graffiti – Granada Style

2 Replies

Those of you that have followed the blog for a while know that I have ambivalent feeling about graffiti. Sometimes I think that spray paint should be universally outlawed, but then, occasionally, you can’t help but smile.

Alicante

8 Replies

Alicante is our favorite coastal city, so far! This historic Mediterranean port has a population of about 400,000. Since the 3rd century BC it has been invaded and conquered by cocky Carthaginians, rapacious Romans, vicious Visigoths, moody Moors, clobbering Castilians, volatile Valencians, rascally Republicans, nasty Nationalists and finally an Armada of Cruise Liners.

Invading Foreigners

The bustling core of the old city sits right on the waterfront and is full of wide palm tree shaded walking arcades, great historic buildings and a labyrinth of narrow streets and open air markets.

Marina

Explanade De España

Meat Lovers

Pension

Setting Up The Street Fair

That’s A Lot of Cheese

Alicante has two, not to be missed, art museums. Both El Museo de Bellas Artes Gravina (MUBAG) and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante (MCAA) are terrific museums that are the perfect size, big enough to be really interesting and small enough to be experienced in a couple hours. And they’re free. They both house great Spanish collections and, like all great museums, the buildings themselves are terrific works of art.

El Museo de Bellas Artes Gravina

Necesita Usted Modelo by Fernando Canto

Museum of Comtempory Art Alicante

Assume The Position

Bye for now. We’re going to go drink a little.

Somebody’s Big Day

2 Replies

Basilica of Santa Maria

I was walking around the Basilica of Santa Maria in Alicante when a BMW pulled up and unloaded the bride. I guess you have been a photographer far too long when you see a random wedding of complete strangers and you feel compelled to leap up and swing into action. I really couldn’t stop myself.

The Arrival and Last Minute Adjustments

Final Instructions

Here We Go.

I Do

No Turning Back

2 Replies

Our 2014 home exchange has begun in earnest and I’ve decided that it’s a little like international skydiving. All the pictures and planning in the world won’t save you. You’re not exactly sure what you’ve gotten into until you’re plummeting towards earth at breakneck speed. In the end it’s just an act of faith. Regardless of any turbulence you encounter on the way down, you have to trust that the parachute will open and you’ll land softly on firm ground.

SeaTac – No Turning Back

This trip is no different. It began calmly enough. We met our fellow exchangers, Magda and Manolo, at SeaTac. A lovely couple, full of energy and rip roaring ready to go. After they treated us to dinner we exchanged hugs, set the GPS to home and sent them on their way.

Magda & Manolo

Then it was a hour through security, another hour at the gate and nine hours on Lufthana. We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany completely toasted, only to discover that Booking.com had us reserved for August 3rd instead of June 3rd. The story has both a good and bad ending. The good part was that the Hilton next door had a room, unfortunately it costs three times as much as the first room. Oh well, that’s the way the bee bumbles.

Frankfurt Airport

The next day’s flight to Valencia was perfect. Magda’s brother, Vicent, drove us to Benicasim and had us set up in no time. The only thing left to do now is recover.

The View From Our Apartment

BruceWPeterson Photography

Explore The World

Category Archives: Home Exchange

The Troops Are Mobilizing Around Vilafames

Peniscola

Got To Go To Elceigo

We Hate Edith

Size Matters In Bilbao

Graffiti – Granada Style

Alicante

Somebody’s Big Day

No Turning Back