Valencia: Pretty City

Valencia, Spain




The 400 mile drive from Granada took a big bite out of yesterday. Finding the Hertz place in Valencia to turn in the Toyota was a challenge. We hit some snow topping the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our hotel is very modern and is in the historic city center next to the train station and bull ring.



The buildings here are very lovely.



This is a huge market building in the center of the city. There is an amazing variety of meat, fruit, vegetables, pastries and olive oil.

The Graffiti here is abundant.



This plaza with all the pigeons reminds us of Venice. We find a little restaurant for dinner and order two things at random. She orders the "numero tres" and I opt for the "numero cinco". I end up with fried eggs, fried potatoes and ribs of lamb. Mrs. Phred gets salad, something a little like quiche (called a tortilla) and grilled chicken breast. We're both pleased. The wine is good and only one euro a glass.



Our Bullet train (the AVE train) leaves for Barcelona at 10 AM tomorrow. That's our last stop before catching a plane back to The World in Madrid. If you need someone to order a bottle of house wine in Spanish, I'm your guy.



My Sister-in-law says Barcelona is known for graffiti. There is a lot of bad graffiti here as well as good stuff. Some of it is artless and defaces old historic doors and walls. The banks in Spain get a lot of angry graffiti too.

Granada: The Alhambra

Granada, Spain

If you go to Granada, have a meal at the El Huerto de Juan Ranas restaurant. It is located on a cliff overlooking the Alhambra. We got the recommendation from Mrs. Phred's sister (a world traveler).



You can also see the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains from your table.





Our son sees this picture and writes to say that he thinks I've lost a few pounds. It's an old joke. I say, "Really?" and he says "Turn around and you'll find them."



We have lunch at the Garden (Jardin) restaurant under some grape vines at the Alhambra. There are long lines to buy tickets and they announce that they are sold out. This disappoints many who have driven hours to see the Alhambra. Fortunately, I followed Mrs. Phred's sister's advice and bought my tickets online months ago. They whisk me to the head of the line and my tickets pop out of a machine in seconds.





The Alhambra has extensive gardens.









The Alhambra itself is a curious place. It seems to be built with modest materials such as stucco and timber. There are Arabic inscriptions everywhere on the stucco and intricate carvings on the wood. I check it off of places to see before I die. The wine in the gardens was good and I enjoyed photographing a sunbeam passing though a glass of Mrs. Phred's red wine.



On the bus ride back we passed some superb graffiti at high speed. Because of the camera problems, I could only snap one shot, but I like it.

Ronda: Bullfighting Capital

Ronda, Spain

We're on a tight schedule today. We have two hours to allocate to Ronda and then a 200 mile drive at 120 KPH to Granada. Ronda is a lovely White City built on a tall sandstone cliff. It has the largest bullring in Spain. I pay 6 euros to wander though.



When we arrive in Granada, we see a bullfight on TV. The bull is bloody and has things sticking out of his shoulders. He chases the cape around in circles, but cannot reach his tormentor. The last shot shows the bullfighter holding up a bloody piece of the bull. It looks like a tongue, but maybe it's an ear?




The TV also shows several people being gored during the running of the bulls in Pomploma. I haven't done that since my visit with Hemingway back in '25.



Ronda has a magnificent old bridge that joins the old and new city. There is lot of action there with shoppers and people in plazas drinking vino and eating bocadillos and tapas. We wish we had more time.



We check into the Granada hotel and walk to the old town to buy a map. Tomorrow we visit the Alhambra.



Here's a shot of the Ronda bullring.

A Personal Graffiti Collection

From Salt Lake City, USA

From Tropea, Italy

From Siracusa, Sicily

From Rome, Italy

From Corfu, Greece

From Etta, Sicily

Castles Made of Sand

Rome, Italy – May 22, 2007
Piazza Vittorio Emanuel II

Mrs. Phred located a concert featuring a Jimi Hendrix theme last night. The musicians were FMJO, a group of about 20 Italian performers that you might classify as talented big-band jazz. They were heavy on horns, with two drummers and a guitar.

The auditorium was about a two-mile walk north of the tourist area which ends at the big piazza with the twin churches. Crossing the streets in Rome is intimidating at times. When we found the auditorium and got our tickets, we still had time for a sandwich (paninni?) and a glass of white wine.

The huge auditorium complex had three or four different concerts going on simultaneously. The Hendricks crowd was dressed less formally in stylish Italian casual. There was an amazing amount of kissing going on in the audience before the performance. Men kissing women, men kissing men… Kiss-kiss, Hello, how are you? I’m so glad to see you again. "Excuse Me! While I Kiss the Sky."...

We missed most of the explanation of the work in Italian, but evidently a local composer, who performed with the group, has written hours of orchestral music loosely based on the work of deceased American rock star, Jimi Hendrix. There were two guest performers. One was an electric guitar player who did a credible job of reproducing the discordant and distorted sounds of Hendrix. The other was a stylishly dressed male vocalist, who sounded very much like Hendrix at times.

When the music started and they played “Hey, Joe!”, I felt an electric shiver down my back. Most of the musicians got a chance to be featured sometime during the two-hour performance. They were all very talented. One trumpet player was amazing. Most of the performers and audience could not have been born when Hendrix died, yet they obviously recognized his favorites. You could close your eyes and see the sharp musical sounds as strange bright creatures with short lives..."Are you Experienced?"

For an encore the band came back and did “Castles Made of Sand”. We grabbed a taxi for a Mr. Toad's wild ride back to the hotel and some midnight gelato. The lemon sorbet was served in a real hollowed out frozen lemon. Mrs. Phred wonders why we don’t have stuff like this back home. I guess it wouldn’t be home, if we did, would it?.

On the other hand, back home Jimmy would set himself on fire and come screaming on stage sliding down a trapeze wire from the back of the auditorium...the band did not perform Jimi's freaky discordant version of "The Star Spangled Banner"...but they did do "Purple Haze"...

Ciao!