Maddy's Travels

I speak reasonable Spanish.  I can get by in most Spanish speaking countries.  Imagine my surprise when my trip included no less than six different languages beginning with the Gaelic announcements on my AerLingus flight.  But now let’s talk about the really difficult one - “Kiwi”.  My friend and travel companion Sarah is from New Zealand, currently living in London.  After asking her four times what “berd” meant, I asked her to spell it and she was saying “bird”.  I blamed my hearing a lot, but later in the trip an American friend confirmed that she indeed speaks another language.  I, to her am the loud(ish) American.  Most of us speak even louder when we don’t hear or understand something, but I was quite content not to hear too many of “us” around.

    All of our destinations were in NE Spain, but 2 distinctly different regions.  The trip began in San Sebastian, “foodie” capital, home of “Pintxos” (pronounced pinchos), language - Basque.  Pintxos are individual works of art arranged on a piece of french bread, mini baguette, or just a toothpick.  They are visibly displayed.  Sometimes you are given a plate to fill up, sometimes a waiter comes around offering.  When you ask for “la cuenta” (the bill), the sticks are counted and you are charged accordingly.  It turns out I don’t get wine headaches in Spain.  This was surprising and great because a glass of Spanish “Rioja” goes very well with Pintxos and costs less than water.  A favorite Pintxos was Jamon Iberica (a cured ham made from pigs raised solely on acorns) with a tiny bit of blue cheese.  I even tried octopus and enjoyed it.  The menus are in Basque - there are words with a lot of X’s.  The language doesn’t have any resemblance to Spanish, so it’s good to be able to point.  Christmas is a good time to be in Spain as it is very lively, festive and beautifully decorated.  The locals are all out filling the pintxos bars until late in the evening.

Huge nativity scenes fill the plazas.  They are more than just the manger, they represent the entire village.  In each one, somewhere hidden among the figures is a figure of a farmer in typical Catalan hat and pipe, squatting and pooping - I kid you not.  He has his pants dropped and you truly see a pile of poop beneath him.  These figures, called “Caganers”, symbolize luck and not putting one in the Nativity scene brings misfortune. The market stalls have made Caganers of many famous people, Queen Elizabeth, Elvis and so on.  I hope my brother Jon enjoys the souvenir I brought back for him!

Also in this region, we visited Bilbao (for a visit to the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Museum) and Zaragoza.  It is beautiful in this part of Spain, but in December, as predicted, it was a bit rainy and a bit chilly - in the forties.  

Arriving in sunny Barcelona, temperature mid fifties was awesome.  The Catalan language is much used.  It’s a bit more French than Spanish and everyone speaks it.  Signs and menus are frequently first in Catalan, second, Castellano (Spanish), third, maybe English.  In Spanish, ‘calle’ (street), ‘salida’ (exit) are the words I know.  In Catalan I had to learn ‘carrer’ and ‘sortie’ to read the map or exit the (excellent) metro.

    In Barcelona we saw the Moscow ballet dance Swan Lake, a flamenco show at the Art Nouveau “Palau de la Musica”, followed the “Gaudi Trail” (Antoni Gaudi - most eccentric architect ever from whom the word gaudy was invented), danced tango with friends Bernie and Joe, and visited dear friend and tango teacher Fernanda (who moved there 3 1/2 years ago).  I won’t go into all of the sights, as they can be found in the guide books, but the Sagrada Familia Church deserves special mention.  It is a Gaudi masterpiece, which of course he never saw completed because it is still unfinished after over 100 years in the making.  Sarah and I have made a solemn pact to see it together when it is finished.  I am a few years older than Sarah (ok, 25), so I hope I  make it.  We are good travel buddies.  We seem to have developed rituals of buying shoes,eating tapas and finding cute waiters who give us free wine.  Tapas are a little more formal than Pintxos - usually ordered from a menu, sometimes on view and often served hot.  Somehow in Spain, you never have to worry that your food won’t be good.  People do not walk around eating and people are not fat.  Seems like the only thing we had to worry about was not getting clobbered by “arm extenders”, the latest trend in taking selfies.

    Barcelona was decorated to the hilt - much more secular than the Basque region.  Three Kings Day in early January ends the holiday season.  The Three Kings bring presents to the children in a parade the size of NY at Thanksgiving ending with canons shooting thousands of candies into the crowd - a fine way to end an excellent vacation.

    ADIOS ESPANA!