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Post by Jaga on Jul 24, 2012 15:38:52 GMT -7
For these who cannot see my facebook pictures: [img}http://culture.polishsite.us/images-12/Spain/Madrid1.JPG[/IMG] in Madrid in Playa Mayor - our first stop in Spain  Centrail Spain - we are on the hill looking at the surrounding fields and countryside  Central Spain - looks like Idaho, but a bit more vegetation  Albir Garden Apartments: Ela is not happy that day since we had a long travel to the Mediteranean coast. |
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Post by Jaga on Jul 24, 2012 15:42:38 GMT -7
Central Spain - small town under the Castillo with Ela  Here is the Castillo in La Mancha:  on the bascule bridge to the castillo - this was a hot day  Cosy, narrow and steepy streets lead to the town from castillo  |
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Post by Jaga on Jul 24, 2012 15:46:32 GMT -7
La Villa Joiosa - fishermen houses next to the sea have different colors so that they can recognize their houses easily after coming back from the sea.  .jpg) Ela and me on the beach in la Villa Joiosa .jpg) Benidorm - a city with many British tourists on the Mediteranean beach - looks like Manchattan.  |
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Post by karl on Jul 24, 2012 17:50:55 GMT -7
Jaga Thank you for your thoughtful kindness and for your sharing.... These are wonderful photos of your selves and your trip through Spain...Ela is quite a character, is she not so??  I was laughing for you both with some of the photos and especially the one with Ela having her photo taken whilst so tired from the day of travel.. But, where is John? Or perhaps he is the photographer? I am happy for you all, and you were to travel in safety and returned all safe and sound... Karl |
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Post by Jaga on Jul 24, 2012 21:18:48 GMT -7
Hi Karl,
glad you liked the photos. Ela was sometimes stressed, she is already a teenager. John will appear on some pictures but he just does not like to be photographed too much.
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Post by Eric on Jul 24, 2012 22:18:55 GMT -7
Thank you for sharing the photos, Jaga! I enjoyed seeing them on Facebook, and I enjoyed seeing them again here.  |
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Post by Jaga on Jul 25, 2012 0:38:18 GMT -7
Eric,
glad to see you in the forum, active!
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Post by pieter on Jul 25, 2012 8:08:14 GMT -7
Jaga, I love these images of rural and costal Spain. It is good and interesting that you did not only showed the Spain of mass tourism, but also the " real" and " beautiful" Spain of the countryside, the small towns, villages and landscapes, Because that is what makes Spain Spain. Most Europeans go to these mass resorts, where they often live or spend their time in ethnic " British", " Dutch" or " German" enclaves with their own bars, supermarkets, campings, schlager music, discotheques and mass tourism culture. In my opinion a lot of authentic culture at the Mediteranian and maybe also in Mexico and Bali is replaced by the concrete of large touristic hotels, roads and shopping area's at the coasts. Most Mediteranian coasts are damaged by that. You show with your images the real Spain. Many people never see it, because from their planes, busses or boats they are emediately transfered to the tourist zones. The hotel swimmingpool and thus mass tourism area's. This short story of mine shows that I am not a huge fan of European, American and Japanese mass tourism. But I would love to visit Spain, Portugal and Greece some time. I have never been to these countries. I " only" saw the Spanish islands Ibiza (when I was 5) and La Gomera and São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. I already like the Island cultures of La Gomera and São Miguel with their specific and authentic Spanish and Portugese Roman-Catholic cultures, old walls, churches, castles and landscapes. These are variants of the culture of the Spanish and Portugese motherlands. Nice about these islands was that they did not have mass tourism back then. São Miguel to me was an exellent mix of memories I had about the coast of Cape Town (South-Africa), Umbria in Italy (with it's beautiful culture landscape - an exellent ballance between nature and human influence-) and the landscape and Wallon villages of the Arden mountains where I spend my holidays as a child in my parents vacation house. What I love about the Portugese and Spanish villages and towns is that they have an esthetic beauty, the white churches, the Roman Catholic blue tilework or tile tableau's on the walls of their houses with the images of the virgin mary with her child, jesus or catholic saints who have some meaning to the local fisherman or farmers.    Detail of painted tiles in convent, depicting tradesmen at work in Ponta Delgada, Azores, PortugalThe Azores had a wonderful atmosphere and a lovely climate, not to hot not to cold. And beautiful heaven (paradise) green Vulcano lakes inlands on high Vulcano mountains.  Vulcano lake at the São Miguel island at the AzoresYou have found and witnessed the same old culture and roots of Spain. Maybe some of the Moorish elements of the Islamic Spain of the early middle ages and after that the 13th, 14th, 15th century Spain of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon from the House of Trastámara (cousins). They married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was eighteen years old and Ferdinand a year younger. Their marriage united both crowns under the same family.  Ferdinand on the left with Isabella on the right. The inscription above identifies them as "Lord Ferdinand and Lady Isabella, Kings of Castille and of Aragon".Cheers, Pieter |
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Post by pieter on Jul 25, 2012 8:43:25 GMT -7
Jaga,
What did you like most about Spain? The rural country area with the dry lands, olive trees, black bulls, old villages and towns? The larger cities with their Spanish temperament, architecture, culture and museums or the Spanish Mediteranian coast, due to the sea, the beach and nice hotels or the Albir Garden Apartments? Every holiday has different elements to it. In contrast with previous statements I do love a good hotel or appartment, a nice swimmingpool and good facilities. But I don't like area's with hundreds of hotels, mass tourism of tatood Dutch, British and German people from the densly populated city area's of our countries. We sometimes tend to be ashamed of bad behavior of compatriots elsewhere and therefor it is not an undutch habit to avoid large quantities of compatriots. We love to meet and be inbetween other cultures and taste the food and life of the Spanish or Portugese. Our own people we have at home.
Cheers,
Pieter
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Post by Jaga on Jul 25, 2012 11:11:35 GMT -7
Pieter,
you also submitted a very interesting presentation. I will have to prepare a talk about Spain for Friday, after that I will put my general thoughts about this country on the paper here in the forum
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Post by pieter on Jul 25, 2012 13:31:45 GMT -7
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Post by Jaga on Jul 25, 2012 23:40:49 GMT -7
Pieter,
thank you for all the extra info and pictures about Spanish islands and about Madrid. Azores always sound strange to Poles, since Azor is a popular name for a dog. I remember from my childhood that pres. Nixon met with some European leaders there and we were laughing.... but your photo from Azores is wonderful.
Referring to Madrid, I agree with your parents. It is a beautiful city and very Spanish, not international like Paris or London. We just had a very little time there to see this all.
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Post by kaima on Jul 26, 2012 0:16:31 GMT -7
WIth the comment about the Azors< I could not resist: What animal were the ‘Canary Islands’ named after? The symbol of the Canary Islands is very interesting. The ribbon says "Oceano" because they are islands located in the Atlantic Ocean. The Crown is because they are a part of Spain, which is has a king. The 7 symbols on the shield represent the 7 main islands. But what about the dogs? People think that the Canary Islands get their name from the birds canaries. But actually the canary bird received is named after the people the Canarii. All breeds of canary birds descend from the canary birds thatstill exist on the island. So why are there two dogs and not two canaries? When the Romans came to the Canary Islands they encounted not only fierce natives, but also their dogs. The latin word for dog is "canis" and the actually named one of the islands "canaria" because of these dogs. Because the people are proud of these dogs they included them in their symbol. Today we still use the word "canine" as a general term for a dog. www.ctspanish.com/communities/canarym/canary%20islands.htm |
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Post by Eric on Jul 26, 2012 4:12:27 GMT -7
Pieter - Maybe Jaga should choose a different photo for the opening of her presentation. Ela looks a little too tired in that one you picked. |
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Post by Jaga on Jul 26, 2012 11:48:05 GMT -7
Alicante - walking next to the beach - it looks like everybody is drunk - optical illusion ![]() culture.polishsite.us/images-12/Spain/Alicante.JPG[/IMG] Alicante: St. Barbara castle seen from the town  Alicante: we climb up to the castle  Alicante sea-port from the castle hill  museum in the castle - mediecal armory  St. Barbara hill - looks like man profile - through the ages  |
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I was laughing for you both with some of the photos and especially the one with Ela having her photo taken whilst so tired from the day of travel..
