Europe 2015

My first bus ride into Rome took me 20 minutes into what is considered the centre of Rome, the Piazza Venezia. It took me past hundreds of apartment buildings, many with shops on the ground floor, and many with signs of a city that has given up on dealing with crude graffiti, which together with some areas looking run-down and unloved, made me wonder "where was the eternal city of Rome". It wasn't in the overcrowded suburbs. The next day my judgemental stance had softened as I realised my preconceptions about the splendour and glory of Rome could not survive in the 21st century. Rome just is what it is, and it isn't Hollywood Rome. Getting off the bus I'm confronted with what some Roman's call the Wedding Cake, the National Monument to Victor Emmanual ( the first king of a unified Italy). It is a grand statement in gleaming white marble, which was built into the side of the Capitoline Hill, in 1920. In 1921 the Tomb of the unknown soldier with an eternal guard and flames, was added to the front of the monument. In the Monument are several displays and a museum devoted to the Italian Armed forces. After spending an hour or so looking around I decided to join the hundreds of tourists heading in the midday sun down past the Roman forum ruins to the Colosseum. I walked past enclosed areas of ruins on either side, which may have held more value if I had paid to go on a guided tour with someone who knew their history, but it wasn't until I got into the shadow of the Colosseum, that I really felt that I was somewhere special. I mean this place had been built by the year 80 AD, and that makes it really ancient. Ther was about a 2 hour queue to pay to go inside so I headed back in the hope of finding my way to the Pantheon. It was a real mission and I got lost a couple of times , and then I turned a corner and there it was. The Pantheon is a circular building, finished by the emperor Hadrian in 126 AD, and almost 2000 years after it was built it is still the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome. The first thing that you notice when you walk inside is the central circular opening to the sky through which sunlight streams through to shine brightly on and reveal a section of the interior wall leaving the rest of the space in semi darkness by contrast. Since the 7th century it has been used as a church, which continues to hold services even as the tourists walk around taking photos. It is a truly impressive place, and it is one of the very few buildings of that age in the world that are still standing. From there I wound my weary way home for a glass of my favourite Pata Negra 3 euro a bottle red wine and a lie down. Rome had worn me out....

monument to Victor Emmanuel

walking up the steps

to the Tomb of the unknown soldier

Victor Emmanual on horseback

Statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius

One of two ancient statues to the Gemini twins

early Egyptian lion

view of Piazza Venetia

ruins

more ruins

and more

and more

and more

and more

the big beautiful Colosseum ruins

once more

that's all folks

shabby street leading to Pantheon

and another

until you turn a corner and see this

pillar detail at entrance

first thing you see when entering is the light

it lights up different areas

inside is a 43mtr circular building, 43mtrs high

church service in progress

outside crumbling a bit

On my last day in Seville I met Linda and Carlos by the Cathedral again to catch up with her before I moved on to Rome. He wanted to show me the Famous Golden Tower which Has stopped Seville being invaded by ships up the river for 700 years. A big chain was stretched across from one bank to the other. It was also reputed to be the place where a lot of the gold which was taken from the Americas by the conquistadors was ofloaded and stored. We then found our way to the Museum of Fine Arts that Linda had not seen before. After a tour of their amazing local artwork (mainly religeous works from the 14th to the 16th centuries that took me to one of the famous bullfighter cafe/bars to try Spains version of a burger. It is death by pork and absolutely filling and delicious. We had a look round some shops and then both parties called it a day and after hugs all round, took of in different directions. I had to throw in a lunch meal I had in a cafe I found the other day, where for 8 euros I got a salad, a pork and roast potatoes, bread, beer, and a fabulous chocolate orange desert. I'm writing this from Rome where at the local supermarket I picked up and heated up for tea a double portion of homemade minestrone soup with every vegetable known to man in it. I will just keep taking it like medicine until I catch up on all the vitamins and minerals I've been missing out on.....

Entrance to Museum

Seville's own 16th century artist Murillo

Shady tree in front of museum put to good use

lovely 14th century piece about 15cm square

detailed expressive piece of pottery

Jesus as a child dancing 15th century, innocence

one of the saints

One of the saints

looking out to courtyard

Inner courtyard of Museum

Looking down the length of the room

Hall of Murillo masterpieces

Showing the scale of Murillo masterpieces

and a little of the ornate ceiling

'Death 'of the Maestro' - Jose Villegas Cordero

so cute I had to include it.

Interesting expression

cheeky altar-boy

quintessential postcard from Spain

This one beautifully captures movement

another interesting expression

captured his essence better than a photograph

socio realism from 20th century

Linda's favourite painting

Kids still had same look in 1850

The Tower of Gold built in 1220

classical flamenco guitarist at the cathedral

One of the most beautiful buildings in Seville

detail from the building

bullfighting cafe/bar

No matador heads..funny that.

Roast pork Serranitos for lunch 4.5 euro

Sorry officer I was only borrowing it..

potato salad and pork and fried potatoes

chocolate orange cheesecake for dessert

This was a short journey I made to see our Lady of Hope (Senora de la Esperanza), which is a bejewelled statue of the Virgin Mary and is the most revered religious icon in Seville. It is held in the Basilica de la Macarena, and during the Easter Festivals is paraded in all her splendour through the streets of Seville. This 16th century statue (also known as the Queen of Seville) is dressed like a queen and surrounded by all of the regalia of royalty. She is made of wood and down her cheeks flow five glass teardrops. The early 20th century basilica is small but furnished in the most extravagant style in gold, silver, and jewelled decorations. It is one of those jaw dropping experiences when you first see inside and you can't help but whisper "oh my God, this is beautiful " She is also known as the Patroness Saint of Bullfighters, and on his death bed Jose Gomez Ortega ( the maestro bullfighter) left five rose emerald brooches to be attached to her dress. During his funeral is the only time in history that the statue has worn only black vestments as a sign of her respect for the famous bullfighter Before I made the 2km walk back to my flat in the 34degree 3pm heat I called in to a Chinese cafe/bar that was advertising a 5 euro lunch and was well pleased with what I got, No dinner for me that night...

The basilica of Macarena

Only a small church

looking towards the alter

La Macarena in all her glory

another view

A side chapel in different vestments

another side chapel

and another

My sixth floor apartment block

salad, chicken noodles. fried bread 5 euro lunch

On another scorcher of a 35 degree day I headed out to see the number one attraction in Seville, which is what Tripadvisor calls the Plaza de Espana ( sounds better than Spain Square in English). In my humble opinion, it is a cracker of a place and well worth the effort to find it, ( of course I got off at the wrong bus stop and had to ask an Aussie, who had just visited it, how to find it). "Just follow your nose mate, it's just around the corner", he said, and blow me down, it was. It was built in 1928 for a World Fair, and is a beautiful piece of what you might call " Spanish ArtDeco". The buildings behind the facade are now used for Government Offices, and also used as the headquarters of the Spanish army. The have a really good free museum to explore in part of the building. It was interesting to find out that groups of people come from all over Spain to have their photos taken in front of the alcove which represents the province they come from, (a little pilgrimage). It is the thoughts behind and the amount of detailed tiling that goes into each individual alcove that for me turns the Plaza from a impersonal architectural statement to a place where individual Spaniards can feel holds a piece of their home at its heart. I found it too hot to explore the park areas surrounding the Plaza, which are supposed to be worth seeing. Maybe if I return another time when the temperatures are at least 10 degrees cooler than they are at the moment. Very few places in the world have that absolute WOW factor, and this is one of them..

Near entrance to park and Plaza

El Cid near Plaza

bloody van driver...nice building though

My first sight of plaza...wow

double wow

triple wow

south tower and river/moat

view to south tower across Plaza

central building of semicircular complex

central building with bridges across moat

Even the pebbles are pretty

North tower of complex

58 alcoves, showcasing each province of Spain

one alcove showcasing Salamanca

shaded colonnaded gallery

Star wars scenes shot here

half a mile of tiling just on gallery ceiling...

battalion flags from all over Spain

displayed in an inner courtyard

courtyard

courtyard ceiling

a two level military museum

toy soldiers

military hats

The artillery

a military uniform/ the birth of the hoodie

generals little uniforms for little men.

Whereas common soldiers wear normal size uniforms

Seville is a town that I have taken a while to get the feel of. It is big and the tourist attractions or sights are scattered all over the place, It doesn't help that I chose to stay away from the centre so I have to be aware of the many buses and the routes they take around town, and how I can get back to where I am staying from where I am going. It doesn't help that I don't speak Spanish and few people speak English, and it doesn't help that daily temperatures are hitting 35 degrees. Having said all that I feel like I am getting the feel of it. Today I took a trip to see the Metropol Parasol or as the people call it the five mushrooms, which was completed in 2011 at a cost of $160 million nz, and claims to be the biggest wooden structure in the world. It looks amazing , but like the Valencian structures I saw last year, it has turned into a white elephant. There is a fish and produce market on the first floor, and you can get a lift to take you for $5 to a walkway on the top, but today once again was too hot for people to be up there. Walking in the backstreets in the area I found a cafe that was advertising a 3 course lunch menu with drink and coffee for 8 euro, and as it was 2pm I thought I'd give it a go. My choices were what you'd expect since my grandmother was Irish. It was just luck that I ended up with two plates of meat and potatoes and gravy, followed by a big pudding. It was all delicious and after filling myself up with enough carbs and protein for two days I had to head home for a long siesta to sleep it off. I took one trip into the city to meet up with Linda and Carlos last Friday at the Cathedral. This involved a bus followed by a 20 minute walk. It is a truly awesome sight ( much bigger than anything I saw in Paris). Next to it is the Giralda tower, which was built in 1150 as a mineret for the mosque which was later built over by the Cathedral. The tower has 34 ramps that you climb up to the top for a view over the city, the ramps were put in so that the muezzin could ride his horse to the top when it was time to make the call to prayer. It takes an effort to climb 35 ramps in 35 degree temps so I might pass this trip. The tower was converted to the belltower for the Cathedral when the Christians regained power. A couple of other photos were taken on short foraging trips, and a bus trip I took to find out where to catch the shuttle to the airport at 6.30 on Saturday morning. I managed with Carlos's help to buy a plastic loadable ten trip bus card and so my bus trips now only cost about $1. Of course I couldn't find out where to buy them, and it turned out that only tobacconists sold them.

Magic mushrooms

the old and the new

Stunning artwork

An unbelievable alice in wonderland sight

from every angle

students playing hackysack football game

Spot the ball?

Impressive cathedral

Massive Cathedral

huge entrances

Giralda Moorish tower/ing over cathedral

Linda and Carlos admiring architecture

Old town walls at Macarena since Roman times

in 1836 a moat constructed to repel invaders.

Old town gate at Macarena

The back of bus station plaza de armas

Christopher Columbus's ship high & dry

300 year old shadetree

Even the horses need shade at 35 degrees

1. calamari and potato curried soup/stew

2. Melt in mouth chunky pork in a tomato gravy

3. double creme caramel/chocolate sauce and cream