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The great 2007 travel... never mind
Justiceiro
Registered Users Posts: 1,177 Major grins
I usually reserve two weeks out of the year to go somewhere off the beaten path and take pictures lke a madman.
However, I am married to a woman far better than I deserve, despite the fact that she is European (it's really not her fault), and I must occasionally suck it up to go and spend my vacation with a Familia in rural Portugal.
This is, in of itself, not so bad. Portugal, for those of you who haven't been there, is a terribly photogenic country. Really beautiful.
I am, however, quite disappointed with my photographic output. A vile combination of bad timing, bad weather, and family traditions prevented me from getting the shots that I wanted. I basically wanted 3 shots from this trip: Gibraltar ar Sunset, The Great Mosque of Cordova, and the Torre de Belem in Lisbon. We were traveling with an 84 year old Grandfather, so we couldn't stay overnight in Gibraltar (I can't really complain about that, after all, I imagine I will have more opportunities in the future to see Gibraltar than he will, although the spry old guy does go clamming for hours basically every day, and could likely kick my ass if necessary). We didn't even get to Cordoba. And Lisbon had beautiful clear weather, except for the pea soup fog on the river, where one literally couldn't see the hand in fron of your face. the fog lasted all day. That's where the Torre de Belem is. Crap. Also, it rained up in the North all the second week. The gods were against me, it seems.
Nevertheless, here are a few.
Week 1- The Algarve and Andalucia
Ms. Justi's mother is from a town in the south called "Olhão" which comes from the Arabic Al-Hain. It also happens to mean "huge eyeball" I believe. Not Al-hain, the Olhão part.
Olhão is the last major city in the Algarve that doesn't have much to do with tourism. People still make their living off of fishing. You will find the Brits there, but not in the numbers you see in Albufeira or Portimao. Sadly, an Indian restaurant with a Sikh proprieter has opened up, and that means that the English stampede cannot be far behind. I counsel you to see it while you can.
I haven't actually processed any of these shots but I will add them later.
From Olhão we set off for Gibraltar and Cadiz.
the weather was perfect, the city beautiful. Cadiz, originally founded by the pheonicians as "Gadir" (which is punic for "fortress") in 1100 BC, is the most Ancient still standing city in Western Europe. It's also quite small, compact, and entirely manageable. Essentially Cadiz is a peninsula which is entirely urbanized, guarded by high walls, with some impressive fortresses.
Cadiz City hall
There are a number of relatively cheap (50 euros or less) little hotels of the generally charming but decrepit sort one finds in Europe. We stayed near the City hall, at the Plaza of San Juan de Dios. It's very near the city walls of old Cadiz.
I would hazard a guess that old Cadiz is about 1 1/2 miles long, and perhaps 1/3 of a mile wide. It's pretty small. The whole city is 12 square kilometers, including the new town.
We walked east towards the end of the peninsula, towards the cathedral and the bishops palace.
Bishop's Palace
the Cathedral from the back
the cathedral from the front
They wanted something like 5 Euros to enter the church. I don't mind paying to enter museums or suchlike, but I have a deep conviction that the Vatican doesn't need my 5 euros to keep body and soul together, and the idea of a compulsory "donation" to enter a house of God offends my protestant soul, so I simply bashed the attendant over the head with my copy of "Fox's book of martyrs.... OK, actually, I didn't go into the pay section, nor did I molest the attendant with a violent counter-counter-reformation. 5 euros is a lot of money these days. I did manage a snap or two from inside.
From there we walked over to the city market. unfortunately, the 18th century building the market is normally in is being rehabbed, but the market is still lively in its temporary quarters next door.
Jamon, awww yeah
fish and fish eggs- mmmmmm
Squids. these are definitely good
rooftops of Cadiz
at the far end of the islands, you come to the bay within a bay (which made this spot so attractive the The Pheonicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Moors, and Spanish as a Naval base) which is protected by two fortresses, built in the 16th century after the city was sacked by English and Dutch pirates. Most cities on the southern coast of Spain and Portugal have been sacked by English pirates at some point. Albufeira, one might argue, continues to be sacked by them every summer, in a metaphorical sense. And occasionally literal as well, depending on how the UEFA cup is going.
fishermen
the San Sebastian fort
It was low tide on Sunday and the bay was carpeted with boats.
From Cadiz we drove of the the Rock of Gibraltar. It's been English since the Spanish cede sovreignty in Perpetuity in 1713, almost 300 years ago. the Spanish, having solved all other problems in Spain, have now made this a major bone of contention, demanding the return of Gibraltar. The UK actually likes this idea because, let's face it, the Empire is gone and The Rock is expensive to maintain. Rgular Gibraltarians, however, furiously oppose this. Despite the fact that the local language, Llanito, is an
Andalusian Spanish creole. This means it sounds vaguely like what they speak in your local Bodega, except it is totally incomprehensible. Fortunately they all speak cockney as well.
Spain closed the border between Gibralter and the mainland during the Franco years, isolating the Gibraltarians and causing economic hardship. After the fall of the Franco regime the UK sought to "decolonize" Gibralter, but this was vigorously rejected by the actual Llanitos themselves, who had grown quite bitter about their treatment by Spain. Re-integration into Spain was rejected in an initial referendum by 12,138 to 44. Nevertheless, Spain considers officially that self-determination is not legitimate in this case, and that "territorial integrity" should be the overriding principal.
I must confess my Anti-Spanish bias in this. Partly because I am Anglophone and am married to a Portuguese. Also, I was served moldy cake by a rude waiter in Andalusia.
I find the Spanish state's position to be ominous and strange. Spain has made no attempt to win over the Llanitos, and in fact continues to maintain an illegal border crossing that is a violation oft EU law. Leaving the rock takes approximately three hours, all of it waiting in line for the deliberately slow border guards. This has hardened the Llanito resolve never to agree to their handover to Spanish authority. It certainly didn't make me feel friendly towards Spain. And, ultimately, I distrust any theory that predicates the right to govern on anything other than the consent of the governed. IN YO FACE SPAIN! BOO YAH! DON'T EVER SERVE ME MOLDY CAKE AGAIN!
Anyway, we drove up to the top of the rock, which was scary.
The entire side of the rock is a giant fortress of caves. I can see why, in 13 sieges , neither the Spanish, French, Italians, or Germans were ever able to capture it.
If you look close, you can see the tiny houses at the bottom of the cliff
Gibraltar also has the last collection of Monkeys (actually barbary apes) in Europe. Despite the warning signs requesting you not to feed them, they clearly expect french fries, and will sit on your car mirror and demand them. Do not anger the monkeys.
More later.
However, I am married to a woman far better than I deserve, despite the fact that she is European (it's really not her fault), and I must occasionally suck it up to go and spend my vacation with a Familia in rural Portugal.
This is, in of itself, not so bad. Portugal, for those of you who haven't been there, is a terribly photogenic country. Really beautiful.
I am, however, quite disappointed with my photographic output. A vile combination of bad timing, bad weather, and family traditions prevented me from getting the shots that I wanted. I basically wanted 3 shots from this trip: Gibraltar ar Sunset, The Great Mosque of Cordova, and the Torre de Belem in Lisbon. We were traveling with an 84 year old Grandfather, so we couldn't stay overnight in Gibraltar (I can't really complain about that, after all, I imagine I will have more opportunities in the future to see Gibraltar than he will, although the spry old guy does go clamming for hours basically every day, and could likely kick my ass if necessary). We didn't even get to Cordoba. And Lisbon had beautiful clear weather, except for the pea soup fog on the river, where one literally couldn't see the hand in fron of your face. the fog lasted all day. That's where the Torre de Belem is. Crap. Also, it rained up in the North all the second week. The gods were against me, it seems.
Nevertheless, here are a few.
Week 1- The Algarve and Andalucia
Ms. Justi's mother is from a town in the south called "Olhão" which comes from the Arabic Al-Hain. It also happens to mean "huge eyeball" I believe. Not Al-hain, the Olhão part.
Olhão is the last major city in the Algarve that doesn't have much to do with tourism. People still make their living off of fishing. You will find the Brits there, but not in the numbers you see in Albufeira or Portimao. Sadly, an Indian restaurant with a Sikh proprieter has opened up, and that means that the English stampede cannot be far behind. I counsel you to see it while you can.
I haven't actually processed any of these shots but I will add them later.
From Olhão we set off for Gibraltar and Cadiz.
the weather was perfect, the city beautiful. Cadiz, originally founded by the pheonicians as "Gadir" (which is punic for "fortress") in 1100 BC, is the most Ancient still standing city in Western Europe. It's also quite small, compact, and entirely manageable. Essentially Cadiz is a peninsula which is entirely urbanized, guarded by high walls, with some impressive fortresses.
Cadiz City hall
There are a number of relatively cheap (50 euros or less) little hotels of the generally charming but decrepit sort one finds in Europe. We stayed near the City hall, at the Plaza of San Juan de Dios. It's very near the city walls of old Cadiz.
I would hazard a guess that old Cadiz is about 1 1/2 miles long, and perhaps 1/3 of a mile wide. It's pretty small. The whole city is 12 square kilometers, including the new town.
We walked east towards the end of the peninsula, towards the cathedral and the bishops palace.
Bishop's Palace
the Cathedral from the back
the cathedral from the front
They wanted something like 5 Euros to enter the church. I don't mind paying to enter museums or suchlike, but I have a deep conviction that the Vatican doesn't need my 5 euros to keep body and soul together, and the idea of a compulsory "donation" to enter a house of God offends my protestant soul, so I simply bashed the attendant over the head with my copy of "Fox's book of martyrs.... OK, actually, I didn't go into the pay section, nor did I molest the attendant with a violent counter-counter-reformation. 5 euros is a lot of money these days. I did manage a snap or two from inside.
From there we walked over to the city market. unfortunately, the 18th century building the market is normally in is being rehabbed, but the market is still lively in its temporary quarters next door.
Jamon, awww yeah
fish and fish eggs- mmmmmm
Squids. these are definitely good
rooftops of Cadiz
at the far end of the islands, you come to the bay within a bay (which made this spot so attractive the The Pheonicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Moors, and Spanish as a Naval base) which is protected by two fortresses, built in the 16th century after the city was sacked by English and Dutch pirates. Most cities on the southern coast of Spain and Portugal have been sacked by English pirates at some point. Albufeira, one might argue, continues to be sacked by them every summer, in a metaphorical sense. And occasionally literal as well, depending on how the UEFA cup is going.
fishermen
the San Sebastian fort
It was low tide on Sunday and the bay was carpeted with boats.
From Cadiz we drove of the the Rock of Gibraltar. It's been English since the Spanish cede sovreignty in Perpetuity in 1713, almost 300 years ago. the Spanish, having solved all other problems in Spain, have now made this a major bone of contention, demanding the return of Gibraltar. The UK actually likes this idea because, let's face it, the Empire is gone and The Rock is expensive to maintain. Rgular Gibraltarians, however, furiously oppose this. Despite the fact that the local language, Llanito, is an
Andalusian Spanish creole. This means it sounds vaguely like what they speak in your local Bodega, except it is totally incomprehensible. Fortunately they all speak cockney as well.
Spain closed the border between Gibralter and the mainland during the Franco years, isolating the Gibraltarians and causing economic hardship. After the fall of the Franco regime the UK sought to "decolonize" Gibralter, but this was vigorously rejected by the actual Llanitos themselves, who had grown quite bitter about their treatment by Spain. Re-integration into Spain was rejected in an initial referendum by 12,138 to 44. Nevertheless, Spain considers officially that self-determination is not legitimate in this case, and that "territorial integrity" should be the overriding principal.
I must confess my Anti-Spanish bias in this. Partly because I am Anglophone and am married to a Portuguese. Also, I was served moldy cake by a rude waiter in Andalusia.
I find the Spanish state's position to be ominous and strange. Spain has made no attempt to win over the Llanitos, and in fact continues to maintain an illegal border crossing that is a violation oft EU law. Leaving the rock takes approximately three hours, all of it waiting in line for the deliberately slow border guards. This has hardened the Llanito resolve never to agree to their handover to Spanish authority. It certainly didn't make me feel friendly towards Spain. And, ultimately, I distrust any theory that predicates the right to govern on anything other than the consent of the governed. IN YO FACE SPAIN! BOO YAH! DON'T EVER SERVE ME MOLDY CAKE AGAIN!
Anyway, we drove up to the top of the rock, which was scary.
The entire side of the rock is a giant fortress of caves. I can see why, in 13 sieges , neither the Spanish, French, Italians, or Germans were ever able to capture it.
If you look close, you can see the tiny houses at the bottom of the cliff
Gibraltar also has the last collection of Monkeys (actually barbary apes) in Europe. Despite the warning signs requesting you not to feed them, they clearly expect french fries, and will sit on your car mirror and demand them. Do not anger the monkeys.
More later.
Cave ab homine unius libri
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Comments
Obrigado, amigo mio!
Eric
It's better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you're not.
http://photosbyeric.smugmug.com
Nice photos. This area I too have been lucky to have toured twice in the last two years via cruise ship. While not as popular as Italy or France, certainly a great area to visit and very photogenic. If you are in that area, Malaga (Mijas Village) and Valencia's Market are also worth a visit and of couse in Spain, in Grenada, the Alhambra is a wonderful way to spend a day.
Flash Frozen Photography, Inc.
http://flashfrozenphotography.com
Moldy cake, 84-year old grandpas, and church-venue book smackings. That does sound like a vacation of the Justi variety.
I'm looking forward to seeing more from ya. Quelle suprise!
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
To be fair Javier, my wife IS Portuguese, and occasionally reads these threads, so I have a certain minimum obligatory level of Spain Bashing that I must, by law, engage in annually. Just working of the quota man!
http://www.jonathanswinton.com
http://www.swintoncounseling.com
I have a similar obligation, but to the people of Trinidad and Tobago who so graciously gave my wife's family to the United States for safe keeping. I'm with ya!
thanks for sharing
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