That's All, Folks!

Caught My Eye

How the Hell Did I End Up in This Lion Costume?

I must have really had a lot to drink last night.

I Think I Just Fell in Love

 ...with Fra Angelico. 

I had heard of him, maybe seen a few of his paintings here and there, but he'd made no impression on me. That changed a few days ago.

In a small room at the Thyssen, Fra Angelico's The Virgin of Humility was on display, isolated from all other works, and it just knocked me out. 

I'm sure my photo does it no justice, and I have no confidence in my ability to express why I found this work transcendent. I don't usually respond so emotionally to religious art! Words that come to mind include purity, clarity, serenity, and radiance. And the color!

Much of its impact, I'm sure, comes from the fact that it was recently subjected to extensive renovation. Near the painting, there was a six-minute video about that process, and I found it online (with English subtitles). It really added to my appreciation of the painting.

Fra Angelico -- the Angelic Friar -- painted like an angel. No, make that an archangel.

On a Wall In the Hallway Outside Our Airbnb in Madrid

I'm going to guess that the switch underneath this paper and tape does not turn on a light. 

I'll go farther: On one occasion at least, a visitor to the building has assumed that it did turn on a light, and therefore pushed it, and caused something undesirable to happen.

Just to be perverse, I gave it a good whack. The entire building collapsed around me.

Candy, Spanish-Style

 

Picasso's Guernica

Yeah, it resides at the Reina Sofía. Yeah, it's pretty great. I guess. I probably would have taken a photo if there hadn't been so many people standing in front of it.

After the jump, a poem I wrote some time ago based on the painting.

The Rape of Europa by Simon Vouet (1840)

At the Thyssen in Madrid.

See the expression on the face of the bull (Zeus in disguise)?

It's leering!

Three Big Museums in Three Days

I admit I'm a bit museumed-out. 

On our first day in Madrid, we visited the Museo Reina Sofia, which specializes in modern and contemporary art. I found the quality of the works on display mediocre; maybe I was just in a bad mood, but despite spending more than three hours there, I took no photos.

(I should mention in passing that Picasso's Guernica is housed at the Museo Reina Sofia. Stay tuned for a separate post on that topic.)

I Understand El Greco Better Now

We parted with Michele and Tom a few days ago. They dropped us off in Toledo, which is famous for two things: its steel (used most notably, in violent days of yesteryear, for the production of swords and knives; and being the home base of El Greco.

At the El Greco museum in Toledo, we saw the following image of Saint Matthew:

And Karen said, "That's not a hand."

Cheese Museum

When we heard there was a cheese museum in Manzanares, we knew we had to make a detour to see it.

Jewish Quarter, Toledo

Most if not all of the old towns and cities we've visited have had Jewish quarters. These were mostly vacated after 1492, the momentous year when Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille 

• united their kingdoms, thus founding what became the nation of Spain;
  
• commissioned the first voyage of Columbus;
  
• expelled the Spanish Jews who had refused to convert to Christianity -- Juden raus!

Toledo does a better job than any other Spanish city of commemorating its Jewish heritage. Photos after the jump.

Smart Escalator

When the video begins, notice the relative speeds of the two sides. On the left, coming down, the treads move faster than on the right.

When Karen steps aboard, the treads on the right speed up to match the treads on the left. The intent is to save energy until needed; Michele says there are lots of these escalators in Europe.

Last Night We All Took a Bath Together

A traditional Arab bath, that is, in Córdoba. 

I didn't take any photos, so I will regale my readers with this image by the 19th-century Orientalist painter par excellence, Jean-Léon Gérôme:

Description of the experience after the jump.

Second Most Original Museum in the World

That's how the Museo Cromática in Toledo bills itself. (It does not mention which museum won the blue ribbon.)

It is indeed pretty unusual. 

Fish and Chips

Eels are fish, you know, even though they look like worms. These are little bitty baby eels.

In Bilbao I ate a bowl of them without knowing what they were. Now, looking back, I feel a little ill... But why should I? Eels are just fish, even though they look like worms.

Church Inside Mosque Atop Ruins of Church

Maybe a bit like turducken?

The Mosque/Cathedral of Córdoba is yet another architectural wonder of Spain. And yet another example of Christians not destroying (though adapting) but admiring something that Muslims built.

Sometimes I Look at a Baroque Religious Object

...and think, If only they could have put a little more time, effort, and money into it.

I Did Not Know That

Probably the High Point of Our Trip

We got into a taxi. The taxi driver asked, "Alhambra?"

Yeah. If you're a tourist in Granada, you've almost certainly come to see the Alhambra.

In a recent post I asserted that "The Alcazar in Seville is surely one of the most beautiful buildings in the world."

And so it is. But the Alhambra tops it.

I'm going to give you one little taste right here; the rest will come after the jump.

Spanish Doorknobs

This is where they're typically positioned on residential doors. I want to move them just a little closer to the lock/latch. 

Caught My Eye

Ashes of Orson Welles

They're in Ronda, Spain. At the bottom of a dry well. Welles in a well. 

Apparently he expressed no wishes regarding his final resting place; his family chose Ronda.

New Bridge, Constructed in 1793

Ronda has become a major tourist attraction due to its setting. It is split by a gorge, with half the town on one side, the other half on the other, with the two halves connected by three bridges.

The so-called New Bridge affords the most spectacular views.

Practicing for the Procession

These young people are learning how to move in unison. 

During the Holy Week procession, there will be an icon on the platform over their heads, and it will likely be extremely heavy. The sides of the platform will be draped so that most of those underneath won't be able to see a thing.

The The Palace

Alcázar is one of those words derived from Arabic in which the Al at the beginning signifies "the." Cázar is an Arabic word meaning fort or castle or palace. I'm going to go with "palace" for this particular alcazar in Seville because that's the main vibe of the joint. Thus "The The Palace."

Islamic, right? Not exactly.

Something Is Missing

 ...now that we're in the south of Spain. They were so common up north, we hardly noticed them after a while, even though they made quite an impression at first. 

Can you see them in this photo?

In case you can't, I'll give you an enlargement after the jump.

Seville Cathedral

I'll be honest: I had tired of visiting churches, convents, etc. Then we took a tour of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the See in Seville. 

It's a monster, the world's biggest Gothic cathedral and third-biggest cathedral by volume of any kind. And it's elaborately beautiful, both inside and out. 

I don't like to dump a bunch of photos on my readers. This time, after the jump, I'm going to do it anyway.

Roman Ruins

The city of Mérida is notable for what the Romans left behind there. I was disappointed by the theater and the amphitheater -- too much modern reconstruction. I did like the remains of the aqueduct.

My favorite thing about Mérida, though, was some beautiful yellow lichen on bricks.

Alfred Hitchcock in Trujillo

"I look up...I look down. I look up...I look --"

In Hitchcock's Vertigo, while attempting to overcome the title condition (which amounts, in that movie, to fear of heights), the Jimmy Stewart character says these words to himself. The idea is that looking up and looking down are simple actions; there's no need to panic, no matter how high up you are.

Karen and I were saying these words to each other as we walked the ramparts of the castle of Trujillo (another Game of Thrones location). 

Camouflage Confessionals

 

Cáceres

Before this trip, I was familiar with Alex Caceres, a UFC fighter who goes by the delightfully silly nickname of "Bruce Leeroy." I had never heard of the town of Cáceres, Spain.

Do you recognize this setting from Game of Thrones?I didn't, but the town wants everybody to know that several scenes were filmed locally.

We spent a couple of days in Cáceres. Like Salamanca, the old part is built on a hill; the streets and alleys are narrow and steep. My left knee started to complain.

A Photo I Wasn't Supposed to Take

The Palacio de los Golfines de Arriba in Cáceres does not allow photography, which I did not realize until after I had taken the following photo:

As soon as I saw this porcelain sculpture, I thought of the Veiled Lady at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Same idea, but this one doesn't work nearly as well.

As the link notes, with the Veiled Lady, the marble has two different finishes: matte where the veil falls across the face, smooth for the rest of the head. This creates a trompe-l'oeil effect which isn't possible with porcelain. (I suppose one could have roughened up some of the finish on the porcelain in the same way as the marble, but one didn't.)

Later at this same museum I saw a painting I wanted to take a picture of, but didn't because it was forbidden. It showed Jesus and St. Francis side by side, connected by what looked like strings of goo; St. Francis appeared to be manipulating Jesus as if He were a marionette. I thought, "Huh?"

Goya at the Museum of Contemporary Art Helga de Alvear

(Like the prints I saw in Bilbao, these were behind glass that gave off too many reflections; therefore I'm using public domain illustrations from Wikipedia.)

This little art museum in Cáceres has the complete Los Caprichos. As I said when discussing Los Disparates in Bilbao, wow. #43 in the series is the most famous print Goya ever made:

Spanish Cement Mixer

Tom tells me that many Western European homeowners own their own cement mixers because they often have to do masonry repair on their houses.

Statue of Hooded Penitents

This gives me the opportunity to tell a true story in which I appear foolish.

A Piece of Bread Resembling a Shark

 

I swear I didn't carve out the eyehole. It came to the table like that.

Museum of Contemporary Art Helga de Alvear, Cáceres

At the foot of this staircase:

This artwork:

(The flickering isn't there in the actual piece. Video artifact.)

Sometimes Works of Art Are Just Plain Fun

Echo Activity. By a contemporary Danish artist named Olafur Eliasson. At the Museum of Contemporary Art Helga de Alvear in Cáceres.

It occupies an entire room. After the jump, a ten-second video showing how the room is set up.

What Is This Object?

The groove that splits the top? The metal collar around the neck with a little ring attached? Positioned so close to a wall without being part of the wall?

WHAT IS IT?!?

I Am Known in My Family

 ...for taking photos of lichen. Here is a photo of lichen growing on a typical Spanish tiled roof.

Trying to Get Young People into the Church