Beaches, Bulls and Castles

Christine and I spent a couple of lovely nights camping at this fantastic campground in the Sierra Nevada mountains. We managed to get a spot on a cliffs edge looking up to the mountains and down to a beautiful river. Our reason for camping in the Sierra Nevada mountains was that it was closely located to Grenada and the Alhambra, a town and site that we spent some time exploring. (Left - the view from our campsite)

The Alhambra was a beautiful site to see. It is a series of 3 castles, a church and some very amazing gardens, with a view over the city. We spent about half a day wandering through the various sites, ending with the main castle that you had to make an appointment at least a day in advance to visit. While waiting in line in the heat we made friends with a Spanish mother and daughter who saw we were very hot and lent us their fan. Neither spoke English, but the mother kept on chatting away with us. The only part I understood was when the daughter clearly told her that we didn't really speak that much Spanish. The mother smiled, and just kept on talking. It was a cute moment. (Right - inside the Alhambra Palace)

The castle was quite stunning and really showed the Moorish roots that were it's foundation. The walls were covered in amazing fresco's and intricate carvings and you can still see the Arabic writings etched into the walls. There is one spot with a long waterway inside the castle that is a fairly famous picture, and I would bet that most of you have seen it at one point or another.

One night in Grenada we went out to dinner and a Flamenco show. It is amazing how fast they can move and the feet work like a frenetic tap dance, but the rest of the body is also very engaged in the dance. The man who was dancing had a very stoic expression on his face. The man was raw power and speed, but the women was amazingly fluid and graceful. The musicians were also quite good, and it made for a very entertaining evening. (Left - the beautiful Flamenco dancer)

We then needed to cover some significant distance across Spain as we start our way to Southern France. We drove for most of a day and randomly chose a little town called Peniscola to camp in for one night. It turns out that Peniscola is like Penticton in the summer, a beach strip with tons of hotels and camping. We only had a short evening before taking off the next day, but it was nice to walk along the beach and see the sights. There were a lot of men selling knock-off goods along the boardwalk and they seemed evening more organized than the guys in New York. The cops were constantly patrolling up and down the beach, so they were lightening quick at packing up their wares and then setting up again as soon as the cop had passed. (Right - the beach and town of Peniscola).

After leaving Peniscola we headed north to a town called Cardona and a portion of Spain that we were very excited about. David, a colleague of Christine's had tipped us off about things called Paradores, which are old buildings converted into hotels (castles, monasteries, other buildings of note). Since I can't afford to buy Christine a castle, the least I could do is get us a place to stay for a few nights. The reason we chose Cardona is that there are only 15 castles among the Paradores and only 2 along our way out of Spain. We looked into both, but only Cardona would give us the under 35 special rate with a free breakfast buffet included, the other one was 3 times the price without it. The other castle looked cooler on-line, so we were a bit disappointed, but would have to make do with our second choice castle :) (Left - the castle we stayed in)

When we arrived we saw this amazing castle sitting way atop a hill with the village and valley well below. The image was quite stunning and way better than what we saw online. The room was very nice, with great beds and awesome showers, made all the better after so much camping. It also happens that we stumbled across the 3 day festival of the village and the region of Spain, so it was pretty much party time around here.

The first night we arrived we were treated to an amazing thunder and lightning show, which are a bit of a rarity in Victoria. It carried on for hours and we enjoyed it from our perch in the castle atop the mountain. The next morning we got up and enjoyed our first hot breakfast in 3 weeks, it was incredibly good. We then ventured off for some trekking through the villages. As the visiting royalty from the castle, we thought it important to see how our crops were doing. (Left - a shepherd herding his sheep in the countryside of Cardona).

Then heading into town we discovered that there was a show happening in the evening, involving bulls, but not a bullfight. We bought our tickets and followed the directions of the lady who spoke no English and our limited Spanish translation wasn't stupendous. We went down where they were of-loading a bull from a truck in a cart. Tons of villagers were around taking pictures, so we did like-wise. Then they hitched a massive clidesdale horse to the cart to pull it to the arena that gets built annually in the town square for this event. Christine and I weren't paying close attention, but all of sudden the villagers started jogging away from the horse and cart, and then they started flat out running, then the police started running, so we figured something was going on and started running too. We heard the horse take off and start thundering down the street (now this is not a very wide street). Christine and I ran about two thirds of the way up the street and then ducked into an alcove as the horse and cart went shipping by us. This is Cardona's annual tradition that is a mild version of running with the bulls and I tell you it had our hearts pumping. (Right - the village people waiting for the horse to pull the bull up the road - the bull is in the grey metal container and it was mad!).

We then took our seats in the arena to watch as a couple of hundred brace young and old men and a couple of women took their place in the arena. Then they let in the bull to start chasing the people around. Most people had ropes to climb the wall when the bull got close, and a few corners had some protective walls. The brave young men and amateur matadors would head to the middle of the arena and taunt the bull to show off their manliness. In total 6 bulls were brought out to take their turn, and each bull got at least one, if not 2 men and threw them around a bit. In the end nobody was seriously injured and the bulls were never hurt, so it was a rather entertaining moment. One of the highlights was when a bull managed to get into one of the corners by squeezing between the gratings designed to be big enough for a man. There were about 10 people in there that came piling out as soon as the bull got through. There was also this old gentleman who was probably once a matador and he showed up all the young bucks. (Right - the bull being released from the cage. Left - the matador and the bull)

In the evening back at our hotel we decided to go for some dessert and tea in the lounge when we were told there was a fireworks show. Heading outside we quickly realized that the show was for the entire valley and it was being done from the highest point, the castle. The fireworks display was one of the best that either of us had ever seen. It was made better by the fact we were right next to where they were shot off. The noise of the rockets was deafening and it was beautiful to see them explode right over our heads and shower down towards us. The safety regulations here are a bit more lax then in Canada. We could feel the whoosh of the air as some of the closer rockets took off and more than once some debris from the exploded casing fell on me. It made the experience just a bit more intense.

All in all our time at the castle was absolutely fantastic. Though it may have been our second choice originally, we were very fortunate and blessed that this is where we ended up staying.

Now sadly we must leave, but we are off to Andorra. If we stayed in this place for too long, our vacation would have to go from 4 months to 1, even with the special discount we got.

Our very best to all of you.

Christine and Hovan