Alicante 4th day--the Reason for our Season in Spain

We have been asked by many...why Spain?

and I have to admit it was never on my "dream travel list"
but when our friends, Mike and Claudia Conlan,
from our days at Misawa, Japan AirForce base
emailed an invitation to visit them while Mike was completing his
Spanish language classes "abroad"
how could we pass up this amazing opportunity....
and I am so grateful to them...
because Spain should be on everyone's bucket list!
We took the earliest Aerobus out of Barcelona and flew on Spanair
to Alicante...
when we arrived we stopped at the TI (tourist information) desk--
(such a great feature all over Spain)
we wanted to get a map and to check if the address
we had would be useful to a taxi driver...
the TI worker was really helpful--gave
us a great map, and then when she realized we were
staying with friends who LIVED in Alicante
she gave us an english festival guide.
She then warned us that the taxi might not be able
to get us all the way into town--because of the roads being closed
for the FIRE CRACKER display--
I asked "fireworks" and she corrected me...no Fire crackers!
so she said that we might have to walk to our address...

When we showed the taxi driver,
he said in better english, than our sorry attempts at Spanish,
that he would try...

And he DID IT!! got us right to the front door--
which was so great...because they were living in an area I don't think we
would have been able to walk around and find it!!

Claudia was sitting by the front window, just like she said she'd be..
and called down---"now the fun part of your trip...the four flights of stairs!"
with no air conditioning!!

We unpacked and decided to walk around
while we waited for Mike to get back from classes...

Alicante has a beautiful Paseo Esplanada de Espana

Here is Ron with Claudia...
she looks so European
(and she's actually from Michigan!)

The harbor had a great breeze and view

and you can see the Santa Barbara Castle on the hill

At 1:30 we worked our way back to the Plaza de los Luceros
where the firecracker display was to take place at 2
we found our spot with around a few hundred others and
waited....wondering...what's the big deal with the firecrackers...

The first booms...with their white puffs of smoke

then a few more....

And then BOOM--
it felt like canons going off--
in rapid succession --
you could feel the percussion throughout
your body--
it literally made you shake
The breeze was pushing the smoke and
firecracker debris right into our area...
Along with the booming--
you could see the the fireworks in the now darkened sky
Remember that first photo--
beautiful clear blue sky....
and now the sun had turned red

and the sky was gray--
CRAZY!

And they do this "competition" everyday during the
TEN DAY festival!!
this is how the festival guide describes this event:
"mascleta: the concussive effects of co-ordinated firecracker
and fireworks barrages,
where people catch the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke
and feel the earth shaking beneath their feet"

we just wonder how many heart attacks happen!

When Mike got back from school--
we went out looking at the Fogueras:
which are, "artistic monuments of papier mache,
cardboard and polyurethane built by an artist
over wooden frames and placed in the streets
to be burnt to cinders on June 24th"

Yes, that's right...
It's the----build 'em then burn 'em festival....
we couldn't believe how amazing they were...

here are just a few of the 91 fogueras!!

opps,
not your disney little mermaid!

You can see how tall they are--
some were over 5 stories tall!

close up

The premium foguera is not burned...
so we went in search and found the
Numero Uno foguera..
and here it is...

we don't know what they symbolize ...
some are obviously parodies of the government
(we saw Pres. Obama in effigy)
some have social meanings

and some are just for fun we think!

But they were all so detailed and beautiful

Love this photo of Mike and Claudia...
they were our traveling family who showed us
how to travel "space A" with children
while we were in the Air Force--
Mike retired last year as a Colonel in the AF
(he was a dentist--periodontist)
and now going back to school for his third degree--
Always learning and having new adventures...
my kind of friends!!

the details were amazing...
these girls even had earring and necklaces on!

We ended up down by the City Hall
(the banners strung between buildings are
to provide shade..)

This is the Plaza del Ajuntamento
Which means--Plaza of City Hall--
accurately named!

We were waiting for the parade to begin

so we walked down to the Esplanade again...

The mosaic pattern created such an optical illusion...

Back to the main street for the Ofrenda de flores procession--
a parade where flowers are offered to the patron Saint of Alicante
Everyone was wearing traditional dress and they carried
flower bouquets that they place in the Square by the Cathedral

It was a VERY hot day and the parade didn't start until
8 pm and by the looks of some of the children's faces
they had been dressed up way toooooooo long!!

The parade lasted over TWO hours!!
Afterwards everyone went out to dinner...yes at 10 pm
we had a great meal at a Greek restaurant

And by midnight we were hiking our way back to the
apartment...while the party played on!!

Barcelona--Day Three--Gaudi and more Gaudi

Did you think we had enough Gaudi ....never,

Today we went in search of the Block of Discord
(or as Ron called it the "Street of Chaos")
named such because of the competing architecture of the
residences on this block--
each architect appearing to try to "outdo" the other:
The first house on the block:
Casa Batllo:

We took the metro again--we are pros now!
and came out right in front of Casa Batllo--

This was a residence that Gaudi based on the
popular legend of St. George the dragon slayer
(you can visualize the dragon when you see the scales on the roof)

This fireplace in the entrance hall has two built in benches--
one side was for a courting couple and the
other side was for their chaperon!!
built by Gaudi

This is the ceiling and chandelier in one of the rooms....

One of the cool glass doors...Don't you love this photo...
Ron in his fedora and the boy in his do-rag!!
(both totally engrossed in the narrative!)

This is the back of the building--
we loved all the whimsical iron-work mixed with mosaic tiles

Out on the terrace were glass sculptures, mosaic design,
and custom flower pots

close-up of tile mosaics and iron balcony from the back terrace

One of the inside windows and balconies
nice living space!!

In the attic, more of his amazing parabolic arches

And more of Gaudi's famous chimneys

The next photos show the detail of the
dragon spine on the rooftop

Gaudi's residences were always built around an
interior courtyard--
this was covered in amazing blue/green tiles

Here is Gaudi himself waving goodbye
as you exit his creation...

The balconies are said to resemble skulls or masks
depending on your interpretation

The house on the corner is Casa Lleo Morera
designed by Lluis Domenech i Muntaner
and it now has commercial business inside so we didn't tour it

This is the back of the building taken from
Casa Batllo's back terrace

Next door to Casa Batllo is Casa Amatller
designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch

The back view as seen from Casa Batllo's terrrace

We just step inside to view the elaborate entrance hallIt looked like it would have been
a fun block to have lived in back in the late 19th century
Modernista Mansions with personalities!!

Enough Gaudi......oh no, not for us...

We had read about Gaudi's 30 acres planned community
that was to have 60 residences-- a kind of gated community--
but the idea was about 100 years ahead of it's time--
the fashionable ladies of the day didn't want to live so far from
the "cultural action" so only 3 houses were built--
and now it is a FREE park to the citizens of Barcelona...amazing...
and no graffiti or trash anywhere...really!

But to get to Parc Guell we had to take the metro...



and catch bus # 24 at Gran de Gracia

to arrived at this awesome park....
don't you love the stone palm trees

here's the front entrance--with the two gingerbread gate houses

This is used now to display Gaudi's design plans

This is now the bookshop

Main staircase of Parc Guell

The famous ceramic dragon fountain

A serpent's head on the
Catalan flag fountain

Hall of 100 Columns designed to house a
produce market for the residences--
the fun columns--each different--
made from concrete and re-bar,
topped with colorful ceramic
and studded with broken bottles and "bric-a-brac"

The view of the city and the Mediterranean Sea

The serpentine bench--designed to fit your body ergonomically

Taking the upper pathway

Just couldn't stop admiring the view...
you can see the large square of the park in the foreground

The mid-way viaduct with it's grotto-like ceilingUpper viaduct--

Built in chairs

The slanting columns were amazing

Can you imagine creating this in your mind...
and then finding the artists to build your dreams...

Some of the plants --
which of course had to be as funky as the park!

Now, in the spirit of keeping it real I have to admit that our trip
back was not as effortless as getting there--
we had read that we could take bus # 92 for a more scenic route and
return to Sagrada Familia, where we knew the metro system--
so we decided to try it--
what we didn't know was number 1: the bus #92 reader board was not working
number 2: the driver did not call out the stops--
number 3: the names of the stops could not be seen from inside the bus...
(not a good combination)
as you can probably figure out....we missed our stop--
asked the driver--and were told "back there"
so at the next stop we got off--
had to walk to the corner to see the street names
(which are embedded on tile high up on the corners of the building)
found the street on our maps...located the nearest metro system
walked the three blocks--took an elevator down and
"metro-ed" back to Placa de Catalunya
all without arguing....really...it was actually kind of fun to get lost!!

When we got back to our hotel it was after 7 pm--
we did our nightly email check and send
(free wi-fi in the lobby but not in the room--and
yes, we are cheap and used only free wi-fi!)

we showered and changed
(it had been a hot, sweaty day...TMI?)

We strolled down Ramblas to the
market, La Boqueria

Where they sold everything from candy....

To every animal part you could or would not want to imagine...
Here are the famous black feet jamon (ham)

Back out in the clean air of Ramblas and the flower stands
Just had to show the narrow streets of Barri GoticHad dinner back in Placa Reial--
tried a different restaurant...

Ron had the lobster paella

I had the grilled prawns--
but having to remove the shells--
and de-head and de-vein them was
way too much work

This restaurant was more expensive than the previous night
and the food was just ok--

So we didn't get dessert there...
We went to our favorite crepe shop
but decided on getting a waffle with catalan cream

and take it back to the Cathedral Square

To eat and savor our last night in Barcelona
We are so glad that we get to return before we fly home...
there is still one more Gaudi mansion to see.....

but first onto Alicante to see our good friends and the burning festival
that you won't believe...really