Dope Art I have seen- Huevo de Colón

This is the Huevo de Colón (aka Egg of Columbus) and can be found in Sevilla Spain. It was built for the 1992 Expo by Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli and more info can be found here.  It is an oddly large sculpture way outside of the main town center, but is dope.  This link will take you to a few more pictures we took while viewing this mammoth statue.

Cordoba

Cordoba was my favorite place that we have traveled thus far, and the blame for that rests on the Mezquita. This was a mosque that was converted into a Cathedral after the reconquest. The theme of Roman Conquest to Islamic rule to the Catholic resurrection runs rampant all of over Spain, thus creating a intriguing fusion of the elements of the various culture, especially in terms of the architecture and ornamentation. The Mezquita was the closest thing to the Vatican that I have ever scene, while at the same time retaining a large portion of the Islamic arches and strucutes in the building itself. It was the extreme end of over ornamentation I have ever bared witness too: ten foot tall gold and silver shrines, gem encrusted crosses, gold depictions of Christ’s death, and an absolutely amazing chapel area. It has some pretty stained glass too. The above pic is of that 10 foot tall shrine and below some of the chill glass.

We also went to a killer tea house near the Mezquita, where we indulged in a pot of “A thousand and one nights,” rested on a some soft pillows, and absorbed the Islamic aura of the tea house. It was one of my favorite things I have done since being in Spain.

Processional on the Way Home

So, Tiff and I just got done hanging out in Ronda. We just got off a two hour bus ride, went to the store and were on our way home. Two blocks from our house, we run into one the Processionals that Roman-Catholics (especially Sevilla Roman-Catholics) love to hold. The video above was taken on the road that we live on, less than two blocks from our house.

Ronda

On Oct 13th we went to Ronda. It is a small 40ish thousand person town tucked away in the hill between Sevilla and the sea. The ride up was gorgeous, with groves of olive trees and rolling hills. As we got with in 30 minutes of the city, we started an uphill climb. It reminded me of rolling up Old Fort Mountain when you come up I-40 West (can you tell I am getting home sick). The landscape here has less foliage than the Appalachians and no evergreens.

The town was gorgeous. The town is divided into two parts by a huge, and I mean huge gorge. The old city is on one side of the cliffs, the others side housed the newer part of the city. An 18th Century bridge connects the two sides, and it is over a football field to the bottom of the gorge. During the Spanish Civil War, political prisoners were thrown off of the bridge, first being told that if they survived the fall, they would be free. The city itself is the stereotypical, picture perfect ideal of a Mediterranean City with glowing white houses, cobblestone streets, big huge churches, and a heavy influence of Islamic architecture.

The main sites that we visited were "La Casa del Rey Moro" aka House of the Moorish King, the bullring of Ronda, and the Mondragon Palace. The House of the Moorish King was tour of the mine and the gardens. The mine went 60 meters down spiraling stone steps to a well/pond that the kings servants brought water from up to the house itself. The garden part was pretty and girly and a garden (look at the photos, if it doesn't have a story about people being thrown to there deaths about it, I am not going to spend much time describing it).

In terms of the bull ring, we just hung out on the exterior of it and it had a cool bull statue. It is one of the most historic and largest bullrings in Spain, and word has it that it is every bullfighters dream to fight in this excessively large and dangerous ring. I took the picture of the bulls ass, Tiffany said I could take it as long as I mentioned that it was my idea.

The Mondragon Palace was a cool museum of Ronda's history. It dates back to the 13th century itself, and it houses artifacts from Roman times, through the Islamic rule of the city, up till the Spanish Civil War. The house had some cool rooms, tiles, fountains and gardens.

The Bridge was by far the coolest part, as was the views off of the various cliffs. After spending all day there, we hopped on a bus back to Sevilla and enjoyed (aka slept) the rest of our weekend (away).

And I be slow at posting

So my internet that I was borrowing figured out I was borrowing it, and now I have no internet at my crib. I have not posted in a while, but I have some items that I have wanted to mentioned backed logged.

I have noticed that there are a ton of mopeds here. Not crazy. What is crazy are the insane number of girls driving them in high heeled shoes. That is crazy.

This town has a very good recycling program. I am impressed with how much more stuff that I can recycle here than in the states. And it is so much easier. The ironic thing is the amount of litter EVERYWHERE here. For a town with a sophisticated recycling program, a great percentage of the population does not know how to use a trash can.

People do not clean up after their dogs, at all. I have stepped in more shit in the last month than I had in the last decade in the states. I guess they are trying to mimic the folks that live in Paris (from what I hear).

I heard "Ice Ice Baby" in a bar the other day. Not overly wild, but I was talking with the bartender who put it on, and he was one of the cocky "I know all of the best music ever made" kids and was proud (not joking) about the Vanilla Ice. Yet, he never heard of Wu-Tang, or Autechre, or even Aphex Twin. If I am going to make live music in this city, it is going to have to be DJ mixes like a Middle School Dance party. You down with OPP?

When you go out, most of the time they waiters write you total down in chalk on the bar. When you are done, they add it up and send you on your way. See Picture.

That is enough of a rant for now, but I have another in process about our trip to Ronda this past Saturday. Killer place, killer view.

Busking

I went to the market for the first time today. It was an odd event, but still very cool. It reminded me of the farmers markets back home, but with lots more meat and seafood. The vegetables were extraordinarily cheap, as were some of the fancy cheeses. The weirdest items for sale were pigeons (like from the park) and rabbit. They weren't cleaned, but they were just hanging one hooks behind the meat man (they do clean them after you pay for them, but seriously, pigeons were just chillin there, feathers and all). They sell different parts of the bull and cow too, like the stomach (it looks like a fluffy blanket).

After that, I took my frame drum and went down to one of the tourist heavy areas, opened up my hat, and started playing (aka busking). Talk about a way to kill stage fright, if you can do this, you can play on any stage, large or small. No money today, but I was not in the best of spots, and I didn't play that good. I am going to break out a 5 gallon paint bucket and some sticks soon and break down the marching snare routine soon.

The picture is from a bridge north of my crib. It is a big highway bridge and this tall section is the support structure (i guess).

Segway

I saw 5 Segways today. Where the hell am I? What is wrong with these people? I want one . . .

U2

I know the German peoples have some interesting taste in music (ie David Hasselhoff). I also know that U2 was very popular in both the US and Europe. But, they are still HUGE in Spain. I was watching a music video channel on the tube on Sunday, and they showed 4 U2 videos in less than an hour. 4!!!! With as great as the food is here, I figured they would have a little bit more taste than that, but I am mistaken. On a positive note, they also love the hell out of Dire Straits, and that I can put up with.

Another Day, Another Euro

I have spent the better part of the last few days getting adjusted to my new home, trying to figure out where the hell I am at, how to get around, and what to eat. Eating here is only hard because all of it is soooooo good. The two things that I wish the US had was this much food and a siesta, cause a nap a day for everyone would make the world a much better place.

The best food that I have had thus far were some leeks au gratin and a grilled goat cheese with honey. Both sound aristocratic, but they were very cheap. 2 Euros each.  I am drinking a Heineken right now, and it doesn't taste skunky. To all of my boys back in A-town, we would drink Heineken all the time if is was this fresh. It really does taste like beer!!

Things here are smaller

The main difference I have noticed thus far is the size of things. I mentioned the tapas earlier. But the beers are smaller, the Pepsi's are smaller, and the cars are smaller. Some of the cars are a whole lot smaller. Here is a picture of a "Smart Car" as they call them here. I have arrived in a different place.