More on Barcelona... The Park Guell had this amazing fountain, which unfortunately was covered up due to some construction or other while we were there. The park itself is huge, with many good views of Barcelona as well as a large plaza with surrounded by the longest bench in the world, entirely created with mosaic style works by Gaudi. A stairway under the plaza area lead to an expanse of Romanesque pillars, which Libby explained were supposed to be the makings of the neighborhood church in Gaudi's original plans. I took as many pictures as I could with the limitation of a disposable camera that I bought – my only concern is that I think the camera was meant for use for in situations of close distance shots. We shall see, and if they do not develop well, I'll just have to re-visit the sites I saw in Barcelona when I make my way around Spain later during my trip. Other things at the park worth noting were an excellent view from a man-made monument of stone rising up over the trees, location of two large crosses. I'm not sure what this are was called, but I can check later. It was a bit frightening coming back down though, as the guard rail was on the inside of the stairway - leaving the outer edge open and prone to clumsily induced falls – and also it was not reachable from the first few steps down, so my fear of heights made the task of descending slightly more daunting. I also was surprised to see bright green parrots flying about and nesting in palm trees – oh yea, did I mention they have palm trees here?! Finally, the park is also home to the Gaudi Museum, which I didn't visit this trip to Barcelona, but perhaps I will get the time to next visit.
Libby and I sat down for a while to rest our feet – which after 9 hours or so of walking were well used – and then walked our way back down to the closest Metro station. We rode the train back to the train station, Barcelona-Sants, where we waited around for our train to Sahagun. It seemed every young person in Barcelona was flooding the station to take train downtown in order to celebrate Mardi Gras. We saw some really interesting costumes as well as some really horrible costumes. Our train left Barcelona at 10pm and we were in a sleeper car with three other people – a mother and son, who we learned were Columbians who'd lived in Spain for 10 years, and another younger guy whom we didn't talk to very much. It wasn't a very comfortable train ride, but I did manage to find a decent position to sleep in at some point. Ten hours on a train is not the best way to spend your time, but I was glad that we took a night train because then we were able to conserve day time for other things.
At around 8am we arrived in Sahagun where Rebekah and Paddy met us with their dog, Una. We rode back to Moratinos, where they live, in their amazingly wonderful European make “mini-van.” Moratinos is just about 9km from Sahagun, and only has a population of about twenty people... indluding Rebekah and Paddy! Coming up to their home, you wouldn't think it was anything special. Moratinos has four or five streets with one main road through town – a plaza, a church, a barn, a local carpenter, assorted homes, and that's about it!
Coming up to Rebekah's home you only see a door leading into a square brick building that could be best described by the term “facility.” Coming through the front door however, all thoughts of anything ordinary or boring are distinguished. The main entrance opens into a small passageway which leads into a large garden/courtyard with trees and a well. Off the first corridor are a door for a storage area, and then opposite a cozy kitchen/eating area. Moving into the courtyard there is a small attached room with the toilet, bathtub, and washing machine – they use a neighbors drier and have a sort of laundry swap going on. On the other side of the courtyard are three more doors – one which leads into a room once used to store hay, another which was a former grainery attached to the house, and then the third leads into the main part of the house. There are two stories with four bedrooms, three complete and one in a state of remodeling, a salon, and workshop area, and a back door leading out to another yard, which is considered the back yard of the residence. There's a great antique grain thresher there as well as a large stable and garage building. As Rebekah and Paddy's home lives along the Camino de Santiago, they sometimes have pilgrims who stop at their home to rest for the evening. Eventually they would like to have the capability to house animals such as horses and donkeys that some pilgrims travel with. Finally, one of the best parts of the town of Moratinos is that each residence has it's own Bodegas. I'll discuss what those are later in this or another post where I can go into much greater detail.
So that's the best I can afford for a description of the amazing home I get to stay in for the next month or so, but I will absolutely be posting pictures as soon as I can.
After a much appreciated hot shower, a cup of coffee, and an apple we met some of the townspeople and were invited over later in the day for a drink. We then made our way into Sahagun again to get a tour of the area. We stopped by to see a shop owned by one of Rebekah's friends, an older woman named Paca. They sell a variety of items including school supplies, trinkets, books, and other miscellaneous goods. She gave us some homemade cookies before we left, and I guess at some point in speaking with Rebekah and Libby referred to me as “Blondie.”
We stopped by a store to get some shampoo and shaving cream, and then a bakery to get bread for the day, and finally at the post office so I could mail a few post cards and get stamps for later. After this we visited the Cafe Zentral, which is where I wrote my last post from. After our half hour there we moved to another bar and enjoyed a beer and tapas of bread and cured ham. Delicious. Rebekah drove us through the rest of Sahagun, and we saw some of the famed sights of the city including the remains of a former monastery's gated entrance. We then stopped at a “dive” called Cafe des Pellagrinos (Pilgrims' Cafe), where we had our lunch. It is common in Spain for lunch to be ordered from a Menu de Dia, or a daily menu. I referred to these earlier as the choose your own adventure meals. I had a first course of saffron rice and rabbit, a second course of trout cooked with bacon inside, wine, bread, and dessert consisting of heavy whipped sweet cream and a strawberry preserve. We finished lunch with coffee and friendly chat. That's one thing about the people of Spain that I really love – Siesta. Lunch time is very important for Spaniards, and they often take 2-3 hours to eat and rest right in the middle of the day. Afterwards, around 4 or 5 o'clock, people return to work and continue working until 8 or 9 in the evening. Dinner is then typically later than Americans would eat, and consists of tapas, which is essentially an assortment of small to meal sized appetizer-like foods. Additionally, in the region I'm in, Palencia, it seems that almost all of the red wine produced here is made from Temparnillo.
Okay, it's getting late and everyone else has gone to bed, so I will finish this entry off tomorrow morning.
Ciao.
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