Trekking by Train Through Spain
We left Marina Port Vell about 8 a.m. Monday, 18 March. Caught the Metro to the Sants
Renfe (Spanish Amtrak) station where we boarded our comfortable, fast moving train with huge
windows to watch the changing countryside along the ocean to Valencia. The first item of
business was to find a hotel. With the festival everything ended up being booked, or so they said
when we called earlier. However they were correct. Terry and Marie from the Sailboat Zelda
went with us. They speak quite a bit more Spanish than we do, so we put Terry on the phone. For
about a half hour he called and inquired. "Nada." (Nothing) We had just walked by a **** one in
town which had rooms at $125 a night. That's where we stayed. Nice room, with TV which we
used for three reasons. One: CNN. With no TV news, we listen to radio news in English here.
This was nice to see what we had been hearing. Two: The Madonna in the square being adorned
by multitudes of red flowers came alive as the parades of people throughout the afternoon arrived
at her feet and left the bouquets for those making it happen. Denis has pictures of this. She stood
over 3 stories high; decorated front and back, top to bottom. Three: the bullfight on Tuesday had
been sold out for a long time. Guess what? They broadcasted it. So each time we found ourselves
back in the room, we cranked on the tv.
"Valencia's Las Fallas de San Jose is an exuberant and anarchic blend of fireworks, music,
festive bonfires and all night partying. The falls are huge papier mache sculptures built by teams
of local artists. Reaching 40-45 feet in height, these colorful and grotesque effigies satirize
celerities, current affairs and local customs." On the final night each of the fallas (this year there
were 800 spread out all over town) is burnt to the ground, accompanied with fireworks galore.
And every day of the festival week giant fireworks go off at 2 p.m. not so much for color, but for
noise. People jam in close in the small alley like streets and the sound just bounces off the walls as
it charges down each street. Needless to say I felt shell-shocked by the end of 2 days. Little kids
enjoyed throwing small firecrackers in the street. One kid threw one that just missed me before it
exploded.
Wednesday, 20 March we caught train #2 and 7 hours later got off at Cordoba. Stayed at a prearranged hostel and the lady there was so delightful, if you didn't speak a word of Spanish, you would understand her. Nice room, but had to go down the hall for bathroom experiences. Only had one day there, so packed in the walking and gawking. Along with the Jewish Quarters and the Bullfighters Museum, we experienced the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos (Castle of Christian Monarchs--none other than Isabella and Ferdinand. One of the rooms is where they gave audience to Christopher Columbus when he presented his "give me boats and men and I will find you riches across the sea" speech. The most impressive place was the Mezquita, a blend of Islamic mosque and Christian cathedral. Sounds funny, but it is really so. You could sit in a corner quietly and imagine all the prayer rugs spread out in the mosque section, knowing that just around a few columns stood an elaborate altar for the Christians to worship in.
Friday, 22 March, another train, but only a 45 minute journey this time to Sevilla. Decided to take the bus from the train station to the center of the city and then find our hotel somewhere nearby. A black woman helped us interpret the map at the bus stop. She happened to be from Frankfurt, now living and working in Sevilla. A Chinese man also joined our impromptu group. He had a week off from studying a Masters Program in Computer Science in the U.K. Well with all that coming together we asked about a good Chinese restaurant. She knew of one, pointing us the way before going back to work. We had a good meal, the three of us. And before we left Sevilla Denis and I had dinner there as well. All of the staff remembered us.
Our friends from the stop we made on the boat at Rota Spain joined us that evening.
Carmen is Spanish; Barry, American. We walked while they explained what the "Semana Santa"
coming up would mean to the locals there and the many thousands that had come in for the Easter
week. Spain is very Catholic. The Crucifixion and Resurrection are very meaningful to them.
Saturday in the churches the brotherhood put together large platforms (very heavy looking) with
scenes of Christ during the week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. These are carried through
the streets of Sevilla accompanied by brass bands with drummers, led by the penitent robed in
KKK attire (quite spooky for someone raised in the South). Some went barefoot the whole
procession. Some carried crosses--single, double, triple masked together to make them very
heavy. These platforms were carried by about 40 men, switching off occasionally. You couldn't
see them, just their shoes as they passed by. It is very emotional and people reached up to touch
the platform and made the sign of the cross. Carmen said she has seen women with large tears in
their eyes reach up to touch the Madonna one. Denis again took loads of photos during the three
different processions we watched on Palm Sunday.
Monday we boarded train number four for Madrid, arriving mid day so we could spend time in the Palacio Real (Royal Palace where the current King and Queen live). Quite the digs! A veggie dinner at a recommended Vegetarian Restaurant and crash so we could get up and take yet another train an hour south to Toledo on Tuesday. That's an old walled city on top of the highest knoll around there with a commanding view across the river on three sides, easily defended by land on the fourth. A visit to the Cathedral involved the preparation for a very high Mass beginning at noon. We stayed to watch the procession. Must have been a couple hundred priests filing in to be seated inside the altar area with many others in the choir section--another 200, including the altar boys and boy choir. When the Cardinal started his Invocation I looked around to see the huge bolt being placed in the door. We had to scramble to find another door further away to make an exit. At that door someone asked the doorman when the church would be open again. "A las tres" 3 p.m. We would have missed our train to stay for the whole service.
Back to Madrid and a quick tour of the world famous Prado Museum with tons of paintings by such lads as Goya, El Greco, Velasquez, and a few more. Three floors and several sets of stairs. Interesting but tiring. Had a picnic dinner in our room and took off our shoes.
Then it was time to go home. One more train ride: 7 hours to Barcelona. Lots of scenery from the train window--geology, farming, old castles or remnants on hill tops, small villages, large towns, apple trees blooming, and of course the ubiquitous olive trees. They eat a lot of olives over here, and make olive oil to sell over there to yawl.