Catching up...

Soooo... how long has it been? And I don't mean since my post reminding you about World Ocean's Day... Nope! I haven't written anything about travelling since FEBRUARY!!! *shock* 

Not only have I abandoned on a Greek island (although you're probably not complaining about that, there are worse places to be abandoned...), I never got started on the New Year's Eve trip to Granada!

"El Patio de los Leones" in the Alhambra

Cousins having fun

And since then there have been a few more trips! *gulp*

A quick overview might be in order...

Visiting Alicante, Spain

When I started this blog I wanted to write about my travels, both as they happened (or shortly after returning home) and as trips down memory lane. The idea was for this to both be a travel journal for me, and a place to share my experiences with other people who would be interested in hearing about or visiting these places. The thing about only writing about travelling though, is that it doesn't include writing about one's own hometown! I've often pondered what to do about this... So when I saw the opportunity to ask a friend to write a guest post about her visit to Alicante, you can bet I jumped on it! Annette is a family friend from Minneapolis. She has known me since I was 6 months old, when we moved there from Panama. Long, long time ago! ;o)  She and her husband Tim were part of the adventurous travellers who accepted my parents' invitation to join them on the week's sailing in the Saronic Islands in Greece to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. They also joined in the visit to Athens and Crete and then came to Alicante for a week to enjoy our crazy holiday the Hogueras de San Juan! Here's Annette's tale of their visit to Alicante. Enjoy! :o)

Visiting Alicante, Spain                                                                         July 19 - 25, 2012

by Annette Gagliardi

As part of a larger vacation sailing the Aegean Sea and touring Crete, my husband & I spent the week of “Fogueres de Sant Joan” in Alicante (June 19 - 24, 2012). If you find yourself in Spain, Alicante is a wonderful place to see and to visit. We are lucky enough to have friends who allowed us to bunk with them, showed us the sights and did a fair amount of translation as my husband’s Spanish is non-existent and mine is deplorable. Our friends, Len & Paquita, are the ultimate hosts. Len organized our week on the sailboat, the Stressbuster, drove us around Crete and still had the generosity to want us in their home for the Fogueres week.

And what a festival the Fogueres de Sant Joan is! With fireworks at 2 pm each day, statues erected around the city over the several days of the festival, and a final night of fireworks and bonfires as each Hoguera is set ablaze in its neighborhood. 

The Festival:

setting up the "official" Hoguera in front of the Ayuntamiento

Hoguera Oficial Plaza del Ayuntamiento

Hoguera Alfonso el Sabio

Semana Santa: Domingo de Resurrección en Alicante 2011

Easter Sunday. Domingo de Resurección. Holy Week is over and the Church is rejoicing for Christ has risen! This makes for a very joyful procession on Easter morn! ;o)

I've only seen an Easter Sunday procession once before, when I was visiting a friend in a small town in Murcia about a decade ago, and it was something else! Very festive, big happy crowds, dancing thrones... (yes, the throne bearers made them dance!!! must have been exhausting) Quite a contrast from the sombre processions during the Semana Santa. I didn't expect it to be quite as much fun here in Alicante (small towns are always better than cities for these holidays!) when I went downtown last year,  and I was both right and wrong! The public were more onlookers than active participants, but those participating made sure it was a grand and joyous event! In any case, everyone was smiling (and cheering), which is always nice to see!

In Alicante only two figures participate in the procession for Domingo de Resurrección: Christ and the Virgin Mary. Each of them leaves from a different church (Christ from the Cathedral, the Virgin from the Iglesia de Santa María) and it is timed so they meet up in front of the Ayuntamiento at 12 noon and then head out together from there.

I made it down to the Plaza del Ayuntamiento with plenty of time to spare, and still only got a spot in the second row behind the barriers! Little by little the Plaza started filling up. Just in front of the Ayuntamiento doors  representatives of different Hermandades started gathering (they all participate together on Easter Sunday).

On either side of them were "regular" people who obviously knew they had to show up bright and early to get the best viewing spot. This one lady even brought a special friend with her! ;o)

Semana Santa: Procesión del Silencio en Callosa de Segura

It's Holy Week again! Better known in Spain as Semana Santa, when towns and cities all over the country host processions almost every day (sometimes more than one in a day) between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Last year I wrote quite a few posts about the processions in Alicante, but I couldn't find time to finish up the posts I had planned... so here we go again, better late than never! :o)

 

There are often several processions held on the same day during Semana Santa, each telling a part of the story of the passion of Christ. The most moving procession held on Holy Thursday is called the Procesión del Silencio (the "Silent Procession") and basically it commemorates Christ's crucifixion and death on the cross. It's a reminder of the sadness felt by the faithful at the death of Christ, and in a way could be considered a funeral procession. Only two pasos participate: the image of Christ crucified and the Virgin Mary in mourning (often called la Virgen de los Dolores or "Our Lady of Sorrows"). They are accompanied by a silent population, walking to the beat of a lonely drum, with only candles to light the darkness.

la pequeña Paquita!

 My first year back in Spain, I went with my parents on Holy Thursday to see the Procesión del Silencio in Callosa de Segura (much more info here if you can read Spanish), a small town in the southern part of the Province of Alicante. Not exactly next door, plus it meant driving home really late. So why go all the way down there for a procession? Trip down memory lane! My mom actually participated in the Holy Wednesday procession as a child one year when her family was living in Callosa in the mid-1950s (they moved around a lot), and she wanted to revisit the town during Holy Week! 

We had a lovely walk around town and dinner, with my mom pointing out places she remembered, and then we headed over to the 16th century Iglesia de San Martín from whence the procession was scheduled to start.

Exploring the Province of Alicante One Hike at a Time

So things have been awfully quiet around here since I wrapped up the Christmas Markets theme... sorry about that! It's just that I've been really busy what with my number of students increasing and the fact that I've been heading out hiking around the Province of Alicante most Sundays! This results in being exhausted on Monday and what little creative juices I have left after preparing/teaching my classes have gone into transforming my hikes (via photo selection/editing + writing) into blog posts on my "main blog" (under the tag Hiking Alicante). I've been wondering if I should just import those posts here... but it kind of seems like cheating to post things twice! Plus in my view this is my "travel blog" and for me hiking around Alicante doesn't count as travelling... but since I realise it might interest other travellers I hope to see visiting here, I figure I'll at least dedicate one post to hiking in Alicante and do a short presentation on all the hikes with links to the original posts, and then keep updating it with successive hikes. What do you think? (oops!, turns out I have a lot more hikes than I thought... so I'm doing a couple of posts!)

Physical map of Alicante (wikipedia)

The Province of Alicante may be one of the smaller provinces of Spain (41 out of 50 for surface), but it is the fourth most inhabited in the country (probably has something to do with the 23.6% which are foreigners)! In spite of this there are some "empty" areas in the province, mostly abandoned rural spaces or mountainous zones, since most of the population lives in an urban environment. Most people who visit Alicante just think of the Province as one big beach, since the coastal area and sunny climate are the big tourist draw here. Surprise, surprise: the Province of Alicante is actually the third or fourth most mountainous province of Spain! And these mountains create some pretty big climatological differences between the north and central parts of the province (proper Mediterranean climate so more rain, greener) vs the south and along the coast (semi-arid so dry and brown). This means hikes in one area will be quite different from those in another part of Alicante! The three highest peaks in Alicante are the Aitana (1558 m / 5112 ft), the Puig Campana (1410 m / 4626 ft) and the Montcabrer (1389 m / 4557 ft). So far I've climbed the last two. :o)

I used to do a lot of hiking as a teenager (lots of my family holidays involved mountains), but hadn't done much since I came to Spain for college. I started up again in Belgium in 2010 and in New Zealand in January 2011. So when I came back to Alicante in February 2011 I was anxious to keep it up! Unfortunately I didn't know the paths around here, or who to go hiking with (almost none of my friends are hikers). So I did what most people do in this day and age... I Googled it! Yup, I basically stuck "senderismo Alicante" in Google and out popped the Centro Excursionista de Alicante! A hiking (and climbing, canyoning, biking etc.) group that's been around for 60-odd years and organises outings for its members (and "friends") on weekends! Only problem was... only 1 hike / month! I couldn't go to the first two after I got back, then had a damn cycling accident and twisted my knee in April, and so couldn't join them for a hike until September! Since then I've done most of my hikes with them (and I became a member in Jan'12), but also with another group I found, the Trenet Senderista. Also, the Provincial Government organises hikes in the Fall and Spring, plus I've been hiking with friends I made through the various hikes, people who know the trails well enough to choose a nice spot to go to and won't get us lost! :D

Now, without further ado, I give you: Hiking in Alicante 2011! (Clicking on the names will take you to the posts)

El Parque del Buen Retiro, an emerald gem in downtown Madrid

The capital of Spain has a green heart: El Parque del Buen Retiro.

Airplane shot of El Retiro on Panoramio

El Retiro (as it's commonly known) has been around pretty much since Madrid was made capital of Spain by Philip II in the 16th century. He had the park of the Jeronimos monastery (set up by his great-grandmother Queen Isabel) enlarged and formal avenues with trees laid out. Since then it was developped and maintained for the Spanish Royal family, at first as a retreat from the palace and later as a part of court life for plays etc. The park was opened to the general public after the revolution in 1868 (when Queen Isabel II had to flee the country) and since then has remained public property managed by city hall.

The fact that I went walking in the park twice in the same weekend should give you an idea as to how important it is to the people of Madrid. The friend I spent Friday afternoon with goes every day and walks around for about an hour with her daughter and the dog.

A Weekend Walking around Madrid

Or perhaps I should call this "A Saturday Walking around Madrid", since I'm pretty much going to ignore the 2h walking around on Friday, leave the Sunday for another post and just share the tale of 6-7h walking around on a lovely autumnal Saturday... It was definitely a fabulously crazy and exhausting weekend in Madrid... wonderful! An opportunity to get together with several people from my "Belgian" group of friends (of which only 2 are actually Belgians, lol!) to hang out and enjoy lots of talking, walking, eating and dancing. What more could one ask for?

We started out from my friend's house near the Atocha train station (designed by French architect Eiffel, better known for a little tower he built in Paris and a statue in New York)

Estación de Atocha

We stopped briefly to gaze up at the Reina Sofia museum (20th century art) and made plans to come back in the evening (free admission on Saturdays after 16h!).

Museo Reina Sofía

Wandering up the Paseo del Prado we happened upon this very unique garden:

That can't be easy to maintain!

Semana Santa: Procesión de la Santa Cruz in Alicante 2010+2011

www.hermandadsantacruz.com

The Procesión of the Hermandad de la Santa Cruz (Brotherhood of the Holy Cross) on Holy Wednesday is definitely the most interesting and unique procession in Alicante. It generates a lot of devotion and admiration from its members and the rest of the population who show up hours in advance to find a strategic spot to watch it.

Part of what makes this procession so special is that it takes place in Alicante's oldest neighbourhood, at the foot of the castle. El Barrio de la Santa Cruz is your typical medieval mess: steep and narrow streets with lots of steps! At the top is its heart and soul, la Ermita de la Santa Cruz (small hermitage of the Holy Cross), from whence the procession begins.

Ermita de la Santa Cruz

Yes, I said steep, narrow, steps. So start imagining carrying one of the Pasos for a Holy Week procession through there... now imagine 3 of them. Now imagine carrying them UP and then DOWN. Why so many ups and downs? Simple, the hermitage is too small for these figures to set up there as a permanent residence, so on the morning of the procession they have to be carried up. Then in full regalia they get carried solemnly down, weaving through the old streets until they reach the Rambla and join up with the Pasos that started out from other churches in the city, all headed to the Cathedral. And after they reach the Cathedral? Well they have to go back up again! Which they do RUNNING!!! And since they can't stay up there... they'll need to be taken back down again to their permanent homes. Ouf! I'm just tired thinking of it! Walking around that neighbourhood is tiring enough without that weight...

Semana Santa: Domingo de Ramos in Alicante 2011

So, in yesterday's post I mentioned that we came across a surprise on our way home to Alicante from the Palm Sunday procession in Elche... As we were crossing town along the harbour, I noticed a lot of people on Alicante's main paseo, the Explanada. There was marching band music in the air... and the Palm Sunday procession still going on!!! Apparently we made it into town just as the procession was reaching its end. So I pretty much told my dad to go park the car in the harbour, my mom and I hopped out at a red light, and I hobbled over like crazy (bum knee? who cares!) to get some pictures and video of it all! :D

Semana Santa: Domingo de Ramos in Elche 2011

Cristo Triumphante (1940, Casa Bocacho, Barcelona)

The Palm Sunday processions are always joyous affairs, since they commemorate the triumphant entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem for Passover. He rode in on a donkey (symbol of peace, as opposed to riding in on a horse, more war-like), and the crowds cheered him while place palms and branches and cloaks on the ground before him. 

A couple of days before stalls are set up around town selling the typical white palms which Elche is famous for (they're exported to churches all over the world, and they even send one to the Pope every year!) during the the days preceding Palm Sunday. The first official record of the sale of these palms dates from 1429 (the earliest historical reference to a Palm Sunday celebration in Elche dates back to 1371).

Then on Palm Sunday people start gathering at the site where the procession begins quite a bit in advance, wearing their finest and carrying palms in their hands. These can be simple branches, or decorated with bows and olive branches up to elaborate designs woven with the palm leaves. Some people have bought theirs, other very talented people (not me!) have made theirs!

Semana Santa Española

Holy Week is a big deal in all Catholic countries, but in Spain it's a VERY big deal!

For those not familiar with Catholicism, Holy Week is the last week of Lent (i.e. 40 days before Easter). It starts on Palm Sunday (today), and ends the Saturday before Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday commemorates the joyful entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey to celebrate Jewish Passover, while the populace rejoiced and laid down cloaks and branches on the ground in front of him. Holy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper with his twelve apostles, and Good Friday is for mourning Christ's death.

The processions organised for Holy Week in Spain have been around since the Middle Ages. Think of it as a Passion Play with statues, being represented in the streets of the towns and cities over the course of the week. In my mind it was a highly visual way of teaching an illiterate population about the Passion of Christ, and allowing the faithful a chance to participate more fully in their relgion and express their belief (and in some cases penitents asking for forgivness, or others giving thanks for blessings received). In today's increasingly secular society the number of participants decreases each year, but a significantly large portion of the population still come and either watch the processions or walk in them at the back. In some cities (like Sevilla) they have also become a major touristic draw.

Palm Sunday 2011, Alicante

Palm Sunday 20011, Elche

Cycling around the Marjal de Pego-Oliva in northern Alicante

(this post is in part adapted -and expanded- from one I published today on my other blog)

Ahhhh... what a lovely day yesterday! The sun was shining, the air was warm (HOT! bloody heatwave thanks to some crazy African wind: 35ºC!), the orange trees in bloom (AMAZING smells!!! like someone had just opened a bottle of orange blossom perfume!)... great day to go on a cycling tour of the Marjal de Pego-Oliva!

http://www.pegoilesvalls.es/cmpl.html

The Marjal is all that remains of an ancient lagoon that got isolated from the sea by sand dunes and then silted in thousands of years ago. It's now an ~ 1290 Ha expanse of agricultural lands (rice, oranges, figs etc.) and un-cultivated land criss-crossed by a series of canals and ditches that have been developed and maintained since the Arabs started cultivating rice here centuries ago and were also used to dry out some of the lands for orchards in the 18th century. The Marjal receives its water (necessary to be a marsh!) from the subterranean aquifer and rivers that flow in from the surrounding mountains. All of these of course depend on the rainfall in a given year (this is the part of the province that receives the highest annual rainfall). The permanent water level is usually quite near the surface, and in several places the water actually breaches the surface in the ullals or springs (some freshwater, some saltwater!). 

aerial photo from Parcs Naturals de la Communitat Valenciana website

Semana Santa: Domingo de Ramos en Elche

Palm Sunday. Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey while a festive populace laid palms down at his feet. In many Spanish cities a "procesión" is held commemorating this joyous day, with a figure of Jesus on a donkey being carried through the city on the shoulders of the faithful, to the sound of marching bands and the murmur (for Spaniards can rarely ever be quiet!) of the people walking either ahead, behind or watching from the sides. Most carry white palms as a symbol of participation in the ritual, some simple tall leaves from palm trees, others more elaborately twisted or woven together into a lovely design or even a "sculpture" of sorts.

Pope Benedict with palm from Elche

With the excuse of a friend visiting from Mexico, my family and I went to witness this year's procession in Elche, a millenial city just 20km from Alicante, and famous for the "Huerto del Cura" also called the "Palmeral", a.k.a. Europe's biggest palm tree forest and a Unesco World Heritage Site. According to my mom (I don't have any other sources for this, but she's a walking encyclopedia!), Elche's is one of the most famous Palm Sunday processions in Spain, mainly due to this reverence for the city's palms and the fact that they are the only place that still prepares elaborate handmade white palms for the procession (one is even sent to the Pope every year! sample photo which was in last week's newspaper, is from Getty images, the "good" versions aren't available unless you buy them). It has been declared a "Fiesta de interés turístico internacional" (an honorific title given to certain Spanish festivities whose cultural value and popular tradition are recognised due to their ethnologic characteristics and are deemed to be important for tourism, more -in Spanish- on Wikipedia).

So off we went on a gorgeous sunny Sunday to admire the Palms and enjoy the festive ambiance. We arrived a bit late to see the throne be carried out of the Basilica de Santa Maria (main church in Elche) to the site where the procession was going to begin. But we did make it just in time to catch the marching band heading off and were able to hang around admiring the throne (the platforms on which the figures are carried during the processions) and watch the people begin to gather with their palms.

Here's the band leaving and a glimpse of the "costaleros" (people who carry the thrones, this year women from the cofradía de Santa Veronica) catching their breath and gathering their energy before the procession really begins:

Little by little people kept arriving to the meeting point, some carrying plain white palms, others more elaborate works of art:

The lady who made this one didn't say exactly how long it took her, just "several mornings":

She also made this one for her friend in 3 days:

And how about this?

She made sure to ask me if I'd noticed the details at the top: musicians and a flag-bearer from a procession, with a "throne" carrying Christ on the Cross:

So, everyone here? Everyone ready?

The priest steps up to his microphone to read from the Bible,  then blesses the Palms and thanks the "costaleras" for shouldering their/our burden and then invites the people to take their places and let the procession begin.

The costaleras get into position, hoist the throne, turn it around so it is facing down the avenue in the direction the procession will be following and then stand at the ready.

(you'll get an explanation for that bell later)

Everyone lines up, starting with a marching band, then dignitaries and representatives of the other "cofradías" -who will be participating in other processions later in the week- who take the lead, followed by part of the crowd with their palms, then the throne, then the priests and more dignitaries.

The ladies of the Cofradía de Santa Veronica are all in position. A clang on the bell is the signal to lift, another to start walking, and later will give them a few moments to rest. And so on and so forth as they make their way through the streets of the city until they reach the Basilica de Santa María.

Hey! Want to play a game of "Where's Cris"? ;o)

Before leaving town we thought we'd visit the Basilica to see how everything looked... and found ourselves face to face with the procession again!

Over an hour later and the front of the line was just reaching the church! So tourism will just have to wait for another visit...

Recognise the two ladies at the top right-hand side of this next photo?

It's the lady I talked to at the beginning and her beautiful palm! :o) Heading with the others towards the Basilica:

More people bearing palms:

check out the top of that one on the left:

I thought this little girl was really cute...

A few more palms (because I have trouble restraining myself when it comes to choosing photos,  lol!)...

 and as we say here in Spain: "Colorín, colorado. Este cuento se ha terminado!" (a.k.a. THE END!)

(Hope that wasn't too long... I tend to get carried away when telling a tale with images, I have ever so much trouble limiting the number of pictures used!)

I'll try to put out two more posts on other processions another day. Selecting and editing photos and video clips takes a lot of time!