Roman Spain

It appears that everyone has invaded Spain at some time or another - from the Romans to the Moors, then the French in the early 19th Century.

The city of Italica was founded in 206 BC by the Romans in order to settle Roman soldiers wounded in the Battle of Ilipa, where the Carthaginian army was defeated during the Second Punic War. The name Italica bound the colonia to their Italian origins. Italica is only a few kilometres from Seville.

Italica was the birthplace of Roman emperor Trajan. Hadrian was generous to his settled town, which he made a forum; he added temples, including a Trajaneum venerating Trajan, and rebuilt public buildings. Italica’s amphitheater seated 25,000 spectators—half as many as the Colosseum in Rome— and was the third largest in the Roman Empire. The city's Roman population at the time is estimated to have been only 8000. The games and theatrical performances funded by the local aristocracy, who filled the positions of magistrate, were a means of establishing status: the size of the amphitheater shows that the local elite was maintaining status that extended far beyond Italica itself.

The modern town of Santiponce overlies the "old city" of Republican times founded by Scipio and the pre-Roman Iberian city. The well-preserved city of ruins seen today is the nova urbs magnificently laid out under Hadrian's patronage.

The city dwindled after Hadrian's death and loss of patronage. The mosaic work in Italica still exists and is extraordinary.

The Ampitheatre

The Ampitheatre

The Gladiators Room at the Ampitheatre

The Baths. Italica

Mosaic work in House of the Birds

The Heart of Andalucia

A view of Seville from the bridge over the Guadalquivir river. The bullring is in the foreground and the Giralda can be seen as the tallest building.

The winds were apparently coming off the Sahara Desert - that's what they told me after 4 days of 40 degree heat. Altogether I had 5 days in Seville. Seville is in the middle of the district called Andalucia. To me it's the true or at least, stereotypical, Spain; bullfighting, flamenco, gazpacho, ornate tiles - you name it. It's also incredibly hot and dry - like an Adelaide summer. It is my favourite city in Spain.

Seville was taken over by the Moors in 712 and reconquered in 1248. It was a hugely propserous city due to imports from the New World until the silting up of the Guadalquivir river left the city in relative economic decline.

Plaza Espana

In 1929 Seville hosted the Spanish-American Exhibition and numerous buildings were constructed for the exhibition. I am not sure that the exhibition actually went ahead as the crash of 1929 came just at the wrong time. Apparently it's Moorish Revival Architecture.

Torre del Oro

The Torre del Oro was a defensive position on the river and also the treasury of returning gold from South America (hence its name).

The Giralda

The Cathedral is the third largest in the world and was built in the 15th Century. It was built on the site of the original mosque left by the Moors. The Cathedral reused some columns and elements from the mosque, and, most famously, the Giralda, originally a minaret, was converted into a bell tower. It is topped with a statue, known locally as El Giraldillo, representing Faith. The tower's interior was built with ramps rather than stairs, to allow people to ride to the top (it can fit three horses side-by-side!).

The Cathedral and Giralda

The huge Gothic Cathedral of Sevilla

The Moorish styled Alcazar

The Alcazar is the moorish palace in Seville. It shows all the arabic influences in the designa nd arch work etc. Apparently it is still used by King Juan Carlos of Spain.

The moorish architecture and design is obvious in the arches of the Alcazar

The Garden of the Alcazar

I have no idea what this room was but the reflection off the water made for a good photograph. It is in the cellar of the Alcazar so I assume it was some sort of storage facility.

Spain wins Euro 2008

I was in Seville when the final of the Euro 2008 was being played. I couldn't find a bar that I could get into - as I left it to the last minute to look and by then they were all packed. It didn't help that the game was on a Sunday night, when many bars were closed anyway.

Spain beat Germany 1 - 0. The People of Seville were very happy and the bars emptied as soon as the game was over and people danced and sang in the street. I met some people who let me celebrate with them. I now have them on my facebook page!

Meanwhile in Madrid, a huge crowd saw the game at Plaza Colon. This was the first time in 44 years that Spain had won a major football competition.

My new friends from Sevilla: Daphne and Caroline and Glauber.

The Alhambra, Granada

The Alhambra in Granada is a palace and fortress complex of the Moorish monarchs of southern Spain (current day Andalusia). Rising above the modern lower town, the Alhambra and the Albaycín, situated on two adjacent hills, form the medieval part of Granada. To the east of the Alhambra fortress and residence are the magnificent gardens of the Generalife, the former rural residence of the emirs who ruled this part of Spain in the 13th and 14th centuries. The residential district of the Albaycín is a rich repository of Moorish vernacular architecture, into which the traditional Andalusian architecture blends harmoniously.

In 1984 The Alhambra became a listed UNESCO protected site.

Once the residence of the Muslim kings of Granada and their court, the Alhambra is now one of Spain's major tourist attractions exhibiting the country's most famous islamic architecture, together with Christian 16th century and later interventions in buildings and gardens that marked its image as it can be seen today. Within the Alhambra, the Palace of Charles V was erected in 1527.

The Alhambra is a reflection of the culture of the last days of the Nasrid Kingdom. It is a place where artists and intellectuals had taken refuge as Christian Spain won victories over Al Andalus. The Alhambra mixes natural elements with man-made ones, and is a testament the skill of Muslim craftsmen of that time.

Everywhere there are fantastic examples of intricate carving in marble as well as arches and columns. After the Christian conquest of the city in 1492, the conquerors began to alter the Alhambra. The open work was filled up with whitewash, the painting and gilding effaced, and the furniture soiled, torn, or removed. Charles V rebuilt portions in the Renaissance style of the period and destroyed the greater part of the winter palace to make room for a Renaissance-style structure which has never been completed. Philip V (early 18th C) Italianised the rooms and completed his palace in the middle of what had been the Moorish building; he had partitions constructed which blocked up whole apartments.

The old town of Granada from La Alhambra

Hogueras de San Juan in Alicante

Alicante has been the site of the Hogueras de San Juan (bonfires of Saint John) for the past 80 years. It began with people erecting bonfires made from old furniture to now the making of incredibly elaborate and large depictions which ultimately get torched.

The festival goes over 4 days - with the 'set-up' where the 'monuments' are erected, a couple of days of parades at 8 pm of people in traditional costume, and then the final night where the monuments are set alight.

The port city of Alicante. For some reason they choose a month where the temperature was about 40 degrees to set fire to the monuments...

There are several days of street parades, each lasting over 3 hours of people walking down the main street in traditional costume. They finally reach the cathedral where they build a giant flower display (Flower Offering Parade to the Remedy's Virgin).

The parade appears very casual with mother's interrupting the whole parade to adjust her daughter's costume.

Each street takes great pride in the monument that they have built and at a moment's notice, a band can strike up and a mini-parade appears out of nowhere, stopping traffic. Streets all have their own fenced off area and a stage and huge huge speakers and DJ. The people party all night, every night, for 4 consecutive nights. It's like Schoolies for adults.

There are fireworks competitions and cracker competitions. It is not unusual to hear huge explosions going off throughout the four days at random moments - some make you feel that you are in downtown Baghdad. It's not unusual to see 5 or 6 year old children given crackers to go and play with in the park. The local beer company handed out free giveaways including lighters (although considering most of Spain appears to smoke, it might have a dual reason!).

Most of the 30 odd monuments are huge - as tall as 3 or 4 storey buildings. After a few days of looking at them you can't help judging their potential for flammability in your own mind. I often thought "hmmm that's going to burn well" as I passed a particularly well-built structure.

The above monument was in the main square, closely surrounded by the City Hall and other important buildings. I was in the front of a huge group of people when they opened the gate to this square and I was carried almost to the front of the viewing area - prime position. The bomberos (fire brigade) are on hand to hose down buildings and trees that happen to be close to the action. When the monument (below) went up, I was 35 metres from it and the heat was tremendous.

Once there is no sign of possible ignition of the city, the crowd taunt the bomberos (it's a tradition!). They then all yell out "agua, agua". Even with my little spanish I know what that means and made a not-too-hasty retreat. The bomberos then turn the hoses on the crowd, until those in the first few rows are soaked.

Then there is one last night of fiesta!

Spain into the Final of Euro 2008!

Sunday Night 22nd June

Tonight Spain played Italy in the quarter final of Euro 2008 in Vienna. I watched the game in a bar and outside was a crowd of people who decided the football was more important than the second night of the parade of people preparing for the Bonfire of St. Juan on Tuesday night.

Spain has a pretty ordinary record in big matches - always promising to do great things but often crashing in the finals. I think the spanish are quite used to this and don't seem to get their hopes up too high. Also, June 22 is their hoodoo day for soccer!

Record

Before tonight Spain had lost three quarter-final penalty shoot-outs on 22 June but they stopped the rot tonight, prevailing 4-2 on spot-kicks after 120 minutes had failed to produce a goal. It was the battle of the two great goal keepers, Gianluigi Buffon from Italy and Iker Casillas from Spain. In truth, the Spanish team team had enjoyed the better of the play on a humid night in Vienna, Marcos Senna coming closest when he was denied by the post in the closing stages of normal time. They continued to press in the additional half-hour, finishing plays on goal poorly before Casillas's heroics saw them through to a rematch with a Russia side (coached by 'our' Gus Hiddink) they defeated 4-1 in the group stage - this game is set for Thursday night.

Thursday 26th June
Spain plays Russia and dominates to win 3 - 0. This is the first time that Spain has made the final of a UEFA tournament since 1984 (they lost to France) and then you need to go back to 1964 for their last win of a major tournament.

I was in Granada when they beat Russia - everyone went to the Christopher Colombus fountain and threw themselves in and went generally beserk. I am in Seville for the final.

Barcelona

I revisited Barcelona - having been twice before. I really like Barcelona, the people are friendly and its a laid back kind of city. The city is well planned out - at least the area north of Las Ramblas is, with its grid formation of one-way streets, making a pedestrian feel safe (one of the few places in Europe!).

At the top of Las Ramblas is Plaza Catalunya - a large plaza where people meet, sit and watch the day go by, or watch the police chase the fake hand bag sales-man. Spanish life seems to centre around plazas - people pass the time away and it is always quite relaxing to just watch.

Barcelona has the largest concentration of Anotnio Gaudi's works. You can see them in random places around Barcelona as bank buildings, parks or cathedrals.

The grid system of buildings and roads has produced a lovely collection of similar buildings providing uniformity - some have differences, as above, but each block is an octagonal shaped building.

The spanish love their ham (jamon serrano) and you can find it hanging up in stores devoted to the stuff.

Where Las Ranblas meets the Mediterranean is Port Vell. This is the port where the ferrys leave for the Balearic Islands (Ibiza and Mallorca). There is a statue of Christopher Colombus here, with Mount Juic looking down on the port. THere are several cities around the mediterranean, all claiming Colombus as their own. In Sevilla's giant cathedral you can find his final resting place (apparently!).

More of the beatiful port in Barcelona. There are thousands of yachts and boats here, plus some nice beaches (though not as good as Australia's!).

A quiet moment in Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is a green vein running through Barcelona. Down the pedestrian section are people in the most amazing costumes touting for a spare euro for a photograph. You can buy flowers, birds, souvenirs along the way - even have your portrait drawn.

Street theatre (I didn't pay my euro!).

At the beach! The weather was not quite as good as other places I went to but for the last day or so. I was meaning to stay in Barcelona for a week but I think the constant moving and walking caught up with me - so it ended up 10 days. It would have been longer but I had to leave my hotel as it was full. Off to Alicante and the Hogueras de San Juan!