Perugia, Assisi and Tuscan Towns

Andalusan Spain: Cadiz, Arcos de la Frontera & Granada

Arrived in Cadiz after several days at sea....a beautiful, relaxed coastal town with a long history of occupations, dating back top Phoneticians and Romans (Hercules was said to have planted one foot in Cadiz and is the city founder). While in port, classes are canceled , so we spent several days in Cadiz then rented a car and drove to Granada via the white village of Arcos de la Frontera. Andalusia's scenery was beautiful...although apparently hardship is more acutely felt in this region of Spain, which has the highest unemployment rates in the nation.

Cadiz's harbor:


Chandelier in Cadiz city hall:


Meters for electricity in an apartment building entry:


Cadiz rooftops & sidewalks:



Local window paintings in Cadiz:



Goat cheese tapas in Cadiz...


Arcos de la Frontera:

Andalusian scenery:

Below: Around the cathedral in Granada (where Ferdinand & Isabella are buried):



Below: A spice market materializes in the street adjacent to the cathedral.



[View of Granada from the Alhambra]

Alhambra images:

TEACHING AT SEA: 110 days circumavigating the globe on a floating campus

Yes...we are now a long ways from Italy, but it was easier to revive this blog than to start another afresh. After a year back in the US and a six week summer return to Italy, we've left the USA to teach on the University of Virginia's Semester at Sea program. Danielle is excited to be back on the MV Explorer once again...and so are we. We sailed from Norfolk on August 24, with Hurricane Danielle chasing us all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Seasickness plagued most of us, but we somehow managed to make it through the faculty and staff training sessions and picked up the students, lifelong learners and Desmond Tutu in Halifax. We arrived in the fog, and explored the city in the drizzle on the first day.

[Foggy view from our cabin's deck on the first morning in Halifax]

The first night in Halifax featured a gala ship-board reception for the parents of arriving students--we faculty and staff led them on ship tours, then feasted on a banquet of appetizers and other delicacies in which chocolate was well represented (the abstract chocolate sculptures kept Danielle in hyper-gear until the wee hours of the AM!). Our second day in Halifax was glorious...so we contined our explorations of the city and its historic citadel warmed by the sun.

We set sail for Spain later that afternoon...a seven day crossing, with a demanding schedule of daily teaching beginning on the second day. Crossing in this direction has proven to be more arduous than we'd anticipated, as we are losing an hour almost every day (what Dean David has aptly termed "death by one hour increments"). But the pluses--classrooms with views of the sea, a wonderful shipboard community, lectures, interesting new colleagues and engaged students--all more than make up for sleep loss, as do those early morning moments of tranquility on the aft deck of the ship...

[Early AM on the aft deck]

Several days into our crossing we were re-energized by awakening to find we were passing the Azores (which surprisingly enough, resembled an Atlantic version of "Bali-Hai"),

[One of the Azonres]

The other plus is being on board with not just our little nuclear family, but my mom and step-dad, as well [see below--the shot taken as we began the voyage in Norfolk].

Spring Trip to Spain

With spring break upon us in mid-March (yes, I'm a little behind...), we decided to split our time between Spain and a Tuscany road trip. Some images and highlights below....

In Madrid we based ourselves at Puerta del Sol, a large bustling plaza in the very center of the city. Our days started at La Mallorquina, a Puerta del Sol bakery cafe that has drawn Spaniards and tourists for generations. The apron-skirted woman is the pastry-shop's icon. (Can't explain why I took such delight in seeing her on the wall each morning...it might be because she was accompanied by all sorts of delicious smells--baking croissants and strong spanish coffee--or perhaps because she is clothed in the colors of the Italian flag).


The attentive purveyors of the bakery's delicacies...

One happy customer:


"Tio Pepe" the iconic billboard that has presided over Puerta del Sol for about as long as the bakery has been in business (this was reputed to have been the first billboard in Spain):


The area around Puerta del Sol is lined with tapas bars and "ham museums"--not exactly what I think of when imagining Madrid's museums! Here is one such ham museum--really just a jumbo-sized cured meat shop...


While the food of Spain merits museum exhibition, ham "museums" were not the only museums we visited in Madrid. We also spent time in more traditional museums, and even spent a morning at the Palacio Real (depicted below):


One newly-finished church adjacent to the palace was especially captivating--light, uplifting and airy, with a colorful ceiling that could have been painted by South Pacific artists.



My last visit to Madrid was as a teen in the Franco era and in my memory, save for the squares and parks around the Prado, the city felt gray. For me, this was a new, brighter Madrid. Some of the plazas in the heart of town burst with color, and the tiled surfaces of some of the small businesses carried romanticized imagery of the past. Even the tackier tiled shopfront murals kept me dawdling behind Peter and Danielle...






SEVILLA:

From Madrid we took a train to Seville for several days. It was the first burst of warm weather in Spain and people were rediscovering outdoor life, strolling, setting up terrace cafe tables, and refurbishing after the rains of winter.

Sprucing up Seville's bull-fighting ring, in anticipation of the start of the new season later in the month:



Side door entrance to the bull-pen area:




Bull-pen:

Paintings depicting bull "types" from the bull-fighting museum (for my bovine & kerbau-loving friends!):


Where matadors pray before the bullfights (a small chapel adjacent to the bull stalls):


Where matadors & fans go after the bullfights:



Around Seville:



:
Inside Seville's Alcazar: A tiled, fountain-filled oasis...









Day trip to CORDOBA:

Cordoba Alcazar gardens...


Streets of old Cordoba...

Exterior of the Mesquita (the old mosque):


Interior of the mosque: