So, this one time in Spain I ate...

A bowl of melted cheese. Seriously.

Some friends and I went out for tapas and copas the other night, and I ordered the restaurant specialty: a tapa called provoleta napolitana. The menu described it as grilled provolone cheese with tomatoes, olives, olive oil, garlic and other herbs (my best translation). I was expecting something like an empanada, or something on top of bread, or... I don't exactly know what I was expecting. What I got was all of those ingredients melted together in a bowl.

Literally, it was a medium-sized bowl full of melted cheese that I ate with a spoon. It was surprisingly and amazingly one of the best things I have tasted in Spain. I suppose it might be almost like a pizza without bread or tomato sauce. Even so, I still can't get over the fact that they served a tapa that is just melted cheese...

Archivo de Indias: AARRGH!

Today I visited the Archivo General de Los Indias (The General Archive of the Indies), a museum and the place where archival documents are stored that illustrate the history of Spain's empire in the Americas and the Philippines. King Carlos III, the king who my Civ profe argues is the best king of all the Bourbons, started a project to bring together under a single roof all the documentation regarding the overseas empire, which until that time had been dispersed among various archives. At the moment there is an exhibition about pirates in the Caribbean (not the movies, the REAL pirates). The exhibition gave a history about famous pirates, what piracy meant for Spain, and how the Spanish goverment tried to fight back. If you did not know, almost all the territory (and thus gold) of the Americas and the West Indies belonged to Spain. Other countries, England and France specifically (but Spain has always had problems with France, so what else is new?), wanted "un trozo de la pastel" and decided the best way to get it was to steal from Spain. Remember Sir Francis Drake? Hey was a privateer, meaning he was paid by the Queen of England to be a pirate and rob as much gold and silver from Spain as he could. Then he was knighted for doing a good job. Imagine how Spain felt about that... Then, the Dutch government saw what a success the English had had with that plan and decided to give it a try as well with their brand of privateers called corsairs. After that, it was anybody's game and buccaneers, freebooters, and smugglers roamed the open seas. Aarrrgh, me mateys! Drink up, me hearties, yo ho! And all those other pirate things... Anyway, the Islands of Tortuga, Saint-Domingue, and Jamaica (which was owned by the English, who consequently did not care that Spain was being robbed blind) turned into bases for them because the governors there promoted their expeditions and offered them refuge when needed. Reading about all of this coincidentally made me feel very piratey and I admit that I rather wanted to get some rum, but I had to run back to class asking myself "Why is the rum always gone?"

Barcelona

As Feria is a week long festival, we had the whole week off from school, and because there really is only so much to see at Feria, we (my roommate and some friends) decided to use the extra time to take a trip to Barcelona.

Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain, is the capital of Cataluña, located on the northern Mediterranean coast of Spain. During the time of the Guerra Civil (Civil War) in Spain, many of the artists and intellectuals fled to Barcelona to escape the oppression and censorship. Even now, Barcelona is a very artistic city, the frontlines of the Vanguardia.

I loved the artistic character of the city and all the art we were able to see there. One of my favorite parts was the modernist architecture of Antoni Gaudí. We took almost a whole day to see Gaudí's Park Güel, the apartment buildings he designed, and the Sagrada Familia (the cathedral that most view as his masterpiece, although it was never finished). I loved them all, but was most intrigued by the Sagrada Familia, which is still under construction.

Gaudí was a devout Catholic, to the point that in his later years he abandoned secular work and devoted his life to working on the Sagrada Familia. His intention with the project of the Sagrada Familia was to depict the Bible, that is to say all the importnat stories of the Bible, in stone. There were supposed to be three facades-- one depicting the birth of Christ, one depicting his death, and the third the ressurrection and heaven. He designed it to have 18 towers, 12 for the 12 apostles, 4 for the 4 evangelists, one for Mary and one for Jesus.

Towards the end of his life, many of Gaudí's friends and family began to die and this put him into a state of depression that slowed down his work. In 1926, Gaudí was killed in an accident and left the cathedral unfinished. The only existing copy of his last recorded blue prints was destroyed by the anarchists in 1938 during the Guerra Civil (the Spanish Civil War). This has made it very difficult to complete the church in the fashion Gaudí most likely would have wished. It is still under construction and they predict it will be finished relatively soon (well, for Europe)-- forty or fifty years.

After his formation as an artist, Spanish painter Pablo Picasso divided his time between Barcelona and Paris. For this reason, Picasso is also very important to the city of Barcelona and it's artistic character. On our first day in Barcelona, we went to the Picasso Museum which I enjoyed a lot. When people think of Picasso, they think of Cubism, which makes sense. The thing is, Picasso has such a variety of styles ranging through so many different periods of art history. Picasso did a series of paintings manipulating the light and composition of Velazquez's Las Meninas which I just recently saw in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. I can not tell you how amazing it is to be studying about a work of art or a movement of art and then go to see it.

Icing on the cake:
There is a bar in Barcelona where Picasso, Buñuel, Dalí and many other artists and intellectuals of the modernist movement in Spain would sit drinking coffee and discussing there work. It is called Los Cuatro Gatos, which literally translated means The Four Cats, but "cuatro gatos" is a colloquial expression here used to mean "nobody or no one." I like understanding Spanish puns, although I do not yet make them. Coming soon, though, I assure you. Anyway, we went to Cuatro Gatos and were geeking out over our coffee and desserts.

(photos from Parque Güel)

Feria

La Feria de Abril, one of Sevilla's most important fiestas, is basically a week long carnival plus a celebration of flamenco culture, eating, and drinking. Feria officially begins at midnight on Monday with the Alumbrado (lighting of the main gate, the lamps in the street, and the lights of the casetas) and runs six days, ending on the following Sunday with a huge display of fireworks.



The "farigrounds" (for lack of a better word) are located in Los Remedios, a barrio on the far side of the river, and are totally covered in rows of casetas, individual decorated tents which are temporarily built there. When they say "caseta," they literally do mean "little house." Besides the bar and the tables and chairs for eating, they are decorated extravagantly (well, some more than others). Some of them have wallpaper, paintings, or gilded mirrors. Most of the casetas are privately owned and you need an invitation or some kind of connections to get in, but there are public casetas as well. Some of these casetas belong to families, some to groups of friends, clubs, trade associations, and even political parties and local barrios (neighborhoods).



All day long, but especially from around nine at night until six or seven the following morning, at first in the streets and later only within each caseta, people are dancing Sevillanas (the traditional flamenco-esque folk dance), eating tapas, and drinking the traditional drink of Feria, rebujito, which is a mix of manzanilla (sherry, usually from Jerez) and 7Up.


One of my favorite parts of Feria was watching all of the horses and carriages full of people dressed in traditional flamenco costumes. All of the colors are brilliant and almost overwhelming. Another favorite was seeing everything lit up at night during the Alumbrado and afterwards. Sorry I don't have any photos to post yet, but I am working on it.

Madrid: A Weekend of Art

This past weekend, I travelled to Madrid with my Art History class to see some of the larger museums in Spain. We went to the Prado (home of several very important works including Velazquez and El Greco), the Museo Reina Sofia (contemporary art from the 20^th century and onward including Dali and Picasso), and the Museo Thyssen (everything). In addition to the art museums, we went to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace), the Plaza Mayor, and other parts of historic Madrid. In a small section of free time, I made a literary pilgrimage to the houses of Lope de Vega (a baroque playwright) and Cervantes (author of Don Quixote). (Laugh at me if you like.)

Although I was rather overwhelmed by its scope, I enjoyed the Prado very much. Seeing the paintings of El Greco in real life is an experience so completely different from seeing them on a PowerPoint slideshow. The Museo Reina Sofia was interesting, but the art of Spain from the 20^th century is usually dark and depressing. Having been produced in ages dominated by war, dictators, censorship, disillusionment and general suffering, you can imagine that this art does not often deal with uplifting themes. The Museo Thyssen was my favorite because it had everything from gothic art to contemporary art in a museum that was a manageable size. In addition to several very interesting paintings that captured my attention, there was a special exhibit of Monet that I particularly enjoyed. It is one of those experiences where you arrive and realize that this something is much larger, more important, and perhaps more moving and powerful than you thought it was or even had imagined it to be.

Teatro de la Maestranza

Last night, my roommate Christy and I went to the Teatro de la Maestranza, a famous modern theater here in Sevilla, to see the English National Ballet’s production of Cinderella. I have a list of things I need to do before leaving Sevilla, and one of the things on the list is to see something in the Teatro de la Maestranza. Christy and I noticed signs for the ballet on the street during Semana Santa, and after Christy told me that we could get tickets for only 26 euro, we decided to go for it. I am so glad that we did. Amazing. The music, by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, was beautiful beyond words. The grace with which the dancers moved seemed contagious, as if I gained grace and peace simply by watching them.

Pablo Picasso said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life,” and it is so true. This has been a crazy week for me with projects due and a big exam yesterday. I have been trying to get things sorted out for next year at Point Loma, mainly housing and class registration. Without wasting your time with too many of the details of my problems with scheduling classes for next year, I will simply say that it has been a mess and so have I. I have been emailing just about every professor in my department trying to get things worked out, and yesterday I received an email that eliminated an option I had been counting on. I was crushed and at the end of my rope. Seeing the ballet after all of the stress and emotional exhaustion of this week was tangibly refreshing, even cleansing. And this weekend I am going to Madrid with my Art class to see some museums, so I am looking forward to a weekend of art.

Farewell to Semana Santa

Today, the last day of Semana Santa, we went out to see more pasos, to get some churros, and to say farewell to Semana Santa. I knew Semana Santa would be a big deal here in Sevilla and I was so excited that I would be able to be in Sevilla to celebrate Semana Santa where it is so famous, but I do not really know what I expected it to actually be like. It is an interesting concept—religious parades all day every day for a whole week. If we have debates about Nativity Scenes or the Ten Commandments being displayed in public places, I cannot imagine something like Semana Santa happening in the States. Here in Sevilla, everyone goes to mass during Semana Santa and is in the streets watching the pasos. Although they might not be practicing Catholics during the rest of the year, for Semana Santa, at least, everyone is Catholic. It was interesting to be a part of a festival that has such a strong religious theme but is much more cultural and not exactly religious at all anymore. For example, there are normally a lot of street performers in el Centro because it is a rather touristy area and they can get the attention (and money) that they want, but during Semana Santa the streets were full of every street performer I have ever seen there, plus new ones, all to make the most of the crowds of people. There were people selling balloons and there were stands selling popcorn, cotton candy, and silly toy horns and things—all stuff I would expect at something like the Strawberry Festival that happens in my home town or something similar, but not at what I perceived as a serious religious festival. There are people, like my señora Carmen, for whom Semana Santa holds deep religious significance, but largely it seems that people are there for the show, not because it is part of their faith or religious expression. I have really enjoyed Semana Santa, and I hope you maybe learned something new or at least enjoyed some of the stories I have had to tell. Thanks for reading and Happy Easter.

La Madrugada

Semana Santa celebrations, like basically everything else in Spain, are intense. The entire point of celebrating Semana Santa in this way with pasos and penitents (at least when the tradition was created in the 16th century) was to educate the people about the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and for people to remember and participate in his Passion, death, and resurrection.

Yesterday was Jueves Santo (Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday) where we commemorate the Last Supper and the sacrament of Communion. It is the day where Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples, washed their feet, and after praying for hours into the night was arrested and brought before the Jewish authorities. The midnight hours of Thursday night of Semana Santa, or La Madrugada (madrugada simply means the early hours of the morning after midnight), are meant to commemorate the events of that night and are perhaps the most important of the whole of Semana Santa with some of the most important and best-loved pasos including El Silencio, Jesus del Gran Poder, La Macarena, y La Esperanza de Triana.

Each paso is made up of penitents, a marching band (sometimes dressed as Roman centurians or in another Biblical costme), a sculpture of a scene from Jesus’ final days, and a second sculpture of the Virgin Mary. They march down a predetermined route, enter one side of the Cathedral, pass through it, and exit out the other side before heading back to the church they came from. It is funny because all of the Virgins are very beautiful (“Todas son muy guapas,” as Carmen says), but many people have their own particular favorite and insist that she is more beautiful than all the others are. For example, there is a huge rivalry (if you can even call it that) between two images of the virgin: La Esperanza de Triana and La Macarena. Carmen, my señora, was telling Christy and me that she has a friend who is very dedicated to La Esperanza de Triana. We heard him telling Carmen that La Esperanza de Triana is “la mas guapa que todas.” Carmen, on the other hand, prefers La Macarena, but is careful not to say that in front of him. It is like a friendly but heated sports rivalry, only Spanish-Catholic style. Personally, I like La Macarena, but I don’t want to take sides.

The first paso, El Silencio, would be passing the Cathedral a little after 2 AM, so Christy, Kerry, and I left our neighborhood at 1 AM to go to el Centro with the hopes of finding a good spot to stand where we would be able to see everything else until the last paso came by around 6 AM. That is so late for me (Or is it early? I am so confused…), but for Jesus, for Culture, and for Art, right? Right. We were lucky to find a spot near the side of the Cathedral where we could just stand and see everything pass by.

I have not seen so many people in the streets of Sevilla in all my time here, and the Spaniards have no concept of personal space, so walking was an adventure. Because the streets were blocked off for the pasos and there were many areas set up with chairs we could not take normal routes to get out of el Centro. We had linked hands so as not to get separated and there was a moment when the crowd was moving through a very small alley with two or three downward stairs before the alley rounded a corner. I was pressed against Christy with who knows who pressed against my back and on every side of me, and the whole crowd was moving as one. All of a sudden, I realized my feet were not touching the ground; I was basically carried over all the stairs by the forward motion of the crowd. Terrifying, but absolutely hilarious. A few seconds later ground rose up to meet my feet, and after a few more minutes in the middle of the mob, we were able to walk more freely and returned home a little after 6:30 AM. And that’s La Madrugada.