Category: Churches (Page 6 of 7)

Roman Tarragona

4 November 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

Tarragona

It is said that Tarragona is the first Roman city of Spain.

This port city is heaving with Roman ruins, having been founded in 218BC and originally called “Tarraco” by the Phoenicians. Its history may be older but cannot be verified. The Romans fortified the city, becoming the capital of the province named after it, Hispania Tarraconensis. Augustus was a regular visitor to the city.

It was known to be the richest town on the coast, fertile plains produced good wine and wheat and a sunny climate protected wintering ships. After the demise of the Romans, it was ruled by (amongst many others) the Visigoths (ended 714), the Almoravids (1100s), the Kingdom of Aragon (1160 – 1400) and finally the Spanish Empire in 1516. During the Catalan Revolt it was captured by Spanish troops and ruled by them until 1713, the French ruled until 1813, then the Spanish took control again during the Spanish Civil War until 1939. It remains a Catalan city to this day, architecturally beautiful.

Economically, the city’s wealth comes from the port (an export hub for the Spanish motor industry) and chemical industries in the surrounding industrial areas. Heritage wise, its known for its “human tower” spectacles, where acrobatically trained men and children form human towers, participating in the annual Santa Tecla Festival of music, dance, short farcical displays and which has been held since 1321. Its also home to the Dixieland Festival – a major musical event in Catalonia! Its a jazz festival, started in 1994, and offers a large number of bands and over 100 concerts in the week before Easter.

The ancient remains are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are remains of walls throughout the city, Augustus’s palace was a prison up to the 19th century, the ampitheatre has been retained, a circus and forum are still visible, a Roman built aquaduct (sadly not visited) still stands outside the city (700 feet long, 85ft high), a citadel is within the city as well as numerous monuments with scriptures chiselled into them. The cathedral is within the old city walls, as is a convent.

The most amazing site was the oval ampitheatre. Overlooking the blue Mediterranean sea, it was built 109m x 86m wide, on a base of huge stone blocks, with tunnels, drains, service doors and monumental entrances and even a pulley system to lift animals or fighters from the cellars below to the floor of the arena. The walls were made from rock, posts and lintels, concrete archways and concrete walls, as well as solid boxes with rubble infil.

The three distinct levels were ordered by hierarchy, nearest to the arena were more comfortable seats, which the upper level was standing room only. The underground service passages are totally preserved as is a private sanctuary for the workers. The rainwater was channeled to the middle where a gutter passes under the stands to drain the water into the sea. The buildings maximum capacity was estimated at 12,750 people when the arena was fully circular. This was worked out by dividing lines cut into the stones at 40cm spaces.

There are documents that confirm that on Friday 21st January 259, Bishop Fructuosus and his two Deacons, Augurius and Eulogius, were burned to death in the Ampitheatre’s arena, deigned by Emperor Valerian during the days of Christian persecution. It was used for gladiator games or fights, athletic displays, and where death sentences were carried out. During the 6th Century a basilica was built within the grounds of the arena to commemorate the martyrdom of Bishop Fructuosus, it was 13m wide, 22.7m long with a horseshoe apse as well as a small annex which was used for baptism and funeral services. After Christianity became the official religion for the area, the Basilica and arena was not used as much and fell into disrepair; when the Islamic invasion of Spain started in the 12th century another church was built over the remains of the Basilica, in Romanesque style, demolished in 1915. The floors of both buildings remain visible. The church and nearby buildings were eventually used as a convent then in 1780 it became a prison for prisoners constructing the port. After closing, it was abandoned until the mid 20th century when work began on its preservation.

The ampitheatre is linked to the Forum and Circus in the main city by means of cobbled roads, still visible today. The Circus held grand horse and chariot races, and this is often seen in shop fronts, doorway details and archways where stores have been built on top of vaults. The Forum no longer exists but the square which was its base, is now home to a placa (or square) full of cafes and restaurants where people still gather and discuss their days.

The Cathedral is built on the grounds of a former Roman temple, from its tower you can clearly see the city walls and other remaining Roman structures and ruins.

The Cathedral.

A quirky street, and below, it’s street “furniture”!

Some views of the city walls.

The Ampitheatre

The entrance tunnel

The two different floor layouts, the Basilica in pink, the church in blue, and in reality , below.

Night at The Opera in Bardolino

23 October 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

One evening we went to an Italian Opera concert, just two singers and a pianist and a selection of well known songs from operas; it was held in a decommissioned church where the sounds were fabulous. The selection included arias from La Boheme, Romeo & Juliet; Marriage of Figaro; La Traviata; Rigoletto and Don Pasquale.

It was a relaxed evening, the Soprano (Elisabetta Dambrouso) was elegant and had a beautifully crisp high voice; the Tenor (Eduardo Rampoldi) was complimentary in duets and fabulous on his own and the pianist (Nicolas Dal Cero) was brilliant and amusing with his animated manner and movements. The two singers were as emotional, both vocally and physically, as you would expect. The evening was a brilliant introduction to famous songs you would recognise but meant you didn’t have to sit for hours to hear them!

We also spent a few hours wandering around Bardolino again before the event, this particular day it was a little cloudy, but the views were just as spectacular.

Lake Garda – Part 1

18 October 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

We arrived at our next pre-booked camp site only to found a now familiar “Italian issue” – pitches that are far too small, despite us asking for space that is at least 90 sqm! We wedged onto this pitch, to the amusement of many and stayed just one night and used to time to find another camp site around the corner which was bigger and better. We moved the next day to Camping Bella Italia, it’s huge, full of fabulous facilities and right on the edge of the lake.

Lake Garda, well, what a sight! Its huge. Its beautiful. Its blue and green at once. Its clean and clear and warm. Its paradise in disguise. The small villages are bustling with tourists, even in October, and full of reasonably priced restaurants, stylish villas, museums, hot springs, castles, forts and endless activities. The water is just a wonderful colour of turquoise and green, azure blue and dark blue.

Lake Garda at its best!

Whilst here, Samson was given a make-over, new decals imported from America. They are originals that came with the trailer. It kept the neighbours busy for a few hours, watching us!!

The walkway from our campsite to the town.

Peschiera (south coast of the Lake)

We based ourselves in Peschiera, an old Roman fortified town, divided up by old battlement walls and surrounded by “canals” within the lake. The military history is evident everywhere, although we could not understand why the town felt the need for this, and who they were defending it from.

The town also seems to be where you can find the most tourists – past the port on the opposite side of town to us are adventure parks (similar to Disney) and huge funfairs, aquariums and water parks. Thankfully they were all closed in October and only re-opening for Halloween, as I envisaged me dragging David over there!!

Our first weekend here, we watched a display of 1950 – 1960 racing boats, powered by Alfa Romeo 2 litre twin cam engines. The dozen boats were craned onto the water in the small marina and took turns to go out onto the lake 5 or 6 at a time and do ten laps of some strategically placed buoys. Sometimes the boats would not start at all. The ten laps were sufficient to smell the fumes, watch the water splashing up as they raced through the water, experience the thrills as the drivers battled with heavy steering and then were cheered by the crowds as they came back into the marina. The smells, sounds and images were truly memorable.

We face timed my Dad when one of the displays were on and he and David both agreed, they sounded as though they were running on 3 cylinders only, ropey! Nevertheless, it was more about the spectacle than the engines….

Sirmione (south)

This peninsular shaped town with its gatehouse is an island with one entry point to a fabulous magical place. The 13^th Century castle is a rare example of medieval port fortification with three corner towers built in pebbles alternating with courses of bricks. The walls of the rooms inside were finished with plaster simulating blocks of stone, what we would call ancient graffiti. The castle stands at the entrance to the peninsular, surrounded by a moat and only accessible by two drawbridges.

It has several natural hot springs coming out of the rocks, at about 65C, I can vouch for the heat!! I dipped my feet into it and it was a tad warm! The sulphuric smell is not too great but acceptable (pic below shows it emerging from the shoreline…)

There is walkway all around the coastline and at the very end the soft flat rocks head out onto the lake with just a few inches of water covering them. The area is called Jamaica Beach, spelled Giamaica!!!

Also at the end of the peninsular are the remains of a Roman Domus, an ancient villa with a cave complex below, closed the day we visited. The town was also home to the famous opera singer Maria Callas, during her Italian career, picture below.

Lazise (east)

This small fishing port is simply beautiful. Again an old Roman town, the city walls were built with three portals (doors) all fitted with both gates and drawbridges. The castle was built by the Scaliger Lords of Verona, and is currently owned and managed by a noble Italian family. The small church on the quayside (behind David to the left) has frescos on the walls inside dating back to the 14^th century but sadly it was being renovated when we visited.

Salo (west)

This lakeside town is known for having the longest promenade as the town is in a cove or inlet on the lake. The day we visited there was a small regatta of 8 man rowing boats taking place in the bay as well as a “vintage” market so we had a lovely mooch around this pretty town which is on the west coast. The image below shows how clear the water is.

We also found a road that went up a mountainside, called Via Panoramica! Stopped once or twice to take some scenic photos of Isola del Garda, an island on the Lake.

Bardolino (east)

Bardolino, a Roman fishing village with first recorded activity dating back to 1000, is a comb shaped village, houses are built one behind the other starting on the shoreline. This was popular with fishing villages, the perpendicularity of the street to the coast offered fishermen easy and safe transportation of the boats in front of houses.

Oil and wine production also flourished and soon the ruby red wine from this area took the same name. The town is home to a Wine and Oil Museum.

This villa was built by a man from Verona who in 1860, came here on holiday. He loved the place so much that he spent all his time here building the villa. After 13 years of being away from home, his wife turned up, only to find he was running the villa as a guest house and was building a second villa next door. She was so angry that she promptly installed both mothers to run the guest house and she helped the husband in the bigger hotel next door. The grandmothers gained fame quickly due to their fabulous cooking so they were promoted to chefs at the Hotel next door, hence the Hotel Riviera was created, still a Hotel to this day and run by grandchildren of the same family.

And into Italy we go…….

17 October 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

We left France and drove just over 4 hours into Italy to our next stop, along the coastal road before turning inland towards Milan. The landscape along the coast was as we had imagined, hilly and high up on mountain sides, the road was sometimes dangling above the towns below, lots of tunnels (something like 77) and bridges but as we turned off at Genova, the landscape flattened out to a point where we could have been in Ansterdam, or the fens of Cambridgeshire!!

Leaving our French site, a tight exit!

The Italian border.

At one point, our plans to visit Italy were almost put on hold as too many people told us about terrible roads, dangerous drivers and a severe lack of camp sites, but we pushed on though and decided to do a “recce” and spend 4 weeks venturing into Italy before heading back to Spain for the winter.

We plotted a route from the Cannes area up through and over the Maritime Alps mountains to Cuneo (famous for its Barolo wines) then over to Asti and Alba (famous for its fizz) and then over to Lake Garda, but the Jane (our sat nav goddess) said a BIG NO!!! With a 7 tonnes vehicles that’s 3.5m high, you cannot head over the mountains to Cuneo……unless you go to Asti first then drive back 100kms to Cuneo, then drive back to Asti, so sadly we had to cut out the Cuneo stop.

A view of the drop to the coast along the road from France into Italy.

The area between Cuneo and Asti is a huge vineyard as far as the eye can see, rows and rows of vines headed by a rosebush (to announce and protect against grape pests) and/or willows, traditionally used to support young plants. Reds, whites, sweet and sparkling wines come from this region, with a particular success in ageing red wines, such as Barolo and Barbera, one of which has always been my favourite!! I was first introduced to Barolo in about 1995, when a contractor took me to dinner at a waterside restaurant in London Bridge and I chose the most expensive red on the menu!!! I had no idea what it was but we fell in love……

A Lesson In Viniculture (wine growing to you and me!)

A bit of technical info – the main grapes grown in the Piedmonte area are: Barbera (red) and white Moscato (for the Asti Spumante) and Nebiolo (for aged wines such as Barolo and Barberesco). The Nebiolo grape was first mentioned in 1200 and continued to the 1500s when it was used

Barolo (the Wine of Kings and the King of Wines) is produced by 11 regions in the area, originally it was a sweeter wine but ecological changes made in its production around 1850 by the Marquis Falletti of Barolo, it turned it into a dry deep red – these methods were then adopted by all other growers at that time and are still used today.

Barberesco is a wine with ancient origins, produced in only 4 regions, whose name derives from the wine given to barbarian hordes of Romans that slaughtered Italians before and after the fall of Rome. Professor Domizio Cavazzi, a famous winemaker, described it as “fine, soft, generous” and in 1890 founded a wine co-operative for its exclusive production.

Barbera D’Asti and Barbera of Monferrato are two of the regions wines from the Barbera grape. The Barbera is amongst the most exported national and international wines from the Piedmonte area of Italy, initially to the American market in 1819 and was much appreciated after the production crisis after the first and second world Wars.

Moscato means “perfumed” and was declared a fine wine variety as far back as 1200 with Canelli and Asti becoming perfect areas for its cultivation, with the city of Canelli being known as an “underground cathedral” because of its immense underground factories that extend under the city. The first sparkling Asti Spumante was made in Canelli in 1860, adapted from the champagne method and includes a second fermentation in the bottle in order to obtain the sweetness.

Grignolino was mentioned in the 16th century as a “claret”, drunk during fish banquets. In the early 1900s it was described as a “delicate variety” so was mixed with a Barbera and production to this date is decreasing despite its popularity and excellent quality.

The Annual Processes – in Italy, in October, they spread fertiliser between the rows to help it over the snow laden winter; in January to March they prune (but superstition says it’s not to be done on nights when there is a full moon) and April and May is dedicated to “suckering” the baby shoots onto new supports. End of August is usually when the owner decides the date the grapes will be at their best and harvesting begins during the month of September. Once it begins, it cannot be stopped, to ensure the quality of the grapes remain consistent for that year’s crop. Italy is the first place where we have been told that they fertilise the soil and also the first place where they look forward to the snow!

Back to our travels…….

Our first stop was at a small town called Agliano Terme, home to a small natural thermal spring that was only accessible if you have a “recipe from the doctor” in other words “visit by prescription only”. We spent a day touring the small towns of Asti and Alba whilst Samson was parked in the camp site’s car park; we were too big for their terraced plots despite us emailing ahead, with a picture and dimensions! This must have been a regular occurrence as the car park with kitted out with a water, power and drain point! A few nights were fine, we just had to put up with the camp site visitors emptying their bins near us at ungodly hours!!

My parents were very proud that we have experienced our first night ever “camping in a car park”!!

When in Italy………

Starters were……. local pork ham with a blue cheese; cooked chicken with another type of cheese; (centre) was a pancake filled with ricotta and topped with grated truffle; beef carpaccio (which I did try) and filo pastry stuffed with a pate concoction! Delicious….

Mains….pizza with asparagus; lamb chops with grilled veg and potatoes.

And of course, home made Tiramisu!

Alba is the second largest town in the area after Cuneo, founded by the Romans in 190BC, sitting on a hill above the banks of the River Tanaro. The gothic style cathedral was built on the ruins of a Roman temple, it is beside the Town Hall which is attached to old Roman walls. It was known as the city of a hundred towers, only a few remain now as many were lowered to the roof levels or incorporated into buildings. Alba is also home to the white truffle, a festival is held in the truffle’s honour in October, and yes, we did get to try some! A very strong mushroom flavour…..

The Town Hall in Alba

Alba’s cathedral

Asti was also built by the Romans, in the middle ages it became a “free town”, one that due to its trade throughout Europe, earned the right to “coin money”. It is a city rich in red brick towers, palatial houses and crypts under the churches and buildings. And the churches…….they are so ornate. Frescos on the ceilings, columns painted to look like they have been carved, and such beautiful colours everywhere.

Asti may be famous for its sparkling wine, but it’s also famous for its “palio” – over several days a display of horsemanship culminating in bareback mounted horse races. A food and wine festival takes place just before the Palio, in September every year, with over 40 businesses hosting thousands of visitors who want to taste their wares. Sadly, we missed this!

After three days here we moved onto a totally different area, Lake Garda!

Santa Semana in Jerez

9 April 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

We decided to visit Jerez during the Santa Semana week, to witness the same procession but on a bigger scale. The only bigger scale was the amount of people watching the procession, and the amount of people in each procession from the brotherhood, the Pasos were almost the same as was the order of the procession, the bands and the outfits.

The noise was much louder, children with drums, trumpets and whistles, adults shouting to attendees in the procession but also regular traffic in the town – the route was not marked or secured off as it would be in the UK, scooters were allowed down the same roads as the procession; businesses were open as usual and people shopped, drunk coffee and went about as normal, very strange! Health and safety in the UK would have had a field day!!

So a small selection of photos follow of our day in Jerez.