My Islands in the World – Azores. And this little Island, Corvo. Blue Hydrangeas in the blue ocean. My daughter as a young girl…Someday I hope we will return.
Travel
Travel theme: Sound
Some sounds for Ailsa, from Nature! In the header – winter ice cracking into spring.
Sparkling fire on Walpurgis Night.
Mmm, the sound of water can be calm and soft, but also roaring…
And maybe the most beautiful morning sound – a spring thrush, singing when you open your window.
Ansó and the Vultures of Foz de Arbaiun
A gallery of pictures from the little village Ansó – isolated for many years, but rather recently opened up to the world.
After a couple of hours on a narrow, winding road, we finally reached
…Ansó
A charming little mountain village
…with narrow, cobbled streets
We found a great bar with absolutely fresh appetizers and tasty beer
And everyday life went on
…just like the water running through the narrow gorges
On our way back to our hotel, we passed Foz de Arbaiun, a narrow gorge made by the river Salazar, 400 m down. As usual, click to enlarge. (Sometimes needed twice)
On the cliff sides, many vultures have found their homes. We saw at least a dozen coming in. Here they are free to live – nobody can touch them.
Unfortunately we had not brought any pair of binoculars – but the flight of the majestic vultures was still great to watch. We did not see any of the other species.
Cee’s B&W Challenge: Circles and Curves
For Cee this week – a piece of the Atlas Range in Morocco. Maybe not complete circles, but indeed curves. A majestic landscape streching miles and miles away to the horizon.
And thank you for being featured last week!
Thursday Thoughts – The Fairy – Castle
We were driving along the road from Bilbao to visit Gernika this day, when suddenly, out of nowhere, without any road sign – we saw the pinnacles above the dense forest. A castle. This castle is located in Gatika, in the province of Biscay, in northern Spain
We turned left off the road and decided to have a closer look at it – and after some twists and turns of narrow roads – we found it.
The castle has a fairy-tale look about it, and as we started walking around it, we realised that the place was abandoned and nobody lived there. Further down the road we found pictures of knights and horses, together with a closed down, dilapidated café. The premises had probably been used for games or jousting.
A look at Wikipedia tells us that the present building was created as a hobby for its then owner and to create something visually spectacular rather than to produce something for people to live in. ” In fact it would be quite inconvenient as a home as the towers have little useful space and various parts of the castle have exterior connections which are not particularly apt for the wet Basque weather.”
The building is surrounded by an overgrown park which includes palms and exotic plants. We thought the forlorn castle must be totally unknown, but in fact it seems this is not the case…As any other little girl, Kate Middleton’s dream once was to get married in this fairy tale castle. (Said in a BBC interview with David Ferald.)
Back in Bilbao again in the evening, we learned from our host that the castle is named Castillo de Butrón . (He even had a painting of Butrón on the wall.) It dates originally from the Middle Ages, although it owes its present appearance to an almost complete rebuilding, inspired by Bavarian castle models, begun by Francisco de Cubas (also known as Marqués de Cubas) in 1878.
The castle fell into disuse, was later renovated and opened again, but the building was finally closed to visitors although the grounds remained open.
In November 2005 the building was purchased by INBISA (Grupo Empresarial) for about 1,6 million euros, but it remains under the general protection of Spanish law in respect of historic buildings in Spain.
SL -Week 2-02: Ground
For Sylvain Landry’s challenge this week, we should look at the world from a child’s position. And indeed, my Mille looks much bigger than he was. His height was 48 centimetres – and the mountains somewhat higher…
Travel theme: Fierce
I am sorry, Ailsa, but I seldom photograph things fierce…these are both good humoured of course – but at least they might Look fierce!
Go to more accurate fierceness here.
WPC: Quest
Cheri Lucas Rowlands encourages us to show a picture of Quest. An almost impossible task…When I think of this word, Quest, I think of all my teaching years in literature and all the glorious quests portrayed there:
The Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian story, The Odyssey by Homer, Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and of course The Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling.
In these stories, the protagonists set out to almost impossible tasks, leaving home and safety plunging into the unknown. So, where am I, a 21st century, middle aged woman, in all this? What is my Quest?
I guess in my little world there are no big ”saving the world”- quests – maybe saving myself quests only. I am constantly searching for and heading towards Inner Peace, being kind and compassionate along the road. I find peace in Nature and through doing good things, helping other fellow passengers on this route.
Hopefully, one day, I will be standing there, feeling that my quest is completed. I will be completely calm and at peace with myself and the world.
Along the Spanish Roads
Burgos – the Cathedral of Cathedrals
Burgos (founded in the year 884) in Castilla y Léon is strategically set on the main road Madrid – France and also on the road to Santiago. The city has always had a prominent position in Spain.
We entered the old city through Arco de Santa Maria.
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of Burgos is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Its construction began in 1221, and the style of the cathedral is the Gothic, although it has, in its interior, several decorative Renaissance and Baroque elements. The construction and renovations were made with limestone.
The design of the main facade is related to the purest French Gothic style of the great cathedrals of Paris and Reims, while the interior elevation as a reference to Bourges Cathedral.
The characteristic pinnacles with crab ornaments can be seen in the header.
El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, born 1043) was a charismatic, brave and courageous warrior who conquered the Mores and took Valencia for the Christians (and ruled the city until his death). He earned his name, El Cid, from Arabian Sidi (Lord) because of his great courage, but was made immortal by the poem El Cantar de Mío Cid (1180). His (and his wife´s) grave is just beneath the magnificent star dome. A dream place to be buried…
In the cathedral are preserved works of extraordinary artists, and the numerous architectural, sculptural and pictorial treasures inside include:
The Chapel del Constable, of Isabelline Gothic style, which worked the Colonia family, Diego de Siloé and Felipe Bigarny
The Spanish-Flemish Gothic altarpiece by Gil de Siloé for the Chapel of Saint Anne
The Sacristy in Baroque style
Under restoration
Lace…?
Serene vaults to rest under
15th century art work – now being restored
Mild colours …
…create harmony
The Cathedral could have been built yesterday…or restored the day before…that magnificent is its beauty. Every detail exquisite – I have never seen anything like it. And, I have seen many Cathedrals and churches… We enjoyed these treasures for more than two hours, and we could have stayed longer…
The Renaissance Golden staircase by Diego de Siloé, covers a whole wall – and in my opinion, this is the most outstanding gem in the cathedral. In fact, it became so famous, that it served as a model for many other famous staircases. Among others, the one of the Paris Opera.
West facade
Door of the Sarmental
The cathedral was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on October 31, 1984. It is the only Spanish cathedral that has this distinction independently, without being joined to the historic center of a city or in union with other buildings.
Leya 
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