We arrived in Barcelona Spain from Avignon France by three different trains. One transfer was at the Spanish border because Spain has a very advanced high speed train - however, the tracks are not compatible with France’s! One thing perhaps we take for granted in the US is our high degree of standardization. This is not true in Europe. In Spain, the train took us through the Pyrenees Mountains that separates the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) from the rest of Europe. These mountains have played a significant role in how Portugal and Spain’s history, peoples, and cultures evolved, mainly by the isolation that they provide. Portugal is the “oldest country in Europe”, as their borders have remained unchanged since 1622, whereas Germany and all the rest had their borders redefined after that date. The Iberian Peninsula is significant since it is on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The passageway into the Mediterranean from the Atlantic is through the Straits of Gibraltar between Morocco and Spain.
The Romans named the Iberian Peninsula for the tribal inhabitants there, the Iberians. The history goes back further than the Romans to the Phoenicians and the Celts. Little evidence remains of peoples prior to the Romans since no written records exist before then. There are many Roman ruins, aqueducts, city walls, and temples still standing throughout the peninsula. After Rome fell (mid 400s), the Visigoths came and built many Gothic Cathedrals, also still standing. The Moorish influence began in 711AD when the Arabs defeated the Goths. Much Arab influence is still seen today with mosaics tiles, fortresses, and palaces (as Alhambra). Later, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella established a monarchy, united Spain, and established Christianity as the true religion. All of us remember that Isabella hocked her jewelry to fund Christopher Columbus’s voyage to America. In that same year of 1492, all non-Christians had to convert or else leave Spain. Many Jews and Moors (Moslems) left the country. Shortly after, that ugly time known as the Spanish Inquisition began.
There are famous pilgrimage sites (as Fatima) and paths here in Spain including the El Camino de Santiago. [Shirley MacLaine travelled this path and documented it in her book The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit.] Spain and Portugal are very proud of their role in discovering, exploring, and settling the Americas. This is more obvious in South and Central American than it is in the US. The Line of Demarcation was decided in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI, settling a dispute between Spain and Portugal. Today that is why Brazil speaks Portuguese while Spanish is spoken elsewhere in South America.
Spain is composed of regions (similar to our states, but much more diverse in culture and even language). We travelled to many of them and some sounded very familiar. Castila-LaMancha (Don Quixote); Andalucía (Moorish influence); Castile and Leon (monarchy); Catalonia (influence in art of Dali, Gaudi, Picasso); Aragon (Catherine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII was from here); Canary Islands. We saw the infamous Rock of Gibraltar area, which is controlled by Britain, not Spain.
As we all have heard, the economy here is struggling. Inflation is high (over 25%) without wages increasing. Products are still very agrarian. Vineyards, wine (Port, Madeira), cork (80% of world’s production - mostly as bottle stoppers), olive oil (65% of the world’s production, having a greater production output than Italy, but our Italian-American heritage snubs Spanish olive oil), & wheat.
Celebrating 500 years after Columbus, Spain is proud of the International World Expo and the Olympic games of 1992, which brought them back to the international stage
Barcelona is young, dynamic and cosmopolitan, and is the second largest city in Spain (3M, after Madrid). If you walk along the Ramblas pedestrian street or the busy Catalunya Plaza you can enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere that permeates the city. The city hosts one of the most important ports of the Mediterranean and is a cruise ship stop. More people use mopeds/motorcycles here than anywhere in Europe due to the nice climate. Barcelona’s iconic landmark is the Sagrada Familia Cathedral by Gaudi, combining gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau. Barcelona was founded by the Carthaginians in 300BC.
Madrid is the largest city in Spain and is the center of commerce and business, sports and nightlife. Very little medieval architecture is preserved in Madrid. Bullfighting still exists today and is quite popular. Football (soccer to Americans) is passionately followed in Spain and their teams of Real Madrid, Barcelona, and the National team are highly followed and players highly regarded.
Toledo, Spain has weather that gets to 120 degrees in the summer. It rains in the Spring and not again the rest of the year, so they say there are 9 months of winter and 3 months of hell. The Toledo Cathedral (built between 1226–1493) has 270 stained glass windows but that was not even the overwhelming part. It was massive and had more gold, silver, and gems than any other church we’ve seen. There were El Greco paintings of all 12 apostles and of Jesus. We saw many other Cathedrals as well - some that were so gigantic, the altar could not be viewed by most churchgoers. Therefore, “Mass is to be heard and not seen.” After awhile, we saw ABC - Another Bloody Cathedral - each more opulent than the last - in Avila, Madrid, Seville, Toledo, Coimbra, Fatima, Salamanca, and a few more. All were worthy stops even for us non-Catholics.
Lisbon, Portugal is built on 7 hills, like Rome. It is a large seaport with cruise ships in port and was quite crowded. People weren’t speaking English as much as we’d experienced in Spain, but their friendliness made up for it. The Belem Tower on the Tejo River, built in 1515, is the landmark of Lisbon. They have a “25 April Bridge” built in 1966, similar to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, which was the first bridge across the river and built with the same US design as San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. It is so named as the date commemorates the “Carnation Revolution” a Portuguese coup from 1974 where no shots were fired, ending dictatorship and wars in their colonies.
In Grenada, Spain is “Alhambra”, a fortress and palace complex and popular attraction. It was the home of the Sultan of Granada, rebuilt in 1250-1300. We saw his opulent palace with spectacular plaster designs, tiles and fountains, flourishing gardens, his quarters and the quarters for his 4 wives, all with beautiful views of the city. Washington Irving (Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle) brought Alhambra to life in his Tales of Alhambra.
We absolutely loved the Iberian Peninsula and highly recommend it. We were told “Spain is 20 years behind Germany, and Portugal is 20 years behind Spain.” We just found it was all good wherever they are in their evolution! From Spain, we travelled to Morocco, which will be the next and last blog of this fabulous trip.
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