15th October 2022: The castle in Olite and the cathedral in Tarazona {Aragón & Navarra Oct. 2022}

Posted on 29 October 2022 by Sakaki Delijah

Today, Olite is not much of an impressive town – but it has a dream castle Palacio Nuevo de Olite. The original fortress is reported to be a first-century Roman building where the Old Palace stands now. The first mention that we have of the old castle dates from the 13th century. In 1388, as Carlos III of Navarra (whose grave we had seen the previous day in Pamplona ) starts the process of clearing the area surrounding it, buying houses and so. The official ampliation of the palace started in 1399, and the actual construction of the new castle in 1402. First, the keep was erected, then the surrounding towers, without much planning, giving was a capricious space with staircases, yards, and even a hanging garden. Construction ended in 1420.

When Navarra was annexed to Castille, the decline of the castle started. Later, during one of the several Spain-France wars, soldiers’ distraction caused the first fire in 1794. later, in 1813, the castle was intentionally burnt down in 1813 to avoid that the French made a stronghold out of it. The wood-decorated room were completely destroyed and only the stone walls remained, although barely. The castle was used as makeshift quarry from then on, until in 1902 the modern regional government bought it. In 1925, after considering three proposals, it was decided too restore the castle using Jose Yárnoz Larrosa, who became the main architect. He chose a restoration style known for aiming to make things “as they should have been” – so rather idealistic. And one has to admit that the castle does look pretty cool, even though apparently it does not preserve the original structure too much. Throughout this time, a mulberry tree might have thriven for about 500 years.

The point of this is that the castle is cool. Pretty much fake, but cool.

After having breakfast, I set off for a few pictures. It was not too early in the morning, even, but at least the square was empty and clean, unlike the evening before. I stopped to examine the entrance of the church Iglesia de Santa María la Real. The church dates back from the 13th century, and is famous because of the decoration of its main façade and the sculpture around the portal, though personally, I was more taken by the atrium just in front of the church. While it does obstruct the view of the façade, the architectural ensemble ends up looking super cool – except for the little porch built in the 2015 restoration that… well… might be necessary but does not allow for the best view.

Church Santa María la Real: Gothic façade with an arched atrium in front of it. The portal is decorated with religious figures

I went around the complex formed by the two Medieval castles Palacio Viejo and Palacio Nuevo de Olite, the walls and the old egg-shaped building that used to work as a snow-powered fridge of sorts.

Collage with different sights of the new Olite palace. The walls, archs and merlons are shown, brown-gold colour. Some of the pinnacles have grey slate pinnacles.

We went in. The restoration of the palace is “in style” so you cannot tell what is new from what it is not. The inner area includes access to the towers, the keeps, the so-called King’s gallery, the hanging garden, and the centennial mulberry tree. I climbed about half of the towers and the keep itself, and I have to say it was pretty fun.

Palace of Olite - Gothic archways, one bare, one full of vegetation, and views from the towers, showing the merlons, pinnacles, and the rest of the towers

Palace of Olite - looking from the interior, the structures show vegetation and the pinnacles. The last part of the collage shows the mulberry tree

Unfortunately, when we left the castle, we were not allowed into the church Iglesia de Santa María la Real as there was going to be a wedding – despite being no notice outside but the normal opening times, within which we were. Sometimes I feel tempted to take pictures even when I know it’s not completely okay, in order not to miss opportunities later. Before we left town, we found a nice viewpoint to try to catch site of the whole castle.

Palace of Olite from afar. It looks like a fairytale castle with pinnacles, walls, merlons and flags.

Afterwards, we drove southwards towards Tarazona, back in the region of Aragón. It is not a big town, with but an interesting point to get to know – the cathedral Seo de Nuestra Señora de la Huerta de Tarazona. Built throughout the evolution of Gothic art, between the 13th and the 15th century, it was later enriched in the 16th century with Renaissance decoration and interior, and sprinkled with Mudejar details. The cathedral is in the middle of restoration, and the organ is fenced off. The cloister shows lots of panels on the works being done, too.

Tarazona cathedral - outside. The façade looks weirdly grey, and the belltower is on the right, darker. A close-up of the dome shows its Mudejar influences

Interior of the Cathedal of Tarazona, showing Gothic columns and the Baroque altarpiece. The cloister is modified Gothic with arcs and spikes. A close-up of the Mudejar-style bell tower.

We had lunch after visiting the cathedral, but we did not feel like staying around until the archaeological gardens. Thus, we just took the car back home, even though we might have been better off checking out some more places in town. Lesson learnt then, more planning is required in this kind of escapades…

14th October 2022: Pamplona, the city of the bulls, and Olite {Aragón & Navarra Oct. 2022}

Posted on 24 October 2022 by Sakaki Delijah

In order to avoid crossing Zaragoza, we tried to go around it. Unfortunately, trying to save up 30 minutes, we ended up wasting an hour at the entrance of the highway, and we reached the city of Pamplona or Iruña. Today, it is the capital of the region of Navarra, which is roughly the size and shape of the old Kingdom of Navarra, which existed roughly between 1162 and 1512, when it was conquered by the Catholic King Fernando.

There had been a slight misunderstanding on who was going to plan the day – I was convinced my father had not wanted me to do it, but when we arrived he turned to me and I was supposed to know. In summer, I had drafted a small itinerary, but as he was supposed to have taken charge, I had not gone further. It turns out, I should have. Fortunately, I still had the map on my phone and the opening schedules on my travel notebook. Unfortunately, I had not really delved into all that the city has to offer and we missed a few interesting thing

Thus, I tried to take charge, but not too much because it’s hard to balance that with my parents. Even if we have travelled together before, I tend to let them do the planning and only insist on some stuff I want to do or see, and that’s how they end up at dinosaur parks (≧▽≦).

We left the car in a parking lot underneath the congress centre and walked towards St. Nicholas Church Iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari Eliza. The first building dates from the 1100s, and it was built along the now-disappeared walls, as a defensive construction at the same time as a religious one. It was demolished and rebuilt location makes the building awkward, and to add insult to injury, we arrived almost at the same time as mass started, so we just took a quick look.

Iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari Eliza - exterior with pointed arcs, and inside, showin the altar

We walked to the next church dedicated to St. Lawrence Iglesia de San Lorenzo, actually associated to the Unesco World Heritage Site Routes of Santiago de Compostela: Camino Francés and Routes of Northern Spain Caminos de Santiago de Compostela: Camino francés y Caminos del Norte de España. The current building is Neoclassic, and the façade was rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century when the original was damaged during war. On the right of the main nave, a side chapel holds the famous sculpture of St. Fermin, the patron saint of the town. The chapel was built between 1696 and 1717, when the sculpture was placed there. Every 7th of July, the sculpture is taken out in the religious procession. From the 6th of July and for a week, Pamplona celebrates its local festivals, famous around the world for the encierros, or running of the bulls. While there are similar runnings all throughout Spain, the encierro in Pamplona was popularised by Ernest Hemingway, the American novelist, in his work “The Sun also Rises” (1926).

Church of Saint Lawrece - Neoclassical façade and interior, with the sculpture to Saint Fermin, the patron saint, in a red cape and a mithra, surrounded by red and precious metals.

We continued onto main street Calle Mayor, which ends at the main square Casa Consistorial de Pamplona, which opens to the main square Plaza Consistorial. The building was erected between 1951 and 1953, though the project kept the 18th century façade, halfway between late Baroque and Neoclassic.

Pamplona town hall / council hall, with flags hanging from the balcony.

We continued onto the cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary Catedral de Santa María la Real de Pamplona. The building is Gothic (French Gothic, actually), with a Neoclassical façade designed by Ventura Rodríguez (who also worked on the Basílica del Pilar in Zaragoza). One of the most interesting things in the cathedral are the paintings on the walls and columns themselves, just non-religious decorative motifs. In front of the altar lie the tombs of King Carlos III of the Kingdom of Navarra, and his wife Leonor of Trastámara (or Castille).

Cathedral of Pamplona, including a close-up of the bright polychromy in red and blue, and the altar, from far away and a close-up. The most distinctive feature are the pointed arched and the very clean masonery.

In the inner area, there is a beautiful cloister, and you can climb into the false ceiling, see the kitchen of the former convent. And, let’s not forget – they have a stamp, because it is one of the “official” starting points of St. James Way, Camino de Santiago, and also part of the Unesco World Herirage Site related to it.

Collage: Cloister in Pamplona cathedral. The gothic ars are pointed and ornate, standing on bright green grass. One of the corners shows a fountain, the other the iner walkways

We stopped for lunch, then we walked by one of the “iconic” points of the bull-running, the corner at one of the streets of the route – Esquina de la Estafeta, and continued on until we reached the bullfighting ring Plaza de Toros de Pamplona, but since we are not big into the culture, we did not enter.

We did stop by the sculpture to the bulls and runners Monumento al Encierro, a huge bronze composition with a number of real-life pieces: nine bulls (six fighting bulls and three guiding bulls) and ten runners.

This bronze sculpture represents several life-sized bulls and runners. The runners are in front of the bulls, and one of them has been trampled.

Finally, we went to have a stroll alongside the walls of the former citadel Ciudadela de Pamplona. Although now it is a park, and only the foundations are left, the Citadel was one of the most important defensive constructions in the Spanish Renaissance, in the shape of a five-pointed star.

Several angles of the Ciudadela of Pamplona park. Not much is seen except for the building foundations, though they stand two or three metres high.

After that, we took the car and drove towards the town of Olite also known as Erriberri , where we were going to sleep. The town was home to the Monarchs of Navarra, and today there are two distinctive buildings – the old palace Palacio Viejo de Olite, where the Parador de Olite stands, and the new palace Palacio Nuevo de Olite. Originally the most extravagant Gothic castle in Europe, it burnt down during the war against the Napoleonic troupes, and was rebuilt in 1937 using the philosophy of bigger, cooler more teeth. We checked in at the Parador and I collected my stamp. From our room, we could see the main structure of the old palace, as we had a very long balcony.

Old palace of Olite. There is a tower on the right and an old Medieval house to the left. The building is made of irregular masonery and the windows are perfectly rectangular.

We went for a walk, and were surprised at how many people there were in the area. We sneaked into the church Iglesia de Santa María la Real, but did not take any pictures as (once again!) mass started. We planned to come back the following morning as it was barely a 30 seconds away from the door of the Parador.

On the left, a modern red-brick house stands on older arcs. The façade sports a protection made of intricate white ironwork.
On the left, a Romanesque church, blocked by construction and a tractor.

We walked around for a little and were not too impressive by the Medieval city centre, but we did find the typical balconies and the Romanesque church of St. Joseph Iglesia de San José.

We were beat, to be honest, it had been a stressful day after a short night’s sleep, so we turned in early after dinner. I did not even think to wander round to see if I could get any cool pictures of the area, because the area was packed and I was exhausted.

13th October 2022: Serrat in Zaragoza {Aragón & Navarra Oct. 2022}

Posted on 23 October 2022 by Sakaki Delijah

Joan Manuel Serrat was born in Barcelona in 1943. He is a singer, songwriter, composer, actor, writer, poet and musician, whose long career started in 1965. Since then, he has sung first in Catalan, then in Spanish, and finally in both languages. In 1968, he was involved in a Eurovision controversy as there was a strife about singing in Catalan or Spanish, and in the end he was replaced by another artist – who ended up winning.

Throughout Franco’s Dictatorship, Serrat lived an unstable balance between the media veto caused by the Eurovision scandal, the censorship of some of his lyrics, and his growing popularity both in Spain and Latin America. During the 70s, he became a vocal protestor against the Dictatorship, with his songs, actions and words, which ended up with another veto and an exile to Mexico. In a way, he became the symbol of the discontent of the twenty- and thirty-somethings that had grown in the Spanish post–Civil War, who were then wading into adulthood. Serrat’s song Mediterráneo (Mediterranean Sea) has been repeatedly called the best song in the history of Spanish pop music. The album stayed as number 1 in Spain for weeks despite the censorship – since then, he has collected innumerable accolades and homages.

My parents… I don’t think I can call them fans, but they have listened to Joan Manuel Serrat for a long time – as a matter of fact, my father used to translate songs into Spanish for my mother back when they were young, as he spoke Catalan and she did not. But they are not concert people, so I was slightly surprised when back in April my mother commented in passing that, had tickets not been sold out, she would have liked to attend the Madrid concerts of Serrat’s goodbye tour El Vicio de Cantar. Serrat 1965 – 2022 (Singing is a vice. Serrat 1965 – 2022). I put the Internet machinery to work, and I found tickets for Zaragoza on the 13th of October. At that time, my parents asked if I would be interested, and I said yes, as he is indeed one of the most important singer–songwriter of the 20th century in Spain.

Ticket: Serrat, el vicio de cantar

The problems started when I could not get the day off, so that meant driving there as I left work. I could have got away with leaving half an hour earlier to get to the train as they drove off earlier, but they refused, so we ended up getting to Zaragoza around 17:00. Checking into the hotel took 40 minutes due to the slow check-in process, and luckily we were on the third floor. Funnily enough, it seemed that everyone in the hotel was there for the concert, so a lot of older people not used to travelling nor hotels.

The concert was due to start at 21:30 in the local sports centre Pabellón Príncipe Felipe, and there was a delay of about 15 minutes. To be honest, I did not expect it to be such a powerful experience – I mean, we’re talking about a 79-year-old man here, I did not think he would still have such a powerful voice nor presence on stage. There were a lot of songs I did not know, but the ones I had heard before still retained the vitality of records as old as the 80s! The set list was a remix of his most iconic songs in Spanish, with a couple of them in Catalan language:

Dale que dale – “Go on and on”.
Mi niñez – “My childhood”.
El carrusel del Furo – “Furo’s carrousel”.
Romance de Curro el Palmo – “The romance of Curro el Palmo”.
Señora – “Lady”.
Lucía
No hago otra cosa que pensar en ti – “I keep thinking about you and nothing else”.
Algo personal – “Something personal”.
Nanas de la cebolla – “Onion lullaby”, with lyrics from a famous Spanish poet who wrote the poem in prison, when his wife wrote to him that there were only bread and onions at home, and she had to breastfeed their baby.
Para la libertad – “For freedom”.
Cançó de bressol / Canción de cuna – “Lullaby”.
Hoy por ti, mañana por mí – “Today it’s you, tomorrow it’s me”.
Tu nombre me sabe a yerba – “Your name tastes like herbs” – grass, actually, but it sounds horrid in English.
Los recuerdos – “Memories”.
Es caprichoso el azar – “Fate is whimsical”.
Hoy puede ser un gran día – “Today can be a great day” – I keep telling myself this.
Pare – “Father”.
Mediterráneo – “Mediterranean Sea”, I can totally understand how this is considered one of the best songs ever in Spanish.
Aquellas pequeñas cosas – “It’s the little things”, started the encore
Cantares – “Songs or Poems”, with lyrics by Antonio Machado, one of the greatest Spanish poets in the Spanish 20th century.
Paraules d’amor – “Words of Love”.
Penélope – though I knew this song, the lyrics were differetn from the ones I was used to.
Fiesta – “Festival”, a bit of a high-inducing song to finish the concert way past midnight!

Serat concert: Stage with signature decoration, and two shots of the concert

It was hilarious to see all these sixty- and seventy- year-olds get out from the pavilion and walk to the hotel, all pumped up and way beyond their bedtime. By the time we arrived at the hotel, there was a queue at the lifts! All these exhausted boomers, hyped up and at the same time with no more energy left. That is when we were so happy to be on the third floor and not something like the seventh or eight (≧▽≦). The bed was comfortable but I did not sleep much.