[Created: 05/Jun/2006]
[Last modified: 05/Jun/2006]
Ontario (1,076,395 km2) is over twice the size of Spain (499,542 km2, maritime claim excluded). Spain, however, was once the largest empire in the world, with control over a land area of nearly 19.5 million square kilometres, and at the centre of it all stood...
The obligatory statues (^.^)
They are varied and have stories behind them, though. There's
Columbus, of course, but others are more obscure
and interesting in their own ways.
A very colourful peacock strolling the Jardín del Retiro, and a statue my mom liked:
Churches are not as common or impressive as I thought, which surprised me greatly. Nearby Toledo had a bit more to show in this respect, but still.
There's a very peculiar festival called "La Fiesta de San Isidro", which features tall, colourful costumes, beautiful and yet quite creepy at the same time.
Others, however, are of normal height, but distinguish themselves by having huge and rather grotesque heads:
All in all, very amusing, and quite popular!
"Tapas" are typical Spanish snacks, served often in smoke-filled taberns...
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Acompaño a mi sombra por la avenida, mis pasos se pierden entre tanta gente, busco una puerta, una salida, donde convivan pasado y presente... de pronto me paro, alguien me observa, levanto la vista y me encuentro con ella, y ahi esta, ahi esta, ahi esta, ahi esta viendo pasar el tiempo, la Puerta de Alcalá |
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Fireworks! They were set to an orchestra playing Händel's "Fireworks Music", very cool!
While in Madrid a heat wave hit, rising May temperatures to record levels. Not only did this poor guy have to stand guard in full uniform under the blazing sun, but to top it off he's standing near a pile of steamy manure. Sucks to be him.
Photos from inside the royal palace, starting with the apothecary.
It's all quite lavish, some interior views:
The world's only complete Stradivarius string quintet resides inside the palace, in a single room. A lonely guard looks over maybe twenty million dollars' worth of musical instruments.
The armoury, and a view of the palace from the outside and a statue just outside (too bad the moon is missing!):
A typical flamenco show, and a not-so-typical evening with Frank McCourt!
One evening a group called "El Canto del Loco" was supposed to give a public performance, and thousands of teenyboppers gathered thus. The result? Well, they showed up, played one or two notes, gave up and left! Boooo! :)
Some interesting buildings, and a statue of Don Quixote with Sancho Panza (which seems to be a favourite amongst the kids).
The following were taken at nearby Avila:
I thought Segovia was much more interesting, though, starting with a fascinating carousel. It really blew me away...
There was also an awesome aqueduct, a cathedral and a palace (former shown):
On the last day we came across a rose exhibit and I just went wild there, some very nice flowers!
And more!
Well, that's all for this trip. I took all pictures with my Canon S1 1S and performed some minor digital manipulations afterwards. Overall I'm happy with it, although I realize I should practice more to take better photographs.
Anyway, hope you liked the pictures.
Comments and/or suggestions? marco@reimeika.ca