Photos, Salvador Dali, November 2012

Museum in Figueres, Spain

Sculpture in Figueres, Spain

       Dali in Cadaques, Spain

                    Portlligat, Spain

Museum in Portlligat, Spain

                 Museum entrance

               Studio in Portlligat

                Studio in Portlligat

     Moving easel in Portlligat

         Living area in Portlligat

                   Yard at Portlligat

    Poolside Chair, Portlligat

                     Pool at Portlligat

View from Pool area, Portlligat

Salvador Dali, November 2012

Salvador Dali was born in Figueres, Spain 108 years ago. He left quite an impact on his home town and areas along the Costa Brava. We visited the coastal area of Spain this past November and were able to see the areas where he spent much of his time. Dali credits the landscape and light of Catalonia Spain for influencing his works. The small villages of the Costa Brava and city of Figueres embraced their most famous artistic son and seem to have dealt with his rather strange and frequently absurd antics. Dali seems to be omnipresent.

Dali was born on May 11, 1904 in the small city of Figueres. He had an older brother also named Salvador who died 9 months before he was born. Salvador Dali’s parents told him when he was 5 years old that he was the reincarnation of his brother. It is said that he believed this concept. At an early age he took up drawing and attended drawing school. Dali’s father held exhibits of his works in their home in Figueres when he was a young teenager. On a family vacation in Cadaques, Dali was exposed to modern painting styles due to the artists that came to the area every summer. He went to the Fine Art School in Madrid where he had a reputation as a “dandy” for his behavior and style of dress. He was expelled from the school right before his graduation because he was supposed to have caused unrest. In 1929 Dali meets his life-long muse Gala. Dali’s father does not approve and bans him from the family homes. Undaunted, Dali moves to the next village over, Portlligat, rents a fishing house. Over the years, Dali purchases several of these fishing houses and makes them his primary residence. Eventually Dali and his father reconcile their differences.

Salvador Dali’s reputation throughout his life remains one of controversy. He was not one to clearly state his political views, and leaves Europe during WWII. He comes to the United States, settles in New York City and is welcomed by the arts scene there. After WWII and when things settle after the Spanish Civil War, Dali moves back to Spain. His career is managed financially by Gala, who is wise with the money and they are able to have quite the elaborate jet set life.

Dali is not only a painter, but a sculptor, a jeweler, a furniture designer, a fashion design consultant and dabbled in film. He also fancied himself as a scientist and mathematician. His was said to have been intrigued by the great minds of his day: Einstein, Freud and others. His art was influenced by celebrities like Mae West and also scientific events like the atomic bombs and discoveries of DNA structure. He also did early work in holographics. His studio in Portlligat shows many ingenious modifications. Many of the mirrors in the house help to build optical illusions and a mirror on a wall was placed such that he was able to catch the first morning light from his bed. The walls of his studio were built so that the canvass was able to move along the easel so that the area he was working on was easily reached from his favorite chair. 

Dali was one of the ultimate self-promoters. He designed three museums for himself to display his works. The main museum is in Figueres. It is a theatre and museum of paintings, sculpture and jewelry. His mausoleum is there. Dali set the visiting schedule such that only certain numbers of people would be in the museum at a given time. Hence the very long line the day we were there. We did not get into the museum, but enjoyed the building and sculptures all around town. The second museum is nearby, and is dedicated to Gala. The Castell Gala Dali holds many of their belongings and much of Gala’s haute couture clothing.  

And third is his home in Portlligat. Originally several fishing houses, Dali purchased them over time and connected them in a bizarre labyrinth. Tickets are ordered online, however we did not have a ticket. Since it was November, we thought that maybe we could get in anyway. We were told to wait to see if everyone showed up, and if not could go in with the next group. Luck was with us and we were able to tour the museum. It was a strange mixture of everyday rooms and insights into some of the wildest imagination. We saw living quarters and studios, works that were never completed and many things that were. Most interesting was that every location both inside and outside had wonderful views of the sea and surrounding mountains. The day we visited, the weather was windy with scattered showers. We were able to see a bit of the wild landscape that the Costa Brava is famous for. 

Dali’s health deteriorated in the 1980’s. It is thought that Gala, who by this time was senile, may have been giving him his medicine. She may have given him dosages of medicines and other things that caused tremors and a Parkinson’s like condition. After Gala died in 1982, Dali lost much of his will to live. He has several suspicious incidents that could have been suicide attempts. His friends take him to Figueres to care for him until his death in 1989. Rumor has it that during his final years some people had him sign a number of blank canvases; so much of his later work may be forgeries. Dali is an interesting figure and still dominates much of the local area where we visited.

Photos of Cadaques, Spain, November 2012

            Cadaques

Scenery from trail

             Santa Maria

Altar in Santa Maria

         Medieval town

Trail to lighthouse

Cadaques at sunset

Cadaques, Spain, November 2012

Cadaques is a former fishing village in the north eastern corner of Spain along the Mediterranean almost at the boarder of France. The area is called the Costa Brava, due to the wild landscape and weather. During the winter, the wind, called the “Tramuntana” whips off the Pyrenees Mountains and churns the Mediterranean Sea to a “boil”. Fisherman have lived here since ancient times, the only way in and out of the town was by sea. Now a steep windy road connects the Cap de Creus to other places along the coast. Driving in and out of town in the daylight is highly recommended. We made the mistake of arriving just dark fell. It was fast as the sun dropped like a rock behind the mountains. Our GPS was not well equipped to the streets of Cadaques. At one point, we were heading down a tight narrow dirt road with high stone walls on either side, the car barely fit through! A man on a motorcycle assured us it was safe for vehicles-dirt bikes, like the one he had perhaps.  A second pass to find the hotel had us taking a small narrow street that turned into a staircase. We had to back out several hundred meters in the pitch black night. After finding the hotel, we parked the car and did not get back in until leaving two days later.  Good thing Cadaques is a nice small town with plenty to keep us busy.

Cadaques has a walled medieval part of town that is dominated by Santa Maria Church. Santa Maria was built between the 16th and 17th centuries. The church itself is gothic style, but the newer altar piece is a giant work of Baroque sculpture. You can put a euro in the box, press a switch and the altar lights up. It is massive; over 23 meters high with multiple carvings and scenes dedicated to Our Lady of Hope.

An interesting tidbit of early 20th century history is that almost a third of the town’s population immigrated to Cuba, approximately 1200 people. A number of those who made their fortunes came back and built the elaborate houses in Cadaques that you see around the harbor and lining the hillsides. 

Cadaques has scenery and light that artists have appreciated and made famous. Salvador Dali is perhaps the most famous artist of the town. His family visited there often during his childhood and he made is home in the next town over, Portlligat. Artists who spent time creating in the town include Pablo Picasso, Mei Fren, Angel Planells, and Marcel Duchamp among others. Several galleries and workshops are present with their works circulating. We visited a gallery of an elderly gentleman who is a local photographer that spent much time with Dali and was permitted to capture his daily life on film. Many of the intimate photographs are on display in his shop. If I were a bit savvier, I would have probably recognized many other celebrities and artists in the photos. It is an interesting look at the history of the time period. 

We took a fairly short hike (6-7 km round trip) on the Cala Nans that leads you to a light house. All along the trail, you get beautiful vistas of the town, the cliffs and the sea. Cadaques is surrounded by park, so longer trails are available. You can connect trails and go from town to town along the coast, or use Cadaques and a base for out and back day trips. I recommend that so you have the opportunity to come back for dinner or tapas and an early morning coffee and pastry. Try Cadaques in the off season, as there are about 2000 residents, but many, many more visitors in the summer. We went the first weekend in November, and had a wonderful time.

Photos, Thanksgiving November 2012

     Whole Turkey

   Turkey in pieces

Ready for the oven

Perfectly roasted

   What a pie!

Thanksgiving in Toulouse, November 2012

This was my first Thanksgiving living outside of the United States. Of the holidays that are to be missed, this felt like one to recreate here in Toulouse. The question became how to accomplish the goal. I have been to the markets almost daily, and I have not seen a whole turkey, or even turkey parts for that matter. Questioning a few locals, I found out that whole turkeys are available at Christmas time, and that few actually have ovens big enough to handle the bird. I had a friend offer to call her butcher and see if a special order for a whole turkey was possible. She called early in November and they could special order a turkey for November 20th, no problem. How big? They said a 6-7 kg (13-16#) bird would be possible. I thought that would fit just fine in my biggest pan and into the oven.

 The rest of the meal should be fairly easy to put together. I saved all the ends of the baguettes to make the dressing, found a small pumpkin-like squash, and sweet potatoes are in season now. I knew it would be bad form to take haricots verts and turn them into the magical green bean casserole with fried onions on top, so I opted for Brussels sprouts. Pecan pie is a favorite of my husband, and a little more difficult to recreate. Pecans are not generally available here, so I paid 38 euro per kilo for pecans to decorate the top of the pie, the rest were almonds. The real problem was the corn syrup; there just isn’t any! But most grocery stores here have a British section, so there was Lyle’s Golden Syrup. I used that instead, and the pie was fabulous!

November 20th arrived, and it was the day to collect the turkey. The butcher shop is about a mile from our house, so I set out with a sack and a plan to ride a Velo-bike back home with the turkey in the front basket. When I got to the butcher shop, I said I am the American who ordered the whole turkey. The butcher went in back and brought out the biggest turkey I had seen in a long time. It was nothing like the tightly packaged Butterball from Kroger! It was huge, pink and the legs stuck out from the sides of it as if it was under protest of being put in the sack. Well, the butcher put it on the scale and it weighed in over 10 kilograms! A full third bigger than the biggest bird I was hoping for! He asked me if I wanted it entire, and I said yes. I was imagining the size of the oven and my pan and I thought it would be ok, but just barely. He wrapped it up for me and put it in my sack. I picked it up and almost fell over. My plan for the bike was gone. The giant turkey was bigger than the basket, and it might make operating the bike dangerous for me and others on the road in the event of the turkey falling out! I just didn’t think I could ride the bike home so front loaded without crashing! I had no choice but to carry it back home. I slung it over my shoulder, slid it across my back, cupped my hands under and piggybacked it home. That was the longest mile I have ever walked!

Once home, I pulled out the pan and shoved the turkey in. It was hanging over the edges, and when I put the pan in the oven, the turkey legs kicked the oven door back open. So much for the entire turkey! It had to come apart. I’ve taken apart whole chickens, but nothing like this! I sharpened my best chef’s knife- a Wusthof 8” Cook’s knife and went to work. I decided I would break it down only as far as needed to fit into the oven, keeping with the whole turkey spirit that I envisioned. Well, first the drumsticks and wings came off, and still no go into the oven. Off came the rest of the legs. I eventually had to split the back in two pieces to fit in my Dutch oven. I had to remove a shelf from my fridge to fit the pieces in.  

Now I needed a game plan for getting all of the food out, hot at 7 pm two days from now. I started Wednesday bright and early making the potatoes. They were a take on Pommes Anna, mixing white and sweet potatoes into stacks. They baked up nicely! Then the pies; the pumpkin first followed by the pecan pie. The dressing went in last and all I had left was to prep the Brussels sprouts. I sliced a giant pile of them in two, salted and put a bit of sugar on them to help the carmelization. Into the fridge they went, on top of the giant pile of turkey parts. They could cook on the stove while the turkey roasted.

Thursday, game day! Turkeys here in France are not as disproportionate as American turkeys. The legs and breast are in proportion: meaning the legs are huge! There is a lack of fat and they have not been pre-injected with broth. Cooking this turkey would take some tricks to keep the meat from drying out. I loosened up the skin and slid butter and black truffles under it. I covered the breast in foil and started roasting. I had to baste with turkey stock during the last hour to keep it from drying out-not much fat on this bird! Three hours later, I pulled a beautiful roast turkey breast from the oven. The rest went in one batch at a time in Dutch ovens. Finally at 7 pm on November 22, the guests arrived and we all were thankful! I was most thankful for my friend who ordered the turkey and my knife that helped me get it in the oven! The food was delicious! The only problem we had was with our cable service; ESPN America was not working, so European Football replaced American Football. Cable TV in France is another story!

Happy Thanksgiving from Toulouse!

Photos Bilbao Spain, Fall 2012

Guggenheim, Bilbao Spain

      Guggenheim from river

Sculptures outside museum

   River side of Guggenheim

                 View from bridge

                   Spider Sculpture

                       Park in Bilbao

                   Sculpture in park

   View of Bilbao from hotel

Bilbao Spain, Fall 2012

I was promised a very mild Mediterranean climate when we moved to Toulouse, but if you ask me now I’d have to say I am not convinced. It seems that no matter where you are in 2012, you are getting unusual weather. Last winter we had the most snow and coldest temperatures in 20 years, this summer brought us Le Canacule, and in October we were hit by remnants of a hurricane. I never thought about what happens when a hurricane skips the USA and spins back into the Atlantic. Eventually those weather systems go somewhere, and this time it hit all of France and Northeastern Spain. We had visitors from the US and we wanted to show them something great! But even the best Mediterranean beach in the rain is no fun! We had to find a dry location to go. Considering everything within a four hour drive from Toulouse, it seemed as if Bilbao Spain was not in the storm’s path. Now we had a destination and a hotel reservation.  

It was not raining in Toulouse when we left, but as we drove the storm hit. The rain was coming down harder and harder the closer we got to our destination. We arrived in Bilbao to a changed forecast of all day and all night rain. But, no matter, we arrived with umbrellas and rain coats!

Bilbao is the largest city in the Basque region of Spain, with over a million people in the metropolitan area. Civilization in the region dates back many years BC, though the town of Bilbao was developed as a commercial center in the early 14th century. The location, 12 miles inland from the Biscay Bay on a river estuary made a great location for a port. Over the years, the port was used to transport the iron ore from the quarries, and iron works were developed there as well. Shakespeare mentions a sword from Bilbao in the play “The Merry Wives of Windsor”. Bilbao continued for centuries as an important industrial town.  

The Spanish Civil War started in Bilbao and the city was bombed. Shortly thereafter Bilbao was again bombed by the Germans in WWII. During these conflicts, all bridges were destroyed. Once the fighting was over, Bilbao rebuilt as an industrial city, based on iron. Crisis hit in the 1980’s with local terrorism, and cheap labor outside of Europe causing a slip in the iron industry. In the 1990’s Bilbao started projects to rejuvenate itself. The port was enlarged, and at the same time the city became more diversified with construction, commerce and tourism, making a break from heavy industry.  

Urban renewal was kick started by the building of the Guggenheim Museum. The museum opened in 1997 and had its 15 year anniversary celebration the weekend we were there. The building designed by Frank Gehry was spectacular. The rain and fog lent a surreal look to the building and sculptures along the banks of the river. The spider sculpture was perfect for a Halloween-like atmosphere. Bilbao is known for its parks and green spaces, but due to the weather, we did not get to fully appreciate this. That night the marathon was scheduled to run, so in the rain and in the dark, they went! 

Sightseeing from beneath an umbrella is not that great, so we stayed inside as much as possible. We found a fantastic pub that served tapas and beverages so inexpensively that we had to ask if they forgot to put something on the bill. For a round of drinks and lunch for four the bill totaled 22 euro. We ventured around town, making a few other stops, but found ourselves back at the same pub for dinner.  

There are great wine regions nearby that make Bilbao a good place to make a base for a wine tasting trip. The hotels in Bilbao are new, exceptional and very reasonably priced. Perhaps on a sunny weekend in the future we’ll go back. Viva Bilbao! 

By the way, it did not rain all weekend in Toulouse!

Photos, Madrid Spain, Fall 2012

             City Hall, Madrid

Famous Street Intersection

             Old Tiled Building

               Market in Madrid

         Royal Palace, Madrid

         Royal Palace, Madrid

                           Art Gecko

 

            Cafe Scene, Madrid

 

             Sleek Metro Station

Madrid Spain, Fall 2012

Madrid has the highest elevation of all capital cities in Europe, is considered the 10th most livable city in the world and one of the greenest. For an ancient City, Madrid seems more modern than many cities we have visited in Europe. Madrid’s roots go back to 2nd century BC with Roman civilization, following with Germanic tribal rule, stints by Visigoths and Arabs, then reconquest by Christians in the mid-11th century. Little remains of the ancient city of Madrid and many of the older buildings are mid-19th century and more modern giving Madrid a vibrant feel. Besides having an extensive metro system, Spain has the largest high speed rail system in Europe and Madrid has the 15th busiest airport in the world.  

Spain was the dominating power in Europe during the 16-17th centuries. During this time, Madrid became the capital of Spain. Though Madrid remained the capital of Spain, external forces push Spain, hence Madrid into a long period of decline. Spain is ruled from afar by the Arch Dukes of Austria, and then Napoleon. Spain rebels against Napoleon, but remains debilitated by constant infighting for the rest of the 19th century. By the mid-20th century, Madrid has lost its luster and is not considered a modern city. From 1936-1939 Spain has a very bitter civil war and loses much of its population to Latin America. Finally, from 1959-1973, there is the “Spanish Miracle” when Spain begins to modernize and rebuild. Madrid annexes much of the surrounding area into the city limits, and is able to become a major metropolitan area within Europe by the end of the 1970’s.  

After the death of Francisco Franco in 1975, the Spanish government is changed over from a dictatorship to a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy. Juan Carlos is named King and is the Head of State. In 1986 Spain joins the European Union and experiences tremendous growth. However, this growth has halted with the burst of the real-estate bubble in 2008. Spain has landed hard and is struggling to maintain. Austerity measures, unemployment and threatened breakup of Spain into smaller countries are part of the current government headaches. In general, as a tourist, it is hard to see these problems as life seems to go on.

During our stay in Madrid, we were able to participate in the festivities for Columbus Day. We saw the military fly-over Madrid and King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia return to the Royal Palace. Streets were busy and everyone was out for the festivities. Lines were long at museums and attractions, but afternoon rain caused several lines to shorten. We were able to enjoy the Museo Thyssen, originally the private collection of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, but now a public museum. The collection has over 800 paintings ranging from the 13th century to modern times. The size of the museum is approachable and easy to take in during an afternoon. Art in Madrid is not limited to that found in museums. Here, art is displayed in parks, fountains, buildings and just almost anywhere you happen to look. Madrid is a late night city that is café oriented. Chilly weather and a bit of rain did not appear to keep anyone inside. We enjoyed a quieter plaza near our hotel for afternoon sangria and late night tapas. Viva Madrid!

Photos from Segovia Spain, Fall 2012

Aqueduct at Segovia

                No Mortar!

Cathedral of Segovia

    Ceiling in Cathedral

      Interior of Cathedral

       Cloister at Cathedral

          View from Alcazar

          Entrance to Alcazar

Countryside from Alcazar

   Has to be child's armor?