Friday 2 december 2005 5:21am s’pore time
10:20pm spain time
2 more days. 48 more hrs b4 I return home. Return to reality. To start wrapping up all the holiday stuff and begin work on the solo exhibition proper. 2 more days to enjoy. Haiz…
anyways, lets not dwell not such somber thoughts. Back to the trip update. Yesterday ar I actually want to do one entry one. But laptop battery flat and reach hotel in Cordoba cannot charge. The adaptor somehow cannot fit into the power point. Only that hotel I experience this problem. So mei ban fa. Wait until today.
Yesterday we crossed the border from Lisbon back into spain, stopping at this quiet and peaceful, remote town called evora in Portugal along the way. From Lisbon, we exited that unique portuguese city from the april 25 bridge. April 25 is some kind of their national day or something like that. On that day, it was when the military retaliated against the then dictator so and so, a revolution which was then supported by the pple. So its kind of a special day in portuguese history. The bridge actually looks exactly like the golden gate bridge in san Francisco. Why because the april 25 bridge was built by the same American company that built the golden gate bridge. Haha talk abt globalization. From the bridge, u get very refreshing views of the entire Lisbon waterfront, wif its reflection glistening in the water. And we drove past the huge statue of jesus at the end of the bridge. Wif his arms outstretched in protection. It was built to welcome pple entering the city. Now, it bids us a fond farewell, giving us his divine blessing. And I cdn’t help crossing myself as we drove past him…it was kinda like a magical moment.
Evora had some nice handicrafts, and the narrow streets we see r quite similar to the old cities in spain. Narrow streets, antique street lamps attached to the whitewashed walls. Zinc roofing. Ceramic tiling used as the most popular form of decoration every where, wif the highest point being the cathedral. But somehow, we find that evora also has its own kind of charm. At the top, next to the cathedral, got some old roman ruins, and a very small park wif some modern sculptures. After seeing all these old stuff and elaborate sculptures, these modern inventions r sometimes overlooked. I was quite fascinated wif some of them. Kinda looked as though they came out straight from a surrealist painting. And took some photos designed to bring out the surreal quality in them. Took these pictures also to serve as sources of reference and inspiration for my solo exhibition. If I didn’t have this solo exhibition thingy, I wd have probably missed out on all this. Blinded by such beauty every where.
Rest of the day was some serious hardcore traveling, sitting in the bus for like 5 over hrs, stopping for lunch and toilet breaks in between. So to accompany the beautiful and seemingly boundless landscape whizzing past me, I decided to listen to the music I stored on my laptop all the way. My this laptop really spiced up my trip la. Wdn’t have had so much fun w/o it. So listen music all the way until we crossed the border and traveled long long, reaching Cordoba at night. And listen music until laptop battery flat, that is the laptop conk out and voluntarily shut down.
Todae consisted of a tour in the old town of Cordoba in the morning, following which, we hopped onto the coach and traveled to Toledo, where we walked around for a short time, and then onward to Madrid.
Cordoba. The name instantly reminds me of a piano piece of the same name that Kristine lent to me to learn during first three months. The composer was singing praises of how poetic and romantic Cordoba was at night, where u can smell the lemon trees, and sounds of the guitar dah dah….well my experience of Cordoba was totally different. One reason due to the fact that our visit was conducted under the bright sun and blue sky. Basically, our tour in Cordoba consisted of a walk thru the narrow streets of the old town. Nice and cosy as usual. After a while all the old quarters start to look the same in every city.
Then we walked towards this huge tower that loomed grand and majestic as ever over the entire city. It was the giralda, the cathedral. Very much like Seville and Granada cathedral, u have that tall and elaborately carved belltower at the side, overlooking a courtyard of orange trees and the cathedral itself.
This one in Cordoba ar, looks like any other grand Spanish cathedral on the outside, but once u step inside, its a different story. Cordoba cathedral is also known as the mesquita. It was once a huge mosque from the 9th to 11th centuries under the muslims, b4 it was converted to a catholic edifice by the Christians after they reconquered spain and expelled all the jews and arabs.
Inside, u have rows and rows, forests of Arabic inspired, and Arabic-built pillars and arches, and the effect itself is overwhelming, coupled wif the smell of incense, candle lighting eminating from the chandeliers, and the sound of chanting. They were just abt to end mass when we entered the cathedral. At junctures of these Arabic motifs, u have, catholic private chapels, decoration, gold altarpieces, making this a most unusual but interesting monument. Really awe-inspiring. What had happened was that the Christians did not demolish the mosque when they converted it a cathedral, rather, they merely added on their typical lavish chapels, statues paintings. This is probably the one and only building in the world where u can see such a unique blend of cultures. To me, this is the one cathedral I have ever seen that stands out as unique. Not even st peters can beat this in terms of its unique blend of architecture man. A must see if u come to spain.
After that, bought some souvenirs. And I bought this small guidebook that focused just on the mezquita. And from one of the shops in the old town, my parents bought this picture of virgin and chilld set in a leather frame wif some designs on it. Leather is one of the local specialties of this town, apparently.
Rest of the day was boring bus ride to Toledo. Life w/o laptop music is quite boring. I’m a city boy and I can’t enjoy the landscape outside fully wif nice music to back it up. By the time we reached Toledo, it was getting dark. But anyway we still walked thru the town. Toledo used to b quite an impt city in previous centuries, being the capital of spain b4 they bourbon monarchs moved the capital to Madrid.
We found Toledo to b an extremely interesting city wif many things to see, unfortunately we didn’t have that time, only cd just walk thru the old streets abit. In the evenings, Toledo is surprisingly atmospheric, and I was anxiously looking out for an el Greco souvenir, and finally this bought this mini reproduction of one of his paintings for just 3 euros, that is S$6. very worth it. From far and near it can easily pass off as a genuine oil painting/ reproduction. They even put some kind of gloss over the surface to recreate that effect u see on the surface of those old master oil paintings. Only if u go really, and I mean really close then u realize that it’ a printed reproduction, but still a very gd printed reproduction. U can’t even see the pixels.
Toledo also makes a lot of antique swords, helmets, and other old fashioned weaponry, and they all make very gd gold-plated silver handicrafts too. These handicrafts have some very nice designs on the surface, can come in the form of jewelry, boxes, plates, cutlery, vases, and all other imaginable kinds of decorative objects. Lucky I’m not into all this kind or else I’ll go nua after seeing shop after shops of this kind of thing. One guy from my tour group, h/w, likes to collect this kind of weaponry, mainly, antique guns, swords and helmets. And he bought this huge and heavy sword, looks like straight out from a LOTR movie. And according to this mother, prior to this, he has already amassed a nice collection of decorative knives and guns during the course of this trip. And he’s my age by the way, j one going to j two.
Toledo was very very nice and everybody left wishing and wishing they had more time to explore this historic city. Discover more treasures that this city has to offer. As a fan of the greek-spanish mannerist-renaissance painter el Greco myself, I for one wish to visit the el Greco museum and house, visit the cathedral where there inside hangs some of his paintings…but u cannot always have all u want. Maybe yrs later I may come back to explore Toledo at ease. Maybe.
For the moment, I’m happy to just dwell on the so many happy memories and inspiring moments I have experienced in these 2 wonderful weeks.
Now we’re in this hotel in Madrid. Tmw, we begin our tour of this city. Our guide told us that how much we see depends on the traffic here. If heavy traffic, then we’ll lose traveling time here and there, and will miss out on some extra time to ourselves to shop or explore Madrid on our own. I plan to use it to go and see the prado. All my idols and favourite paintings r there. It wd b a waste to miss this rare opportunity. To get so close but not close enough…
For now, its night night for me.
