17 Wednesday Jul 2013
Posted in Travel
In my long life I have seldom thought about the Canary Islands, but when I did, I thought they were:
Turns out they are 54 miles off the coast of North Africa, and they are Spanish. They are named after the Canarii tribe of settlers, also from North Africa. The little birds are named after the islands, but they must have all emigrated to pet shops elsewhere.
15 Monday Jul 2013
Above, old Chania (HAN-ya) harbor. (Click to enlarge.) Below, a gallery of photos from around town, taken during our first three days here. (Requires Java; mouse over for controls.)
11 Thursday Jul 2013
Posted in Travel
(NOTE: We traveled all night Sunday, slept all day Monday, spent Tuesday and Wednesday wandering around in awe of Chania, and only now has life become quiet enough to allow for a blog entry.)
The residents of Crete are Cretans. Their art is Cretan. They speak a dialect of Greek called Cretan. Cretans are proud of their home and their culture, and even though most of them speak fluent English, few are aware of the word “cretin” (note the difference in spelling) and what it implies in the American vernacular.
05 Friday Jul 2013
Posted in Sentiments, Travel
If I could save time in a bottle,
The first thing that I’d like to do,
Is to save every day,
Till Eternity passes away,
Just to spend them with you.
03 Wednesday Jul 2013
Posted in Travel
Our friend Vicens displays the T-shirt I gave him a few weeks ago. Vicens is a native Catalan speaker.
I have now spent three months trying to decipher Catalan, and have given up hope. But I’ve learned a few words, and these are my favorites:
01 Monday Jul 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
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27 Thursday Jun 2013
Posted in Sentiments, Travel
Tags
“Meet us under the big clock at the railroad station.”
When our friend Simone suggested that meeting place, we knew exactly where that clock was. We knew how long it would take to walk there. We even knew that at that time of day, the clock would be in the shade. We have lived here three months, and three months is long enough to know things like this.
And now we’re about to leave.
24 Monday Jun 2013
Posted in Travel
“Come on, Louise. It’s 4:15. The place is closed.” I get impatient when I’m tired, and we were visiting Figueres (home of the Teatro-Museo Dalí, which I’ve described earlier in this blog) for the second time since we began our travels – not to see the Dali museum again, but just to visit Figueres on a sunny day in Spain.
But it was 4:15. The sign on the door said the museum would open at 4:00. I’d been on my feet since 10:00 that morning and I wanted – needed – a cerveza grande. Figueres is charming, but charm has its limits, like watching six hours of Audrey Hepburn movies.
21 Friday Jun 2013
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At the turn of the century (1900), Bare Mountain (Muntanya Pelada) overlooking Barcelona seemed like an ideal place for a housing development. It was high enough to offer air clear of the soot from Barcelona’s industry, it sported a panoramic view of the city, and its height almost guaranteed exclusivity for the Spanish elite. Count Eusebi Güell – an industrial entrepreneur who profited greatly from the industry from which Bare Mountain offered a respite – platted sixty huge triangular lots, hired the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, built a model home, and sat back, waiting for orders. None came.
18 Tuesday Jun 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
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Sunset over Tossa de Mar (click to enlarge)
Don’t let us bore you. It’s just that Tossa de Mar on the Spanish Costa Brava is this incredibly charming place, so when our daughter Sybil came to visit, we had to take her there. She’s been around Europe a bit, but she’d never seen the Mediterranean, or a Roman ruin.
The Expat Almanac 