Spain... From the Eyes and Stomachs of an Española and her Marido

¡No hay luz!........ from the Wandering Berkmans!

I originally started this post in a very happy go lucky way and then.... an event 50 years in the making occurred.

Staying in Zaragoza (more on that later) we had just arrived in a little village call Belchite for a day trip of EEVO tasting and to see the old part of the town that was very badly affected by the Civil War in the 30's.  We got in the tasting but decided on lunch first before the old town exploration. 

What do you mean you can't serve us coffee, we thought to ourselves at the local cafe.  And then we heard it-- ¡No hay luz!-- no electricity.  And not just in Belchite, not just in the Aragon region, not just in Spain but in Portugal, Andorra and parts of France as well!  whaaaattt??? 

Everywhere we went we heard ¡No hay luz! and it seemed that with every telling more and more countries were added to the list-- Germany! Belgium!  We struck up a conversation with Ivan and his mom Mercedes at a bar and agreed this sleepy town was the place to be during an outage, not in an elevator or in the metro.  The bar owner then told us he had no food to serve but wisely advised us-- "you better hurry to the market down the street and buy some bread and ham before they close! " We, along with some others,  made it with 5 minutes to spare whew!  Here I am grabbing the last package of jamon serrano from this startled lady's grasp-- don't mess with Jersey!  

Into hour 2 with no news and no internet connection, even for the locals, we somehow managed to get a call out to Don's brother Bob in Canada to tell him we were ok and could you let the family know?  

Back at the bar the cast of characters grew and most agreed that Putin was behind all this.  They weren't worried tho--   they had their BBQ's, their farms, they could catch animals and grow their own vegetables.  As long as the beer didn't run out, they said, they were fine haha.  I told Mercedes that if we couldn't make it back to Zaragoza (no GPS, no traffic lights, "chaos" according to one woman with a brother in the city) we might be joining them for dinner and she sweetly responded with open arms.  They all said wait a bit before trying to head back.

Hour five we figured we had to give it a shot.  As we walked to the car someone shouted to us "¡Suerte!" (Good luck!).  We went old school without GPS and followed road signs (imagine that!) for most of the 35 min trip until GPS kicked in while we entered the city. And to our relief all looked pretty normal- most of the traffic lights were working, police directing traffic where they didn't and we made it "home" fine.   We took out some cash just in case the power went out again.  

So there you have it-- little by little the power came back on in Spain but as of this writing they still aren't 100 percent sure why it went out in the first place.  Time will tell.  Until then, we take you back to our regularly scheduled post!

This post is best read with the Spanish National Anthem playing in the background-- it's one of 4 national anthems without lyrics so you can listen along without undue distraction.  Curious as to the other 3?  Before you check it out here, give your brain a workout a take a guess!

It's only fitting we spend a month plus in Spain after I finally received my Spanish birth certificate-- we needed to test out the new wheels!  After a very eventful dentist appointment in Madrid for both us (I'm finally all done!  Don has 5 months to go) we headed out to Salamanca, a city I've wanted to visit for a while.  

Don celebrating a slew of new implants with a pincho de tortilla and a cerveza 00

A terrific work friend, Jen, studied Spanish in Salamanca and would talk about all the wonderful memories she had of her time there.  And then there's the frog!  

The story is that if you spot the frog in the carvings outside of a certain building of the University of Salamanca it will bring you good luck and success in your studies.  When the tour guide pointed it out to us--- talk about a let-down.  "Frog" would be a very loose characterization.  Point in fact, we didn't even take a picture of it it was so unfrog-like.  

The carvings below, on the other hand, had our interest.  Can you spot the astronaut and the monkey with an ice-cream cone on the facade of the New Cathedral ?  A much more satisfying search in our book!  The guide said when repairs were made on the stone work in 1992 the  artists added their own cheeky twists.  

The inside of the New Cathedral ("new"-- built between 1513 and 1733 haha)  was intricate and impressive but we have to admit the cracks in the upper walls due to the far-reaching earthquake in Lisbon in 1755 had us walking out quick! 

We travel for the love of new experiences, food, exploration but we're suckers for interesting architecture.  A more beautiful gas station we have never seen.  And I loved this font-- called simply "Salamanca" it's used all around the University.  

The street art scene in the Provincia section of the city blew us away.  Most of the art was painted on garage doors and the quality and creativity of the art made for a lively search around the area.  Don has a new fav artist-- Nego.

Fantastic colors on this one.  If we ever have another house, we're hiring someone (Nego!) to paint our garage doors!

You're not in Spain until you've had a cortado (¡descafeinado con leche sin lactosa!) in the city's Plaza Mayor.  

We tried to blend in as students on the University campus but came up short (do kids not say "groovy" anymore??) so we opted for acting like professors.   Lunch in this cave-turned-cafeteria for the Theology department had us quoting Thomas Aquinas like nobody's business.  

Another indicator that you're not in Kansas anymore-- this sign says that the dining tables are used exclusively for lunch between 1:30 pm - 5 pm and dinner from 8:30 PM - midnight.   We are usually hanging around restaurants at 1 pm begging for a seating.  

Next stop-- Zaragoza for 6 weeks!  We had visited this city (the 5th largest in Spain) last year for a week (see that post here) and knew after a couple of days that we would be back for a longer stay.  Why, you may ask?  Beautiful architecture, plenty of parks, museums, events,  cafes, fantastic mass transit, trains and bike sharing program, central enough to travel easily to visit other cities of interest and finally, it's just fun saying the name of the city in a Castilian accent-- tha-ra-GOH-tha!

The other day we went back and forth and listed (because you know how the Berkmans love a good game) all the events we've seen here during our stay.  And the list was impressive! 

Marathon Zaragoza 2025 ran through the city blocks from our apartment with the finish in the Plaza de Pilar.  

The previous day we were just about to tour the old town when we saw this antifascist protest beginning right outside our building.  We knew we had to lend our voices to the cause and march along.

During Semana Santa (the week before Easter), every church in the city has a procession through the city.  All week we were hearing drums (even at 11.30 at night) and seeing huge groups of participants.  The little one below had obviously had enough! (photo credit M. Worning)

Catching local concerts has been a goal of ours lately and Gonzalo Hermida from Cadiz did not disappoint.  We always try to listen to some tunes before the concert so we don't come in blind but we had such a good time at this concert that we have been listening to his music on repeat since!  Take a listen here.  

Here's Don doing his best Gonzalo.  Who needs the musical talent if you have the pose down pat!  

 

El Palacio de Aljafería has gone through more "costume" changes over the years than a host at the Oscars (ok admittedly a very niche example here haha)--   Muslim recreational residence to prison during the Inquisition to the current seat of the Aragon court.  You can see remnants of them all during this fantastic tour.  Also present is a great collection of works by Goya produced before and during the Spanish Civil War, many understandably dark and depressing.  

Here is the palace from the outside-- the beautiful greenery is the imposing former moat. 

Not to be outdone by the architecture of the past, Zaragoza pulled out all the modern architecture stops for the Expo of 2008 and in the city in general.  

The impressive Pabellón Puente --  check the link for the arial view of its beautiful gladiola-inspired form.   

The Caixa Forum hosted an unexpectedly fun exhibition on the history of home movies haha.  The lunch we had at the leafy rooftop cafe was delicious and surprisingly affordable.  

On the left, pisto con huevo and below, queso fresco con dulce de guayaba.   Camera shy-- the profiteroles (we all remember those from those wild 80's!) that Don couldn't resist for his bday.  Butter be damned -- it was lactose pill-worthy!

Built atop the former carpentry workshop of his father, the Museo Pablo Serrano features modern art to go along with an imposing structure.  

A day trip via bus to Huesca treated us to this wacky and wild ceiling in its municipal building.  

Never mind the lackluster presentation-- this tasty Huesca lunch offering of roasted eggplant filled with bacalao and topped with cheese floored us.  

A day trip by train, we walked the walls of the city of Ávila...  

..and were treated to a delicious meal of grilled vegetables, grilled fish  and the local soup judias del barco de Ávila .  

To help celebrate Don's big 60th bday our terrific friends the Wornings made their way to Zaragoza for a week.  

Ask a Berkman what they want for a bday and they will tell you!  On the list-- a bike ride, a picnic, a nap (haha we are 60 now) and a late night tapas dinner on our apartment terrace.  When the neighbors complained about the noise (at 9.30 pm??) Don had his best birthday gift ever! 

The bike paths and ebikes in Zaragoza are among the best and most user friendly we have seen in our travels so far.  (We bought helmets for our 6 week stay-- safety first!)

The Wornings surprised Don with a cake of manto del Pilar  aptly adorned with Don's forever-wished-for nickname Hot Rod. The celebration was complete! 

One afternoon lunch Mikael and I went all out with a tapas sampler and the refreshing tinto de verano (like a sangria but unlike sangria, you can find tinto de verano at any bar.  Interestingly, we rarely see sangria on a menu.). We really wanted to like the tapas but unlike the delightful presentation, they were largely just meh.  You can't win them all!

But this puppy had Don singing like Placido Domingo-- a squid-ink bao bun filled with fried calamari and a spicy aioli.  ¡¡Amor, vida de mi vida!!

I, on the other hand, will put these delights on my dance card every day of the week-- piquillos con bacalao (red peppers stuffed with bacalao in a red pepper sauce).  

In the next blog post-- our 3 weeks in Italy to celebrate once again some 60 year old's bday! Our wonderful friends from NJ the Outhwaites joined in for beautiful sights, sounds and more pasta and pizza than we ever ate in NJ... and that's saying something!  

As for our schedule now, we leave Italy for a brief stop in Madrid to see the dentist and to try one more time to get my passport (loooong story but keep your fingers crossed!).    Then back to the US for family visits until September.  

Until then, say hasta luego to Zaragoza and Spain by chanting along with fútbol fans at a local game.  No cheerleaders like the Taiwanese baseball game but we enjoy a good victory song like the best of them.  

Be well and until next time-- thanks for following along!

Don and Monica