What To Do on A Sunny Thursday in Cádiz

Visit the Museums.

Façade of the Centre wit the bay in the background. Image 

courtesy of  http://cadiztraselobjetivo.blogspot.com.es/

Today was the turn of the Centro Cultural Reina Sofía. Luckily, this centre has nothing to do with the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid and as such is free. The centre is housed in a mid-18th century buidling that was once home to military engineers and now houses a whole host of cultural organisations: the Vasallo Museum, with a permanent exhibition of the Cádiz-born sculptor's works, the Royal Hispano-American Academy, reflecting the city's close ties with the New World, The Cádiz Atheneum, the Military Library, The Féderico Joly Foundation, the Galván Press, the Municipal Culture Foundation and the permanent exhibition of the Aramburu Picardo legacy.

The stairwell - a detail.

When we entered, we were greeted by a helpful receptionist who recommended that we start on the third floor and work our way down, so ignoring the impressive staircase we took the lift to the third floor. The lift opened onto a flat roof that gave magnificent views of Cádiz and its bay, so magnificent that I risked taking a panoramic photo of the scene that presented itself before us.

A young Detectorist?

The tower on the right is part of the building and is known as a veedor - literally a seer. Most merchant and military houses in Cádiz were built with such towers so that the interested parties could see what was going on in the Bay - mostly merchants anxiously awaiting the arrival of their ships from the Americas or elsewhere, or naval types wondering when the next horde of British prototourists (i.e. the Royal Navy) would descend upon the city, drink the place dry and then set fire to it.


But I digress. The Aramburu legacy is mainly a collection of paintings collected by the Aramburu Picardo family. Originally from the Basque Country, the Aramburus were a family of bankers who eventually sold the business and donated this collection to the city. Among the paintings, two particularly caught my attention. There was this one on the left, whose subject, commented my Dark Lady, looks remarkably like Toby Jones.


And the one on the right, a charming portrait of a young boy, and his parrot. 

Apart from the subject, what really drew our attention was the frame. Made to look like bamboo, the black blotches to be seen are small works of art in themselves, depicting oriental scenes.

On the subject of BBC lookalikes, both the little boy with the parrot and this young girl, presumably both members of the Aramburu family, bear an uncanny resemblance to 1980s Dr Who actor Colin Baker. Compare and contrast.

Colin Baker, the 6th doctor. 
Image courtesy of
doctorwho.tv.co.uk

A 19th-century Aramburu, 
looking as if she's on 
the naughty step.

It was now time to waft downtairs to the Vasallo Museum. Juan Luis Vasallo was born in Cádiz in 1908 and died some 78 years later in Madrid. The museum has a permanent exhibition of numerous pieces in bronze, stone, clay, plaster etc. Below are two photos of Vasallo's marvellous clay version of Don Quixote. It is only about 3 inches tall and inexpressibly moving. Observe the hands; they are reminiscent of El Greco paintings

Among the many other pieces were a study of the hands of Cádiz-born essayist, poet, journalist and all-round writer José María Pemán. As most of the exhibits in the whole building are hands-on, more of which later, a certain bollocks-talker couldn't resist this hands-in visual joke.

The crystal chandelier lighting up
the paintings on the wall - all very
Charley Pride.

It was then time to take to the stairs again, admiring this wonderful chandelier as we did so.                                  

Back on the ground floor, it was now time to visit the Féderico Joly Hohr Foundation. The late Féderico Joly was chairman of the Cádiz-based Joly newspaper group and upon his death bequeathed his library, including his desk and papers therein, to the city of Cádiz. and here it all is. Amazingly, his desk is not behind a glass screen and you can actually pick up his notebooks and read them and, if it takes your fancy, try on his sunglasses and sit behind the desk, pretending to be a newspaper magnate while gasping out the word "Rosebud".

Joly's desk...

...and papers.

And so ended our visit to this charming building with its enchanting collections, all the more enjoyable because you can actually touch and interact with almost all of the objects. A great afternoon out and definitely worth a second visit.

Inland from the Guadalquivir: Ducks, Drakes and Meres

After exploring the banks of the Guadalquivir[i], This weekend we turned inland to explore the countryside surrounding the town of Espera. To our surprise, we discovered a set of three meres, the Complejo Endorréico de Espera, that are home to a wide range of birdlife, both aquatic and otherwise.

Far in the distance, Fatetar castle dominates the countryside.

Turning off the main road, we took a dirt track towards the meres. Click here to see a map. As we took the track, to the left we coud see Espera's Fatetar Castle rising above the emerald green fields, more of which later.

We then took the track towards the wetlands. Today we were in Burbuja, my Dark Lady's Citröen C4, which was completely at home with the conditions. 

Scrubland, farmland and newly-sown fields.

Burbuja, parked up and watching over a complex of rabbity residences.

Leaving the castle behind,we forged on along well-maintined dirt tracks towards our destination. As we passed the undulating hills of farmland, we were amazed by the sheer number of birds to be seen: partridges running across the road as we approached, finches of every descrition wittering away in the bushes and trees, and marsh harriers hovering above us in search of a tasty hare or rabbit, whose warrens are to be found everywhere. 

Indeed, we were lucky enough to see two harriers involved in their aerial mating rituals. 

For a more exhaustive list of the flora and fauna to be found, click here. The common names are in Spanish, but they are accompanied by their Latin names, too.  

Bad joke: Q.;What do you call a man with a load of rabbits 

stuffed up his fundament?

A.: Warren.

The vastness of the landscape is truly amazing, yet the rolling hills make it seem more familiar and intimate than the endless plains that conform the Guadalquivir valley that lies beneath the foothills.

Soon we arrived at our destination. The first of the three meres, Laguna Hondilla, is completely fenced off and has no path around it, so we started to walk towards the second, Laguna Salada de la Zorilla.

Laguna La Zoriilla Salada.

If the truth be told, there was not a lot of birdlife to be seen, but we could certainly hear it; quackings, splashings, plashings honkings, flappings, tweetings, twitterings and witterings filled the air. In fact, it sounded frighteningly like one of the bird-brained Wednesday morning meetings at the august educational establishment where I have the honour and privilege to earn my crust.

Moreover, with just a phone camera, it would be well-nigh impossible to take good photos, but there are plenty to be seen in the links I have included above. 

After a walk around the mere and the surrounding countryside, it was time to head back to the car and explore the castle. 

Like many castles in Andalusia, the town's cemetary nestles close to the walls.

Fatetar Castle. you can just about see the tower on the left.

Although the rocky outcrop doesn't look particuarly high, the road leading up to the castle from the town side was quite steep and had to be taken in first gear. The view, however, was worth it, but not really woth photographing. Seen one alluvial plain, seen 'em all!

I did take some photos of the castle and its environs.

A piece of decorative stonework,
probably replaced during restoration.

---

An interesting limestone formation

A set of doorways and an arch. All very
Velázquez.

       The entrance to the castle.
       Once serving as a church, it
         is now a museum.

Then it was back into the car and off to find somewhere to have a well-deserved coffee before returning to Sanlu to watch from our balcony the sun set over the neighours' houses.

And so, dear reader, to bed.

[i] BTW, Guadalquivir is a corruption of the Arabic, Guad-al-Kebir, literally big river, or in Spanish Río Grande – a name I’m sure that lovers of Westerns will be more than familiar with.