¡Hasta luego España!

I have spent 1 month in Spain (9 May - 6 June), my first country for the rtw trip. Except from turning from very fair as to reddish brown overnight, Spain has been kind to me. 

¡Me interesan el arte y gusta la naturaleza por lo tanto España es fantástica! Yo creo que mis nuevos amigos son muy simpático y cariñoso. ¡Muchas gracias y hasta pronto! 

That is as far as my baby Spanish can go. Ha! Thanks for the memories and I cannot wait to get back soon.

Some of the pictures that I did not manage to load earlier:

XOXO,

y²

Bilbao

I had decided to do the crazy thing – to wake up at 4.30 am in order to catch the 7 am flight to Bilbao and return to Madrid by midnight on the same day. The purpose? To visit Museo Guggenheim Bilbao.

Bilbao has developed as a maritime centre front the 14th century. As a tourist destination, I think Bilbao has lots more to offer besides Museo Guggenheim Bilbao. In terms of modern architecture, it has Euskalduna Jauregia Bilbao (Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall), Puente Euskalduna (Euskalduna Bridge) and Bilbao Airport. In terms of nature, it is a convenient base to, amongst others, Parque Natural de Gorbeia and Parque Natural de Urkiola. The streets of Bilbao city centre is clean and lined with trees and the weather in May is great. It feels safe too. Sadly, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao is still the draw for most people (including me). I took about 650 photographs during the 1 week in Madrid and about 500 photographs in just 1 day in Bilbao. I wish I could have spent more time in Bilbao. (For the 100^th time, I wonder why I do not have enough time.) 

As one enters the city on bus, the first things that catch one's eye would have been the world renowned Museo Guggenheim Bilbao and Maman created by Frank Gehry and Louise Bourgeois respectively. 

I took the airport bus to the main bus station, got a city map from the station control and walked towards Museo Guggenheim Bilbao (since I had plenty of time before the Guggenheim opened anyway). Along the way, I would pass by note worthy Euskalduna Jauregia Bilbao and Puente Euskalduna. 

Euskalduna Jauregia Bilbao's architects are Federico Soriano and Dolores Palacios and the building was meant to resemble a ship for nostalgic reason. It received the 2001 Enric Miralles award at the 6^th Biennial of Spanish Architecture. (source: Euskalduna Jauregia Bilbao) While it was not a stunner like Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, the "ship and sail" design looked good. I am quite curious to know how, with so many corners, the interior space would be utilised.

Engineer Javier Manterola conceived Puente Euskalduna, a curved metal bridge for both motor vehicles and pedestrians. The bridge, which was completed in 1997, is 250m long and 27m wide, with a 45m high illumination tower. (source: http://www.bilbaointernational.com/en/bilbao-and-its-bridges/)

After a pleasant stroll through Parque de Dña, I soon came face to face with Jeff Koons' 'Puppy', a 12m high floral installation, in front of the museum. Koons' stainless steel 'Tulips' sculpture could also be found at the back of the museum. (Somehow, I still like the combination of the 2, the 'Balloon Dog', better.)

Frank Gehry's Museo Guggenheim Bilbao has been anaylsed to death and I really have nothing to add. If I were to nitpick – the bathrooms were really so not in sync with the lines of the rest of the building. I did not imagine that I would love the building but I really enjoyed examining its nooks and corners at every turn. It was totally interactive. 

The curator for Museo Guggenheim Bilbao was fortunate in the sense that some of the art installations were created specially for the museum and these artists had the opportunity to explore the museum while it was being built. This produced one of my favourite installations by Jenny Holzer:

“Installation for Bilbao — nine vertical L.E.D. signboards, each more than 40 feet high — transmit aphorisms in Basque, Spanish, and English. Developed over time, the texts were first written for an AIDS fund-raising event. While consideration of the epidemic provides an immediate and tragic context, these writings—such as 'I say your name' and 'I save your clothes' — evoke universal themes of intimacy, death, and loss." (source: http://www.guggenheim.org). 

I like it how her rigid signboards contrast against the curvy walls of the museum. It is an interactive art installation – visitors can walk through it and view the installation from the other side. When I was visiting, school children were lying on the floor, reading the messages and listening to their teachers. Isn't it a great way to learn?

Museo Guggenheim Bilbao was conceived when the iron and steel industry in Bilbao went downhill (I think partly to boost the economy). Now, the whole city seems to gravitate towards Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, with people sitting in the park next to the museum or along the river, rowing on the river... 

The final place to visit in Bilbao was of course La Paloma (The Dove), the Bilbao International Airport designed Santiago Calatrava, who seemed to favour "wings" in his architecture. While the airport looked great from the outside and in the public area, some valuable space had been sacrificed for the "wings" effect, resulting in the waiting space after the check-in area slightly uncomfortable.

Madrid - random thoughts

I have been in Spain for 1 month and the last week was spent in Madrid (which was a bit of a rush, I think). 

In Madrid, I stayed with 3 Spanish, one of whom is Cristina. She is the first person to tell me that her first love is working with old buildings – medieval kind of old, not 1960s' kind of old. We discussed about architecture and art – she loves medieval buildings and old masters. I do not mind them but I like clean lines in buildings and modern art. (Having said the above, art techniques of the masters are more easily comprehensible. Sometimes I just do not know what people are drawing nowadays and would think to myself 'WTF is this? I can do better than that'. Haha!) Cristina showed me her books and dreamily describe the arches etc. Partly due to the fact that my home country is very young and partly because in my line of business, I have only come across modern architecture and likewise, architects from the same field, conservation and restoration of ancient buildings are of unfamiliar grounds. We talked about the job market for architects in Barcelona and Madrid and she told me how it is difficult to find decent architecture work and they pay too little whilst one has to put in too many hours. She is now working in insurance industry and waiting for her opportunity. We did not quite discuss this - given that there are so many old buildings being juxtaposed with new (such as Museo Reina Sofia's original 1770s building with new wing designed by Jean Nouvel), it must have hurt her personally and professionally. (Good luck Cris! I hope you will find your conservation/ restoration job soon.)

In any case, Cristina told me I could finish 4 art museums in 2 days but I ended up pretty much using 1 day for each gallery. Which then brings to me to the point that however much time I spend in art museums, I rarely find more than 2 art pieces (in any 1 museum) that I truly love (except maybe The Musée de l'Orangerie).

My favourite exhibits in Madrid are:

• Real Armería, Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Armoury, The Royal Palace of Madrid). The Royal Armoury preserves weapons and armour belonging to and collected by the kings of Spain and other members of the Royal Family. The large collection dates from the medieval period and is very fascinating. Vain but fascinating. I love it.
• Model of Juan de Villanueva's second project for the Cabinet of Natural History, The Prado Museum
  I have seen my fair share of models and this is the first one that is made of wood blocks. The model was presented to King Carlos III in 1785 and was meant for the Cabinet of Natural History (current venue of The Prado Museum). I can only imagine the architect opening up the roof and blocks as he made his presentation. 

Random pictures of Madrid:

Rest & Relaxation in Escalona

The spa

Raquel was very kind to visit me after the Pico de Posets climb and asked me if I wanted to go to a spa. My legs were not feeling that sore but sauna and jacuzzi at €25 for 1 hour and a chance to check out the building - why not? She was very kind to help me make the appointment at the spa at Monasterio de Boltaña. 

The spa's jacuzzi area was big and had a glass wall that looked into a garden and hills, which had a calming effect. There were different water jets. I liked the one that was shaped like a vacuum cleaner nozzle and sprayed water on the shoulders.
The spa curiously used Chinese and Balinese artworks when the spa treatments offered are not even remotely related to Chinese or Balinese ones. Hmm.... 

The building

Monasterio de Boltaña was previously the monastery of the Virgin del Carmen and was founded in 1651. The building has since been used as a farm house, a sanitarium and is currently used as a hotel. (source: http://www.turismoboltana.es/2008/07/monasterio-de-la-virgen-del-carmen.html)

Source: www.monasteriodeboltana.es

The façade is really beautiful and would have made an ideal setting for a garden wedding. For me, the bell tower stands out for its simplicity. It is not a typical tower but simply a wall with bells.
The building is made of stones and the stones' raw form made the archways above the corridor to the spa especially beautiful.

Corridor to spa

The building was to be restored and renovated to a hotel befitting of a 5-star status. A glass roof was installed on top of the cloister which now functions as a reading area.  I like how the glass pyramid roof lets in light.

Cloister

Glass roof

That was pretty much where the 'like' stopped. I could not get the concept/ theme behind the interior decoration. It was too crowded - every nook was filled with something. It was just too much - the interior designer must not have agreed to the fact that sometimes, less is more. Worse, the decorations were either meant to look like some sort of Chinese or African or Aboriginal works. YUCKS! WHY? I would happily remove all decorations and just leave the wooden chairs behind. I am so glad we do not do this at ours.

What?

L'Ainsa

After the jacuzzi, I went to visit an old castle and old plaza of L'Ainsa. 

The castle has existed since the 11th century. It was drizzling and I was lucky to see double rainbow and supernumerary rainbows from end to end.

Raquel explained to me how there are 2 lanes leading into the square where people lived. The lane on the right would reach the rich and the lane on the left would reach the servants. Accordingly, there were vast differences between the exterior of the 2 blocks. The rich had bay windows, coat of arms and iron grilles etc that enhanced their prestige and showed off their status. Their doors were also taller so that the horse carriages could go in. The houses that lined the "servants' lane" had simpler facade. (Is there anything this lady does not know?)

 

This, effectively, was my last day in Escalona.

Pico de Posets

Extending the stay

If you have not noticed, I have stayed in Escalona for 5 days instead of the original plan of 3 days. I have also decided to extend the stay by yet another 2 more nights. (I think Javier was totally confused by this weird Chinese girl by then.)

One last hike

After the kayaking trip, Raquel happily told me that I could join Toño and 2 guys for their hike up Pico de Posets. She told me both she and Toño thought I could handle it and their 2 clients were agreeable that I join them. The rest of my kayaking mates went "Oooohhhh" when they heard "Posets". That was as far as "good news" went.

The bad news were - we had to meet at 5.30 am (instead of the usual 8.30am), I would be ascending twice as high as what I have done for the last few days, it would be cold and it would be a technical climb. That's all.

I could only remember that I kept asking Raquel "Are you sure?", "Did Toño REALLY think I could do it?". Just then, Sami and Hari (the guys who I would be climbing with) came back from their mountain biking. "First big mountain huh?", they asked. "Don't worry, we will take care of you."

The day

I woke up at 4.30am, wondering what I have done to myself AGAIN. I had my Olympic shit (PARDON! But I have always had it before my races. And there is really such a term and such a thing happening.) I let myself out into the cold and dark street. (The night before, Javier had taught me how to let myself out of the hotel and had kind of expressed his puzzlement as to why I was leaving in the wee hours of the morning.) Before long, Toño, Sami and Hari arrived. Toño had a final check on our equipment - with the ice axe, crampons, etc, this would be the heaviest day pack I have carried up the mountain.

I have been to the Parque Natural de Posets-Maladeta with Raquel. This time, we were going to Pico de Posets (3375m). It is the 5th highest mountain in Spain and the 2nd highest in Aragón. 

We started from Refugio de Viadós (1550m) at about 7am. I was EXTREMELY NERVOUS that I would let everyone down but the guys seemed rather relaxed.

The initial part of the hike was the usual pretty sight expected of the Pyrenees. Grass, streams, rocks, flora, marmot, valleys, hills, snow-capped mountains. 

Break time!

Source: Sami

My terrible techniques

Poor Toño had to patiently correct everything I was doing (which was pretty much everything I think). 

I was using the trekking pole wrongly - surprise surprise! left leg and left arm, right leg and right arm. ¿Como? I just could not get it right, or rather, I would get it right for 10 steps and then got it wrong again. It took me ONE WHOLE DAY (my brain just was not functioning) before it occurred to me I could use the NPCC marching rhythm (left, left, left right left). DUH! (To my NPCC squad: I never did the left leg left arm, right leg right arm thingy in NPCC hor. I was not the 老鼠屎 then.)

My footwork was atrocious. Too big strides. Too narrow stance. Aye Yai Yai!!!

If I were Toño, I would have pulled out all my hair and beard and killed myself on the spot.

Attempt to summit

We finally reached the snow. Toño tested the snow and decided for us put on the harness, gaiters, crampons and helmet. Toño secured us together with his rope, taught us how to use the ice axe and explained how we should keep the tension of the rope. It sure felt safe to have someone with more than 25 years of experience and a specialist in technical high mountain sports!

Toño checking the snow

Gaiters and crampons

 Tied to 3 men:

No go

At some stage, my tummy kept growling from hunger and I thought I was going to black out. I asked to have a break. The boys then left it for me to decide if I wanted to proceed to the peak - they said they were happy to stop if I wanted to. They could not go up without me because I would have to sit in the cold for at least 2 hours to wait for them. The weather was changing rapidly and the clouds were coming in. I was exhausted and wanted to answer the call of nature (obviously could not do anything when tied to 3 boys). I figured if I could make it to the top, I would not have enough energy to get down. I finally called it quits at 3180m, 7 hours after we started. 

The clouds came in

The boys waited for me to decide

I felt extremely guilty. If I were not there, the boys might have had a better chance of making the summit. I was, afterall, the "extra" who joined them in the last minute. Sami and Hari were extremely gracious and forgiving. I think I apologised too many times and Sami finally told me his personal story and that "everything happened for a reason". Hari joked that if I felt that guilty, I could try again alone the next day. 

Getting down

Going down was not easy either. I was so worried my dodgy knees and left ankle would give way as we slid down the snow. Fortunately nothing serious happened.

How far we have come down

As a reward perhaps, we saw many sarrios on our walk back to the car.

By the time we reached our 4x4, it was 7.30pm and started drizzling. 

Sami, Toño, Hari did not look tired at all!

It had been a long day and I was exhausted by the time I limped up the stairs at Hotel Arnal. Javier simply shook his head. Ha! 


I began to wonder - is Kili still within reach?