Author: margaret21

A History of a Holiday in Fifteen Trees and Twenty Blues

Blogging challenges, Spain

Typical of me to miscount. This isn’t the last day of the month. But these are my last squares. Alongside my one and only square today are other shots, mainly in blue, for Jude’s monthly Life in Colour challenge. They’re all included as a final salute to our memorable month in Spain – until Monday, that is, when I’ll showcase the clothes lines that we spotted for Andrew’s Monday Washing Lines.

A palm tree in Premià: with a backdrop of the blue skies we saw day after day after day.
  • Sunrise in the Bay of Biscay, aboard the Galicia
  • Arriving in Santander
  • Someone lost their trainers in Premià
  • Blue shutters, a blue door in the old part of Premià
  • A curious graffito in Premià
  • Street art in Premià
  • Standing on the beach in Premià looking over at Barcelona
  • A beachside restaurant in Premià on a breezy day.
  • Whoever thought of putting the seven dwarfs in niches at the top of their house? Someone in Premià, that’s who.
  • On the waterfront at Premià. This was once where the goods yard was, near the station. During the Spanish Civil War it became a Republican fortress.
  • A stork near Zaragoza
  • Not a cathedral, not a palace, but a bank in Zaragoza
  • This lion is one of four guarding the entrance to the Zarazoga on its oldest bridge.
  • Street art in Tudela
  • A lighthouse near San Sebastian
  • Street art in Santander
  • More street art in Santander
  • Barely blue skies on the ferry from Santander to Portsmouth

TreeSquare And thanks, as ever, for your Squares challenge Becky. A lovely month of choosing, squaring and sharing images of trees, ‘our most intimate connection with nature’ ( George Nakashima)

A History of a Holiday in Fifteen Trees – fourteen

Blogging challenges, Spain

Our nights in the country weren’t spent in Cantabria, but in the adjacent Basque country. We had to be within reach of San Sebastian, where we had the first of our three Covid tests required by the British government (this one within 72 hours of our departure from Spain, the other two back in the UK on Days Two and Eight), and of Santander, where we boarded our ferry back to the UK.

We chose Garai, a charming village of some 300 inhabitants and with the most delightful guest house, where we’d like to return with the whole family in tow.

As well as those two views from the village, I’ll give you a couple of scenes from the Parque de Cristina Enea in San Sebastian, and one from the delightful coastal road we meandered back to Garai on – but nothing from Santander, where I clean forgot to include any trees in my shots.

TreeSquare

A History of a Holiday in Fifteen Trees – thirteen

Blogging challenges, Spain

How Mr and Mrs Country Mouse had been enjoying their Spanish holiday! But they’d spent nearly all of it in towns. Their systems demanded a recharge of the kind that could only be provided by a spell in the country. They drove through rural Cantabria, enjoying the hairpin bends and rugged sights of the Collados del Asón  and the Puerto de Alisas. And trees! So many, in forests, clinging to rock faces, or clambering across the slopes….

They can feel a walking holiday coming on….

TreeSquare

A History of a Holiday in Fifteen Trees – Twelve

Blogging challenges, Spain

A couple of hours driving from Zaragoza took us to our lunch stop, Tudela. Sunday lunchtime is not a good time for diligent sightseeing. But it is an excellent time for strolling round a city which has interest on every street. It’s not on a main tourist itinerary, but we’ll definitely be back to explore yet another town where Romans, Moors, Jews and Christians have all made their mark. And storks. Who could fail to be seduced by a town whose every church houses yet another stork family?

Our storks provide today’s tree images. Not a whole tree today, but many hundreds of twigs: without which no self-respecting stork could build a large ungainly nest and raise a family.

And then of course there’s nothing for it but to sit in a pleasant square with a cold beer, mulling over a menu and wondering what to have for lunch.

Tree Square

A History of a Holiday in Fifteen Trees – Eleven

Blogging challenges, Spain

Zigzagging my way into Zaragoza’s old city centre, I came across, ahead of me, a glass canopy. A market perhaps? But no. It covered Caesar Augustus’ Roman Amphitheatre. I could inspect it quite well from the street, but on a whim, decided to pay the entrance fee and go in. ‘I’ve decided to take your word for it that you’re over 65’, the chivalrous man at the desk said. ‘It’s free for you’.

I was so glad I went. I discovered that this theatre was only relatively recently excavated. It was designed during the 1st century CE for an audience of 6,000 people (in a city of 18,000) and remained in use for some 200 years. When the Romans left, firstly the Moors covered over the site to provide extra housing space in the crowded city centre. Later, it became a Jewish quarter, and when the Jews were expelled in the 14th century, Christians moved in. And so it was until the late twentieth century. I didn’t quite understand why it had become possible to uncover and excavate this site in the 1970s. But I enjoyed exploring, and took pleasure in the unusual distorted views of it provided by the glass windows of the museum which explained the amphitheatre’s history.

Trees and the amphitheatre distorted in the museum windows.

Old meets new beyond the amphitheatre

Tree Squares

Monday Window

A History of a Holiday in Fifteen Trees – Ten

Blogging challenges, Spain

After our stay with the family, the plan was to wander back across Spain to the ferry in Santander, taking in Zaragoza on the way. Then we found out that Zaragoza was quietly sizzling away in temperatures of 37 degrees daily. Sightseeing temperatures? Perhaps not. So we cut our stay down to a single night- long enough to convince us that we must return to this city packed with ecclesiastical architecture, a Moorish past, a Roman heritage, and the works of Goya too.

I’ll show you just one of the city’s must-see sights, the Basílica del Pilar. It’s not even Zaragoza’s cathedral. It’s views like this, conveniently framed by trees, that tell us we must return.

For today’s tree though, let’s look upward. We were enjoying the multitude of swifts which zipped and ricocheted across the sky, just as they had in Premià. And look what’s included itself in the shot. A tree. A small tree – offering some apartment dweller a morsel of shade from that ever-present sun.

My featured photo shows a cooling city centre public garden where Malcolm had a rest as I went off on a small investigative tour, and came across a special site which I’ll share with you tomorrow.

TreeSquare

A History of a Holiday in Fifteen Trees – Nine

Blogging challenges, Catalonia, Spain

The next town along from Premià is Vilassar de Mar. Emily says it has a hippie, arty vibe, and it’s certainly a pretty little town. Look what took our eye though. Alongside a tree trunk was this: part of a Town Trail for Tinies? We don’t know. We found no others.

When we visited, it had just finished its week long Festa Major, for which the symbol was – a tree.

Still, I suggest you join us for a vermouth in the oldest vermuteria in town, Espinaler, before going for a quiet stroll.

  • Espinaler
  • A 12th century defensive tower, Torre de Can Nadal, at the seafront
  • On of a terrace of houses with – unusually – long front gardens
  • Public gardens crossing a stream
  • A thoroughly Moorish house
  • A tree reflected in an elegant front door.

TreeSquares

A History of a Holiday in Fifteen Trees – Eight

Blogging challenges, Catalonia, Spain

Our first foray from Premià  was to Argentona. Nope, we’d never heard of it either. But we found out that Gaudi’s contemporary Josep Puig i Cadafalch had built a house here, and that seemed reason enough to visit. Reader, it was closed for renovations, and this is about all we could see:

Were we dismayed? only a bit. An International Ceramics Fair was in town, and we had fun tagging along, watching the potter in the featured photo, visiting the museum, taking in the sights in this ancient town, and finally, having lunch at an Uruguayan restaurant. Here’s a small gallery, which even features an ancient gnarled tree that really didn’t appreciate attempts to square it off.

TreeSquare

A History of a Holiday in Fifteen Trees – Seven

Blogging challenges, Catalonia, Spain

We’re going to end our trip to Premià de Mar where we began, in a bar. But this isn’t just any bar. This is Bar del Mig, in the main town square, and the venue of choice for many in the town for a morning coffee, a lunchtime meal or a convivial evening of tapas and a drink.

Bar del Mig? That’s a funny name isn’t it? Well, it refers to the fact that the Cami del Mig runs through all the coastal towns hereabouts, as it has since Roman times, south of the Via Augusta, as a -er- miggle way between that and the sea.

We might be leaving Premià , but there are lots of places, lots of trees to visit yet. We’ll call in at other local towns in the area before heading off back to the ferry from Santander via Aragon, the Basque country, and Cantabria. Gosh, if the thought’s making you thirsty, and we haven’t time to go back to the bar, best have a quick swig from a tree-shaded water fountain before we set off.

TreeSquare

A History of a Holiday in Fifteen Trees – Six

Blogging challenges, Catalonia, Spain

Today we have two trees that are pushing the boundaries. The first isn’t a tree at all: but this huge cactus near Emily and Miquel’s house clearly thinks it’s a tree.

And this little palm tree sapling, down near the beach at Premià de Mar surely won’t make it though to maturity, as it’s relying on the goodwill of a host tree that’s unlikely to want to have it around for long.

TreeSquare