Rhythm, Light & Colour

Feb 18, Cadiz

The Cadiz Carnaval puts to shame our Halloween and the Calgary Stampede. The streets are packed and so many people are in costume. Very imaginative costumes, ranging from a wrapped-around shower curtain to a tailored soldier’s uniform. Without a costume you can just paint on coloured clown cheeks, which we did.

Cadiz Carnaval

Carnaval in San Fernando, just outside of Cadiz

Carnaval in San Fernando, just outside of Cadiz
Cadiz Old Town street scene

Feb 17, Cadiz

My sketches this week aren’t very good. Must be because I am pushing my boundaries. We are staying in San Fernando, a small city just outside Cadiz, where accomodaton was a lot cheaper. So, we have a half hour bus ride into Cadiz. It gives us a chance to watch the cities wake up in the morning, and make merry in the evenings. Cadiz is the oldest continually occupied city in Europe. The Phoenicians built it. Many of the buildings are constructed of sedimentary rock composed of oyster shells. See: http://all-geo.org/metageologist/2014/01/deep-time-fossils/

Building stones composed of shells and sand

Cadiz Catedral

Feb 16, Cadiz

Sketching in Plaza de Catedral, Cadiz

Besides sketching, I am doing at lot of coughing and blowing my nose. We stopped in at a Farmacia to buy acetaminophen (called paracetamol in Europe). It cost €0.67 for 20 tabs of 500 mg so $C 1.05. What, is that about 10 times cheaper than in Canada!

Other things that are cheaper in Spain are: pop, groceries, city bus tickets and train travel. Hotel rooms are about the same, so are restaurant meals.

Feb 15, Cadiz

We’ve come to Cadiz to join an urban sketching workshop hosted by Pushing Your Sketching Boundaries. The theme is Rhythm, Light and Colour and we are here at Cadiz Carnaval time.

The dictator, Franco, banned local festivals. But the people of Cadiz defied that edict and kept celebrating, poking fun at the authorities and the Church with costumes, singing and parade floats.

There are twenty of us in the workshop, from eight nationalities. This should be fun.

Feb 14, Madrid to Cadiz

Atoche train station in Madrid (designed by Mr. Eiffel)

We’ve been hurtling along at 280 kilometers per hour in the AVE train to the city of Cadiz, on the Atlantic coast. The countryside around Madrid is dry and worn out. Maybe just being left idle, in anticipation of the city’s growth. As we near Seville we start to see orange groves. And we never lose sight of olive orchards.

Spain fascinates us. The more we learn, the more we are curious. Here’s a recap. Some are of the opinion that all the wealth that the conquistadors brought back was squandered by the nobles and the Church, leaving the country broke and backward. Then came the socialist government that gave some of the poorer people hope for change. But that hope was was crushed by the coup in 1936 and a civil war followed. The Nationalists won and installed the dictator, Franco. The country transitioned to democracy in the 70’s. Certainly it’s more complicated; I have much to learn.

Yes, other countries are interesting too. But we only have so much time and money for travel, so why not dig deeper into one culture, history and language?

It is wonderful to be back in Andalusia. Sunshine, fountains, fragrant trees and flowers. It is 15 C here in Cadiz, with a blue sky and blue ocean.

What also makes me happy is that our Airbnb room is lovely, with a lot more room than in Madrid. Our host speaks no English, so we babble in Spanish. Sort of.

Author: Dianne

I am travelling and sharing my experiences and reactions with family and friends and friends of friends.

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