Thursday 30 December 2010

No snow!

We went cross-country skiing yesterday in Somport just over the border in France. You can see how little snow there is in the top photo. There were places where rocks and grass were exposed on the tracks, and others which were solid ice, but we managed to ski round the circuit.
Just as we were leaving, the sun came out. We really need it to snow in the mountains.

Sunday 7 November 2010

Red October

Here´s another photo from the outing last month to the Tena Valley, the brightest autumn colours on a wall!

Sunday 17 October 2010

Autumn colours

The trees are just beginning to look pretty in their autumn colours. This was from the village of Hoz de Jaca in the Tena valley, where we went last week.
Yesterday we went to the Aragón valley, where the changes weren´t so advanced. Until we entered the Rioseta footpath there was a high wind blowing, but where we walked was protected from the bitter weather; we could see the clouds being dragged over the mountaintops. In our secluded walk we saw many bright red rose hips, some bright red mushrooms, but no bright red leaves. Those will come soon.

Friday 8 October 2010

Toad in the hole

Whenever I talk about English meals with students it´s fun to say that one typical dish is toad in the hole.....it sounds shocking when you translate the words, but it´s neither toad nor hole, but really sausages in batter. And  it´s quite easy!
Beat 125g flour, an egg and 120ml milk together into a smooth batter.
Put sausages in a dish in the oven and cook them at a high temperature.
When they are cooked, add the batter and cook until it´s risen and brown.
Serve with roast potatoes, gravy, etc.
Enjoy it!

Friday 1 October 2010

Autumn

They call it St Michael's little summer; at least earlier this week when it was the feast of St Michael. There have already been a few very mild frosts up here where we live- it´s about 900m above sea level, but now it´s mild and almost warm. The clouds have gone and the sun´s out. It´s very dry. Last Saturday we spent a few hours in Olorón Sainte Marie, a couple of hours´drive away in France. It rained on the way, and the river which runs through the city was very full indeed. There's a great difference in climate between the two places.

Friday 10 September 2010

Cambrils 18th August 2010

This is one that got left out; I've just found it on my Netbook, along with all the email addresses that I lost when the laptop's hard drive crashed.
We arrived on Sunday at 13.30. It was warm and quite dull. There were lots of people because it's August and because Monday was a holiday in a number of communities. Today is Wednesday and it's quietened down a bit, although there are still lots of cars and at peak time the beach gets full. And then there are the bicycles.  There's a cycle path which goes from one extreme of Cambrils to the other. It's not an unbroken path but it's quite good for Spain, and it's been full of cyclists of all shapes and forms, from little kids on tiny bikes with stabilisers to big adults in stretch shorts, helmets and fast sports bikes. I've borrowed a bike which my brother-in-law found in a rubbish skip and reclaimed; the one I abandoned in Bognor was better, but this one has taken me to the port and back twice. The brakes work and the pedals, although they are crooked, move it along at my normal, slow speed. You don't want to go much faster, what with scatty pedestrians wandering onto the cycle track, skaters and scooters, not to mention dog-leg bends so sharp that they've got convex mirrors for you to check if anyone's coming the other way-if you see someone coming it's too late. Spain is a good place for champion cyclists-there have been plenty of really good sportsmen; at times the best in the world, but there's not much idea of using a bike to get about, to do the shopping and move from place to place. They are just beginning to have cycle tracks in cities, and rental systems where you can take a bike off a rack, cycle to your destination and leave it on a rack for someone else to use.  

Tomatoes

It's that season again! 
Garden tomatoes in Jaca are the best. They don't look so great, but one bulky, split fruit is enough for a salad for three people, and they are sweet and delicious; just how a tomato should taste. At the moment there are local tomatoes, figs, muscatel grapes and claudia plums. Delicious!

Thursday 12 August 2010

Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantell
The Tudors are in fashion at the moment, and there are several popular books around about them. Wolf Hall actually won last year´s Booker prize.
It´s about a key actor in the time of Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell. I´ve put in a painting of him because I like it very much; Hans Holbein is a minor character in this book and he´s one of my favourite painters.
Anyway, Cromwell rose from unknown humble beginnings in Putney to the highest non-royal position in the land, finally to be executed (that´s not in this book-she´s on the sequel now)
I enjoyed the book, especially the household scenes of Cromwell´s extended family, and his relationships with Wolsey and later King Henry.

Tomatoes again!

I can buy tomatoes all year round. But only in the summer is it possible to find tomatoes like the ones I bought yesterday; big, fat, irregular-shaped and delicious. They are sweet and juicy and there's nothing else like them. At the same time I bought the first Moscatel grapes, which are really the best there are.

Monday 2 August 2010

Home!

By Saturday many of the students had gone home, and our office was mostly cleared into boxes. The remaining student groups had gone on a day trip to Oxford. So I was free. I got a ticket to Portsmouth, and spent a nice peaceful day walking around shops. There's a complex down by the old shipyard called Gunwharf Keys, which is a retail outlet and there are lots of restaurants too. When I was hungry I sat on a terrace in the sun in a place (chain) called The Slug and Lettuce. The above is what I ate. I don't know what it was; I was expecting a bit of bread with goat's cheese and peppers. Very nice!
Really, it was good just to mooch about in Portsmouth.
Well, on Sunday I made the long journey home; Bognor to London on the train, nearly two hours, Victoria Coach Station to Stansted, 70 minutes; I like that journey, then the fuss of baggage handover, check-in is done online now. Being first August the airport was really crowded. Waiting, boarding, flying and home!  

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Pub music

Friday night Felpham, we went for a drink in a pub in the village next to Bognor and found it was live music night. I didn't see the band; there was such a crush, but I'm sure they were grey-haired, like most of the people dancing. Sort of Mick Jagger age, and enjoying themselves enormously! From the Beatles to Robbie Williams, and all you could see were wiggling bottoms and waving arms.
Then on Sunday Mum took me for lunch in Isfield, to a pub called, for some reason the Laughing Fish. Lovely ploughman's lunches, and a folk society meeting. One of the rooms of the pub, people were taking turns to sing or play. Folk songs, sea shanties. Mostly middle-aged or elderly, ordinary-looking men and women stood up and sang many-versed songs, then sat down and another had a turn. The landlord told us they came there about once a year, and did other pubs in the meantime.

Sunday 11 July 2010

Bognor regis

It's a bit of a dump! However, yesterday I walked back to the campus, first along the beach, paddling in the shallow water. With a cool breeze blowing, the temperature of the shallow water was lovely.
 Here, you can't see the beach, but the jet skier was having a great time. Today is the World Cup final, Spain against Holland. The group of Spanish teachers doing a course here have dressed up in red and yellow and painted their faces. I think they must have found a pub where they can watch it. Of course, I 'll be happy for them if Spain wins!

Monday 5 July 2010

Idyllic July

Bognor Regis, Sussex
The Bognor Regis campus of Chichester University is small compared with Royal Holloway where I stayed last week, but when you're going from one classroom to another it seems quite big. Its got lots of trees, grassy spaces and rabbits and squirrels are everywhere outside. On the other side of a terribly busy main road there's the famous holiday camp, Butlins, which is 2-3 times the size. Someone said it's like Dirty Dancing. Or Hi de Hi, which is longer ago. People were certainly having a raucus time there at the weekend. We've been lucky so far with the weather, which is like it should be in Camelot  (fine).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCtselIX4yg
This is a link to youtube Camelot, Richard Harris singing.

Sunday 27 June 2010

World Cup

I'm away from home for the month. At the moment at the lovely campus of Royal Holloway University, Egham, doing preparation to direct a summer language course in Bognor. We've finished the sessions and have to wait a few hours for a coach to take us to Lewisham on the other side of London. England is playing Germany in the semi-quarter finals of the World Cup (football) and there are about 50 of us in a big bar with big TV screens. At the moment, 5 minutes after half-time, Germany is still winning 2-1. Every movement towards the goal the crowd goes wild. I don't care about football, but this is fun. I can hear the wild screams behind me from inside! In fromt of me at this pub table is the incredible sleeping beauty quadrangle Founder's Building. Great World Cup weather, hot sunshine. The latest report is 4-1. I'll cheer for Spain....

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Summer!

It's been a cold, wet spring, but summer has finally arrived. This afternoon has been pretty hot. You can still see one or two people in warm jackets, but shorts and t-shirts look a bit more sensible now. I spent the afternoon working in the garden, which really tired me out.
Yesterday there was still light after 10 pm. I love the long evenings.

Sunday 20 June 2010

Mallos de Riglos

Yesterday I had to get to Huesca by 9.30. not usually a problem; it's an hour's drive. However, yesterday in particular I couldn't be sure of getting there on time, because of the Quebrantahuesos.
The Quebrantahuesos is a 205 km cycle race which starts and finishes in Sabíñánigo and uses the roads in the Aragón and Tena valleys. They don't close the roads, but with up to 10,000 cyclists the traffic is severely affected.
So we decided to use the alternative route through the mountain pass of Santa Bárbara. It's longer and very wiggly, but very spectacular, passing through the gorge made by the river Gállego with views of the extraordinary Mallos de Riglos.
The journey was pleasant, not too hot, and we arrived in plenty of time for a cup of coffee before my exams were due to start. Today is the last day of spring, and it has rained so much lately that everything is lush and green. 

Wednesday 9 June 2010

Only two weeks till summer!

Here they say don't trust spring weather, don't take your warm clothes off until the 40th of May.  That's today, and the rain has been incredible. The streets have been running like rivers, and all the eaves dripping.

Friday 14 May 2010

Snow in May

They said it on the weather forecast, and they were right; this morning when I looked out of the window, Monte Oroel was covered in snow! Today is 14th May, and we're back in long sleeves.
Later, I'll light the fire in the living room.

Sunday 9 May 2010

Fritillary

Yesterday we went up to Fuerte Rapitán, which is up a steep winding road from our house. After looking at the spectacular view up the Aragón valley we went down into the moat (dry) and started to walk round. I was really thrilled to find lots of  fritillaria pyrenaica, which I'd never seen before.

Thursday 6 May 2010

May

It's May. In April the sun shone and the thermometers went up to 23º or so in the middle of the day. Now we've been lighting the fire in the afternoon to keep a bit warmer. There's been a strong wind which has burnt the tender leaves of the plants I put out last month. Here they have a proverb which is almost the same as the English "cast not a clout 'til May is out" (don't start wearing summer clothes until it's really summer).

Tuesday 13 April 2010

Facebook

I spent a bit of time the other day in Facebook. It's quite interesting who you can find through it; I say through Facebook, not necessarily on it. I came to a list of people who were at my secondary school in the same final year as me. I think I recognised the names of three men; no women at all. As we're all in our 50s they will probably be on their second or third change of surname (through marriage, of course).
Living in Spain that sounds wierd to me. Here, women keep the surnames they were born with.
Children take a surname from each parent, for example: the president of the government's father's first surname is Rodriguez, his mother's Zapatero, so he is José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. My children have my husband's surname and then mine; I only have my father's, so I've got a bad deal!
This lovely modern system where women don't lose their surnames started as a pretty unpleasant device to check racial purity in the bad old days of the Inquisition, so that you didn't marry a new Christian (converted Jew or Moslem) because you could tell by the surnames!
Anyway, that's why I'm still Sally Bracher.

Saturday 10 April 2010

Spring

Easter's over, spring is here. At nine in the morning, the sky is blue and the sparrows are feasting on the grass seed in our back garden. From here I can see a big poplar tree which is covered in catkins. In a while they'll start releasing the fluff which gets everywhere and makes life a misery for anyone with a sensitive nose. The bulbs I planted in the autumn are in bloom; mostly daffodils but also grape hyacinths (is that how you spell it?) and anemones.
There are red kites which soar over the rooftops in the city. I wonder where they nest?

Saturday 3 April 2010

Memories

A couple of days ago in Zaragoza we saw some of the sites of the sieges of the city by Napoleonic troops in 1808 and 1809. Rafael remembers his grandmother telling him things her grandfather had told her about what he'd heard about the sieges. I think it's pretty amazing how far back you can take oral memories..
This is a building left as it was in the historic centre of the city.

Thursday 18 March 2010

Ski Wednesday

On Wednesdays it's half price to ski in Le Somport. Since my morning was free I put the racks back on the car and drove to France. The ski resort is just across the border, and the actual slopes-well, tracks really, are both in France and in Spain. However, most of the skiers are Spanish, I think.
It hasn't been a good season; too many weekends and holidays of bad weather. Yesterday, though, was a fine day to ski in shirtsleeves and a hat to keep the sun off
Cross-country skiing is quite hard work for someone like me with hardly any technique. I watch people glide  past me effortlessly on uphill stretches and envy them, but I don't fall over often. Mainly because of going so slowly, but also from years of practice.
It was absolutely beautiful, with few people and quite nice snow.

Monday 15 March 2010

Spring!

Today the sun is shining and it finally looks like spring. After months and months I got my bicycle out and used it. What a joy! I've got a flowerbed full of daffodils and they'll open soon, I hope. And two crocuses...more than I've had for years.

Wednesday 3 March 2010

Diocesan Museum

On Monday the Diocesan Museum was finally opened to the public. This week it's free, at least until tomorrow. I popped in yesterday morning for a quick look, and liked it. I'd heard that it was twice as big, and I expected to see exhibits that hadn't been on show last time it was open, but I don't think there were any. What there was, however, was very well displayed in pleasant surroundings. I went out into the cloister patio; you get a different perspective of the cathedral from there. The rescued frescoes from the old churches like Bagües don't seem any different, and they are magnificent.
If I've infringed a copyright, tell me and I'll remove these photos.

Monday 22 February 2010

A Flying visit to England

Last week the schools in our area had "Semana Blanca"- literally White Week, which means time off classes to go skiing. Instead of that, we took a Ryanair flight from Zaragoza to Stansted. The view over London was really spectacular. We could see the London Eye, bridges, unfinished Olympic site, etc.  Lovely weather on the drive from the airport to Ringmer. Terrible traffic! The south east of England is so full of cars.
The next day we went to Seaford beach in the afternoon. Beautiful, but cold and windy. This photo is before the sun went in.
The next day we drove westwards to Chichester. What a nice city! It's got a market cross that looks like a stone crown. The streets that radiate from the cross had a farmers' market: meat, sausages, fruit, cheese and cakes. It all looked and smelt delicious. Chichester has got a strange cathedral. The belltower is separate from the rest of the building. The first thing we noticed was the Jaca chessboard design on one of the outer walls. You can just about see it here, also some nice Romanesque (Norman) windows. Did they get it from Jaca? Or is it just called Jaqués here, but really it's universal? Inside, the basic impression is Gothic, but there are several Romanesque elements, two stone-carved reliefs which were rediscovered in the 19th century, very similar to the images on the columns in the old monastery cloister in San Juan de la Peña.



On the way back we stopped in Arundel, which is dominated by a massive Norman castle (closed for the winter). In the town I found a shop selling forced rhubarb. It's such a nice colour!
The next day we went east, to the ancient Cinque Port of Rye. It's very quaint and pretty, and was full of tourists for the Scallop Festival.

Saturday 13 February 2010

A question

I've got a question. Does anyone read this blog? If you do, let me know what you think (don't be too hard on me).

Friday 12 February 2010

A tour of Jaca

It doesn’t matter where we start from. This little town of some 12,000 inhabitants has got lots of things to show its visitors and lots of stories to tell, not all of them happy ones.
There are buildings here from the 10th century, a little ruined chapel which was moved from the hillside, 11th century , the cathedral, the 16th century Town hall and the church at the end of the High Street. This street also has some of Jaca’s Art Nouveau (Modernist) buildings from the first decades of the 20th century. You can see when a country has been prosperous by the mix of architectural styles; all over Spain you can find magnificent examples of Modernism.
Jaca was the first capital of the Kingdom of Aragón. We are in the foothills of the Pyrenees, at 820 m altitude. At one time it was the very border of Christendom. As you know, in the 8th century, the Iberian peninsula was almost completely overpowered by the Moors from north Africa. They did not stay in the north very long, although we have some great stories of battles and miracles from the time of the occupation (Sta Orosia, Felix and Voto, Conde Aznar). Every year on the 1st Friday of May the inhabitants of Jaca parade in spectacular costumes to celebrate the defeat of the Moorish troops by local men, women and children.
From this square where the bones of medieval monks lie under the stones, we’ll go past the early 20th century fairy-tale buildings on this pedestrian street; you can just see the walls of the castle over there, another fort on the top of that hill. It was started in 1884 and finished in 1904, in a fantastic position to guard the valley, 1,142 m/sea level. It was used as a prison after the uprising in 1930, and many people were either executed there or taken to fields away from town to shoot them. There are several places in town which have the same grim memories, and some people still living who lost loved ones then. From some places you can see Collarada, which is 2,886 m/sea level. Jaca is 820 m/sl.
The calle Mayor, high street was pedestrianised a few years ago. That makes it easier to look at the curious modernist buildings erected in the second decade of the 20th century, nº 17, 20, 32, 34.
Here is the town hall, an elegant plateresque façade from the 16th century. There is a historic archive with documents dating as far back as 1042. The bells ring every 15 minutes. They play two songs, one which says “Jaca knows how to live in freedom in the shelter of Mount Oroel”, the anthem people sing in the First Friday celebrations, the other the Jota de Jaca, which celebrates the beauty of the area: “ a thousand aromas and sounds which I’ll never forget”.
At the end of the high street we are really going back in time: There is a convent which has been here since 1555, when the nuns escaped from a plague in Santa Cruz de la Serós where the convent was founded in 1060. The brought with them the tomb of doña Sancha daughter of king Ramiro I, who lived in the convent. The tomb is a gem of romanesque sculpture.
Round the corner we find all that’s left of the city walls, the rest of which were demolished in 1915 to allow for the city’s expansion. Nowadays that seems unthinkable, but then they were very happy about it.
Now we’ve got a walk round the bend to see some great views and a new building. 25,000m3, 2 rinks, 1,800 m2 and 900m2 of ice, capacity for 3,000 spectators, the new ice rink was opened to the public in August 2008, although it was used in 2007 for the European Youth Olympics. The old ice rink (1972) is waiting to be demolished. Beyond you can see Monte Oroel, 1,769 m/sea level, which is a symbol of Jaca and place of pilgrimage. You can just see the cross on the top: it’s about 8m high.
That’s the new part of the city. Now we can see the oldest building. It’s a 10th century chapel which was built in the village of Sarsa, out there, and brought here from the abandoned village.
Making our way to the cathedral, we can see the Romanesque tower of the church of St James- Santiago. The building was inaugurated in 1088, and was heavily restored and reformed in the 17th and 19th centuries. It’s built facing the wrong way: the altar is facing west instead of east, in other words facing Santiago de Compostela, the most important place of pilgrimage in western Europe. On the pavements you’ll find brass scallops which mark the Pilgrims’ Way. Compostela is 850 kms away.
The Clock Tower doesn’t have a clock on it. A plain, square 15th century tower, was a palace and later a prison.
Back to the High Street and the Cathedral.
Why are the houses so close to the Cathedral? You can’t get a decent distance away for a good view. In 1836 the Spanish government sold off the monastic lands: it was a particularly secular time, and then they used the land to build houses. Remember, the city limits were still defined by the surrounding walls, so the space was used up.
The cathedral dates from 11th century, ordered by the first king of Aragón, Ramiro, started by his son Sancho Ramírez who founded Jaca. (named for Iacca, the latinisation of the name of indigenous inhabitants). Of course, the building has gone through repairs, reforms and additions in its thousand years of existence.
From here we can cross the road and go to the gates of St Peter’s Castle, usually known as la Ciudadela or citadel. Started in 1595, it’s a star-shaped fortress, with five angled bastions, the most complete in Spain, if not Europe. The castle is still an active barracks under the juristiction of the MoD, and has very limited opening times 11-12, 17-18, but also houses a very impressive exhibition of model soldiers which is well worth seeing.
Although the castle was built in the 16th century the gateway contains a much older building, originally part of a Romanesque chapel. You can imagine that if the castle were under fire, those rather delicate arches would be the first things to go! From the outside we can see that the first line of defence is a great dry moat, now populated by red deer. The interior is low down in the walls. So as not to present an easy target. Fortresses are built to deal with the munitions of the time: when they built the Rapitán fort, up there, centuries later, they had weaponry which could reach an enemy at considerable distance. Look at the bastions: at the base the walls may be as much as 4 m thick, at their highest part, 2.5m.
Why was it built? Jaca is a frontier town. 30 km from the French border, the first significant centre of population. There was a threat from the Hugenots (French protestants), so the King Philip II ordered its construction. There is a statue of him in the castle; the only one in Aragón.
What kinds of weapons did they have? From 40 lb to 5lb cannons, and the pikes and arquebuses on display in the armoury.

Garden birds

Last night the temperature was -7ºC, possibly colder. The ground is hard and there's a sprinkling of snow. We put some stale bread out on Monday, and now, on Friday, the birds are finally eating it! I suppose they are desperate for food. The red berries on the holly bush have finally disappeared (eaten by birds). I've seen our usual robin, blackbirds male and female, and some sparrows. It was beginning to look like spring, and now it's gone all wintry again. Today it's bright and clear, and I think the wind has dropped.
The other bird I saw this morning was what the Spanish call a "washerwoman"; a grey wagtail bobbing about in the front garden.

Tuesday 9 February 2010

Royal visit

Today the prince and princess of Asturias visited Jaca Cathedral. Apparently you could see it all on the television, but I was busy. I walked down into town past two big white helicopters in the Military Mountain School, guarded by armed soldiers, to the town centre where television crews almost outnumbered the police. At the entrance to the cathedral about a hundred chilly people watched and waited. Councillors and bodyguards (with those wiggly earpieces) walked in and out. We got colder and colder. Eventually the royal couple came out. You could see the prince because he's so much taller than almost everybody, but not the princess. They apparently shook hands greeted people; not that I saw that, I was too far back.
The bishop and others dressed in purply ecclesiastical things came out, but I don't think anyone was bothered about them (we've seen them before).

Sunday 7 February 2010

Weekend

We haven't managed to do much skiing this year. At first it was the lack of snow, but now it's lack of time; our weekends get booked up. The one which is finishing we really had  to spend in Zaragoza, because of family and church commitments. It's fun to spend a few hours shopping - mostly just exploring and poking about, and it's nice to sit at a big table and share tapas and beer and lament the state of the economy with the sisters and brothers-in-law: really good "paratas bravas" (fried potatoes with mayonnaise and Tabasco). It makes a change to go for long walks along really crowded, busy streets, but it's also lovely to find that, driving back, most of the cars are going the other way! The city's hoardes of skiers are going home. It does tcrowded in Jaca at the weekends in the skiing season, but it's still more comfortable to be here than in Zaragoza.
Tuesday is a big day in Jaca. The prince and princess of Asturias are coming to reinaugurate the Diocesan Museum. It's been closed for years, but now for this "Jacobean" year, they've made a special effort.

Wednesday 27 January 2010

Le Somport

We finally made it to the cross-country ski resort of Le Somport- just over the border in France- on Saturday morning. There wasn't much snow over the Christmas holidays so we didn't go then, but after waiting so long it was now or never! We put the ski racks on top of the car and loaded up. Arriving early enough to park easily and move about was good. It meant we could get out onto the farther slopes without tripping over skiers even clumsier than us. Cross-country skiing is hard work, and very rewarding!