Spain – Page 5 – Chasing Butterflies

Travel Theme: Red

So this is a week of firsts for me; I took on the weekly photo challenge, I visited Cartagena and now I´m going to give Ailsa´s travel theme a go. This week, if you hadn´t guessed from the title, the theme is red! A perfect travel theme for Spain! So come with me as I show off Spain at its best, lets paint the country red!

Red theme one: Love.

One thing has to be said about Spanish people; they really do love their country, and who can blame them really? What´s not to love?

The only thing that they love as much as their country, if not more, is football. So you can only imagine what happens when you combine the two in lets say an event like, o I don´t know, something small like…the world cup for instance. Now that´s when you see their love for both at its finest, there is so much love it´s contagious! The following images were taken in “Las Tendillas” in Córdoba just after Spain’s world cup win! The atmosphere was just electric. I feel that these images capture their pride, their joy and their love for their country perfectly.

Spain; world cup win! — There was honestly no better place to be than Spain when they won the world cup, the Spanish really do know how to celebrate a victory!

Red Theme two: Passion.

Another thing the Spanish are famous for is their passion. Whether it´s the latin blood pumping through their veins that causes it or not I don´t know but to me, as long as it´s not over powering, passion is a great quality to have.

One of the best demonstrations of their passion is through the world of Flamenco. Flamenco is an emotionally intense style of Spanish guitar music which is always accompanied by either dancers or singers. They say that Flamenco means “to have the quality of fire”, in my eyes, there is not a better explanation of passion than this!

The following photos, taken at a show near Quesada, capture the emotional intensity and the passion of this dance.

Spanish Dance — An emotionally intense preformance in Quesada

The next photo was taken in Córdoba in July 2011 at the launch of the guitar festival.

Theme red 3 — The launch of the guitar festival in Córdoba 2011.

Red theme: Powerful.

Imagery, religion and love for thyself and thy neighbour are all important parts of the Spanish culture, here is a festival that incorporates all these elements into one celebration:

Las Cruces, or Crosses, is a popular competition of crosses which is held every year in Córdoba. In this competition each barrio dedicates time and money in order to create these beautifully artistic floral crosses. Each cross is a representation of the pride and spirit in the barrio and are typically surrounded by potted plants and flowers in colours that complement the unique attributes of each zone. The crosses bring the community out in force in order to honour the work that has gone into making these elaborate and colourful crosses while also delighting in the possibility that their cross could earn them the much sought after title of Best Cross! To find out more about this years competition click here and here!

One of the elaborate crosses in this competition!

Theme red 11 — One of the many beautiful crosses on display in Córdoba this year!

Red Theme: Joy:

The last few images I have decided to share with you show the joyful, fun side of the Spanish culture, a side that is often forgotten about or ignored. Spanish people are an amazing group of people filled with love, passion, sensitivity, joy, vigor and romance. Some of the greatest most interesting people I have met are Spanish, so this last part is to share the joy.

Theme red 4 — One of the beautiful sweet stands at one of the many medieval markets held around the country!

Theme red 12 — An unusual party I attended in Alicante where the remains of one of the hogueras was hanging from the ceiling and live bands preformed around it!

Theme red 2 — The last image is to remind you to smile!

To see other bloggers interpretations of the theme check out Ailsa´s blog here.

Have you ever been to Spain? What did you think?

As always, thank you for reading,

Until the next time,

Giana

xoxo

One Day at a Time: Cartagena, Spain.

From a beautiful traditional mountainous village to an attractive cosmopolitan naval city; our next stop on our “One Day At A Time” adventure brought us to Cartagena. Cartegena is a city that seems to have it all. This port city, located in the Murica region, is lucky enough to be bordered by several coastal mountain ranges which means, like in Finestrat, no matter where you stand in this beautiful city you are blessed with the most wonderful backdrop of sea and mountains, fantastic! So you are probably wondering what else does it have to offer besides panoramic views? Well put on your walking shoes, grab some water and come explore the city with P, J and I; Lets go!

Cartagena is a charming, compact little port city with a huge naval history. As you wander through the narrow streets of the old town this fact becomes very apparent. It is a city that is very proud of its naval history, which dates back to the 18th century, and the streets are filled with monuments paying tribute to its heritage. These monuments range from a simple iron statue of a lone sailor on his way home to a grand monument located near the city hall which pays tribute to several important naval figures from the past.

Apart from its huge naval heritage, Cartagena is famed for its Roman influences. Cartagena was an influential city during the roman times with its huge port and major silver mines making it a very profitable city. Today this past is very much alive through its well maintained ruins, its Roman theatre and skeletons of mining machinery that are dotted around the city and surrounding villages, they are a main focal point in the area. Clearly, Cartagena is a city that is proud of its roots.

Another interesting fact about Cartagena is that it was a walled city up until the 20th century. Today these walls are a prime feature of the old town adding character and a sense of history to the area. It certainly is a city that has been influenced by several eras in history, each leaving their own stamp on the area making it truly unique.

Today Cartagena is still an important city. Holding on to its naval roots, it is home to an important naval shipyard. It´s also a major cruiser destination making the area highly touristic. There are several noteworthy churches, museums and archaeological sites which cater to the needs of these visitors. Our visit to Cartagena was a flying one, and when I say flying I really mean flying; Ps wheelchair decided that it didn´t want to go in its usual straight direction instead opting for the more enjoyable out of control, into the wall route which made the journey all the more difficult, poor P as if getting around wasn´t hard enough without having a wheelchair with a mind of its own to add to it! Don´t worry, the wheelchair went back this morning and was replaced with a shiny new one so hopefully this won´t happen again! Anyway, my point; seeing as this was a flying visit, in more ways than one, we didn´t get to explore the museums and the archaeological sites, sadly, so I can´t give you any insight into them, but based on the history of the area I would imagine they are well worth a visit!

So, all in all, it was another great trip. However, which is probably a little obvious from my lack of anecdotes in this piece, while Cartagena is an amazing city with lots of monuments, unusual buildings and beautiful scenery, there was something about it that left me a little underwhelmed and I´m not sure why. Maybe it was because I had heard so many great things about the city, maybe it was our limited time there or maybe it was our difficulty with the wheelchair but whatever it was, Cartagena didn´t capture our hearts. It puzzles me really as it has so much to offer, and I would go back again, but it just didn´t leave me with the feeling I want to stay here forever!

All that´s left for me to do now is show you the slideshow. So sit back and relax, while Cartagena didn´t capture my heart it most certainly is a beautiful city, it´s definetly worth checking out the slideshow! Enjoy!

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Have you ever been to Cartagena? What did you think?

As always, thank you for reading,

Until the next time,

Giana

xoxo

Weekly photo Challenge: Near and Far.

I have to say I´ve really stretched the most I could out of this weeks photo challenge but to be honest, I couldn´t help it! It was such a good title that I couldn´t resist. You´ll be happy to know that this will be my last post on the challenge, is that a huge sigh of relief I´m hearing? Thank you for your support for the last three posts I featured and I hope that you enjoy this one just as much!

Today my family and I were lucky enough to visit Cartagena, a beautiful marine city located in the province of Murica in the South of Spain. It was another trip on our new adventure, One Day at a Time. In anticipation of my post tomorrow I decided to share two images with you that are perfect for the theme near and far. So without future delay, in other words before I start rambling too much and bore you to death, here are the images!

To see what other bloggers have come up with for this weeks challenge click here.

Have you ever been to Cartagena? What did you think?

As always, thank you for reading,

Until the next time,

Giana

xoxo

Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far.

For todays photo challenge I decided to feature the area my family live in: Gran Alacant, Spain. My family is truly blessed in the fact that they live beside a lighthouse. Why you may ask, well there are several reasons really.

Firstly, their view can never be destroyed. Because they live near the lighthouse it means that they live at the top of a very steep hill. No development that is ever built can ruin their inspirational view of the beach, dunes, rugged little village areas and the wildlife park. Now that´s something to smile about!

Secondly, the area is preserved. The area that surrounds the lighthouse is a preserved area, nothing can be built on this area, meaning that it´s beauty will always remain intact.

Thirdly, the area is amazing. Words fail to describe the beauty of this rugged, undeveloped part of Gran Alacant. It´s peacefulness and tranquility is something that´s hard to be beaten. Apart from the odd cyclist and dog walker the area is deserted. It´s the best place to go to switch off from the world, to put things into perspective. I love it there.

And Lastly, you will never have trouble finding your way home! Okay, as you can tell, this one is a joke! But all joking aside, there is something about the glow from the lighthouse that is calming and beautiful. While my family and I would never use it to find our way home, we do use it to find some calm in the storms!

Hope you enjoy the pictures. To me, they really capture the theme near and far, not only through pictures but the lighthouse itself is a great symbol of near and far, it´s purpose is to warn ships far out at sea of what is near!