So long Picasso

He's had his chance, more than one actually. We've looked at his work in London, Paris, New York, Madrid and now his birthplace Malaga, and that's enough, we don't get him. So Sheelagh has declared that she has had enough of the guy for the rest of her life. Even if a travelling Picasso show is on in the High River Library, we won't go. He's done. His museum was free today, that's why we went, and that was the last straw.
We went to the St. George's English Church in Malaga today and enjoyed the service and communion. It is set in a beautiful little cemetary swathed in trees and flowers. There was a sweet little girl being baptised and she had a fair following on hand snapping pictures. It was a bit to chaotic for the minister but they were enjoying themselves. We took communion and said farewell to the folk, and headed back to the sea front for lunch. This was the first time I had been within toetouching distance with the Mediterranian, so I did.
There are some wonderful parks with exotic plants and trees along the front in Malaga. We had a walk through and stopped to watch the children in a very civilized playground, note the coffee shop in the middle. Sunday is a family day here and the streets are jammed with strollers and little bikes as the parents and grandparents walk with the little ones. It's really quite moving to see the displays of patience and affection between generations.
We then did the Picasso thing before finding a sunny plazza to sit and have coffee and a sweet crepe. A long stroll took us back through the tourist area and back to the bus home. It was a good day.

We agree with Washington Irving

I hate the word awesome. I think it has been demeaned by adolescent overuse by people of all ages. I hated that overuse even more yesterday as we explored the Alhambra in Granada. This was a place that was truly awesome, and the accurate adjective had been stolen by nailcolours and sparkly cellphones.
We began our day quite early, which worked our well since we had extra time to go and find churros and molten chocolate. It was awesome. Hah! The bus ride to Granada took about 1 1/2 hours through pretty countryside, rough and rolling. It was easy to find our way across this city of maybe 600 000. We got off at the Cathedral and began our trudge along the edge of the Moorish section toward the Alhambra. The climb was quite steep and we quickly appreciated those churros and chocolate which helped power us to the top where we found the ticket office and entered an old and fabulous world.
The Alhambra, or the red fort, began life as a Ziridian fortress from the 800's. It was a rough and derelect settlement until the 1300's when it was converted into a palace for the Nasrid dynasty. In just over 100 years it was taken from the Moors by the Catholic kings, aka Ferdinand, and his wife Isabella. It was here that the charter was drawn up which sent Christopher Columbus to the new world. The Catholics held on to the Alhambra until it became property of the country of Spain.
There are 4 distinct parts. There is a military area where military stuff happened, the palace, where the royals lived, the Medina where the merchants lived and worked and the area called the area of general life where food was produced and the farming community lived. Each part was very sophisticated with running water used for cooling, sewage systems and to beautify the grounds. For the most part the Medina and the military area are now foundations which have been unearthed. The palace however is truly awesome. We have read what we can find and it is unbelievable how quickly this was built considering how ornate and huge it is. I hope that the pictures give you some idea of its grandeur.
Washington Irving, an American writer, artist, philosopher and diplomat came to Spain in the late 1820's and was given rooms in the Alhambra by the Governor. He stayed for about 3 months writing and thinking. His book, TALES FROM THE ALHAMBRA, made the area world famous. He is featured in a detailed display on the site and it is clear that he loved this place and considered it special. We agree.
We walked until we couldn't any more, and we still didn't get to everything. We had had no lunch until we got back down the hill. We were glad that our daughter in law wasn't there. She's tiny, but she gets really grumpy in those circumstances. After a lunch of which my sons would have approved. We strolled through the Arab marketplace and made our way back to the bus. Our day was wonderful and memorable for so many reasons.

Meet the one-armed lady.

We decided to see Malaga. We have been here now for over a week so it's time. Thus we met the One-armed Lady. The story goes, it seems, during the US war for independence, Malaga had erected one tower on their Cathedral. Seeing an opportunity deal a blow to Britain, they took the funds for the second tower and sent it to the US to help in the fight. By the time that the US repaid the loan the Cathedral with one tower had become a tourist attraction and they chose not to spoil things and they left the church as is. She is fondly referred to as, "The One-armed Lady".
Yesterday we got our chores out of the way and took the bus to town. Buses here cost 1.10 euros. Spain has, without exception, provided cheap, clean well run bus services.
We spent our time seeing the Cathedral, built between 1528 and 1782, the ancient Roman amphitheatre, discovered in 1951. Malaga has been a city for almost 3000 years. We saw Picasso's birthplace and the city at large. It's a charming place, not as touristy as we had imagined it to be. There are wonderful hedges of geraniums coming into flower. We stopped in to see the huge silver and gold, "floats" I called them. They are carried by 240 men each in the Holy Week parade. The silver one has a statue of Mary and the gold one has a Jesus statue. As the sun was setting, we caught the bus back to our digs. It was a fine day.

Hot water tanks 2 G&S 0

Yesterday started, as many do for me, with an early morning bathroom visit. When I came back I asked Sheelagh if she'd spilled water on the floor and she said no, so I mopped it up. Later when she went, the puddle had returned. After some investigation we learned that the hot water tank had sprung a leak and was dripping all over the floor. So, that's the second tank that has struck us since we left home. As a result of the tank, we have been moved to another residence on the compound so we had to move all of our stuff last night. This is another very nice place and we will be more than comfortable here.
Yesterday Dan and Gayle very kindly offered to take us on a visit to Ronda, an ancient city to the west and somewhat inland from Malaga. After the incident of the water tank had been sorted out, we set off in our friends' car in glorious sunshine. The drive took us through beautiful rolling countryside carpeted with olive trees and other crops. The hills are quite dramatic for Alberta folk. The trees and crops rose up the sides of some quite steep inclines, and the country is dotted with very quaint farm buildings.
After about an hour on the road we rolled into Ronda. This is very much a working city with several charming plazas where a chap might spend a happy sundrenched morning sipping his coffee. We took a pathway from the area surrounding the Bullring, past the breathtaking panourama lookout and on to the bridges that dominate the city. The new bridge, built in the latter half of the 1700's, is the largest and spans the river forming the main street joining new and old towns. The bridge built by the Romans looks out at the Arab bridge. A series of tunnels provided an escape route for the powers that were. Two walkways commemorate the part time residents Orson Welles and Ernest Hemmingway, both who enjoyed the drama of the Ronda bullring and drew inspiration from the town. It seems that people were thrown from the cliffs during The Civil War 1936-39 to save on bullets.
We climbed the hill back through a scenic series of sitting areas to re enter the new town to find a restaurant and enjoy lunch.
Dan and Gayle then took us home through the mountains leading to the Costa Del Sol and the Mediterranian. This is the first time I've seen the Med. The coast is a steady row of condos and shopping. We got home and moved into our new digs. Dan and Gayle gave us a fine day and we thank them.

The Grounds.

Today the sun shone. This has raised our spirits and taken us outside to enjoy what we had expected all along. We took a little walk around the grounds and took some pictures of the centre and did some work. It felt great.
Sheelagh worked in the kitchen of the meeting centre sorting bedding and doing some general cleaning. Gayle, has been a warm friendly lady with whom Sheelagh has formed a good working and social relationship. They work away together very easily.
I have taken the gate as a repair project and finished that off today. The concrete facing had some holes to repair and then to repaint and that is done.
The centre produces Christian materials for the North African community wherever they happen to be in the world. They produce music videos and spoken word videos in the Arabic language, that are carried by TV stations in Africa, Europe, Australia/New Zealand and North America. They also put out printed material to anyone who responds to the videos or to churches around the world. People who respond are directed to local churches in their community.
The majority of the people here are U.S. citizens with a couple of Brits and a Canadian and of course some North African workers. They are a dedicated group who work happily together using all of the latest computer gadgets.

Our place

I guess we will do this in small steps. The Centre, or Center I suppose, is a largish compound. We will go into as much detail as we can, but we will start with our apartment. It's on the top of a 2 story building. We walk up a set of steps on the outside of the building and in through the side. We enter a long room that runs almost the length of the building and contain the dining table, a desk where I sit now, a drying rack and a sitting area with two couches and a tv/vcr/dvd player.
At the top end of this room, to the left as we enter the door, is a well equipped kitchen. The fridge was stocked with lunch and breakfast things when we arrived. Through an archway straight ahead when you come in to the flat is what Shush refers to as a Spanish bathroom as it is all in blue and white tiles. There is a tub with shower that works very well, sink WC. To the left from the bathroom is a large bedroom which we are using, and the other way is an even larger bedroom with three beds in it. We keep it closed so that we don't have to heat it. Speaking of heat, it has been borderline cold since we arrived, with rain, rain and more rain so our 3 portable heaters have been working overtime.
I will take pictures of the compound and send those along next.

Rain drenched Malaga.

We had a very posh hotel when we came here from Cordoba on the train. It was a great weekend rate. We had not been accustomed to such frills, and it was grand. Since Sunday morning we have been cold or wet or both. Dan and Gayle picked us up and took us to a Spanish church service and then to the centre for a chicken and potatoe lunch and then to our new digs. They are very nice too. Our welcome has been warm and generous. We've been out to lunch twice, and over to watch Larkrise to Candleford on Brit TV.
We haven't been out to see Malaga yet. It appears to be a much larger city than we expected. It is not the touristy place full of Brits and Germans that I thought it would be, at least not around here.
Sorry for the lack of pictures but we haven't taken any for the last few days. I'll try to do better.

Cold days and hot nights.

Our one day in Cordoba turned out to be a cold one, but the night was hot. We had spent most of the day trying to stay warm, so I fully expected our night of Flamenco to be cold as well. We went out in the rain at about 10:20 pm, rarely heard of in our house, and took the very short walk to the ancient hall where the little man who hawked the tickets welcomed us with open arms. We were ushered to table 11, "A wery good seat, a wery good seat." At 10:30 sharp the lights went low and a short stocky man with a guitar took the stage and began to play easily recognizable Spanish music. Soon a very large man came on in near darkness and began to wail along . He had very strong lungs. Then another singer joined in and the lights came up on a pair of the dancers. From then on a steady flow of clacking castinettes, clapping hands, stomping feet, strumming guitars and wailling voices filled the air. The show lasted almost 2 hours, it was very professional and they did not try to sell drinks every 15 minutes. It was an experience that we agreed was wonderful. The people, the setting, both perfect. A hot night after a cold day.