Cartagena

by Robert Bovington

Cartagena is old. It already had an illustrious past when the Roman general, Scipio, renamed it Carthago Nova - New Carthage - in 209 BC.

The city is an important port and naval base but its glory days were in the past - a bit like Portsmouth and Chatham really! So when I visited Cartagena recently, I was expecting to see decrepit, run-down areas with old dreary houses. I was pleasantly surprised! What I encountered was a bright airy city with pedestrianised boulevards and decorative buildings. One road in particular - Calle Major - is particularly attractive with shops, eating places and 19th-century mansions with colourful façades such as Cervantes House and Llagostera House both in Modernist style. The Grand Hotel is another building in this road that has modernist influences and a spectacular dome caps its circular façade.

Cartagena_Gran Hotel

There are attractive and historical buildings throughout the city as well as museums - many of a naval and military nature. There are also a number of archaeological sites including Carthaginian and Roman ruins.

Ayuntamiento

At one end of Calle Major is another extremely photogenic area - the Plaza de Ayuntamiento where the City Hall building is located. Nearby are attractive gardens that lead to the Paseo de Alfonso XII, which overlooks the marina. It is a pleasant place to sit with a glass of beer. The Peral Submarine is located on this promenade. 

According to local tourist information Isaac Peral, invented the submarine in 1889. Whilst Senor Peral undoubtedly designed the fine specimen of a U-boat that is on display, the locals are wrong to allege that he invented the submarine - a Dutchman, Cornelis Drebbel, built the first one in 1620! Submarines were also used during the American Civil War (1861-65). 

Cartagena - modernista building in Calle Mayor 

***text from SPANISH IMPRESSIONS

ISBN: 1445225433 ISBN-13: 9781445225432 ***



Robert Bovington

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Spanish Matters de Robert Bovington (Tapa blanda - 3 noviembre 2009)

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Spanish Impressions de Robert Bovington (Tapa blanda - noviembre 2009)

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SPANISH VISIONS de Robert Bovington (Tapa blanda - 20 junio 2010)

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The Indalo Man (symbol of Almería)

Go into any gift or souvenir shop in the city of Almería or the tourist resorts of Roquetas de Mar and Mojácar and you will find key rings, thimbles, teaspoons and even jewellery - all bearing the Indalo symbol. Furthermore, on the road to Almería airport a giant statue of the Indalo stands prominently on a roundabout towering over the 'Welcome to Almería' sign.
So what is so special about this stick figure man that the Almeriense, the people of Almería, call the Indalo? Well, in 1868, cave paintings were discovered in a cave in the north of the province of Almería. These paintings were about 6,000 years old and one of them, a man with his arms held out to his sides and holding a rainbow above his head, has come to be the symbol of Almería.
The Indalo allegedly brings good luck, health and love to those who own one. It is customary in this region of Spain to paint the Indalo symbol on the front of houses and businesses to protect them from evil. The interesting thing to note, however, is that this practice of warding off evil spirits by having the Indalo symbol above the door has been going on for centuries, so the locals must have known about the symbol before the cave discovery. In olden days fishermen used to pin the symbol on their doors before going out to sea as a protection against storms and as a guarantee of obtaining a good catches. Perhaps they still do!
The cave in question, la Cueva de los Letreros, was declared a National Monument in 1924. It is situated near the town of Vélez Blanco.

Guadix (a town of troglodytes)

by Robert Bovington

Guadix is a town in the province of Granada that occupies part of an elevated plateau among the northern foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

Guadix Cathedral

When I visited the town I thought it a rather quirky sort of place. I had driven there from Almería and as I approached the town it appeared to be set amidst a lunar landscape. The town centre is conventional enough. The Cathedral with its Baroque tower looked impressive from the outside but inside I felt that it was rather dark and gloomy. It stands in the Plaza de Constitución and this area of the town, the Barrio de Santiago, has many fine buildings.

There are two other districts in Guadix - the Barrio de Santa Ana and the Barrio de la Cuevas. The Barrio de Santa Ana is the old Moorish quarter that consists of a network of narrow alleyways with whitewashed house, decked out with floral arrangements. However, the most famous feature of the town is the cave dwellings in the Barrio de la Cuevas where around half the population live. When I visited the area, I thought that I was in a scene from 'The Lord of the Rings'! It was just like 'The Shire' - with little white chimneys poking out of the ground! The caves are not primitive dwellings, however but are a solution to the fierce heat of the Andalucian summer. The interior of the cave houses are cool in summer and warm in winter and have all the necessities of modern living - it is quite strange seeing television aerials on the little hillocks!

Guadix cave house

Just outside of Guadix is Purullena where there are more cave dwellings including a complete street of them with shop frontages - all these shops sell pottery.

Castillo de la Calahorra

A few miles away, is the town of La Calahorra with its magnificent castle, the Castillo-Palacio de La Calahorra, built on a hill overlooking the town. It lies at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. Driving from the Alpujarras to Guadix via the Puerto de Ragua pass, the only road to traverse the north and south faces of the Sierra Nevada mountain range is a spectacular journey.

Yegen (a village in the Alpujarras)

Yegen is a little village in the Alpujarra of Granada situated between the villages of Válor and Mecina Bombarón. Like other pueblos blancos in this region, Yegen is situated amidst spectacular scenery lying as it does on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada.

The Alto de San Juan lies to the north of the village. It is one of the lesser peaks of the Sierra Nevada National Park but it is still pretty high with an altitude of 9,000 feet. Yegen, itself, is 4000 feet above sea level and to the south, below the village, are the valleys of Cadíar and Ugíjar. Opposite is the Sierra de la Contraviesa, which can provide tantalising glimpses of the Mediterranean beyond to travellers who view it from the appropriate location.

In the immediate vicinity of the village are forests of chestnut above the village and further up poplar. Below the village are groves of orange and olive.

Yegen is not as picturesque as villages like Pampaniera and Capileira - nor as large as Órgiva and Ugíjar. However, it is worthy of mention because it was the setting for 'South from Granada' by the celebrated English author Gerald Brenan. He lived in Yegen between 1920 and 1930. A number of famous friends visited him there including Virginia Woolf.

Gerald Brenan

Brenan was one of the foremost English chroniclers of Spain and its people. He wrote 'The Spanish Labyrinth' and 'The Face of Spain' but it was 'South from Granada' for which he is most famous. It was his autobiography of his time in Yegen.

There is a plaque over the door of the house where the author lived and one of the streets in the village is named after him. There is even a 'Sendero de Gerald Brenan' footpath - it is one of a number of walking routes in the vicinity of Yegen. The long distance GR7 passes nearby. It is part of the International E-4 footpath that runs all the way from Tarifa to Greece. So even without Gerald Brenan, Yegen can lay claim to being well and truly on the map!