The Watery Times: October 2014

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Cadiz, Spain - Lighthouse

October 25, 2014

The Cadiz lighthouse is built within the San Sebastián Castle on the La Caleta islet. According to legend, La Caleta was the home to the Temple of Kronos. By Greek mythology, he was the youngest of the Titans, god of time and the ages, and father to Zeus. The spelling of his name can also be Chronos - hence the word chronology meaning "arrangement of events or dates in the order of their occurrence". La Caleta is a natural harbor that was used by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans. The city has always had walled fortifications that were sufficient to repel raids all the way through the Barbary Corsair raids in the 16th century. The most determined enemy that Cadiz faced was the English beginning in 1587 by Sir Francis Drake. The English did a pretty good number on the city and the attack of 1586 left the city in ruins. New fortifications were built around the entire city after this attack. The castle seen today was built beginning in 1706. In the late 1800s, the island was joined to the mainland by a kilometer-long jetty. The lighthouse was installed in 1908 and is built on the base of a Moorish watchtower. Before the metal lighthouse was built, there was a 39 meter stone tower. That stone tower was demolished in 1855 fearing that the lighthouse would guide the US ships during the Spanish-American War. The US never did make any attacks on the Spanish mainland. The present lighthouse is 41 meters tall and was Spain's second electric lighthouse at the time of its construction. It serves now as the landfall light for Cádiz.

Public market.

This fort was the background for the conversation in James Bond 'Die Another Day' - it was set as Cuba in the storyline.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, Spain - Grazalema

October 18, 2014

The Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park covers 127,740 acres and was declared a biosphere reserve in 1977. Many of the mountain white villages are in this area and we have driven through many times. Damon went on a hike in this park last year in November with MWR. Most notably it is a landscape covered with soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum called Karst topography. These rocks yield many underground drainage systems including sinkholes, dolines, and caves.This park is home to many species of vultures. This includes the Egyptian vulture which is a seriously threatened species. Vultures are scavengers that in this park feed on the Spanish ibex, the Grazalema merino sheep, the payoya goat and the Cadiz Iberian blonde pig. There are also several bird and bat species. There is also a dragonfly Macronia splendins that I'm pretty sure is here in Rota too because about a million dragonflies are up on our roof perched on the clothes lines. The primary tree is the Spanish Fir that has been around since the tertiary period. The dense forest also includes the Quercus faginea oak.

Not a bad place for Owen to picnic.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Malaga, Spain

October 10-12, 2014

Another successful road trip with Owen. We visited the Picasso museum, the cathedral, the Alcazaba, Roman ruins, the bull ring, and the Revello de Toro museum. The city's history spans Phoenician, Roman, Arabic, and Christian eras. Remains from each era are still visible. The Phoenician ruins are in the basement of the Picasso museum, the 1st century Roman amphitheater rediscovered in 1951 is outside the Alcazaba and in between the two is the cathedral. Picasso was born in Malaga, but spent most of his adult life in France. I don't consider myself any sort of art expert, so analyzing Picasso's work I find rather annoying. I did enjoy the museum and that we had an audio guide to explain all the pieces. Our next stop was the cathedral which is built on the foundations of another cathedral then turned mosque. It is a Renaissance style cathedral built between 1528 and 1782. It is most notable in that it only has one tower completed with the second half-finished. It is comically referred to as "La Manquita", meaning in English, "The One-Armed Lady". The second tower is unfinished because the funds needed were given to the soon-to-be United States during the Revolutionary War. Next on our visit was the Alcazaba built in the early 11th century during the Hammudid dynasty. This is the best preserved Alcazaba fortification in Spain. It is less famous than the Alhambra in Granada, but I found it more interesting to walk around because of it being smaller and it was more like we were exploring it new than with a million other tourists. Next we went to the Museo Revello de Toro where his beautiful portraits were displayed. Revello is also from Malaga. The museum is in the home of Pedro de Mena who was a religious sculptor in the 17th century. His works can be found in the cathedrals in Madrid, Marchena, Seville, and even as far as Mexico and Lima. He was born and trained in Granada representing the Baroque style of sculpture.