Is Spain racist?

So today stayed in gava, gava, gava, where the airbnb is. I honestly could just stay here everyday and be happy. The sea keeps me happy. Besides you could really see the mountains clearly today. It's been pretty hazy.

Every morning there are clouds and sun. Maybe that's the way it is where you are so close to the sea. Maybe the water and air temp are close. I don't know. The last few days have been hazy and humid. Pretty sticky. It's weird , it doesn't get out of the 70's but feel hot in the sun. 

So I decided to take a walk down the boardwalk by the beach a couple miles. Lots more people on a Saturday naturally. There are restaurants and bars along the way. lot a wine drinking going on. 

I come to a place where there are purses, sports jerseys, sneakers, belts laid out on big cloths. The stuff has the brand name on them but they are obviously knockoffs. 

This goes on for couple of blocks. They are all being sold by black men. Here in Spain you see a lot of black people selling stuff. At the beach they sell beach cloths and sunglasses. On the street they sell bracelets. They sold spain flags at the national day of spain. It's always black men.

There are a lot more black people (African) people in Barcelona than there were in Valencia or Madrid. That's not saying much because those cities had next to none. This in a country that is 9 miles from Africa. Spain has remarkably view black people.

1.3 million people in Spain are African. Spain has 47 million people.  So that's about 2 percent. Spain has a lot of immigrants from South America. So it considers itself diverse because of that. Few from Africa. It's obvious they aren't wanted.

Spain and the EU pay and give favorable treatment to Morocco to keep African migrants from coming here. A lot of people would say: "Can you blame them? They are poor and will become dependent. They don't speak the language."

Latin American immigrants share the language but they are also coming for economic reasons. The difference is they are wanted here, encouraged to come here, for unskilled labor jobs. It is easier for them to get citizenship. 

Racism? You decide.

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October 22, 2022 at 06:15PM

Sagrada Familia boggles the mind

Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia is unlike any church I have seen and I've seen a lot on this trip. It's like a church out of a fantasy. It looks like something you would see in a Harry Potter book. It's like it's melting. 

I mean who designs a church like this? Someone like Gaudi does. His architectural style was Catalonia Modernism. It favors the curve over the straight line, rich decoration and detail. It uses vegetation in its design. Things are not necessarily symmetrical. Ceramics are sometimes used. In other words it is DIFFERENT. 

The basilica was built to honor the holy family:Jesus, Mary and Joseph. It has 3 facades called the nativity, the passion and the glory. Depending on where you are standing outside determines which facade you see. 

The nativity depicts the birth and childhood of Jesus. It is divided into 3 portals representing faith, hope and charity. (These 3values are part of all the facades) It has statues depicting the nativity. It has flowers, vegetation, animals, birds. The four   towers are part of this facade and they represent four of the apostles.

The passion facade is completely different and is meant to look like bones, to look more austere. It depicts the death and resurrection. There are 3 levels to this facade and scenes within each depict events at the time of Jesus death. There are another 4 towers representing four more apostles. 

The Glory facade was only started in 2002. It will represent the glory of Jesus. Four more towers for 4 more apostles. This one will have 20 flash lights that will shine on clouds incorporated into the towers and the clouds will surround an image of God. He wanted this to be visible from the sea.

The glory facade will be completed in 2026, 100 years after Gaudis death. He knew the church would not be completed before his death. 

This church's exterior is incredibly complex. I can only imagine what the interior is like There is truly nothing like it in the world.

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October 21, 2022 at 08:35PM

Barcelona wants out of Spain

One thing you will notice wandering the streets of Barcelona are the Catalunya (Catalonia) flags. They are draped from balconies, high on flag poles. Catalans are a proud people and the majority want independence from Spain. 

Catalunya is an autonomous community in Spain based on nationality, meaning it has a historic cultural identity. They have self government but send representatives to the national legislature. They can have their own laws, but are also subject to national laws. They pretty much control all aspects of their community. They pay taxes to the national government.

The independence movement started in 1922 with the formation of a political party advocating independence. They proclaimed a catalonia republic in 1931 and had autonomy. Franco abolished that in 1938 and catalan activists for independence were jailed.

After Franco died and Spain became a "democracy", Catalan leaders concentrated on autonomy rather than independence.

After Spains financial crisis in 2007-2008 and a political party's challenge to the autonomy statue (parts were declared unconstitutional), referendums were held on independence.

In 2014 a large majority voted for independence. There was a boycott of the referendum by pro unity parties so only half of voters turned out.  By this time the pro-independence parties controlled the Catalan legislature.

In 2017, a new referendum caused controversy nationally but the Catalan legislature passed a motion to declare independence .At the same time the Spanish legislature voted to take control of the region until elections could be held. Government leaders were arrested, some fled the country. They were put in prison. They were pardoned in 2021.

As of now, it's a holding pattern. There are ongoing negotiations which anger those who are adamant for independence. I don't think Spain will ever allow independence, Catalunya generates too much money for the country.

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October 20, 2022 at 07:32PM
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October 20, 2022 at 07:32PM

the deserted beach of Gava Barcelona

A foggy day in Barcelona. We will be in Barcelona for 2 weeks so not frantically rushing to see everything. Today we stayed in Gava where the airbnb is. It is cool around here just on its own. 

Beautiful Aleppo Pines line the streets. We walked down to where you can get a good view of the mountains. The range is the Montserrat mountains. They are beautiful and you can get a view of the details of the mountains about a half mile from here.  

Back to the beach this evening. How can we resist a beach that is 4-5 blocks away and has beautiful sunsets? We can't. Gava beach is 2.3 miles long. It gets 2 millions visitors a year There are lots of bars along the beach. The scene must be very different in the summer. . 

There are very few people on the beach now in the part we are near. Especially today. It is hazy and cloudy, a little chilly.There are fisherman here with very tall poles.

I've never seen ocean fishing so it's interesting. These guys come with a zip case with parts of the fishing pole. It's starts wit a stand that goes down into the sand. The fishing pole goes on that once it has been cast. It's a very tall fishing pole. It takes a lot of effort to cast it. I wonder if they catch fish? Didn't see that.

They arrive at dusk which is the best time to catch fish I guess. 

What a great place for people to live: nice neighborhood, the sea blocks away. Beautiful mountain view's. Doesn't get much better.

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October 19, 2022 at 08:

The drunk lady on the bus singing Spanish songs

Today we went back to Barcelona. M much better. So on the bus we go back to Plaça de Catyluna. From there we decide to walk to Sagrada Familia basilica, one of the most famous places in Barcelona.  But first...

We head down some long, narrow interesting alleys with interesting shops, art. We stop at one place with art, jewelry. I bought a couple postcards. There was an open interesting looking area in back of the cash register. I asked him if it was his house. It wasn't. He told me how he bought the space before covid and somehow made it through but was still struggling. 

The Sagrada Familia is unlike any church you've ever seen. It is unique looking to say the least. It is a combination of gothic and art nouveau architecture. After looking into it online (as I do), you cant take it at face value. It's very complicated on the exterior alone. It has 3 facades called the nativity, the passion and the glory. They depict the life of Jesus, the apostles, the saints and lots of other things. Elements of nature and ceramics are mixed in.

It was started in the 1800's and the artist, Gaudi, knew he wouldn't finish it, so he left detailed plans to do so. Work still continues and is scheduled to be done in 2026, 100 years after his death. 

I sat down to rest my weary bones and met a couple from Canada who have travelled extensively and were friendly and interesting.

Back on the metro to head toward home. There was a man on the train. playing the saxophone. When he was done, people clapped and gave him money.  I remember being on the NYC subway with these guys who would dance, sing and everybody ignored them. 

On to the bus only to be entertained by a drunk woman singing Spanish songs, sometimes with rhythmic accompaniment. Made bus ride go faster.

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October 18, 2022 at 08:37PM

hello Barcelona, goodbye Barcelona

So today we went to Barcelona and had to come right back because M didn't feel good. 

We got off the bus at Plaça de Catalunya which separates the old town from the newer part of the city. The plaza  has a fountain and a big plaza with benches around it. There must have been 599 pigeons in the plaza. They were so used to people they would sit on peoples shoulder, eat out of their hand. Cute but I don't think so and I actually like pigeons. 

M and I were walking back from the store this evening and he said: "Can you believe we are walking through a neighborhood in Barcelona Spain? Every once and a while it will hit us where we are and how unreal it sometimes seems. 

It is really cool staying in the neighborhoods where the locals live. People are going about their lives like we would back home. We shop with them, take the bus with them. Ask them questions often. When we do they say they don't speak english but usually can a little. They seem so happy to help us. So kind. 

The best part of the day has been going to the beach a couple hours before sunset and sitting by the water. Watching and listening to the waves roll in. It is so relaxing and peaceful. The sun goes down near the mountains. When it is going down the light reflects on the water and I wish I could capture how beautiful it 

I won't miss a night of watching the sun set.

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October 17, 2022 at 07:45PM

Gava, Barcelona is perfect

Is Gava, Barcelona the perfect place? It comes close.

We are staying in a very nice neighborhood with lots of apartments, some homes. The homes looks expensive. Everything is behind a gate here. Break ins are a problem in Spain and can be violent. 

The neighborhood has these tree lined streets. I think they are called Aleppo pines.  The beach is literally about 4 blocks away. It is a very clean sandy beachfront. Not crowded. There are people surfing paddle boarding, fishing. Lots of restaurants and bars. 

Today I walked to the business district. Along the way the mountains that seemed far away, were closer. Beautiful tree lined mountains were visible in more detail. 

Along the way there was a canal that was being used for recreational sports like boating.  They had this set up with a cable that was oval in shape and long. In the middle were ski jumps. You could grab on with water skis on and go up the ramps and jump holding on to the cable. Hard to describe but very unique. 

The business districts has all kinds of stores, restaurants, movie theatre. Very nice. Nice big grocery store in the mall. Took a bus back to the airbnb. The bus stops right in front of where we are staying.

Went dow to the beach to watch the sunset. Probably do that every night.

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October 16, 2022 at 08:09PM