The Netherlands

After Amsterdam, we used Haarlem as a base from which to attack the rest of Holland's museums. Our hotel here was exceptionally nice, and a real bargain because of the time of year, but quite a long walk from the rail station. So we saw Haarlem after dark when we arrived and walked through again in the dark before dawn the next morning to catch a train to The Hague.

Mary in The Hague with the Binnenhof or parliament building behind her.

We had to kill a little time before the museums opened in The Hague, so we enjoyed the old streets and the exterior architecture of churches, guild halls, and homes. Unfortunately, English tours of the Dutch parliament building were booked well into the afternoon, so we enjoyed only the exterior of the Binnenhof palace. At Mauritshuis, the royal Dutch portrait gallery, we marveled at the work of many of the Dutch Masters, including Vermeer’s famous "Girl with the Pearl Earring."

Town Hall, Delft, 1620.

Returning to the rail station, we journeyed on to Delft, a beautiful little town that has so much more than porcelain factories. We may have liked it better than The Hague simply because it had stopped raining by the time we got there, and because we enjoyed some Dutch pastries for lunch there! In any case, Delft seemed to be more what these two tourists were looking for.

Haarlem Christmas lights match the shape of St. Bavo's tower. 

We visited the City Hall on the Market square, toured Oude Kerk (Old Church -- yes, every town has one by this name, it seems) and Johannes Vermeer's grave, and the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church -- this one, too, constructed around 1400) which included the Dutch royal family's burial vault, including a large monument to William of Orange.

The Oval Room, Teylers Museum, Haarlem

At the Prinsenhof (Princes' Court), now a museum, we saw more Dutch Masters' works, including a large exhibit about Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, an early 17th century painter who turned his studio into something of an assembly line, mass producing portraits of royals and other important people.

It's not just Danes who hang ships in churches! St. Bavo, Haarlem

We returned to Haarlem after dark once again, but finally got to see it in the daylight on Friday, visiting the interesting18th century mish-mash collection at the Teylers Museum (one of the oldest in Europe), the The St. Bavo Church with its famous pipe organ, the Town Hall, the home of Corrie ten Boom and its "hiding place," and the Frans Hals Museum for more Dutch Masters, including some contemporary ones.

Just a small segment of the great organ in St. Bavo. Mozart is said to have played this instrument(?).

After our flight back to England, some unusually lengthy scrutiny of our passports and visas reminded us that we aren't exactly "home" in Nottingham. But for now, where else would "home" be?

Amsterdam

The next segment of our winter break travel itinerary has taken us to The Netherlands (a.k.a. "Holland"). We flew to Amsterdam on a budget flight that allowed only one piece of carry on luggage (checked bags took the "budget" out of the flight cost), so we went back-packing, just like our students are doing.

Our Amsterdam hotel was also on the low cost side, but was very well located, just outside the oldest part of the city, in the Museum District, which was good, because museums were what we came to see. A 24-hour tram pass helped us get around more quickly, as our goal was to get as much out of the limited time as possible.

Dam Square, Amsterdam

Tuesday morning we started out at the Anne Frank house. It was my third time through (Mary's second), but the effect does not wear off. There we purchased our Museum Card, which offers free or reduced admission to dozens of museums around the country, and continued to De Nieuwe Kerk (The New Church -- new is relative, as it was built around 1400), which was hosting a major exhibit on Judaism.

Walking along the canals and old streets, where many buildings date to the 17th century, was a treat in itself as we went on to Oude Kerk (The Old Church, dating from 1306), which unfortunately is in the middle of Amsterdam's infamous Red Light District today. I'm sure the hundreds of pious Dutch Reformed buried beneath this church are spinning in their graves about what has happened to the neighborhood.

Oude Kerk, the interior was probably never as ornate as cathedrals in England or Spain, but the Calvinists stripped their churches bare.

We stopped briefly by the Begijnhof, established in the 14th century as a residence for pious women who lived like nuns, although they took no monastic vows. The Amsterdam Museum helped us learn about the history of the city. We visited Rembrandt's House, and "Our Lord in the Attic," a private home in which a wealthy patron converted two upper floors to a clandestine Catholic church after Catholicism was banned in the Reformation. The church carried on undetected for two centuries!

The church in the attic

We topped off this long day with a visit to the Verzetsmuseum, which told the fascinating story of the Dutch Resistance against the Nazi occupation. I geeked out at the exhibits on clandestine radio equipment.

Radio in a match box

That was day one. We were weary, but not too tired to get up the next day to see the Rijksmuseum. This huge, state museum of the Netherlands would normally take a day all by itself, but since it is under renovation, only its selected treasures were on display, allowing us to zip through relatively quickly. The Van Goth Museum is very close by, so we got through that the same morning.

Mark inserts himself into Rembrandt's famous Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum

A free lunchtime concert was being offered in the smaller recital hall of the famous Concertgebouw concert venue. There was such a crowd we almost didn't get in, but it was wonderful to see and to spend some time off our feet. The music wasn't bad, either. It was 16th century music played by a quartet of period blokfluiten (in English, we call them recorders).

In the afternoon we toured two very small museums, Willet-Holthuysen and Van Loon, that show off the old canal houses of wealthy Amsterdam merchants at various periods of history. We capped it all off with a visit to the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, which is neither royal nor a palace, in the strictest sense, but more the ceremonial city hall. It was already after dark when we caught our train to Haarlem.

España

We've been traveling. We didn't have good internet, so there are several posts here all at once from what I wrote along the way. Sorry. To read from the beginning, skip down to the post titled Toremolinos, then keep reading the posts in sequence back up to the top.

Despite the handicap of some very weak high school Spanish, we've found Spain to be a comfortable place to visit, both in Madrid earlier in the fall, and around Málaga on this trip. Hope you enjoy reading our memories.

Morocco, No?

We had purchased a day trip across the Straight of Gibraltar to Tangere, Morocco for Saturday. It was to have been a long day, departing the hotel at 5:45 a.m. and returning about 8 p.m., but we were both quite excited about it. Alas, a phone call to our hotel room on Friday night announced that the trip had been canceled because the required minimum number of clients had not been reached. Apparently few wanted to visit a Muslim country on Christmas Eve.

We used Saturday to visit the nearby city of Málaga.

We used the day, instead, to take the regular city bus on our own to downtown Málaga. A metropolitan area of more than 700,000, Málaga is a bustling port of call for heavy cargo vessels, as well as for Mediterranean cruise ships. But like Sevilla, Cordoba, or Sevilla, it has at its core an Medieval Muslim village, a royal palace/fortress, and an ornate 16th century cathedral. Add a few Roman ruins and 20th century art for good measure, and it’s a place very much worth visiting.

The Virgin Mary as a 16th century Spaniard.

The cathedral featured a near life-sized Belen (nativity scene) which one would only see at this time of year. One could be forgiven for confusing the figure of the Virgin Maria for one of Queen Isabella -- they frequently share similar 16th century fashion tastes. This cathedral did not have the huge altar piece of gilded statuary common to many Spanish cathedrals, but did have a lot of something of which the others have very little: stained glass. A pair of baroque pipe organs is another feature shared by many of these churches. We aren’t sure if their for dueling among organists or because they were complicated machines for their time and often broke down.

One of the two large Baroque pipe organs in Málaga cathedral.

Pablo Picasso was born and raised in Málaga. He didn’t think much of the place, as he left at age 19 and never returned. Málaga, however, thinks a great deal of him and has built a wonderful Picasso museum. I’ve seen a number of his works in other places, but seeing so many from so many periods of his life in one place was quite instructive.

The Roman amphitheater in Málaga.

The ruins of a Roman amphitheater have been uncovered beneath one of the city’s main plazas, and it has been partially reconstructed for use for events and concerts. We skipped the full tour as we've seen much larger and more complete Roman sites elsewhere, including Britain.

Alcazaba Palace exterior

Unfortunately, the Alcazaba Palace was closed for the Christmas holiday. From the outside it appears to be a well-preserved example of mudejar architecture. We did, however, get to visit the Gibralfaro castle, high on the hill above both palace and city. It was quite a climb, and the castle has been heavily reconstructed, but the views of the harbor and down the coast are as breathtaking as the walk up the hill.

Málaga harbor seen from Gibralfaro Castle. 

After returning to the hotel we spent some time relaxing, then after a slightly earlier dinner, walked up the beach a mile or so to a little Catholic church for Christmas Eve mass. We didn’t understand much, but the shape of the service is the same everywhere, and the Gospel was read in English, as well as in Spanish, for the sake of the many tourists crowded in. From what we could tell of the tourists, it would have been better had they read it in German, instead. The priest also added a brief capsule summary of his sermon in English, after a much longer Spanish version.

Sunrise Christmas morning from our hotel balcony.

We walked back along the Promenade in 60+ degrees with the sound of the pounding surf to put us in the Christmas spirit. The sand was the closest thing to a white Christmas here.

Cordoba and Granada

Thursday’s day trip was north to Cordoba. The city, in the heart of a large agricultural valley, is most famous for its cathedral, known as the Mezquita. By now we’ve seen a few cathedrals, both in England and in Spain. But even reading the tour guide books didn’t prepare us for how truly unique this one is.

Cordoba's minaret was also converted into a bell tower.

As in Sevilla, the minaret was converted to a bell tower, and the plaza exterior was preserved. Unlike Sevilla and most other sites in Spain, however, the mosque was not destroyed in order to build the church. Instead, the mosque was incorporated. It surrounds the church.

More than 800 columns support the ceiling in la Mezquita,the mosque/cathedral of Cordoba

The original mosque was huge, having taken the site of a late Roman era church, and expanded three times until it could accommodate up to 40,000 at prayer facing Mecca. Rather than tear it down, the Christians simply put a high altar in the middle and began converting much of the rest of the space to side chapels. The blend of architectural styles, from Roman, to mudejar, to Gothic and Renaissance is breathtaking.

Christian and Muslim symbols and styles mix.

There is an Al Cazar at Cordoba, also. It was used as a palace by Ferdinand and Isabella, but it is sort of disappointing after the grand Al Cazar of Sevilla. The cathedral is what makes Cordoba worth the trip.

A domed ceiling in la Mezquita

Granada, on Friday, was something of a disappointment. With undoubtedly the worst guide we’ve had on these trips, the journey through the countryside was rather dull. Granada itself is gritty and polluted. But above the smog we could clearly see the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains. The Alhambra Palace, Granada’s jewel, was certainly worth seeing, but exceeded Sevilla’s Al Cazar only in size, and not in grandeur.

The original Sierra Nevada towers over Granada

The palace was in the midst of a grand restoration in the early 16th century under Carlos I, but when his young king became Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, he was distracted by the Turkish invasion of Austria, rebellion in Holland, and other minor details such as a heretical Augustinian monk from Wittenberg, Germany by the name of Luther. He never made it back home to finish.

The domed ceiling is just one of the wonders of the Alhambra Palace

We had two hours of free time in El Centro, the city center, but the siesta is observed in Granada even more assiduously than in most other parts of Spain. They even shut off some of the water fountains in the plazas in the afternoon! Everything was closed, including the cathedral and the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel, where the tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella is located).

We managed to get a couple of cups of the uniquely thick and rich Spanish hot chocolate of which Mary is particularly fond, and spent some time enjoying the warm sunshine before heading back to our Torremolinos hotel.

Ronda & Sevilla

If today is Tuesday, this must be Ronda. The bus arrived at our hotel before the sun. Our chain smoking tour guide did not appear to be Spanish, but it can be hard to tell -- far from the American stereotype, Spaniards come in every description, including blue-eyed blonds (the Vikings did get around!).

We have later discovered, however, that many guides here are actually Dutch, due to their capacity for languages. Because of their location in Europe, the numerous times their country has been invaded, and because Dutch TV refuses to dub the sound tracks of foreign programs, many Dutch people speak five or six languages. This is good, because almost all of the day tours are conducted in English, German, French and/or Spanish. The guide usually provides all information at least two or three times in different languages.

El matador awaits el toro?

Ronda is a small city inland, in the mountains of Málaga province, about 800 meters above the sea. Aside from just being very scenic, it is considered the home of modern bullfighting. We actually got to stand in the ring, as well as see the pens where the bulls await their fate. The bullfighting museum even includes a Picasso painting of a matador – Pablo was a big fan here.

Picaso's Matador

Ronda was also one of the last cities to be re-conquered by the Christians at the end of the Muslim period in Spain. Not surprising, as it sits on a rock outcropping with near vertical, 300 meter cliffs on three sides! The Medieval walls and Muslim-style gates are still in good shape. Great views, beautiful parks, and an interesting 17th century bridge linking the old town to the newer part of the city that bustled with shops and shoppers.

Almost 1000 feet straight down, Ronda was very defensible!

We also visited the “mother house” of the Don Bosco Fathers, who have Don Bosco schools all over the world (including in Gilbertville, Iowa). It was the home of a wealthy Ronda family until being donated, and the house and gardens are largely as they were as a family home a hundred years ago.

18th century bridge connecting the old city to the modern one.

On the way back, we stopped briefly at the seaside town of Marbella, where the beautiful people hang out. The Saudi royal family has a huge palace here, as well as a private mosque, and a yaght in the marina that looks like a small ocean liner. Actor Antonio Banderas (a Málaga native) also has a home here. The shops were a bit out of our price range.

Minaret converted to the bell tower at Sevilla cathedral

Wednesday’s trip was to Sevilla (Seville to Americans, but the Spanish call it “say-VEE-ya”), which is the next province over and a fairly long day trip. It’s a big modern city, the fourth largest in Spain, but the Medieval town (“El Centro”) at its core remains along the banks of the Rio Guadalquivir, which made it an important inland port city from Roman times.

Who is buried in Columbus' tomb? Sevilla claims he's really here.

A grand cathedral is the heart of it. The reconquering Christian kings demolished a mosque and built their cathedral on the same spot, retaining the patio, or plaza, of the mosque where an English cathedral would have a cloister, and turning the minaret into a bell tower. The interior is extremely ornate, with tons of silver and gold, because Sevilla was the primary port for galleons coming back from the New World. One of the most ornate features is the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

Al Cazar Palace -- the exterior is the least impressive part.

We also visited the Al Cazar, or palace, built by King Pedro I in the 1300s. Despite the fact that Seville had become Christian nearly 100 years previously, Pedro hired primarily Muslim artisans to rebuild this old fort into a grand show palace in the old mudejar style. It does look like something out of Arabian Nights, but the workers also secretly worked Koranic verses into the plaster and stone work, declaring things about Mohamed and Allah of which Pedro’s bishops would not have approved, had they deciphered it.

Una cerveza frio by the river near where Columbus sailed off to find India.

We finished the day enjoying warm sunshine and una cerveza frio (a cold beer) along the river bank, near the Tower of Gold lighthouse, next to the spot where Columbus sailed off to find a new world.

Torremolinos

First stop on our winter holiday has been Torremolinos, near Malaga on the “Costa del Sol” along the Mediterranean coast in extreme southern Spain. We found a fairly priced package of a direct flight from Nottingham’s East Midlands Airport to Malaga, along with seven nights in a beach-side hotel, as well as two meals (breakfast and evening) each day. We flew out very early on Sunday morning, December 18, and will return to Nottingham on Sunday, Christmas Day.

View from our hotel deck.

The south coast of Spain is not as far south as one might imagine (it’s still Europe, after all), so temperatures here are not exactly tropical. It’s been in the 60s Fahrenheit, which feels quite warm when walking briskly in the direct sunshine, but rather cool when sitting in the shade. Still, the days are longer, and it’s much warmer than England, which has been hovering on either side of the freezing point in recent days.

Spain is not as far south as one imagines.

Our arrival day, Sunday, we checked into the hotel and then checked out the “Promenade” which is a wide, paved walk-way parallel to the shore, that goes on literally for miles with beach and sea on one side, and countless shops, bars, and restaurants on the other. So many Brits come here that we lost count of the number of English or Irish pubs on the strip. Your average Englishman need never be far from a familiar brew or home newspaper while on holiday here.

The Promenade

However, the tour company obviously caters to a wide range of Europeans. While we’ve encountered very few Americans, the hotel is a veritable United Nations (or perhaps better, European Union) with a lot of German and Dutch being spoken, along with a smattering of French, Italian, and Portugese. It’s amazing to hear the wait staff in the hotel dining room switching effortlessly between languages as they move from table to table.

On Monday we walked to a bus stop four or five blocks away and caught a regional bus to the village of Mijas, in the mountains overlooking this sea-side resort area. The fare was all of 1.40€ each, each way (roughly $7.30 round trip for the two of us).
Mijas (MEE-hahz) is billed as a traditional, rural Spanish village -- which it is, except for the hundreds of tourists, and the souvenir shops and restaurants there to cater to them. But it’s still a scenic town of narrow, winding streets weaving between whitewashed buildings, a bull ring, ancient churches, and a quaint plaza with fountain.

Church in Mijas

The village church featured a huge nativity scene, or Belen -- very common in churches in Spain at this time of year. Some of the figures were near life-size. Others portrayed daily life in and around the town, including a man whose mechanical arm ceaselessly beat an olive tree with a cane, just as is done at the olive harvest.

Just one small scene from the large Belen in the Mijas church.

We also spent some time on Monday at a nearby travel agent, booking day trips to the nearby Spanish cities of Ronda, Seville, Cordoba, and Granada, as well as a ferry trip across the Straight of Gibraltar on Saturday to visit Tanger, Morocco. As internet access is limited, we’ll write about them as we’re able.

Travel Time

The fall term at the University of Nottingham ends this week. As is traditional for Luther's Nottingham Program (and yes, this program is in its 39th year, so it really has been around long enough to have traditions), we are kicking the students out and locking them out of the flat during the winter break. This is to force them to use the time to travel and explore more of Britain and/or Europe on their own.

Planned destinations range from Wales to the
Czech Republic, Finland to Spain.

Our students have stepped up to the task. Some have family coming over, and the students will have the opportunity to be the tour guide for Mom and Dad -- an interesting reversal of roles, in most cases. Others have arranged to visit family or friends who live in Europe. Still others will take advantage of cheap air fares and youth hostels to backpack around the Continent.

Several students are connecting to volunteer sites through the Help Exchange, helpx.net. This site matches students with businesses or individuals who are willing to exchange room and board in return for labor. Farms, B&Bs, resorts, people needing a dog-sitter or some basic painting and repair will provide lodging for students. This isn't always legal for tourists, but our students all have visas that allow part-time work. It's a very inexpensive way for them to experience life in this part of the world.

We plan to do some traveling as well during the University break, so blog posts may be more or less frequent over the next weeks. Meanwhile, happy holidays to all!

Calm in the Storm

Fortunately, Nottingham was spared the 100+ mph winds, ice, and snow that caused so many problems in Scotland and Northern England this week. However, we did have several days of rain, wind, and generally nasty weather that made it difficult to get out and walk much. Cabin fever was setting in.

On Thursday evening we did venture out on a 15 minute walk to one of the local mosques, where we and all of our students had been invited to dinner. The Imam who came several weeks ago to speak at our Monday evening class about Islam, Dr. Musharraf Hussain Al-Azhari, asked us to join with a young adult group in his community for some mutual conversation and a meal. The food was excellent!

After eating, it was time for evening prayers, and we were welcomed, if we wished, to take off our shoes and go into the prayer room. Although the Muslim women did not go in, Mary and all of our students did, men and women. We sat in the back of the room to watch.

Following the prayers, we went back to the meeting room for some sweets and tea. I was given 15 minutes to talk about Christianity in the U.S., and then there was discussion. There was a lot of common ground, and only because the hour was growing late, I finally pushed the last of our students out the door and on the way home.

Our Muslim neighbors were very gracious hosts, and I'm sure that we will have some further meetings with this group in the spring semester.

The Panto

A uniquely English holiday experience is the Panto. Short for "pantomime," this dramatic production originated in the 17th and 18th centuries with traveling troupes of Italian and French actors who didn't speak English (see a History of British Pantomime). The humor of the productions, therefore, relied a great deal on "slapstick" and other visual elements. That slapstick tradition continues, but the name is misleading because the actors today can, and definitely DO speak English.

No, it's not a mistake: Prince Charming (right) and his man servant are both played by female actors.
(Rob't Day photo from http://www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk)

Panto is primarily for children and is based on a small handful of very traditional children's stories. The Nottingham Playhouse production this year was Cinderella. But Panto productions are put on in almost every city and town in England at this time of year, and each picks its own basic story.

And the wicked step-sisters are played by male actors!
(Rob't Day photo from http://www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk)

Panto has a number of traditional elements that make it different from the Disney versions of these tales. The most important of these is that the main male roles are played by women, while some of the main female roles are played by men. Yes, it's true -- this English Christmas tradition revolves around men in drag!

At least Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother are women played by women.
(Rob't Day photo from http://www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk)

Another tradition is that Panto is highly interactive, with the audience essentially playing a role in the play. The characters frequently address the audience directly, and expect villains to be booed and heroes to be cheered.

Our students getting into the act
(note English girl [center, in the back] looking at us as if we're going overboard).

Some of the humor that goes over children's heads is based on current events and local references. Our friends, the Juggins, came along to help translate the jokes from English to American. Even though there is nothing quite like it in the U.S., we managed to get into the spirit -- sometimes more than the Brits!

The Christmas Play

Just because there is no Thanksgiving holiday or "Black Friday" doesn't mean that England is not getting into the Christmas spirit. Stores in the city centre are decorated and packed with shoppers. Christmas markets are popping up in many towns. A Christmas market usually consists of stalls set up in a town square where vendors are selling special seasonal items. Nottingham's is quite small, but other cities have very large Christmas markets.

Some preparations are not commercial. Some friends told us about a church in the village of Bramcote, between Nottingham and Derby (pronounced "DAWH-beh"), that was reviving the tradition of the Medieval mystery play to put on an old style Christmas pageant.

Real Medieval period instruments played among the old stones in the church  yard.

We went on Sunday morning, and found ourselves in the church, mingling with characters dressed as peasants from several centuries ago. When the music of period instruments began, the players began singing, and we followed them into the church yard.

God (in red robe on roof), the star (on steps beside church), and Joseph & Mary (center)

There, among the ancient stones of the parish cemetery, we heard the peasants banter, in rhyming couplets, with a "Roman" soldier dressed in chainmail with a broadsword on his belt. They were complaining about the tax census declared by Emperor Augustus.

We followed the star to the beer garden behind the local pub (really!).

Suddenly, God appeared on the church roof, announcing the coming of a messiah and commanding all to follow a star, which had just arrived from around the corner. A carpenter named Joseph and his very pregnant bride emerged from among the crowd and had a few lines.

Flower petals are shaken down over dancers behind the pub.

When the musicians began again, we followed the star out of the church yard, down the street, around the corner, and into the beer garden behind the local pub. There we were welcomed to a wedding party and offered biscuits (cookies) and crisps (crackers). We also heard from the pub landlord that there was no room at the inn, but could follow the star to a nearby stable.

Following the star through park and pasture.

We took the long way to the stable, through a city park. Local police stopped traffic for about 120 people to cross the street. In the park, gathered around a real fire, we met some very comical shepherds and the most clever, life-sized sheep puppet we've ever seen!

The puppeteer has his head turned away. The actor is NOT wearing a pointed hat, that's the church spire behind him.

A winged angel appeared out of the bushes (obviously chosen for his ability to walk on stilts, and not for his talent at delivering lines). We were again told to follow the star, the band struck up, and the shepherds led the way through a fence, into a horse pasture (with real horses and real horse droppings, so we had to watch our step).

Angel on stilts gets our attention.

We eventually arrived at the ruins of a Norman church tower, which turned out to be the stable in question. There were Mary and Joseph, along with a baby. Three well-dressed star gazers showed up bearing gifts, then God and the angel made return appearances, and there was a big musical number for the grand finale.

The grand finale with God, angel, shepherds, magi, and baby.

We were a little chilly after a bit more than an hour outside on a breezy, 45 degree (Fahrenheit, 8 Celsius) morning, but it was well worth it to step back in time to the Middle Ages.