Spain Before Portugal 2018

I had to be in Barcelona for a LabourStart exec meeting and a meetup with some comrades from UGT and CCOO.  It came up after Geri and I had booked our month in Portugal and it left a blank spot of a week between when the LabourStart stuff ended and when Geri would be arriving in Faro.

The LabourStart meetings were very productive, our first ever meatspace session as opposed to cyberspace meetings.  Just as importantly I was able to arrange, at different times, for everyone to take the Civil War walking tour offered by Nick and Catherine.  Details HERE.  It got, as expected, rave reviews.  The Norwegian member of the executive actually used an exclamation point in a message he sent about it.  A rave.

Next up was Madrid.  I made a virtue of necessity (limited budget) and gave myself a nostalgia treat by staying in a hostel.  Mostly fun as I had a room and not a bunk.  Even had my own sink or ‘tippytoe urinal’.  Though someone did steal my soap from the shared bathroom.

Saw some monuments, though the one to the union lawyers who were assassinated by the military just as the dictatorship was ending was in a small square that was being torn up.  I got some photos but none are very good.

I took the Civil War walking tour offered by the woman who is the executive director of the NGO there that honours the memory of the International Brigade members by funding research, running a library and making sure that monuments and graves are maintained.

That tour was very different from the one Nick does but it was also fab.  Details HERE.  At the university where the Brigade monument is was the front line at the south edge of the city.  You can still see the damage in some of the buildings and shell casings are all over the place even now.

The medical faculty where Norman Bethune did his development work is still there and apparently there is a plaque inside but the building is not open to the public.

There are some pillboxes built by the fascists when they crossed into the campus led by a bunch of Italian tanks.  They were to protect the bridge while the Italians got their tanks across.  The bridgehead lasted about a week, I think.

When looking for them (I was on my own at this point) I noticed hundreds of buses parked on both sides of the road leading from the bridge to the university.  At the end of the road is a huge stone triumphal arch.

When I figured it out it was kinda creepy.

That day was the day celebrated in the US as Colombus Day.  In Spain is it a national holiday marking when Spanish language and culture and all that good shit went out into the world to enlighten it.  Made a holiday by Franco as part of his re-branding of fascism as ‘Catholic Nationalism’.

The buses were full of fascist party members come to the capital for a parade.  Marching, in semi-informs many of them.  And it started at the arch I saw, which had been built by Franco after the Loyalists lost the war to mark his victory.

The day before I had arrived by very high speed train from Barcelona and had taken a hop-on, hop-off bus tour.  A good way to orient yourself I find and so I make a habit of them.

All over the centre of the city were bleachers along the main boulevards.  LOTS of bleachers.

The blackshirts parade had a huge crowd watching and cheering.  And returning to the university to catch the metro back to my hostal I noticed a lot of pro-fascist graffiti.  The tour guide had earlier mentioned that the uni had a large student fascist club.

On a much lighter and brighter note, I pulled my ‘hi, I’m in town for a few days, will trade lunch for a short orientation to the labour movement of your country’ schtick at the national HQ of the CCOO.  As sometimes happens the guard at the door had some trouble figuring out what I was (I try to dress reasonably when doing this as it makes getting past the guards most European union offices seem to have a lot easier) but once he did he seemed kinda pleased to see me.

But as they don’t have a waiting area downstairs I was asked to trot up the road 50 metres and wait in a bar.  A horrible imposition but there I was so….  As it turned out there were other people there without an appointment or who had for some reason been sent to the bar rather than up the elevator.  They were enjoying some red when someone came to fetch them.  A kind someone who chatted with them while they finished their wine at a reasonable pace.

When I was called I wound up with coffee rather than wine but a translator (not really needed) and two of the staff who had been partly responsiblke for the organizing of the national strike by 50 million Spanish women the year before on IWD.

That was a downright amazing couple of hours.  AMAZING.

The second very high speed train ride took me to Seville.

Great hotel, recommended.  I got a special as they were empty but even at their regular price a good value very pretty spot.  Though driving to it might be a problem on anything wider than a scooter.  Other than that…mmmm….  The CNT office was closed, the CCOO office was running on adrenaline about something I could not figure out.  Might have coloured my impression of the city after Madrid.

There being no cross-border rail service between Portugal and Spain, I took a 2.5 hour bus trip to Faro Airport.  It was fine.

I got our rental car, did some shopping, unpacked a bit and was back at the airport to meet Geri when she arrived. 

LabourStart Exec photos HERE.

Barcelona wanderings photos HERE.

Madrid photos HERE.

Seville hotos HERE.

Cuba February 2019 - CSM resort and Caibarien Casa Particular

This was a mixed trip.  Mixed in that we spent two weeks at a resort and almost a week at a casa particular (the Cuban equivalent of a bed and breakfast).  We usually do one or the other but these mixed trips are becoming more popular with a lot of people.  Even with a hotel included as part of the package, often a weeklong package trip is cheaper than airfare alone.  And certainly if you want two weeks but the budget is tight, leaving your hotel for a casa particular rather than a flight home might make it possible.

An ex-co-worker of mine and his partner book the cheapest resort they can find (usually in Veradero) and never even bother checking in.  And they still save money compared to what a flight alone would cost.

The resort was the Melia Las Dunas on Cayo Santa Maria.  We were there once before, about 10 years ago, for three weeks.  It was fine then and it was fine this time around.  The usual except that we were upgraded to a suite.

The family or ‘actividades’ side of the resort was to be avoided.  The pool was packed to the rafters, hardly any space between the chairs and every chair was occupied or marked somehow by 0800 each day.  And noisy.  Staff shouting instructions or enticements to games and such or music.

At lunch one day I heard a young couple, parents of a three year old, refer to the wading pool attached to the families pool as ‘the vomitorium’.  😊

The adults-only half was much different.  A lot quieter and it is where a pool table is hidden away.  Geri would call for a cart and we’d be anywhere on the resort or even next door at the Melia (aside from wanting to chat with folks and see how the hurricane damage had been repaired, as both resorts are Melia-managed we could eat and drink too) in 10 minutes at most. Lots of space, gentle music on low volume and a swim-up bar with empty seats at any time.  And lots of empty loungers.

Late afternoon onwards you could just wait on a path and a cart would be by in 15 minutes at most.  Which is how we got to dinner each night.  Our building was very convenient to the beach though and Geri had no trouble walking to it and back.

The food was resort food.  The Mediterranean restaurant had the best dinner of the eight or ten we had.  Unless you count the pizza at the Italian restaurant which we also liked because it was open and not enclosed and air conditioned. 

Saw some old friends who have been working there or in neighbouring hotels that we go to on a regular basis.  That was fun.

But we may, after 28 years of going to Cuba at least once a year (sometime as many as three times a winter) and mostly for ‘lie down for two weeks and read then get up and go home’ holidays, be about done.  Since I retired this kind of holiday isn’t anywhere as needed as it once was.  And Geri is spending more and more time in the shade.  We started talking about it soon after arrival and I think we are close to concluding that perhaps a more active vacation in Cuba at a cooler time of year would be better for us right now. 

Or that we try a winter at home with the fireplace and then apply the savings to a  spring in Portugal or some similar location.

The 6 days in Caibarien were much different.  We stayed with a woman we have known since she was our room attendant at the first resort to open on Cayo Santa Maria in 2001.  She moved around the resorts a bit and eventually ‘retired’ to open a casa particular in Caibarien, the fishing town at the far end of the causeway from Cayo Sanata Maria to the mainland. 

Now also a dormitory town for the staff who work at all the resorts that have appeared on CSM over the years.

We had a wonderful time.  The only downer was that the day we arrived Noemi  had fallen and broken a wrist and elbow.  Lots of pain.  And great medical care but the shortage of drugs was a problem, though it was interesting to see how friends and neighbours would spread the word and collect a few tablets here and a few more there and almost get her what the prescription called for.

The photos of the town tell most of the story.  Just a lot of fun to walk around in.

The pedalos were a tough one.  Those drivers work hard.  We used them a lot and compensated with tips that worked out to about 400% of the charge. 

The food was a huge relief after the resort.  We had some really quite nice dinners and lunches.  One exception (still better than the resort meals, even the best) was a beautifully restored building owned by a dental surgeon.  The food was OK, but it was by far the most expensive meal we had at about $40CAD for a pork dish, fish and a couple of beers.  Desert was included but we were stuffed.  The olives appetizer was really nice.  The same place had great fries and icy beer when we snacked at lunch when getting out of the sun.

The best dinner was the first: at El Coliseo, a two-minute walk from Noemi’s Hostal La Nena.  Both highly recommended.  Pasta dinner for two plus five beers (hey, it was 34 that day) came to about $12CAD including a 24% tip and Hostal La Nena was a flat $25CUC a day for the room and two breakfasts (see photos of the latter, though Geri had an omelet a couple of days) with lots of fresh guava and squeezed just before being served pineapple juice.  Lovely.

The photos really tell the story, so take a gander HERE.

Portugal Fall 2018

What can I say?  It was fab.  I don’t know why I didn’t manage a post soon after we got home. A great four weeks.

The villa was big, our only regret was that the weather was never hot enough to force us into the unheated pool.  Photos of it HERE.  We debated the ‘cheaper and bigger in the country versus central and no car to rent’ issue.  In the end we decided on another month there, this time in April of 2020.  Aix-en-Provence beckens for an apartment rental where you can walk to anything and everything for another time of year though.  We are greedy.  😊

Faro we only spent a day walking around in.  Quelfes had its charms, including a great little grill we found, unfortunately late in the trip.  Olhao was always fun and there are some really excellent restaurants around.  And just hanging out near the markets with books and beer and seafood nibbles now and then was a fine way to spend a day.

We took four days and drove to Lisbon.  Driving was a mistake as even though we already had rented a car (needed for the villa) it still cost more than two rail tickets would have.  A lot more.  Gas (though we had a hybrid), parking and tolls.  Plus it took a lot longer as once we got to Lisbon getting around in the old part of the city was more than a bit time-consuming.  Still, well worth the time we had there and when we are in Portugal again there are a few things I would like to see and so I at least would be happy to go back.

The time Out Food Market was impressive.  Almost worth the trip on its own.  😊

All photos HERE.