Category Archives: Spain

Spain

Sci-Fy in the Castle

We went with Brad and Louise to the Santa Barbara Castle to see a Sci-Fy display, which featured memorabilia of different Sci-Fy movies. We walked up the steep trail to the Castle which takes approximately 45 minutes.

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Trail up the mountain towards the Santa Barbara Castle

When we arrived at the Castle, stopped to admire the beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea.

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View of the Mediterranean Sea from the Santa Barbara Castle.

The display was held in an original area of the Castle which had a smaller entrance door.  We had to duck when we entered the room in order to get through the doorway.

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Brad and Ray at the entrance to the Sci-Fy display area

We are a big fan of certain Sci-Fy movies including the Matrix, Terminator, and Back to the Future. When we went inside we saw an exhibit of original movie props of some of the classic Sci-Fy movies.

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Exhibits of Sci-Fy movie props in Santa Barbara Castle in Alicante

Some of the displays were movies that were unknown to us, while others were of our favorites.

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back to the Future memorabilia

The Back to the Future Flux Capacitor and if you look close you can see someone from the future.

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Flux Capacitor from Back to the future

We walked through the rooms looking at the unique and different props on display. Some of the props were very large and lifelike, while others were small.

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Props from Iron Man movie
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Prop from RoboCop movie
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Props and script from the movie “Blade Runner”
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Motorcycle used in the SyFy movie “I Robot”
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Movie props from “I Robot”

We came across props from some of our favorite movies including  “The Matrix”, and “The Terminator”.

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Head plug from the Movie “the Matrix”

 

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The Terminator Movie props

There were several smaller props from the Terminator movie.

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Terminator skull
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Some movie props with Shelley in the mirror

The Sci-Fy exhibit was very interesting and there were some very neat items on display. We enjoyed the free exhibit and walked around for about 45 minutes looking at all the props and reading about the movies.

“Adios y que tenga un gran dia”

 

Spain

Back to School, Learning Spanish

We have registered for night school to improve our Spanish. We started our classes last week. The “Centre de Formacio de Persones Adultes” is an adult school specifically for foreigners trying to learn Spanish or complete other educational classes.

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We attend twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 to 10 pm.

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Ray and Shelley going back to school to learn Spanish.

The location of the school is also excellent for us. We are able to take the public transit system to the mall which is very close to the school.

The school is fairly large and contains a coffee shop, library, and a beautiful outside courtyard.

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The interior of the school is modern and nicely decorated which makes it a joy to go to school.

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Hallway in the adult school
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Modern art on display in the school hallways

Our class is conducted entirely in Spanish and our teacher has a very good sense of humour. He keeps the class interesting and fun. We are thoroughly enjoying the classes.

“Adiós y que tengas un buen día”

 

Spain

Animal Museum in Ronda

We went to a museum in Ronda called “Museo de Caza” which translates to the Hunting Museum. We thought it looked interesting so we went to see it. Once we entered inside the museum we were greeted with a large stuffed grizzly bear.

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A stuffed Grizzly Bear at the Museo de Caza in Ronda

We paid our two euros each and began exploring the different rooms which displayed an enormous amount of stuffed animals.

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One of the rooms in the Museo de Caza in Ronda

As we walked through the museum we came across more and more stuffed animals. There were animals from all over the world and displayed beside the animals were plaques identifying their origin and where they were killed.

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Plaque displaying the area where the animals were killed.

We came across tigers and lions in one of the rooms and an alligator in another room.

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Lion on display in Museo de Caza in Ronda
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Large cat in Museo de Caza .in Ronda
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Shelley with an alligator on display at Museo de Caza.

The animals on displays were all over the walls and there was very little free space in the Museum. It was a bit unsettling being in the rooms with so many dead animals displayed as trophies. There were some areas where we needed to watch our heads in order not to bump into an animal on display.

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Some of the animals on displayed that were on the wall causing a low overhead when walking.

Walking through the different rooms we came across animals from all different areas of the world. We came across monkeys, gazelles and wild boars from Africa.

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Monkeys, wild boars, and other African animals on display
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Wild boar in Museo de Caza in Ronda

There were water buffalo and other African animals, some which I have never seen before.

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There was a pair of  Elephant tusk that was on display which was enormous. The plaque indicated that the tusk were obtained prior to the ban on ivory.

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African Elephant Tusk on display at Museo de Caza in Ronda

We even saw animals that were from North America and Canada in particular.

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Brown Bear that was killed in Canada
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Black bears and assorted gazelles on display. Note the elephant foot used as a table on the right.

There were walls full of mounted skulls with horns displayed from all over the world.

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Horns and skulls mounted and displayed in Museo de Caza

They had every imaginable type of animal displayed including waterfowl, groundhogs, and birds.

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Waterfowl on display at the Museo de Caza

The museum was full of animals from around the world. It was hard to imagine that such a collection of animals were on display in the small mountaintop town of Ronda Spain.

“Adios y que tiene un gran dia”

Spain

The Beautiful Visit to Ronda Spain

We went to Ronda Spain which is a beautiful mountain top town. The views are gorgeous, overlooking the valley and gorge below.

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Ronda, Spain

What makes this town truly unique is the El Tajo gorge which separates the town into two sections. There is an amazing bridge which connects the two sides of Ronda. It was originally built by the Moors in the 15th century.

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Side view of the Ronda Bridge built by the Moors in 15th century

We decided to take a walk on the observation area in the middle of the bridge which is accessed through a long set of steep stone stairs.

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Brad, Louise, and Shelley walking down the stair to the observation area in middle of the bridge

We climbed the steep stairs and entered the observation area to admire the breathtaking views.

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Stairs into the middle of the Bridge

Inside we could see the gorge and cliffs lined with buildings.

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View from the center of the bridge observation area

We could also see the side of the bridge which was quite impressive. The column base is almost 200 feet down to the base of the gorge.

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View of the columns of the bridge in Ronda Spain

We then walked throughout the town exploring the narrow cobblestone streets. We came across a horse-drawn carriage and decided to take a ride. It was a great way to explore the town and have a rest at the same time.

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Horse-drawn buggy in Ronda Spain
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Louise and Brad in horse-drawn Carriage in Ronda Spain

We traveled through the streets admiring the sites and sounds of Ronda. We came across several very beautiful buildings and vistas along our route.

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Narrow cobblestone street in Ronda
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Historic building in Ronda’s Min plaza
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Bullfighting arena in Ronda Spain

After our horse-drawn tour, we decided to get something to eat at a restaurant called. “Duquesa de Parcent” The restaurant was nice looking inside, but once  we stepped out onto the back patio we were in awe.

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Front of the “Duquesa De Parcent” Restaurant
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The outside patio of the restaurant

The view was spectacular and we managed to get a seat at the very edge of the patio overlooking the gorge.

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View from our table in the restaurant.

The lunch was extremely tasty and very enjoyable. Afterwards, we walked through the narrow streets towards the cliffs and came across some great views.

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View of the rooftops of Ronda Spain
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The fortress wall of Ronda
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The walled street overlooking part of Ronda
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The street along the other fortified wall of Ronda
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Brad, Louise and Shelley taking a break to admire the views in Ronda

We truly enjoyed our time in Ronda. The city is a beautiful spot and well worth the time.

“adio y que tenga un gran dia”

 

Spain

Taking a Spanish cooking Class

We decided to take a cooking class and learn how to make some traditional Spanish meals. We headed to one of our favorite traditional Spanish restaurants called “Taberna Iberica.” Our Chef Francesca was very friendly and greeted us with a kiss on each cheek. She spoke only Spanish and the entire cooking demonstration was in Spanish. We entered the small galley kitchen which is used for the entire restaurant.

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Mike, Louise, Brad, Liz and Ray in the galley kitchen
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Galley kitchen

She demonstrated the techniques and processes for the making of several traditional meals. The first meal we began making was Paella with chicken. She began by chopping up a half chicken which included the bones.

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Chicken being chopped up by our Chef Francesca

Chef Francesca then demonstrated how to cook the chicken and make the paella. The process involved olive oil, water, peppers, a few spices and very easy to make.

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Chicken paella being made
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Shelley mixing up the magic

We then began another Spanish dish “tortilla de potatas” which is a breakfast meal. The process was surprisingly easy and simple to make. It used potatoes, olive oil, and eggs with a few spices.  The tortilla de potatas was made using a frying pan.

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Chef Francesca making Tortilla de Potatas with Brad watching in the background.

The final dish we made was a seafood paella. The process was somewhat different with a few changes. One of the differences was the boiling of fish pieces in water then removing the fish and using the water to make the rice. We then added some cuttlefish and prawns.

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cuttlefish used in the seafood paella
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Prawns used in the seafood paella
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Seafood paella

Once the three dishes were finished we took them upstairs to our table.

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Ray taking the paella to the restaurant table, Liz watching in the background
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Our table with the paella and tortilla de potatas

We sat down at our table to enjoy the paellas and Tortilla. There was also red and white wine, freshly baked bread and water. We enjoyed the food and ate until we were all full and content.

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The remains of the paella
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the remains of the tortilla de potatas

We were relaxing and enjoying ourselves when they owner presented us with an after dinner drink.

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After dinner, Spanish drink being poured

We toasted the Chef and enjoyed the after dinner drink, before heading out.

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Ray toasting the after dinner drink with Brad and company

As we were leaving the restaurant, Chef Francesca came and gave us a Spanish kiss on each cheek and made us feel like we were family. It was an amazing feeling to be so welcomed into a restaurant. It was more like a family meal than a restaurant.

“Adios y que tenga un gran dia”