Tag Archives: Spain

Spain

Placa de Mestre D Francisco Llopis

We were walking down some of the old streets of Calpe and came across a small outdoor classroom called “Placa de mestre D Francisco Llopis”

Small outdoor classroom in the old streets of Calpe

We decided to go in and take a look at the classroom, It was very unique with tiled walls and benches.

Open arches surrounding the classroom

Each of the three tiled benches had a different table design. Each one was a specific board game layout.

Ceramic benches and table
ceramic tiled benches with a centre table with board game design

In addition to the tables, there was a chalkboard and a map of Spain displayed on the wall.

Map of Spain and Blackboard in the outdoor classroom

The map of Spain was made with painted ceramic tile and was detailed with images of the mountains and rivers.

Ceramic painted tiles of the Map of Spain with mountain ridges and rivers

It was a great classroom where students could enjoy the outdoor breeze and the shade on a hot Spanish day. It was neat spot and we are glad we stopped to check it out.

“Adios y que tenga un gran dia”

Spain

Burning of the “Sardine”

We went to see the funeral procession and burning of the Sardine which was on Valentine’s day this year. We decided to head down early and meet up with friends for a drink and then see the burning of the sardine.

The funeral procession is a symbolic end to indulgence and the start of lent, People dress up in black and wear veils and walk behind a wooden effigy of a sardine.

Funeral procession of the sardine

The funeral procession walks through some of the streets and then ends in the Plaza Del Carmen. This is when they commence the burning of the effigy. There is a person who says some prayers and chants on the loss of indulgence and the beginning of lent.

Person saying the prayers at the burning of the sardine

There are people dressed in red devil type clothing who run around the effigy with burning fireworks in their hands. It is quite something to see people dancing around with live fireworks going off in their hands.

People with live fireworks in their hands running around the effigy

After some time they set the sardine on fire using the fireworks to start it.

Lighting the sardine on fire with fireworks

We watched the entire burning of the sardine near the front and had a great view.

We stayed until the end of the sardine burning and enjoyed the party for a while.

Our group of friends at the burning of the sardine

Here is a short video of the burning  of the sardine.

We had a great time and enjoyed “burning the sardine”

“Adios y que tenga un gran dia”

Spain

Wine school and tasting

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Friends invited us to go to a class on the art of wine tasting being held in El Campello. We decided to go and check it out. We headed down to Luceros to take the Tram to El Campello. Luceros is located in the center of the city and has a beautiful monument located in it.

Monument in center of Luceros in Alicante

We took the Tram for approximately 20 minutes and arrived in El Campello. A short walk and we were at the wine school. We entered the classroom which was set up for the event.

wine glasses, water, and bucket for spitting out the wine.

The class which was entirely in Spanish was interesting at times and at other times we were lost and not able to understand the class. The instructor was speaking very fast and he also had a heavy accent.

The Instructor for the wine class demonstrating how to open a bottle of wine.

There were four different types of local wines from Alicante. A Shiraz, Merlot, Monastrell and a Sauvignon.

Wines from the Alicante Region that were sampled during the class.

Each wine was poured into a glass for sampling. The instructor then went through how to hold the glass to the details of tasting the wine.  Each person had a small bucket beside them for spitting out the wine when they were done. Ray did not need his bucket because none of his wine was wasted.

Shelley sampling her first glass of wine in the class.
Ray sampling his wine.

After the wine tasting we discussed the flavours etc of the wine. We would then move on to the next wine for sampling. The evening with friend was enjoyable and it was an interesting experience.

“Adios y que tenga un grand dia”

Spain

Ahoy Matey der be a Spanish Galleon!

There was a replica of a 16th century Spanish galleon sail ship docked at the Alicante marina. We decided to go down and check it out. We could see the galleon from a distance and it was quite impressive.

A replica of the 16th century Spanish galleon Andalucia

We went on board and took a guided tour seeing what life was like working and living on a 16th century shipping vessel. It was an exact replica with cannons, rigging and wooden decking etc. We walked up the ramp onto the main deck of the ship. This area of the ship is known as the Quarter deck. On this deck there is a main mast known as the Mizzen mast.

Mizzen mast

It is also the wheel that controls the ship is located. Officers would command the direction of the ship but would not actually handle the wheel, which was done by sailors.

The tour guide showing us around the Galleon sail ship
Navigation wheel of the Spanish Galleon Andalucia
quarter-deck of the galleon sail ship

We could see the bell which they used for different communications on board. It was on the forecastle deck. This deck has the front sail mast, known as the fore mast, the bell and two anchors that weigh over two tons each.

Iron anchor with wooden shaft weighing over 2000 lbs.
Ray on the quarter-deck of the Spanish Galleon Andalucia Sail ship
Bell used to communicate between ships in fog and for work shifts etc.

There was the poop deck at the stern of the ship which we did not have access to.  The origin of the name poop deck is from the  french word “poupe” which over time was shortened to the common term of poop deck.

View of the stairs leading to the poop deck

The poop deck was where officers could view the crew and the maneuvers of the ship. There is a large lantern which was used to identify the ship at night and to communicate with other ships.

Main lantern on the poop deck of the galleon ship

Below the poop deck was the “Noble Area”. This area was restricted to officers, and high ranked passengers.

Noble area below the poop deck
Area for Nobles and officers to relax

We went down one level to the gun deck which is where the cannons for the protection of the ship are mounted.  The galleon ships travelled in large groups for better protection against pirate attacks.

Gun deck cannons

The guide explained how they used different types of cannon balls for defence. There was the standard cannon ball which would make a single large impact. There was also a cannon ball chained to another cannon ball, which was used to destroy sails and mast of a ship. They also had a special one with small iron balls bunched together for a shotgun effect.

Different types of cannon balls used for defence against pirates

The deck below the gun deck is called the Hold. It is an area of the ship which holds the precious cargo.

Cargo area in the Hold of the ship

The cargo could be wine, oil or other products from Europe heading to America or it could be gold, silver and other precious metals from America. Only a small part of the hold was used to store basic food for the crew for the journey across the ocean.

“Adios y que tengas un grand dia”

Spain

Tour of a working Spanish Submarine

The other day we had a unique opportunity to see a functioning Spanish naval submarine. The vessel was docked at the marina and we were part of a small select group of people who were given the opportunity to have a tour.

We arrived at the pier and gathered with some other people before being met by an officer of the crew.

Ray and Shelley in front of the submarine at the Alicante Marina

The officer took us in small groups onto the top of the submarine. He explained some of the history and some of the details about the submarine.

The  Agosta Class submarine is 67 meters longs and displaces 1760 tons submerged. It is able to descend up to 300 meters. There are 5 officers and 36 submariners assigned to the submarine. There are only two toilets on the entire submarine and they can remain underwater for up to one month before resurfacing.

He also advised us that we could not take any photos while inside the submarine because it was an active navy vessel.

Ray with others on the deck of the submarine

There was an area on the deck of the submarine with some tubes inserted into it. The officer explained that these were the counter measures for combat situations. There were some counter measures which sent out false positives for sonar making it look like multiple submarines. There were other counter measures which caused flares for heat sensors and other types as well.

Counter measures on the submarine.

We entered through a large hatch of very heavy steel located near the rear of the submarine.

It was very small quarters inside the submarine. We walked through a narrow hallway with small rooms located on each side. Most of the rooms had only a curtain for any kind of privacy. The officer’s room was one of the few rooms with a door.

We reached the main control room of the sub, which was a slightly larger area. In this control room there were seats for two submariners to steer the sub and two other seats for radar and sonar. The control room was small but quite impressive, the periscope is built into the main console and does not look like the ones portrayed in movies.

The officer providing us with the tour, told us that the sub was preparing to depart and we should return to the hatch and exit the sub, or we may end up going out to sea. So we began our walk back through the narrow hallway towards the hatch. Along the way we met members of the crew who were going to their respective areas to prepare to depart to sea.  We would squeeze to one side to let a crew member pass.

Shelley exiting the hatch after the tour of the submarine

After leaving the submarine we thanked our tour officer and went to shore. We feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to take the tour. It was a very interesting and unique experience.

“Adios y que tenga un grand dia”