Tag 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

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”

Spain

The city of Cadiz Spain

We went to the city of Cadiz Spain which is in the south of Spain. Cadiz is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain and one of the oldest in western Europe. The Spanish navy has been stationed in Cadiz since the 18th century.

We decided to walk through the old section of Cadiz exploring the narrow streets and admiring the historic buildings.

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Narrow streets in old quarter of Cadiz Spain
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Typical historic building of Cadiz

We came to a large central plaza where people were enjoying the day at the cafes and pubs.

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Main Plaza in old quarter of Cadiz Spain

We walked through the plaza enjoying the hustle and bustle of people. We came to the Cathedral in the plaza which was quite nice.

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Cathedral in Cadiz Spain

We walked along the streets until we came across the ruins of a Roman Theater which was partially excavated. It is believed that the theater was built in the 1st century BC and one of the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It could hold more than 20,000 people and was mentioned in Roman writings.

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Roman Theater wall from 1st century BC in Cadiz
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Roman Theater remains in Cadiz Spain
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Roman Theater the view of the seating area

We went into the Roman Theater and explored the site. It was truly amazing to see the ruins knowing that they were built in the first century BC. We were able to enter underground and see parts of the Theater from below.

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Archway to below grade of the theater
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inside the underground passageways of the theater

Inside the passageways, we could see the walls which were pitted and worn over the years.

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The walls of the underground passageways

After exploring the underground passageways, we went into the museum section of the Theater.

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Shelley in the museum section of the Roman Theater

We read about the history of the theater as well as to the discovery of the ruins after being excavated in 1980.

Afterward, we headed to the walkway along the edge of the city. The  views along the walkway were beautiful. We could see the entire coastal area of Cadiz.

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Walkway along the coast of Cadiz Spain

We stopped to admire the views and enjoy the beautiful sunshine.

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Louise and Bard on the coast of Cadiz Spain
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Shelley at the coast of Cadiz Spain

We walked along the waterfront for a while then headed to the park before heading back home. The park area was nicely groomed and was a relaxing walk.

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There were statues and nice shaded areas to sit and relax.

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Blaz De Lezo Statue in the park in Cadiz

“Adios y que tenga un gran dia”