Juan Carlos

Nashville and the Nashvillians... I only spent a couple of hours in Nashville but that was enough for me to realize that the nashvillians are probably the most friendly people in US. It was on cold Saturday morning. I parked my car and started walking around to see the main spots of the city. I did not have time to get into museums or main sightseeing attractions; I would have liked to visit the Frist Museum and the Ryman Auditorium... but it will be next time. Some minutes right after parking, a girl passed me in the streets... and smiled me. But you know, she smiled me like if we had met before, like if she knew me (or like she wanted to know me). As I said it was cold, and there were not many ... read more

Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the two most southern states in India. I traveled through these states with two special friends... and saw some of the most beautiful places I ever visited. My trip started in Chennai, where my flight landed. I did not visit this city, I went directly to the railway station and took a train to Trichy, where my friend was waiting for me. The four hours trip was like a movie among green rice fields and coconut trees with mountains on the back, cattle plowing the fields and villages with children flying colored kites on the top of the houses. I loved these landscapes, this rural India... maybe because I lived similar scenes of my childhood in the countryside (although without rice or coconuts...). This was the picture of India I had ... read more

Buda and Pest shape an awesome city divided by the Danube river. The first thing I thought when I saw the Danube was: "wow! it's huge!". The second thought (right away) was: "oh, but it is not blue...". Why "The Blue Danube" waltz, then? who knows? maybe Strauss was color blind... haha. The Danube banks are World Heritage Sites. The views from the Buda Castle quarter over the river, with the great Parliament, the bridges, the churches and the beautiful buildings on Pest side are just breathtaking. But of course, there are many other interesting places in the city... I was there for a symposium and visited the city in the free time, mostly in the evenings. The first day I walked the Andrássy Boulevard and reached the Heroes Square, where I visited the Fine Arts ... read more

The Aljaferia is the most important civil building in the history of Zaragoza. It was a muslim palace for the monarch Abu-Yafar during the XI century (Aljaferia means "the house of Abu-Yafar"). Later, after the Reconquest, it was enlarged and it became a christian palace. The new lounges were built in the mudejar style. "Mudejar" was the word used for the muslims that were allowed to live in the reconquered territories; many of them were cheap labor in the construction of new buildings but their legacy was that the previous muslim architectonic style remained in the new christian buildings. Then, this palace became the residency of the Catholic Kings in the XV century, the seat of the Inquisition tribunal and its dungeons, a fort in XVII century and barracks in XVIII century. Today is the seat ... read more

Oct. 28th 2009: I started my new job one week ago and during the first five minutes I met my (new) boss he told me he had to go to a meeting in Angers (France) this week and asked me to go. Of course he did not have to convince me! and a couple of days ago we did a nice 9-hour trip by car, crossing half of France, to Angers. It is fall and all the trees are showing their best colors, even I could see them! Once in Angers, well... I am not going to talk about the meeting, that is the boring part, we did some walks around the city. It is a small city, easy to walk (even though with the tram constructions all over the city...), with a river dividing the ... read more