Cáceres

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¡Hola amigos!

Ya estoy en Cáceres. Flights went well, my luggage was not lost and all the americanos got to Cáceres without any problems.

Cáceres is an awesome city with two very distinct parts. The old city is up on the hill and still surrounded, for the most part, by the medeival walls. Much of the wall isn´t visable as houses and newer buildings have incorporated it into their structure. It is obvious where the wall was as the streets follow it around and the houses are at all crazy angles to it. No such thing as urban planning. The newer parts of the city drip down the hill from the old city with streets stopping starting and meeting in ways an American hardly thought possible.

I haven´t had a lot of time to spend up in the old city, but it is a beautiful place, and completely open. My host mom, Téresa García Fernández is wonderful and also an awesome cook. So far I´ve had home made paella valenciana, lomo, fish in an onion garlic sauce, tortilla española, soups (they all have names) and many other dishes. As Téresa has not failed to tell me, the Spanish make time for food.

Saturday night I went to a concert of Jewish and Arabic music as played in the Moorish (Moors = Islamic people and rulers of most of Spain for 7 centuries) courts of Spain (we think) circa 8th through 10th centuries. There were instruments I had never seen before, a jug the percussionist played that sounded like a drop of water hitting a sink full of water--sort of, a solitário--a string instrument that looked a bit like a very large dulcimer, and a neat tamborine of sorts with metal rings suspended along the back. The lyrics, if there were any, were in a sort of Old Spanish, the language spoken by Jews kicked out of Spain during the reconquista (15th century-ish) and still spoken by groups of Jewish people in Morroco and other places. I think they called the oral tradition serfadí.

And something to look forward to....in April Cáceres celebrates its patron saint day. The patron saint is Saint Gorge (San Jorge), of killing a dragon fame. So, on a cutural note, I learned why Sn Jorge is so popular in Spain: traditionally, the killing of the black dragon by the Christian saint on the white horse was representative of the Christian´s victory over the Moors. So anyways....there is a huge party and the town recreates a battle between the Christians and the Moors, horses, costumes and all and then they burn a huge parade-size dragon in the old plaza mayor. I´ve been told it is quite the spectacle.

¡Ciao!

Clair

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Comments

[Ryan Thompson]

Guten Tag, Clair!
I'm glad to see that you made it to Spain safely and that things seem to be going well. Keep us updated! -Ryan P.S. You are going to have to bring home at least one CD of Spanish guitar music for Addie...she digs it.