SPAIN

Part IV Along European Lines
Chapter 20 Spanish Heroes

Some of my experience-images of awesome SPAIN…

Melawend – in the Pyrenees, on our way to Pamplona.

A common universal sight… a loving couple, as here, in Pamplona…

In Pamplona, I did find narrow streets and on them I did dodge the bullish charging of the drivers of compact cars and was gored in the ears by the horns of their cars. But as I said, there were no bulls. There was no sense of Hemingway. My Pamplona was just gray skies and a few streets of densely packed old shops and apartments with shutters and wrought iron balconies. I stepped into a tiny general store to buy a chocolate bar and saw a girl who looked so much like my daughter Melanie that my eyes began to water. My Pamplona was the shady leaf-strewn walkways of the Parque de la Taconera. The park was deserted except for an evasive single girl and a strolling couple who were oblivious to me and my cameras. My visit here only reminded me of my longing for Her. I was utterly unprepared for Pamplona and decided to leave it for another time. That was my tragedy.

Another sense of Spain – seeing a boy with his donkey.

The imposing presence of awesome Burgos Cathedral – with 225-foot towers and intricate stonework.

Burgos Cathedral – in the hometown of Spain’s epic hero – El Cid – he is buried in the church, along with his lovely Doña Jimena.

“Once again I was humbled by architecture that had been dedicated to God. I knelt in a pew and prayed. Hemingway had also bowed his head in prayer here. He had stopped here on his way back to Havana from his second African safari. He knelt painfully because he had been severely injured in two plane crashes in two days in Africa.” – from Chapter 20: Spanish Heroes.

Statue of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar – El Cid Campeador (“The Lord Champion”), the liberator of Valencia and Spain’s epic 11^th century hero.

I pressed on to Burgos – half the way across Spain. I approached Burgos on a slightly uneven road through the Montes de Oca. Burgos was the ancestral home of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar – El Cid Campeador (“The Lord Champion”), the liberator of Valencia and Spain’s epic 11^th century hero. … I had read in Let’s Go Europe! about the large statue to The Cid. As in Pamplona, I dodged honking cars, but this time they were in a small busy square where I hastily photographed the grandiose statue against a darkening sky.

A wonderful overnight stay here at Hotel Sur in Tarancon, Spain.

Beautiful old villages of Spain!

After months of traveling through the UK, Scandinavia, and northern Europe, often when it was cold and rainy, Melawend put wheels and I my backside blessedly to sand at Peniscola when we finally reached a milestone destination – the Mediterranean Sea!

The castle at Peniscola where Benedict lived until his death in 1423. Part of the movie El Cid was filmed here. What attracted my attention beyond the castle and the beautiful seashore were the many girls sunbathing – topless – the first time I had encountered that in real life.

A family working together delighted to pose for me – an gave me a huge bunch of grapes as I was leaving!

Beautiful Lloret de Mar, a popular resort town on Spain’s Costa Brava. And like Peniscola, there were many girls sunbathing topless. Such times brought out my personal feelings… of being single, looking for Her…

I sat for a time on the low concrete wall behind the beach and looked at the topless girls. Uwe had been right about Lloret de Mar. I considered just how horny a guy could become sitting here. And how lonely. Seeing so many naked girls relaxing in these beautiful, if touristy places only reaffirmed feelings I got in strip bars. After a while, all you saw were a lot of anonymous tits and asses. The experience teased your fantasy but blunted the edge of true desire. Or maybe it served to reinforce it – seeing part of what you were missing.