Deauville Dispatches: Of waffles and blood sausages

And now it's time for part two of my Spanish adventure: Murcia! Alejandro and I were known for spending forever chatting and laughing at each other over meals in the cafeteria at Transy, so it should be of no surprise that some of the highlights of my visit with him were our excellent and incredibly diverse conversations...and the food. As the title of this post suggests, I ate both waffles and blood sausages, though (thankfully) not together; after he finished with class my first night in Murcia we stopped at a home electronics shop to buy a wafflemaker (gofredor, if I'm not mistaken) to get a little taste of America. While I rarely find a waffle that measures up to my darling mother's cornmeal based ones, the ones we made and ate with Alejandro's friends Gabi and Jaime hit the spot. Bien hecho, Alejandrito! On the blood sausage front, Alejandro cooked those to accompany the feast of pork chops, oven roasted potatoes, and alioli he prepared for us one night, and they actually were pretty decent--certainly much tastier than they look (and sound). Other food highlights from this leg of my trip: tortilla española made by his mother, trying regional tapas specialties at one of his favorite restaurants in Murcia, and going to a "chipper" (fish and chips place) with our friend Elena and her Irish boyfriend Darren during our day trip to Cartagena.

Because we didn't spend much time on the coast I got to see a different side of Spain in Murcia than I did in Valencia. The countryside reminded me a lot of the more arid parts of Colorado in some ways, and it was great having such a wonderful and knowledgeable tour guide so that I could attain a deeper historical and cultural understanding of the places we visited than I would have been able to on my own.

Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday were spent in the city of Murcia, where Alejandro is at the universidad studying for his masters in comparative European literature. His classes are primarily in the evening, so during the day he was able to show me the town. I loved the buildings; even though they aren't as brightly painted as those in Villajoyosa there was a diversity in style, texture, and material that is sadly lacking in many French cities. I also really enjoyed the plazas where I could sit and read and just enjoy the flowers and my surroundings. Probably my favorite building in Murcia was the Casino we toured, which wasn't like a casino at all but rather a gentlemen's (and now women's) club like you would find in a P.G. Wodehouse novel.

Friday night after Alejandro got out of class we took the bus to his hometown of Caravaca de la Cruz which is significantly more beautiful than a cow's face (a direct translation of the city's name, though he told me that's not where the name comes from). After dinner he took me on a night walk of the city; its population is about the same as Frankfort's but the city is much more walkable. Incidentally, it's a pilgrimage city because of the cross (cruz) of its name, which is supposed to have a splinter from Jesus's cross. Anyway, we hiked up to the castle to see it and the city by night, wandered through the neighborhoods, and saw his old schools. The next day we saw these things by the light of day, too, but I think old cities like that are interesting at night. Maybe it's because the darkness makes the Middle Ages feel closer (A World Lit Only By Fire, anyone?). Saturday Alejandro also took me to La Encarnación, a nearby area with old Roman quarries and an Iberian turned Roman sanctuary and a nifty cave. Here's a link with good pictures, if you're interested.

We also visited a museum that shows embroideries from the Festival of the Holy Cross that takes place in the beginning of May each year. Here's a blurb I found about the holiday:
Riderless horses wearing beautifully embroidered coats race through the town of Caravaca de la Cruz on the second day of the Holy Cross Festival. Vocal spectators gather to watch this fast-paced spectacle, known as the "Wine Horses", or caballos de vino.
The horses are led by a porter on each side, who must run as fast as their legs can carry them up to the town's castle. The only wine you are likely to come across, just in case you were wondering, is at Mass earlier in the day. [LIES according to my native tour guide. He claims there is much drunken revelry in the streets.]

The 13th-century tradition dates back to when templar knights raced across Moorish territory to bring wine to those who guarded the relic of the True Cross.

Church services, processions and Moors and Christians battle re-enactments complete the rest of the festival.

Caravaca was also great because I got to meet Alejandro's parents and sister, who are very nice. His mom and sister speak good English, but with his dad I practiced my Spanish a bit. It's quite rusty and pretty abysmal, but he was kind enough to slow down a lot and we were still able to talk about our interests and future plans. His family also kept telling me I needed to come back some other time because it was quite overcast during my visit (like I said, the clouds were following me!), but when we woke up to walk to the bus Sunday morning it was beautiful.

Next stop was Cartagena, a coastal town (and Alejandro's birthplace) that I believe had its heyday in the 19th century when there was a lot of silver mining. He and I visited the Punic wall and the port and then met up with Elena and Darren to see the area. Together we walked around the Teatro Romano and an area downtown with interesting architecture and then began our eating extravaganza. First was tapas for lunch, after which we looked at the port again and then drove to the beach town where Darren and Elena live. We walked along the beach for maybe 2 minutes and then stopped at a cafe they like for coffee, after which we went to an Irish pub that Darren likes, followed immediately by the "chipper". A lot of eating, but hey, it was neat to visit Ireland unexpectedly like that.

And now for the photos. Wordreference.com suggests this is what I want to wish you:

¡ánimo!

Lovely plaza in Murcia near the facultad

At the Cathedral in Murcia

Alejandro's campus

Near the campus.

View from the castle in Caravaca de la Cruz (or CDLC if you're in the in crowd)

My silly tour guide blocking the view

In front of the church in the castle where they keep the famed cruz (which the priest let us see)

Two thumbs up for his hometown!

CDLC

Cave at La Encarnacion

Catacombs in Cartagena. Not sure if you can tell, but there were real bones there! SCARY!

Port

The firefighters were doing an exhibition while we were walking around

Teatro Romano

Elena and Alejandro

The procession of the chicken people for Carnaval

It reminded me of the Flatiron Building in NYC

With a new friend!

Lovely coast by Cartagena

Windsurfers in Elena and Darren's town

Back in Murcia we see calls for revolt

Catching a ride

Behind the cardboard Alejandro is displaying (what Spanish people apparently call it when your hair starts thinning) you'll see one of my favorite buildings in Murcia. It was very nicely textured, but you can't exactly tell from the photo.