Two Visits

Whereas I usually get maybe one visit during a year, this year I had a visit in February, another in April, and in the last week I’ve had two. All these visits are special for me because they are always old friends coming from the U.S. So these last two were of course both special, but the first even more so because he is an ex-husband, and you don’t tend to get many of those. Never mind that I have three. Joe was my second husband and we hadn’t had any contact for at least twenty-five years until he emailed me about two months ago to say he was coming to Spain and would I like to meet up.

It wasn’t as hard as it might have been to pick him out of the crowd when I picked him up at the AVE train station. I hadn’t seen any recent photo, but Joe is six feet tall and there aren’t many of those here either. So I just had to look at the tall men and see if I could find one that was in any way recognizable. When I saw him, I thought “maybe,” but when he recognized me, the question was answered. I think we had both changed considerably in those twenty-five years, and I never would have known him if we had just been passing on the street.

It’s odd to be with someone who you were very close to years ago but who now is a stranger. And yet, for the most part, people don’t change much and that began to be apparent after a short while. Joe is in construction and I knew he would be interested in buildings and architecture, so our sightseeing was based around that: the beautiful medieval village of Besalú, of course, and the medieval monastery of Santa Maria at Vilabertran. This ensemble is one of the best-preserved examples of Romanesque architecture in Catalonia. The church is the oldest part of the complex; inaugurated in 1100. The cloister and remaining buildings date from the 12^th century. But this visit had more to do with talking than with sightseeing.

The bridge at Besalú

Santa Maria de Vilabertran

Next to come was Srul with his wife Ora. I never met Ora before, but I’ve known Srul most of my life, even if we haven’t lived in the same place for most of it. I was his counselor in a youth organization we both belonged to in Los Angeles; I knew his parents and I know his brother. We hadn’t seen each other for probably something like thirty years, but in the last few years we have stayed in touch via Facebook so at least I knew what he looked like when I picked them up at the train. It was easy: the tall, slender guy wearing that cloth hat that he wears for every photo opportunity. When I saw the hat I knew I had found my man.

For Srul and Ora, I think the highlight of our sightseeing, since both of them do ceramics, was La Bisbal d’Empordà, the ceramics capital of Catalonia, where we visited the Terracotta Ceramics Museum. I love ceramics: I collect a little, I eat off of interesting plates and bowls, I visit La Bisbal from time to time and pick up a piece or two, and I had ceramic pieces from several workshops including two from La Bisbal in my shop, when I had a shop. But I had never been to the museum.

Housed in a former ceramics factory built in 1922, the museum has some of the old kilns, chimneys, machinery, and many examples of old and new, functional and decorative ceramics. Since the beginning of the 20^th century, ceramics has been one of the main drivers of the local economy, the clay and forests nearby making that possible. All of us, both the potters and the collector, found the museum fascinating. The only thing missing was a good museum shop where we could spend some money! But that deficiency was taken care of the next day in Besalú where, in addition to that splendid medieval bridge, there is one of the best gift shops in the area.

I now have a month to plan the itinerary for my next visitors. This will have been a bumper year.

Disappointment

 

When I recently called ahead to my favorite restaurant, El Pont Vell in Besalú, to reserve a table, I was, of course, disappointed when they told me they would be closed that day. That being a Sunday, I was also surprised. Closed? Yes, closed. In fact, the whole village would be closed. They would be filming a Bollywood movie that day and much of the village would be closed off. So I went somewhere else, somewhere new, recommended to me by an acquaintance, where the restaurant was attractive, the food was excellent, but the view was of an ugly street and so it wasn’t the wonderful experience I always have in Besalú. This morning I decided I would have that wonderful experience again. It seemed too early to call, so I figured I would call to reserve once I got there.

I bumped my way into a dirt parking lot and walked into the village. It was hot. This was why I hadn’t decided beforehand if I would be coming today or not. But the weather forecast was for two degrees (celsius) cooler than yesterday, and if I didn’t seize the day and instead waited for good (cool) weather I would be waiting til the fall.

Some huge equipment lumbered past me as I was walking in and just as I got past the huge plaza and to the narrow passage that leads into the oldest part of town, I saw what they were up to. They were tearing down a building. But not just any building. They were tearing down the Cafe Spendide, that evocative semi-ruin that I had photographed last year. How could they! Such a charming old place. Couldn’t they have refurbished it and put it to good use?

That question was answered for me by the antiquarian whose shop is just a few feet away from the demolition zone. That had never been a cafe. About a year ago, when they were filming some other movie, they had painted that sign on the wall and distressed it to make it look old. It was supposed to be a cafe in Marseille. Could have fooled me. Did fool me. No wonder, when I saw it last year, I didn’t remember ever having seen it before.

On my way to find a coffee and sit and relax and recover, I called the Pont Vell. There was no answer and their message referred me to their Whatsapp for reservations. So I sent a Whatsapp and almost immediately received a response. They were on vacation and would reopen on 5 July.

I took solace in my coffee and raspberry muffin – a rare find in a country where about 95% of all muffins are of one flavor, your basic yellow cake flavor. A trip to Besalú is never wasted because the place is always beautiful. There is the Fluvià river, the picturesque medieval bridge, all the beautiful medieval stone buildings, the wonderful 12^th century, romanesque parish church and just the feel of it all. It’s no wonder people come from all over the world to film movies there.

And as my friend Evie always says, we make plans, and God laughs. 

On the Road: Besalú

I’m on the road again.

I didn’t used to have this problem of not wanting to drive; I used to drive everywhere and loved exploring by car.  I could drive all day.  I drove to Los Angeles and back from the Bay Area many times, often alone, and drove cross-country several times too, although those trips were never alone.  But I was younger then, and I was in the USA then – the USA where although it is much easier to get a driver’s license, it is also much safer on the roads.

Here in Spain, the roads are chaos.  To go on the road is to take your life in your hands, or worse, put it in the hands of idiots you don’t know.  These drivers passed very difficult driving tests but they didn’t learn enough to respect speed or safety laws. 

There is rarely any consequence to breaking road rules, as long as you don’t end up in a wreck.  There are no highway patrols, only ad hoc stationary check points where they stop you to see if you’re drunk, and stationary radars that are announced in advance so that only a moron wouldn’t know to slow until they pass them.  Here, I’m much more reticent about driving, especially driving alone to someplace new. 

In any case, last week I got into my car and drove to Besalú, which turned out to be a very easy drive.  Besalú is less than half an hour away!  If I had realized how close it was and how easy the drive was, I would have gone much sooner, because Besalú is a pretty little village and definitely worth seeing. 

Besalú has 2000 inhabitants, some nice shops, its medieval center is full of old stone buildings, narrow streets, an arcaded village square, a church built in the 10^th century, a restored Jewish mikveh and the ghost of a medieval synagogue.  But it is most famous for its splendid 12^th century Romanesque bridge that, unusually, halfway across its span takes a turn.  Most of the bridge supports rest on huge in situ boulders that the architect/mason took advantage of when he designed the bridge.  It is a beautiful piece of architecture.

The mikveh was closed so I didn’t get to see it.  But that gives me a good excuse to go back again soon.

Don't know how they got in
much less how they will get out



Sant Pere, church of the former Benedictine
monastery, founded 977 AD

Dangerous door

Catalan Independence flags
are found everywhere

Besalú Tourist Office
http://www.besalu.cat/turisme/?lang=en