Life: Idiotropic

On the list of things to take visitors to is the old Carthaginian city of Arse, now known as Saguntum on top of the hill overlooking Sagunto just 10 minutes from our house by car.

This week I have a visitor thus, to Arse we go!

Fortunately, instead of dying from complete boredom, I am able to find new things each time I go.  It's also fun to see what my guests notice.  My friend Julie notice (and squatted playfully by) the old toilets.  Today's friend likes the prickly pears so much, I think it would be great to pick one.  Not smart.  They're really a lot more prickly than they look!

 Today I discovered three new things:

1) This view.  I usually take the shortcut up the hill and don't bother with the road.  Today we took the road.  A nice walk, a different perspective and this view where I can actually sort of fit the entire "old" Roman theater in my camera view with part of the camera and the sea too.  It's nice.  They have concerts here.  I'd like to go to one some day.





2)  There's a long rectangular building of no particular interest along the long stretch of path between one part of the city and the other.  It's been there, but I've never cared to go inside.  Today I did.  Apparently here in this not-horribly-publicized place there resides the largest collection of epigraphs in the Iberian peninsula.  It's pretty impressive with many column heads and engraved stones from the first century A.D. and even a few B.C. stones as well. 

See this one?  This is the top of a column.  You can see the tiny cut marks where it was carved into the coil.

3) A cute cafe.  La Taverna de la Serp is a tiny little bar/cafe just below the theater where we stopped to have a cafe con leche and a small snack.  They serve tapenades here of various types with bread.  We had one of olives that was absolutely delicious and one with bacalao and potatoe that was good, but didn't quite have the kick that I hoped for.  I ordered from my table to the man behind the bar, the only one in the tiny cafe at the time.  "Dos cafes con leche y..."  The man behind the counter looked at me and asked in Spanish, "Do you want the coffees after your meal or now?"  "Now."  Again, I get the inquisitive look like I surely must be mad.  It's just one of those things.  Americans, I tell him, will drink coffee at any time of day and with just about any food.  Yes, I know it's strange, but we just really like our coffee.  So he brought them and they were good and I've now discovered a nice little place in Segunto to go for a bit of something.  The service is inquisitive, but nonjudgmental and quite friendly.

While walking across the bridge in Montanejos Friday, I talked to a lady from Madrid who told me how beautiful Oropesa is, so this morning, seeing that Oropesa really isn't that far from us, we took a drive about 40 minutes up the coast from Valencia to explore.

I saw it from the highway as we approached it and I almost didn't take the exit.  This is it?!!??  It's one tiny little hill with one very ruined old castle on top.  The traditional tangle of old sandwiched homes spills down the hill.  There are winding streets and narrow passageways.  It's all quite typical.

And surrounding this tiny oasis is just another sprawling town.  Sigh.

But I didn't want to drive aimlessly, so we stopped, found parking easily, and trudged up the hill to see whatever there was to see.

It's pretty, don't get me wrong, but here in Spain, there is so much amazing and spectacular, that this, frankly, is quite average.

In this old town there are plaques hanging from the lanterns with famous quotes from saints and authors.  These are unique and fun to find and try to translate.  This one is, roughly, "I live without living and in this way I hope that I die because I won't die."



We walked up to the top of the hill to the castle ruin from which there are nice views of the town and sea beyond.  In fact, from that point, I took more photos of the view that I have only a couple photos of the castle itself, but then, there wasn't much to photograph but pieces of crumbling rock walls.

They are proud though of this castle of Muslim origins.  "Due to its importance, it was conquered by distinguished historical figures like El Cid in 1090, and King James 1 in 1233 (after falling into the Almoravid's hands)."  It was rebuilt in the 14th C and armed in the 16th, but apparently it was "conquered" again because it's in shambles now.

I think it's funny to gage the importance of something by who tried to conquer it, though, now that I think of it, I suppose that's how it works in art, in business ideas, in dating, in war... probably a bit in everything.  We just don't think of it that way normally.

Anyway... that was the hill.  Short and sweet, cute and quaint, quotable and thought provoking...

And at the bottom was a park where we stopped to placate the kids who were bored with quaint castle topped hills and wanted to swing.  They were lucky because there's one of those amazing German backet style swings that swing so high the kids are upside down.  The park is also displaying the first prize sculpture winner of 2010 by Miguel Escobar called Mara'm, mira't, mira.  Fun to photograph.

The beach is where we had an average lunch and took a walk before the rains came.  The kids wanted to sit in the sand and draw.  I wanted to walk. We began the game of "Draw a picture, then run to mom, squat, and draw another one.  Repeat." It worked really well and between the three of them they filled the beach with Spongebob.



I found out later about this resort supposedly here which looks amazing... but somehow I don't think three children and today's weather would have supported it:  http://www.comunitatvalenciana.com/propuestas-de-viaje/castellon-costa-azahar-orpesa/oropesa-del-mar-salud-y-bienestar-en-oropesa-del-mar-0?id_pv=5808

Segunto is not new to me.  We discovered this Carthaginian town sprawled across the top of Segunto's hill the day we arrived in Valencia driving by it then wondering what it could be.  Little did I know how incredibly ancient it was or I probably would have swerved off the road in surprise.  Since then we've been there several times taking visitors as part of our tourist route of the area.  It's old, it's beautiful, the views are great, and there's a great little cafe below that serves cold drinks on hot days and hot drinks on cool ones.

Today was another walk up the hill and around the ruin.  The difference was that now I had friends to pose at the old Roman toilet (did I say Carthaginian?  Well... it took turns being both.).

I've always found it odd that admission is absolutely free, yet the little booth at the entrance insists on giving each person a ticket of admittance.  They don't offer maps or information and within the ruin itself, only two small plaques give away any of the tremendous history that's occurred here.  Today I went into the little pottery shop next to the Roman amphitheater and asked if this was Roman or Carthiginian.  "Roman."

But, I explained, I had read online that it was Carthaginian dating from 219BC.  This is when this sweet man did what I wish the information booth would do.  He pulled out a little booklet - in English - that tells the entire history of the ruin!  Why don't they sell these at the entrance?  Sheesh. 

Now I know.  This ruin that I've walked around so casually since living here began as the Carthaginian city of Arse in the fifth century BC.  It was also the initial scene of the Second Punic War between the Carthaginians and the Romans.  In 219 BC it was conquered by Hannibal, then seven years later in 212, it was restored by Scipio as a Roman city and remained in Roman hands until the 6th c. AD when the Visigoth monarchy moved in to the peninsula.  It's all pretty amazing and now, with book in hand, I'll go back again soon and put the knowledge with the visual.

Chinchilla is only 10 minutes from Albacete.  There, a castle looms high on a hill with the village cascading down from it sort of like an overfrosted cake in the sun.  It's pretty, impressive at first glance, but then, these "castle on a hill" villages are almost getting common place here. 

Like all things in my life with 4 girls, plans are fluid.  We planned on going to Chinchilla, then they were hot and tired and hungry, so we were going to skip it, but then I didn't want to stop at a gas station for food and Kirk was at the gym and the cafeteria on base was closed until 1930, so we found ourselves needing to eat and also kill a bit of time.  Chinchilla was the perfect plan.

I honestly was pulling into Chinchilla from the freeway following a gas station sign.  Really.  But then I didn't find the gas station and did find a convenient parking spot.   So we walked up a slight incline through a street lined with colorful banners very much in the style of the Bayeaux tapestry - very Norman, to the Plaza de la Mancha where the old Cathedral and several other nice buildings stand.  Usually Spanish plazas are empty or lined with trees and benches.  This one, sadly, is lines with cars.   Still, each building was draped with banners indicating that we'd just missed or were about to miss something special going on.

We wandered through the steep streets packed with homes and reached the top where an old man sat with his dog.  The girls pet the three year old dog who was blinded when a careless neighbor poured boiling water from their window, or so the story goes.  The old man was friendly.  He has a son in Valencia.  Doesn't everyone?

The castle is undergoing renovations, so we didn't walk right up to it, but enjoyed it from the distance of a shade tree.  It was a hot day.

Time for a cool drink.  We headed down to the plaza again this time passing an old Arab bath house that was sadly closed.  Those are really beautiful.

Found a cafe in the plaza where groups of ladies sat.  This must be the ladies cafe.  Groups of men sat outside at other cafes.  Groups of men sat inside at this one.  But only ladies outside.  We got three lemon fantas, an iced coffee (one shot espress + 2 ice cubes), and two bag of chips to share.

Wandered back to our car a different way and saw even more of what is really a charming town.  From the highway you see houses leading up to the castle on the hill, but that's it.  There are some really amazing things hidden inside this town that you'd never notice until you're there. 

Folks were pulling up lawn chairs and kitchen chairs onto the sidewalk as we walked by.  There's going to be a play, they said.  Hmmm... sounds wonderful.  We saw two men walk by with heavy costumes.  1930 and everyone was ready, but we had to go. 

Next time, Chinchilla.   Dinner awaits in Albacete.

Hot and tired, we stopped in a little cafe/bar on the main drag.  Several older men (mid 60's was young in this crowd) sat on bar stools at the bar.  A few others sipped beer together at the smaller tables.  A young man stood behind the counter sort of running the place.  That was it.  Men.  We were a bit out of place.  But it was fine.   They girls each got a cold water and an ice cream.  I ordered a coffee with ice and we all sat, and cooled down from the hike up the hill and down again.

The soccer game was just beginning as we were getting ready to leave.  Several old men had come in since.  We were still the only girls.   One man stopped to chat.  He asked if we were on vacation and if the girls were all mine (I get that question a lot here).   He has a relative in California.  (Every Spaniard, it seems, has a relative in the US.)  He talked for about 15 minute before we left.  It was nice.  Everyone was friendly.

Got to the car.  Couldn't find my iPhone.  Went back to the cafe.  Talked to another nice old man with a relative in Valencia, then left information on how to contact me if the iPhone was found.  Returned to the car to find my phone under the seat.  In 45 minutes we'd be in Chinchilla.

A few weeks ago we sat on a porch eating home made pizza hot and fresh from our friend's outdoor brick oven talking with other friends who had just gotten back from a few days camping in Bejis.  I'd never heard of it.

Their Spanish neighbors told them of this town in the mountains at the source of the region's water where it's bottled up cold and clean and sold throughout the country.  They camped on a little hill by a stream.  I had a picture in my head of what that might look like as they decribed it.  Boy, was I wrong.

We left close to noon today on a Sunday when sleeping in was more important than an early start.  We were only driving an hour anyway.  The road towards Teruel is easy as is the curvy road that leads off of it towards the river Palancia and the towns that line it.  Our ears popped and we knew we were higher than we thought though it seemed we were in the valley with so many hills and peaks looming above us.  The road dropped off just a bit and a narrow irrigation canal snaked along it.

It's amazing what you'll do off of a vague recommendation of friends.  We arrived, not really knowing what to do or where to go, only that there is water somewhere.  We really knew nothing.  So we parked in Bejis and walked towards the old town, to the church where I stopped to talk to a man waiting in the street holding a springform pan covered in foil and glistening with the cool wet fog of condensation.  He was meeting friends who all carried pans of something through the streets and kindly took a moment to tell me to follow the road up to the castle ruin, but don't pick up any rocks because small scorpions hit beneath them.  I asked him where the water is.  "There's no water in Bejis."  What???  "Go to Los Cloticos.  You can park there, but it's too difficult to walk to the water."  We later proved him wrong.

The "castle" and I use that term loosely, stands (another "loose term") on top of the hill that the village of Bejis is built on providing stunning views of the region, the village, and the curving river below.  It just about killed me that I didn't bring my macro lens.  What used to be a large castle covering the plateau is now a nearly open field of wild flowers of all varieties.  Huge rosemary bushes thriving, wild lavendar littering the place, beautiful purple and yellow flowers, and a plethora of tiny plants and flowers no bigger 1/2" tall growing out of tiny cracks in the rocks.  Bees and crickets sang and the butterflies taunted me, but wouldn't let me photograph them.  The castle is only evidenced by a couple tiny collections of stacked rock, barely even a wall, more like stubs of walls - squat piles of rocks that sort of looked like may be they were something once.

We walked down to the village square for a quick beverage - dying of heat - then headed to the car and followed the signs to Los Cloticos passed the Roman aquaduct and along the windy river.

The sign led us to a crowded triangular parking lot wedged between rocky walls on one side and a drop to the river 100 meters below.  In front of us was a large picnic area full of families, a small playground with more butterflies than children, and a fountain from which you could fill your jugs with drinking water, fresh, clean, and ice cold.  An older man had brought 7 in his car.  Filled them all, then walked them two by two back to his car.  I offered to help, but he was "young" - just completing his 70's birthday in February.

I asked him how to get to the river and he motioned to a small flight of stairs near our car warning us to be careful.  The path was a little steep in some places, but not difficult at all.  I knew we'd see a little creek.  I'd heard it was nice.  I had no idea I'd see this.






We neared the bottom of the trail to see this amazing wall of water, a veil cascading down the thick blanket of moss hiding the rock face.  Like something out of a movie paradise.  There was no one there.  Private, silent.  Kirk found it first and perched himself on a rock for a few moments just soaking it in.  This is paradise.  Really.

From here, the water wanders.  This is its place and it decides where it wants to go.  There is nothing to stop it.  So it begins, then breaks off, then rejoins and breaks again.  The water is perfectly clear creating a slight blur of motion to the plants it covers, yet it's like looking through glass.  It meanders no matter what might be in its path.  Bright green plants seem undisturbed as they sway.  The path along the valley ends and soon you're walking in water because there's no other place to go.  In parts it's only a few inches deep.  In others a couple feet.  The grade is gradual, so every little while there are small falls.  Just more paradise.

We found this place... a nice quiet fall and a circular pool.  We all waded in to feel the water that was cold, but didn't bother us.  Lunch ended up the hill and soon families were coming down to walk along this creek and find their own small swimming holes to play in.  These extra kids waded in, then left to follow their families leaving us to have this place all to ourselves for a while before it was time to go home.  Then we were all looking back as we walked, sad we slept in, wanting to come back before we'd even left.
We will be back.  I think this is our new favorite place in Spain.

If you ever drive to my house from the north, you'll see as you get near, a very large ruin sprawling itself all along a mountain ridge about the town of Sagunto. Just 10 minutes from my house, I took the occasion of Dad and Angie's visit to finally see it, a quick easy afternoon after a morning of errands in Betera.

The roads leading to it are fantastically photographical, but a nightmare to drive. Thankful we were in Dads tiny Citroen rental and not my van, we made it to the top with easy parking at the castle gate. We entered. The man in the small white booth gave us each a ticket, but took no money. It's free. And we walked.

There is little information written about this castle. It's sprawling mass of old walls once the city of Seguntum is now a butterflies playland. No tour, no guide (perfect), we just walked the entire ridge first one side, then the other admiring the view from all sides. Perfect, untouched, and really, unchanged. No signs of modern life stand here exept for two small placards and the mans white booth. The rest is there. Walls, drop offs, places that would be fantastic for a game of hide and seek with the kids and places where one wrong move would send you down the mountain into a patch of waiting prickly pears.














Dad and I climbed a lot of old stairs and peeked over many walls. We all took way more photos than we needed, but that's half the fun.

The history itself is amazing - to me just by the sheer oldness of it. Yes, Hannibal's elephants once rested themselves along the cami road that I take now on an almost daily basis. And here in Sagunto, Hannibal's armies laid seige to the people who while in Carthaginian territory aligned themselves with the Romans.

I didn't know it until I got home and looked it up... Cut and pasted below. Amazing stuff. :)

More Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=157494&id=674507268&l=96e8666c87

History From http://www.planetware.com:
"The destruction of Saguntum by the 28-year-old Carthaginian general Hannibal in 219 B.C. sparked off the second Punic War. The "

Just behind the blocky, grey, architecturally out-of-place US military base at Schinnen is a castle with horses, a narrow country road, and endless walking/biking trails. It's quiet and beautiful.

Today, the only sunny day in longer than I'd like to think about, was supposed to be my day out - a couple errands and then a photographic walk through the village. But, Elise has a strange rash - nothing, according to the MD, but not something she can go to school with - so... by beautiful day walking ended up being more errands and a 30 minute photographic drive. Drive slowly, stop, angle van, roll down window, snap, snap. Repeat. Elise is quite used to this and humors me. Thank goodness. We had fun with the horses.

The house is decorated for Karneval. Looks like Schinnen's prince lives here.

Imagine, that you can make a list of as many friends as you'd like - all the people that you know and like - all the people that you'd like to spend time with, have coffee with, invite over for dinner, and don't have time to, the teachers, coworkers, kids' friends...

And then, you just hand that over to someone and they plan a party complete with dinner and a band. It's at a beautiful castle. You pay a little for your ticket and then just show up. No mess, no cleanup, no stress. Just food, friends, and a fabulous night at a castle.

That was our Saturday night.

I've never been to an AF Birthday Ball. They happen every year, but either it's been bad timing or we just didn't want to go. Sometimes they can fall under the "mandatory fun" category and we all know that if it's "mandatory," then it's not going to be very fun. And this year, despite my bemoaning the fact that I couldn't find a dress that I really was excited to wear, Kirk felt that he should go and I wasn't about to let him to to a ball at a castle without me.

Thankfully his cast (6 weeks for tendinitis) fit inside his pantleg and his little "shoe" was the right shade of AF blue.

We had a wonderfully relaxing evening at Kasteel Hoensbroek. The evening was running horribly behind schedule, so at one point, we started to worry that we might never eat, but the slow pace allowed us to walk around and mingle more than most AF gatherings. And there were so many people there than I honestly like and wanted to talk to - too many, really. Certainly more than I had time to see. All the ladies dressed very nicely - ball gowns of all sorts including one VERY LARGE hoop skirt and one VERY lowcut/revealing dress - both becoming the whispered talk of the night among the ladies. Some things don't change with age. Rivers would have had a great time at this one.

The obligatory guest speaker was kind enough to keep it short and by 10 (it started at 5:30), the dining hour was over and the band began - the AF band from Ramstein singing country, rock, and all sorts of upbeat tunes - not what you would picture when thinking of a military band. No marching music here, but they were all in their mess dress - I should have gotten a photo. It was funny.

A small group of Navy came - there are about 10 on this base. One stood up to toast the AF and said that like a good big brother, they'd buy the AF a drink on it's birthday, so the Navy put money on the bar for us all. I wasn't drinking, but the thought was very nice, and with 350 people there, it was a very generous birthday gift.

Upstairs in the castle was GB's (Great Britain) party - they had loud music and a lot of flashing colored lights showing up in their windows. I was tempted to crash it - just out of curiosity, but Kirk and I were both ready to go home by 11.

A good night... and now I can say I've been to a ball at a castle. Pretty cool.

.... check out the photos that were taken... no great ones of us, but we are in #119... don't laugh.

This morning we had to leave Paris and as crazy as it sounds, it was like leaving behind a new friend. No one was happy.

I got up especially early, got myself together, and walked to the Monoprix for my last time to get my breakfast there. I lingered just a little extra trying to imprint my memory with some of the sights there... the cheese, the candies, the people. I walked over to the clothing department and looked around at the hats and scarves. There were berets in every color and a lot of different styles of scarves and stoles made of rabbit and dyed in colors like pink and green. I bought a beret for Tiara and a black rabbit change purse for myself - our little souvenirs from Paris. I bought extra cheese to take home, some hard candies to try, the juice that Kirk liked, and some chocolate. Then I went to the Patisserie for a couple baguettes and some chocolate biscuits. I wanted to get the almond cake that they'd prepared, but it was very expensive and I only had my change with me.

Packing and checking out went fairly quickly. I was worried because we hadn't seen tiger or lion - Luci's favorite stuffed toys in since the room was cleaned the day before, so once everyone was in the car and ready to go, I ran back up to the hotel to ask them if they might be in the laundry. I ended up talking to the manager of the cleaning staff who kindly took down my name and number just in case they turned up. (They ended up turning up when I unpacked the dirty laundry suitcase. Lion was wrapped in an dress and tiger had been hiding inside a hotel pillowcase.)


Getting out of Paris was easier that getting into it, but still scary. The wide laneless roads with traffic going every direction at once made me grip the handle on the door tighter than normal. I tried to distract myself with inviting Patisseries and Chocolatiers and other shops, but the traffic there really is a bit scary.

Soon we were on the highway heading towards a small village that I wanted to see. We got off the A2 and drove through the Foret de Compiegne towards Pierrefonds. The Foret was amazingly well marked with large white signs bearing spokes at the tops pointing in all directions with the names of nearby villages and the distances away on them. We saw very few people out in the cold, but several riders on horses sped by through the forest. The trees were tall and mostly bare, the roads very straight, and every once in a while a beautiful old house would just appear out of nowhere. They had wooden shutters and many had other little buildings near them looking almost like a servants or guest quarters would look. One home even had a little lake in front of it that would be really nice in the summer.

The villages that we passed through were very small and quaint. The stone houses were all varying shades of taupe giving the towns little color with the grey of the sky and the street. Still, they were inviting. I wanted so much to park and walk along the narrow streets and look at the little gardens and tiny little houses. The homes are so tall where I live that the short stone buildings in these towns seemed like doll houses all clumped together.

Pierrefonds is a small town, but it is known for it's Chateau - just one of many sprinkled throughout France. It isn't something that you'd ever run into - you really have to look for this place, but I'm glad we did. The Chateau de Perrefoonds was constructed on the hill in the 14th C, but was a ruin by the 18th C, so what we saw was relatively new. Napoleon I bought the Chateau for less than 3000 francs and Napoleon III commissioned the architect, Viollet-le-Duc (he also did restoration work on the Notre Dame in Paris) to restore it. It was completed in 1884. The exterior is quite medieval, but beautiful and much larger than I'd imagined. It had a moat as well, though no water in it when we went, just a very daunting moss covered drawbridge.

We parked on the narrow street just below the castle and walked up and around it. It was so cold we were all shivering and fairly miserable, so it was frustrating when we reached the top and it was closed for tours that day. Thankfully we found the quick way back down and were on the road again towards Compiegne.

The details on the castle were fun to look for. A gargoyle sticking his head out from the middle of a tall wall acted as a downspout allowing water to drip down leaving a trail of green moss growing on the wall there. Other carvings and statues set into the otherwise smooth walls added beauty without being garish. It almost seemed like an Advent calendar, seeing a new little carving each time you rounded a bend or came upon a new wall.

Thin slits from the bottom to the top of the fortress and even in the gates allowed arrows to go out, but not come in. A "young" castle, it was clean and white in comparison with many others I've seen.