Fantasia Espanaby Emily and CK | |
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After coming back from South America, Emily began a relentless campaign of suggesting, requesting, entreating, pleading, whining, imploring, insisting and demanding making Spain the destination of our next trip, "to practise her Spanish". "Shouldn't we do more trekking when we still have the strength to do it? We can go to Spain when we were 60." "By then I would have forgotten all my Spanish, or got all mixed up with other languages!!!" Failing to achieve her goal, Emily redoubled her effort and noise level. "Must go to Spain!" "Must go to Spain!" ... And it went on and on ... In order to prevent permanent hearing loss, CK agreed. After all, the historic sites and museums are interesting to CK. So Emily resumed her practice in Spanish, while CK started his research on tourist sights in Spain.
Spain is a nation on the cultural intersection of four continents. Her history began with as colonies of powers from Asia (Phoenicians), Africa (Carthaginians) and finally Europe (Romans); it provided two of the Five Good Emperors (Trajan and Hadrian) who ruled the Roman Empire at its peak. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Spain was ruled by the Visigoths from the European heartland, until the Moors crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. While the rest of Europe was still struggling its way out of the dark ages, under Muslim rule Spain was economically prosperous and culturally vibrant. However, most of what we considered as quintessentially Spanish was the fruit of the period of Reconquest, during which the Christians slowly reconquered the Iberian peninsula from Muslim rule. The process came to competition during the reigns of the Catholic Monarchs Fernando and Isabel. As the heir of the Castilla, the most powerful kingdom in Spain, Isabel was remarkable in her success in evading the marriages arranged by her brother and marrying the man of her choice: Fernando of the neighboring kingdom of Aragon. With their marriage, and their conquest of the last Moorish stronghold in Granada, Spain became a unified and powerful force in Europe. Moreover, the southward momentum of the Reconquest carried the Spanish flag across the Ocean: Christopher Columbus claimed the New World for Fernando and Isabel, and brought back to Spain the treasures he found in the continent now known as America. The huge influx of wealth Spain made extremely rich, and extremely menacing. The menace was embodied in the person of their grandson. From his maternal grandparents Fernando and Isabel, he inherited the formidable armies of Spain, the overlordship over Naples, and the immense wealth of the New World; from his paternal grandparents Maximilian of Austria and Mary of Burgundy, he added the vast territories of Austria, the vibrant commerce of Netherlands, and the prestigious title of Holy Roman Emperor; all these made Emperor Carlos V the most powerful ruler in Europe. Funded by the New World gold, he came close multiple times in making the House of Hapsburg the master of Europe, but even the powerful arms of Spain were not equal to the Herculean tasks of simultaneously stopping the Ottomans in the east, dominating the Incans and Aztecs in the West, suppressing the Protestants in Netherlands and Germany, and fighting a never-ending duel against King Francis I of France. In the end, illness forced Carlos V to abdicate his throne, leaving an Empire to each of his heirs: his brother became the next Holy Roman Emperor, while his son Felipe II inherited the Empire of Spain. To an English speaking reader, Felipe II was probably the most well-known of all Spanish Monarchs. He married the fanatically Catholic Queen Mary I of England, and after her death tried to repeat his success with her very Protestant sister Queen Elizabeth I, who refused his advances and proposals. This led to the famous sea battle between the Spanish Armada and the English Navy, a decisive military encounter which began the slow but long decline of Spain. As CK planned the trip, he realized that to fully appreciate the Spanish experience it was essential to be familiar with its history. After all, this was a nation of castles and cathedrals; every castle and cathedral had a story, and every story was about a King or a Queen.
We were planning to visit Spain in July, when the day was longest. However, Spain was infamous for its heat waves, and we eventually decided early summer would be a wiser choice. A special deal from Iberia Airlines decided that our trip would begin and end in Madrid. Spain is a pretty big country, and a lot of ground to cover in only 18 days. In the last two decades, Spain had developed an extensive network of public transportation. Hence we decided early on not to rent a car (in cities parking was notoriously difficult) but to travel by only trains and buses. Two months before the trip, CK was busily researching on hotels and tickets, while Emily spent a lot of time reading Spanish websites or listening Spanish CDs. Her Spanish served her well during our trip in Bolivia and Peru, and she was looking forward to another opportunity to prove her proficiency. By the time May rolled around, we were brimming with excitement. Finally, one Wednesday evening, we put our backpacks on our backs, jumped into a cab, and headed to the airport ... |
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Created on 21st Jun 2008. Last updated on 8th Nov 2008. |