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Roland Routier

An open-ended adventure by Roland Routier Read more
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  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Time for a pipe

    April 21, 2018 in Gibraltar ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    The Great Siege from 1779-1783 was an attempt by France and Spain to capture Gibraltar while Britain was otherwise engaged with the American Revolution. A fascinating page describing it is here:
    http://military.wikia.com/wiki/Thirteenth_Siege…

    The British had between 5,500 and 7,000 men and only 96 guns; the Spanish and French forces 40,000 men and 246 guns. Nevertheless, the siege was ultimately unsuccessful, although tiresome for the inhabitants.
    One legacy attracting tourists today is the network of tunnels inside the Rock started by Sergeant-Major Henry Ince, whose troops, known as Soldier Artificers, eventually became the Corps of Royal Engineers.

    The night before the besiegers big attack to end the siege, half the garrison had crept out and virtually destroyed the forces entrenched on the isthmus, which delayed things a bit. On 26Nov 1981 a dinner was given in this chamber by the Deputy Fortress Commander, Brigadier GLD Duckworth to mark the 200th anniversary of the sortie. Amongst the distinguished guests were HE The Governor, General Sir William Jackson(alphabet) and the Chief Minister Sir Joshua Hassan (alphabet) who no doubt heeded the lesson.

    A couple of inventions made in the heat of battle were particularly influential in winning the war. Lieutenant Koehler solved the problem of how to fire the cannons from a steep angle of depression, from high up on the Rock down onto the besieging forces at the same time as making firing safer by allowing the barrel to move absorbing some of the recoil before the carriage itself surged backward. And Lieutenant Shrapnel developed the ammunition that still bears his name.

    I thought they must have made themselves comfortable in their gun emplacements when I saw the curtain rail. Then I read that the embrasures were fitted with mantlets or curtains of woven ropes to protect the guns and gunners from enemy fire and prevent sparks and smoke blowing back inside. A wet cloth was hung above each cannon to prevent the sparks from igniting the remaining gunpowder. So, quite safe then!
    Admiral Lord Nelson embalmed in a cask of wine visited Gibraltar on his way home after the battle Battle of Trafalgar. Several of his fellow sailors are laid to rest in the Trafalgar Cemetery but the largest cause of death is from Yellow Fever - one epidemic alone cost 1,000 lives.

    The Spanish may have given up, but those pesky French started another blockade almost as soon as this siege ended. Boney, one of the first EU Commissioners, invented the "Continental System". Decrees of Berlin (1806) and Milan (1807) proclaimed a blockade: neutrals and French allies were not to trade with the British. In response our Arthur was dispatched to evict Boney from the Iberian Peninsular, which he did in 1814 because he was the ferocious ferric fighter, the Iron Dook himself, who could not be tarnished by failure. (He is also famous for inventing Wellies.)    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Emmental cheese

    April 20, 2018 in Gibraltar ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    “A mountain with wonderful concavities, which has its western side almost opened by a large cave which may be penetrated far into the interior.” [Pomponius Mela a geographer from Algeciras]

    The Rock is a honeycomb of caves and tunnels, one of which is St Michaels at 300 m ASL in the Upper Rock.
    The legend states that the cave is bottomless, and the Barbary Macaques used a 15 km tunnel linking it to Africa to enter Gibralter.
    Another legend records that one Colonel Mitchell some point before 1840, in the company of a second officer vanished in the cave never to be seen or heard again. Since then the cave system has been thoroughly explored but no human remains from that era has been found.
    But human remains have been found: notably two Neanderthal skulls perhaps from as long ago as 40,000 BCE which were kept in a cupboard until the publication of the archaeological dig in the Neander valley. If they had understood the significance of the skulls we might now be talking about Gibralterians rather than Neanderthals. (Maybe Mrs May is anyway.)

    Ancient artwork has also been found, for example an ibex that was traced to the Solutrean period (dating it to about 15-20 thousand years ago.)

    Modern man has added music to the art collection and built this 600 head auditorium in the main cavern.

    Seismic activity a few thousand years ago caused one of the stalagmites to keel over and the piece was cut open to show the rings recording the cycles of growth.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Bordering on the suicidal

    April 20, 2018 in Gibraltar ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    The land entry to Gibralter is famous because traffic and pedestrians have to cross the main runway to get in.

    It is also famous for the Barbary Macaques whose presence ensures the possession of the Rock by the British Crown. When the monkeys go so will the poms. If the wind keeps blowing at 100 kph (they closed part of the park whilst I was struggling along and the Macaques huddling together,) both monkeys and men will be expelled willy-nilly.

    Not a lot of people know that the Preying Mantis has right of way. Or is it stick insects? Nobody could tell me.

    The Pueblo Blancos all have pretty blue flower pots filled with Geraniums on their walls. Gibralterians had a go at something similar here but could not escape their wicked British sense of humour.

    Finally, it was a relief to see that all the military work was voluntary. Nobody was press ganged or anything nasty like that. Britains never, never, shall be slaves.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    La Línea de la Concepción

    April 20, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Homer records that the Pillars of Heracles were created when Heracles broke the mountain that had connected Africa and Europe. I walked around the British one, 5 km long and 1.2 km wide. Since we can't pronounce Jabal Tariq (Mount Tarik) as it was named after Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād captured the peninsula in 711, we now call it Gibralter.

    How come a tiny bit of the Spanish coast is British? Well, it all started when the Spanish Hapsburg line expired with Charles II in 1701 and the childless King of Spain's cousins England, the Dutch Republic and France each claimed the inheritance. Unfortunately, there were no American lawyers to intervene and cash out the claims for themselves, so there was violent feuding between three.
    In 1704, Admiral Sir George Rooke, (made a Vice-Admiral of England no less after the liberating the Spanish treasure fleet in Vigo Bay,) captured Gibraltar for the British and wouldn't let go of it.
    After 13 years everybody got a bit tired of squabbling so a series of bilateral treaties, known collectively as the Treaty of Utrecht, were signed between the parties. Spain’s treaty with Britain (July 13 1713) gave Gibraltar, (“the town, castle and fortifications were to be held and enjoyed for ever without any exception or impediment whatsoever”) and Minorca to Britain.
    The Treaty also granted the British South Sea Company an asiento entitling them to send 4,800 slaves to Spanish America annually for 30 years and to send one ship (navío de permiso) each year to engage in general trade. [It wasn't all one sided though, the taxman a.k.a. Spanish Crown demanded £34,000 for the first 4,000 slaves whether or not they were imported. And wars and stuff kept blocking access to the American markets.]

    There is much discussion in the press about what to do with Gib after Brexit.
    ⦁ The British Government see no profit in it - rather like the Falklands - and hopes it will go away financially but still welcome British war ships and planes.
    ⦁ The Spanish hope it will go away financially but nominally become Spanish and pay airport landing taxes to Madrid.
    ⦁ The Gibralterians reckon they can survive on the sale of Duty free booze and the profits of S mini-bus tours and voted convincingly to remain under the British Crown; but see themselves as European whatever Mrs May wants.

    The blocks of rubble in the foreground of the photo are the remains of the Fortelleza Santa Barbara. This formed one end of a chain of Spanish fortifications across the isthmus separating the Rock from the countryside that King Felipe V, the first Bourbon King ordered to contain the Brits during the Peninsular War. It was originally called La Linea de Contravalacion and was raised to the ground in a raid by the forces of the vegetarian Governor General Elliot just in case the French were to occupy it as was rumoured.
    The town eventually became La Linea.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Moving on

    April 16, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Before the Romans got here and cleaned up the place, it was inhabited by the Turdistan people. They were not expelled or squeezed out by the invaders: on the contrary of all vanquished people they appreciated the gift of plumbing more than any other.
    I realise of course that you might be smirking a little, thinking I invented the story, so I feel obliged to reference the name:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_Pre-R…
    This explains the hotels focus. I got a gut feel about the place but can't help wondering why the taps are upside down.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Setenil de las Bodegas

    April 15, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    This intriguing little town originated in caves along the Trejo river, which at least from Arabic times have been turned into houses by the simple addition of facades. Continuous human occupation has erased any record of ancient dwellings, though the nearby Cueva de la Pileta shows evidence of habitation over 25,000 years old.
    Modern Setenil begins in 1484, relatively late in the Christian Reconquest, when the Christian armies expelled its Moorish, Granada-led Nasrid rulers
    It took the Christians fifteen days to expel the Moors in 1484 from the castillo. The town name is believed to have been taken from the Roman Latin phrase "septem nihil", "seven times no", a phrase possibly linked to earlier invasions or skirmishes.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Olvera town

    April 15, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Leaving town.
    I could have bought 190 sq m of house - a do-er upper -in the old town for 30,000 Euros. But so many Brits have built inappropriate dwellings in Spain that the authorities have made it expensive to refurbish buildings and impossible to diverge from the original design and materials.Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Olvera 2

    April 14, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    The XIIth C Fortelleza, built as part of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada's defensive perimeter, (and manned by the famous Granadiers,) has been well restored and commands the countryside at 623m above sea level.
    There is a famous Andaluz saying: 'Kill your man and flee to Olvera!' as it was so remote from Spanish intervention.
    The old Arab town dribbles away to the plains beneath it.
    If you ever plan to visit, bring a bike as the 38km 'ruta verde' abandoned rail-line hiker/biker route linking it to Puerto Serrano looks like it is worth a trip.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Olvera

    April 14, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    There is archaelogical evidence of human habitation in this area for more than 12,000 years (Palaeolithic) and historic for 2,000. Another town settled by the Phoenicians and Romans, whonamed it Hippa or Hippo Nova.
    Visigoths from the Baltic regiontook it in the 5th century ACE, and the Berber armies from north Africa in the 9th century. They called it Wubira, or possibly Uriwila, and managed to hold it under the rule of Granada's Nasrid rulers until the town fell to the Christian reconquistadores in 1327.
    The Iglesia de Nuestra Signora de la Encarnación church is relatively new, (1841,) built ontop of the old gothic cathedral ontop of a mosque. Up close it is peeling and crcking, so I didn't pay to enter.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Lake District

    April 12, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    This geographical area is known in the Tourist Industry as the "Spanish Lake District" but don't look for any cottages offering Devonshire Teas.
    In 1914 the Turon river was dammed to regulate water supply on which Malaga depends. The engineer who built it acheived his aim using Cyclopean Cement (No, I never heard of it either,) by which it is to be assumed they mean he was a man of restricted vision. Nevertheless King Alfonso XII was so impressed by the feat when he visited in 1921 that he made him a Count and named the dam the Embalse Conde de Guadalhorce.
    A little known folk feature of the Lakes is the use of pumpkins for roofing.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Hammer and sycle

    April 9, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    A little way towards Malaga, I came across the small town of Marinaleda. This was or is famous for being a successful Communist town.
    As in Emiglia Romana after WW2, a Communists was elected Mayor in 1962 to enable the town to survive as a community.

    It all started in 1979 when Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, the local Mayor, started a campaign for land reforms. After 12 years of strikes and and land occupation, the regional government granted the El Humosa farmhouse and 1200 hectares of land, which an absentee landlord had allowed to remain uncultivated whilst 60% of the locals were unemployed and living in poverty, to the village. On this they formed a cooperative to grow vegetables and later process food.

    This cooperative provided employment to the unemployed folk as well as the funds for cooperative housing developments. Unfortunately, it was not enough and they also relied, particularly out of season, on the government job finder's allowance. The mayor proved inimicable to new, private ventures and many of the youngsters have to leave to find work and to further their ambitions.

    Whilst the politics might be iffy, the establishment of co-operative ventures has worked - an example is this olive processing co-op.

    How Communist the place is now is a mute point. Nobody would say anything about it.

    Probably it's a moot point as the reality of poverty or pastoral economics has curtailed the civic ardour of the population. The dry, cracked ponds and faded paintwork in the extensive municipal gardens worthy of a small city, and the sole gardener in a struggle with decent weeds, reveals the collapse of an initial optimism.

    Perhaps the two sets of infrequently used, outdoor exercise equipment suggest that this is a function of population size rather than the lack of money indicated by the rusty flag pole flanked by 12 stained concrete 1.5m high Doric pillars found on top of the hill.

    A nice - albeit rather fascist - touch is provided by this amphitheatre which can even be flooded to about a metre and sits alongside the oversized sports arena.

    Searching for the biblioteca I entered the Citizens' Social Centre where a committee of elderly workers were enjoying a small "tinto" and a game of cards in the cavernous, concrete bar hall. The municipal library was upstairs and evoked the feeling of a past era wistfully remembered. Partly this was due to the chain and padlock closing the two entrance doors like the site of an abandoned industry, but also because the rectangular, sepia toned, room was divided into three by wooden panelling made from the type of erratically tinted plywood made in the 40's. The area by the door was empty of furniture and through a glass window the morning sun illuminated a pile of ragged paper books lying piled on a shelf like in a proletarian sitting room. A glimpse of pre-Wall Dresden came to mind.

    Nothing else to say about it really.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Triumph

    April 6, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Alongside the Mesquite is the Triunfos erected in honour of St Raphael. It was finished by Miguel Verdiguier, a Frenchman who settled in Cordoba in the 18th century and is responsible for the distinctive Rococo style.
    The Foro Romano.
    A statue of Ghandi I presume.
    Some unknown bull fighter.
    A bronze pigeon.
    And a plaque.
    And with those random photos I leave Cordoba!    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Tilting at windmills

    April 6, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    The Flamenco holds exhibits relating the history of the guitar and all the flamenco greats. Touch-screen videos demonstrate the tech­niques of flamenco song, guitar, dance and percussion. One can test one's skill tapping out the compás (rhythm) of different palos (song forms): provided that one can actually get the screen to work after 5,000,000 visitors a year have had a go.
    The building is 'Posada del Potro', an old horse trading inn described by Don Miguel Cervantes as "a den of thieves". Here is his description of the scene where Sanch Panchez refused to pay for a (k)nights accommodation:
    " ... ... At this the innkeeper waxed very wroth, and threatened if he did not pay to compel him in a way that he would not like.
    To which Sancho made answer that by the law of chivalry his master had received he would not pay a rap, though it cost him his life; for the excellent and ancient usage of knights-errant was not going to be violated by him, nor should the squires of such as were yet to come into the world ever complain of him or reproach him with breaking so just a privilege.
    The ill-luck of the unfortunate Sancho so ordered it that among the company in the inn there were four woolcarders from Segovia, three needle-makers from the Colt of Cordova, and two lodgers from the Fair of Seville, lively fellows, tender-hearted, fond of a joke, and playful, who, almost as if instigated and moved by a common impulse, made up to Sancho and dismounted him from his ass, while one of them went in for the blanket of the host's bed; but on flinging him into it they looked up, and seeing that the ceiling was somewhat lower what they required for their work, they decided upon going out into the yard, which was bounded by the sky, and there, putting Sancho in the middle of the blanket, they began to raise him high, making sport with him as they would with a dog at Shrovetide.
    The cries of the poor blanketed wretch were so loud that they reached the ears of his master [Don Quixote] who, halting to listen attentively, was persuaded that some new adventure was coming, until he clearly perceived that it was his squire who uttered them. Wheeling about he came up to the inn with a laborious gallop, and finding it shut went round it to see if he could find some way of getting in; but as soon as he came to the wall of the yard, which was not very high, he discovered the game that was being played with his squire. He saw him rising and falling in the air with such grace and nimbleness that, had his rage allowed him, it is my belief he would have laughed. He tried to climb from his horse on to the top of the wall, but he was so bruised and battered that he could not even dismount; and so from the back of his horse he began to utter such maledictions and objurgations against those who were blanketing Sancho as it would be impossible to write down accurately: they, however, did not stay their laughter or their work for this, nor did the flying Sancho cease his lamentations, mingled now with threats, now with entreaties but all to little purpose, or none at all, until from pure weariness they left off."    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Archives C

    April 5, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Mandarin and Violets in the innermost courtyard next to the archives - more like a storage shed for old stuff.

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Well C

    April 5, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Water from the Colodro river enters through the well and into the decorated sink before being ducted throughout the garden.
    Bougainvillea and arborvitae

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Garden C

    April 5, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Keeping up with the Jones'
    The 7th Marquis of Villaseca wanted to compete in fashion with the other early XIXth C families so he commissioned this garden.
    Common Box, German Iris, DeLavay's Magnolia and a splendid >400 year old White Oak.Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    C of Bars

    April 5, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Look at me!
    This garden of Bergamot Orange, Centauria and Cineraria was constructed in the XVII C so the peasants gazing awestruck through the "Mannerist" bars set in the exterior walls would be suitably impressed and remember their station in life.Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    C of Cats

    April 5, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    The oldest documented courtyard in Cordoba, it has been rented out from mediaevil times and belonged to the Puentezuela de Tres Canos houses. So why "cats" I cannot reveal.
    Ivy leaf geranium and Marguerite.Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    The Prestige

    April 5, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    The XVI C Reception courtyard has the corner cut-off so that carriages may enter, (but barricaded for maintenance!)
    The story goes that a fella named Ursus left his trousers here after a rendezvous with a courtesan so the gardeners chose as the main plants: Bear's Britches, Night Blooming Jasmine, and Date Palm.Read more

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Palacio de Viana

    April 5, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Gate Courtyard
    This is the entrance courtyard to the house of Torres Cabrera before being amalgamated into the new Palacio de Viana in the 19thC. The palace used to be called the "Rejas de Don Gome" after its original owner, but since it has been home to 18 noble families between the XVth and XXth C it now, as a museum and National Monument, is frequently called the Palace of Courtyards, of which there are 12 + nursery. Half the 65000 square metres of area are garden / courtyard.
    The cognoscenti will recognise an umbrella palm, Lady Banks' Rose and Yew. (I made a point of recording all the names of flowers even though I couldn't tell you which was which.)    Read more

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