TGDT Day 5&6

Hello new readers 🙂 Welcome back older readers. It was 11pm on Thursday when I was found falling asleep catching up on Episode 5 of The Boys in Bed. Needless to say Friday began very slowly. The running household gag has been adjusting to the Spanish time zone after a couple of months working in Spain. Meal and bed times have slowly become later and Siesta faithfully followed. I completed Episode 5 drinking coffee and lurched into completing my three previous entries. There were a few lessons learned. Notably, the need to create galleries for the sizable amounts of photos I uploaded.

Silvi is also a fan of astrology and the Cancerian domestic Goddess let me perch on her living devani couch delivering me libations whilst she created another great meal. At about 4pm we walked towards the safer end of Ramblas and completed the following tasks.

A haircut for me. The barbers was run by an Italian collective. They prefered customers paid in cash. Italiano was the predominant language. I really can not escape Italy.

We purchased a Nespresso machine. The small stove top has been getting some heavy use and is not fit for purpose. However I shall be relocating it with me as I can’t bear the thought of it being homeless.

We collected a small cylinder for a couple of Dali prints I got at the Dali Museum. Silvi got some small tags for her coworking shop sale this weekend.

The Domestic Goddess has been demonstrating/teaching me some very simple tasty dishes. One of her clever kitchen devices is a small flywheel blender. I now am the proud owner of one. It shall be great for dicing tomatoes and onions. I can probably convince Dario to dice things for me.

Dinner was devoured and a slightly earlier bedtime was achieved.

It is now 4pm on Day 6. I managed to do some shopping earlier but restrained myself only with a pair of shoes and some travel toiletries for our next jaunt. Bangkok is pretty good for shopping :-). This evening we shall get ourselves ready for our short flight to the white isle. We are travelling with carry on luggage only, which is a new thing for me. Next stop Ibiza

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TGDT Day 4 Completing the Triangle Part 2

We left port Lligat and made our way to Mooma an organic Apple orchard and dining establishment. The lunch was very welcome and I enjoyed it and the company very well.

The food was so good I indulged in a very memorable cheese cake.

On our way out Silvi spied a nice reminder of the travelling Kiwi.

Silvi did the bulk of the driving on our trip. It was quite a luxury to be a passenger for once and she is a fan of the Tesla experience.

Pubol was our next stop. The story of the Castle is well encapsulated in this very informational mirror. Stylistic composition courtesy of me.

The Castle is a monument to the pairs love and is definitely her Castle with the art and ideas an expression of this. The drive from Cadaques was quite long. He certainly needed an invitation as driving there to be turned away would have been arduous.

The Castles origins are reflected in some pageantry.

A large stuffed horse lives downstairs. Not being a fan of horses or the people that ride them I found this very suitable.

You can keep an eye on the horse on the floor above through the coffee table.

Every Queen should have a throne.

A door to nowhere.

A very unique chess set

Dali’s last working space.

Priceless fashion on display.

Outside we found the pool and some very famous elephants that once were fountains.

Dalis Cadillac is on display.

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I left the Castle quite uplifted from our two day Dali expose. The triangle complete. Silvi tries to make it to Cadaques once a year and always finds it inspiring. I can see why. Not since Thailand have I made three updates in a day. May the Dali inspirational half life long continue.

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TGDT Day 4 Completing the Triangle Part 1

Do not feed the seagulls. We ate breakfast beside the pool. One of the guests took it as an invitation to feed a Seagull that clearly did not need feeding. It had cleverly worked out by perching on the beams above the outside seating area it could swoop down and mop up breakfast. It did not need encouraging. I enjoyed shooing it away but it still managed to break a coffee cup.

Said Seagull.

The hotel had some great architecture and design features that Silvi adored. I especially enjoyed the coffee machine.

A short drive over the hill took us to port Lligat and the Dali house. The story of the house is that he purchased 4 small fishing warehouses and then moulded them into a studio/laboratory and all the things a creative needs. Most importantly it was a home.

My time working for Steven Spielberg impressed upon me of the importance of light in the visual arts. Light was found in abundance.

View across olive grove to a house feature.

The front lawn.

Did the tree grow out of the boat?

The tours are quite short. 30 minutes in total. Our tour guide switched between French and English admirably. Luckily for me Silvi had visited before and could concentrate on taking photos and I could absorb a very inspirational home.

The grandest of entrances.

A dining room for two.

The library.

The view from the breakfast balcony.

The laboratory/studio. When Gala sadly died, Dali decided to never live in their home again. Everything inside is a snapshot. Including the art he was working on.

The yellow room. If you look on the left hand side you can see a mirror. Dali had this installed so when he was in bed he would get the sun’s light before he would naturally get it. He could also claim to be the first man in Spain to see the Sun.

The bedsroom.

Some tourist.

The dressing room with media clips and photos adorning the doors.

This was my favourite room. A perfect conversation room. With the oval shape it allows you to whisper to people on the other side of the room with lossless audio. No Chinese whispers here.

With the guided tour officially over we were able to enjoy some of the entertaining areas outside.

I think an invitation to Dali’s house would have been impossible to resist. His pool parties beyond legendary. Before we left we were able to view a collection of film he had made in the 70’s. The techniques he utilised and the way he carried himself in front of a camera really showed, he was living art.

This entry takes us up until mid day. The next will catalog a late lunch and the Castle. Till next time besos xx.

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TGDT Day 3 Daliessense

This morning we picked up a rental Tesla and drove up the Costa Brava. After leaving Barcelona behind we made good time and were soon enough beach side on Playa Treumal. It is not quite peak summer here and the steep track with no vehicle access made for a nice quiet time.

The water was far too cold for my delicate scales but the German mermaid took great delight in drowning my squeals of protest with her ocean dampened visage.

A hearty lunch was consumed before we drove to the mutually undiscovered Girona and a Tesla supercharger.

The Tesla supercharger allowed me to demonstrate the romance mode which frighteningly warms up the AC in conjunction with the roaring fireplace visuals. Elon when you read this, I think an ice palace with the sound of icicles chiming and AC in freeze mode would be a suitable addition. Luckily the sketchpad app does not alter the AC.

Girona was a stunning green medieval town. The abundance of trees enshroud large swaths of the buildings. They remain cloaked as you walk around through the cobbled streets.

After a technical coffee stop we drove onto Figueres and the Salvador Dali Theatre Museum.

Salvador Dali was a startlingly unique dragon. His casket has a special place under the museum and each floor affords a different time slice of his incredible art.

I would place Art critics in the same pantheon as real estate salespeople, car sales grifters and lobbyists so I am not even going to try. Just enjoy.

To get an understanding of the many themes and techniques that Dali effortlessly utilizes I highly recommend reading about his life, his friends, his loves, his education, where he lived. The whole gamut. He was surprisingly scientific and it all makes sense when you are immersed in it.

So awestruck was I, when we started the arduous range clime to Cadaques. I spied a weather observation dome of grand significance. I assumed it was a Dali installation.

We are now in Cadaques and will visit his home in the morning. A delightful fishing village which with it’s close proximity to France has a blended border with the synergy of cross pollination which only happens in Europe.

View from Hotel Balcony.

Sunset after Dinner.

That astounding man again.

Tomorrow we will complete the Dali tourist triangle with visits to his home in Port Lligat and the Castle in Pubol he remodelled for his lifetime love. Gala.

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TGDT Day 2 Paper, Scissors Well?

There is a small issue with Barcelona. Tourists regularly have phones snatched as they navigate and catalog their experiences. The phone tether is an evolutionary adaptation, but it really does scream I am a tourist. I am not a tourist I am a Dragon on a grand tour,

Therefore I did not take many photos yesterday. We had a lazy morning with the only thing of note being going to collect some gluten free bread and a walking tour of Silvis neighbourhood. We waited until a shipment of designer threads arrived from Berlin. Still finding things to do I ordered some wifi extenders that do not rely on cables to improve my blogging vantage points.

In the afternoon we visited Silvis coworking place and set up a couple of shelves to display for a sale they are running this weekend.

Attentive readers will see her two shelves. Turns out having a tall boyfriend is useful. We modified the shelf so it could show her work off better.

In the afternoon we were having a siesta and I suggested we play paper scissors rock to determine who would get up to greet the delivery man. I played rock, Silvi played well. The well is a curious German invention which completely breaks paper scissors rock. I protested greatly, How un-German to break the rules of a game.

I consulted reddit

“When we were kids we used to make up bullshit items for the game.

I remember “the well” was common, it beat the stone (sunk it) and the scissors (rust), but got beat by paper because it covered it. Other items included “fire”, “rain”, “tank” (beat everything but the stone I think).“

I think bullshit is a word I might have used.

Today we embark on our surreal Dali excursion. I am going to leave my laptop here but I will pop some photos up on instagram as I see fit. Polished prose will follow.

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A Grand Tour

Just in case it escaped you we are living in the Year of the Dragon. Despite the intermittent postulating of this blog. I have been living a relatively simple life for the past couple of years. Luckily the Solstice and scheduling have allowed me to plan a grand tour on my way back to New Zealand. A tour befitting a Dragon.

This time tomorrow I shall leave my work. I will fly to Barcelona. Barcelona will serve as a staging point for a couple of weeks. Silvi and I will then travel eastwards to three Salvador Dali attractions.

The Museum, his House and the Castle.

The following Sunday we will fly to Ibiza. A couple of nights will be spent here with a couple of fine dining options that slowly transform into sonic feasts.

The next Thursday we will fly to Venice for the bi-annual art festival.

We will then stay in Verona and will attend the Opera Carmen at the Colosseum for Silvis birthday.

I will then fly to Thailand and spend a week there before New Zealand.

I have reactivated instagram again. I expect photos will end up there but the extended captions are best read here 🙂

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Más fotos de Málaga

I have been lucky enough to spend a couple of Sundays ambling with Silvia. Here are some photos and accompanying verbiage.

Here we have a street with clever and practical corporate sponsorship. I have used AI to remove English tourists.

This is a scale model of a Moorish castle we scaled. Alcazaba.

Moors is a term generally used by Europeans to describe the Muslim people of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Between 711 C.E. and 1492 C.E. Muslim people of African descent controlled parts of Iberia which consist of modern-day Spain and Portugal. Because they were there so long, they had a long-lasting impact on Spanish culture as well as the European relationship with Islam.

I was particularly impressed with the devious fortifications which would have tested any invading force and now Tourists.

Beautiful gardens and a clever irrigation system for the gardens high above the battlements. Water still flows through small channels to the vegetation.

Today we enjoyed a breakfast and in time honoured tradition attempted to get lost.

You can see the different epochs stacked in the architecture.

Cats still catch our eyes.

A Spanish lesson beckoned.

Now this was particularly interesting.

“Rhea (or Rea) Silvia (Latin: [ˈreːa ˈsɪɫu̯ia]), also known as Ilia,[1] (as well as other names)[a] was the mythical mother of the twins Romulus and Remus, who founded the city of Rome.[3][4] “

Finally a nice reminder to be respectful as a Tourist and Tourism is nothing without the people who live in such lovely places.

I have a grand tour planned when I start my leave. In my next post I will share some of the details which should bear some wordy fruit.

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Ooooops

Looks like my comment feature is only working for me. Luckily my very clever web designer reads this blog and will take a look.

In the meantime. Looks like I am somewhat resourceful.

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Stream until you like it

Engagement. It is one of those things content creators crave. Whilst I love you all very little engagement comes back at me.

To this end I setup a corner of my New Zealand abode into a small live streaming centre. I did this last year but then sat on my hands. A couple of Fridays ago I had a long and earnest chat with one of my dearest friends. We listened to a couple of albums together and then I offered to play some tunes.

Sadly after reorganizing said streaming centre I had a couple of technical difficulties. Namely a camera not working and an audio glitch at the start.

Anyway If you would like me to start doing this semi regularly when I am home. Leave a comment down below. I think if I did it Friday nights is best, I can get my little mini me to control the lights when I have him. This will be good for my increasing middle aged subscribers and will be on Friday morning for the European gang.

Have a listen here and my apologies for the Audio being a bit bung at the start.

Enjoy.

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Malaga

Precisely one year ago I had an interesting evening in Portsmouth.

What should have been a routine shore excursion to Wetherspoons (don’t ask) rapidly devolved into an extended tour of behind the shipyard and random parts unknown. After acquainting myself with the backsides of naval barracks and being told by a local to catch a taxi back to the shipyard. I had an epiphany, English Naval Superiority was all about sailors wanting to get as far away from Portsmouth as possible. My copilot at the time was my new travelling Companion from Istanbul. S.

Fast forward a year I found myself in a new city with S and this is what we found.

Malaga is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. 2800 years, The Phoenicians were first naming it Malaka, not to be mistaken with the Greek Malakas which can mean all sorts of things, some charitable and some not so. Carthage was next, and then the Romans came and fell. Vizigothic and Byzantine empires both left a mark before Islamic rule painted a new coat.

Luckily S had been here a month earlier so getting lost should not have been part of the equation. Sunday is a traditional market day here a lot of stalls popped up with arts and crafts made locally. There was also a large book fair across the park which meets the marina.

The first photo-worthy thing I found was this.

Roman era Amphitheatre with Moorish Castle Alcazaba behind.

The central city of Malaga is very small. The beautiful murals and slate-tiled streets reminded me of happy times in Valencia.

There are some impressive Cathedrals as one would expect in España.

It was just down from this one we sat on a park bench and listened to the bells toll 11. Maths has never been a strong point for me but for the life of me I could not divine 11 from the cacophony. I dutifully waited for the bells to stop so I could stand up in silence. Sadly an errant bell spoilt the effect.

From here we strolled through the rapidly opening eateries to the central river which meets the sea. It is here you will find this amazing mural.

Feeling a bit peckish we headed back towards the numerous eateries that can be found. Fun fact, Malaga is the home of Antonio Banderas.

Name drop. I met Antonio Banderas back in 2015. He is very charming and very short. His voice made me wanted to pat his head, just like this fellow.

Following some waffles and pancakes we then embarked on some theraputic shopping. There were some cat cushions spied. New Zealand I am warning you now. Cat cusions are inevitable. I do beleive we did get lost at some point here. It was not lost in a Portsmouth fashion but there were a couple of big smiles when we discovered we did not know where we were.

Malaga is also the birthplace of Pablo Picasso, so there are some nice museums and plenty of Picasso themed souveniers. I settled on some fridge magnets and t-shirts for my son. We walked through one of Antonios restaurants El Pimpi which joins two streets. It deserves a sit down, I could not hear any bells which is a good sign.

With about 11k steps logged it was time to siesta. I really do enjoy España.

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