La Seu d'Urgell - Monastery, Men's Home, Portal Door

Seu d'Urgell.  A seat, or place, of water, according to old words. It is also a crossroads for Andorra, although we crossed through Puigcerda to Bourg Madame, and places from all directions historically.

There is a Home for elderly men near the main Santa Maria, and a Monastery.  Ring at the gate, and you can access the outside.

Monastery, Home for Men, La Seu D'Urgell, Spain

Homes for the elderly we noticed in Europe are centrally located, and the clients mobile.  We put our folks in wheelchairs for the convenience of the attendants, and to prevent falls; but keeping up muscle strength and mobility may do more for the human being jammed in the chair, is that so? 

Portal, Monastery, La Seu D'Urgell, Spain

Ripoll. Wilfred the Hairy. Santa Maria de Ripoll, Monastery

Santa Maria de Ripoll, Entry, Spain

Visit Saint Mary of Ripoll and learn of early customs, naming people for a later-acquired attribute such as hirsute-ness.  These communicated visual and behavioral clues to the person that a mere "son of" or "daughter of" or "out of" does not.  Mourn. Catalonia was not alone.  See a flowering of names that meant something in the Icelandic Sagas, http://thescholarsgarret.com/opusculi/viking_names/, where one meets after the year 1010 (why then?), random sampling:  Gunnlaug Snake-tongue, Sygtrygg Silkbeard, Magnus Bareleg (a variation on the hirsutity?) , Olaf Tarry-cheek (?), Runolf Turncoat.

So, Wilfred the Hairy was the founder of this monastery in 888 CE, Santa Maria de Ripoll, and it has had a continuous history, including rebuildings, since then.  It retains much of its old character.  Wilfred was a Count of Barcelona, of the old Catalunya.  When he returned to claim his betrothed after a long absence, his mother recognized him because, according to http://www.barcelona-tourist-information.info/wilfred-the-hairy.html,
he had hair where others did, and should, not. Soles of feet? Beardorama? Either way,  Franks had taken over his throne, and with the recognition, he mustered his peeps and claimed his throne successfully. He then overcame the Moors, the Saracens at Barcelona, killed a dragon (these are not so fictitious, see four-winged birds at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/science/early-bird-species-had-four-wings-scientists-find.html?_r=0, are they?  see cultural references globally -- Dragons Around the World at http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01993/) and they do need to be vanquished.

We missed his statue, said to be at Carrer dels Comtes, to the left of the portal de Saint Iu. Wilfred slew the dragon without armor.

Catalan flag.  He also gave Catalonia its flag, see story-tale, the four bars, the Quatre Barres, that are also on the grave of Ramon Berengeur II. See http://www.barcelona-tourist-information.info/catalanflag.html. 

Sant Iu.  There is a Sant Ivo from Breton, 1200's.  That one?

Cuenca - The Gorge, The Monastery, Brother Martin

Cuenca, Brother Martin de Carrascosa y Cabrejas, Monastery

Cuenca - part of Castilla La Mancha - walled city, here on the map://www.donquijote.org/destinations/spanish-cuenca.asp. The medieval houses cling to cliffs. See ://www.spainview.com/cruzquijote.html. There are two deep river gorges - the town was highly defensible. Up a long winding road.

Here is Brother Martin de Carrascosa y Cabrejas - miraculous healing powers. He died 1603. He was a candidate for sainthood, thus there was a dispute who would get the body - the monastery here, or outside town, at Tebar, where he died. See ://libro.uca.edu/nalle/gmc5.htm. There was finally, after many disinterments, a resolution. We believe this is his statue, but the inscription is unreadable. It is at the monastery.

Cuenca, top of hill town

Parking is up here. Long walks from the top, where the monastery is, and parking lots, down the narrow streets to the square.


Here are some of the surrounding cliffs.
Cuenca, gorge, cliffs

And the lake down the gorge - Laguna de la Cruz.
Cuenca, Laguna de la Cruz, lake