Roses. Bay, Beach, Sequence of Settlements, Invasions

Bays and their peninsulas on the side make perfect settlement spots.  The trouble is, once one group sets up shop, another casts a covetous eye on it, and the warfare begins.  At Roses, with its Bay of Roses, evidence of settlements BCE (Greek) through Roman, through more Greek (from the Marseilles area), and Visigoths, and the monastery at Santa Maria de Roses arises in about 944 CE.

Roses, Spain. Costa Brava. Castle ruin at peninsula.

The beach holds many attractions.

Roses, Spain. Discreet photo, topless lady

Daniel Widing, pleased to be at Roses, Spain. Costa Brava.

The monastery is at the end of this side of the bay's peninsula.

She went in.  Is she still out there?

Roses, Spain.  People-watching.

In this heat wave, we did not shop around for restaurants, and the hotels were all crowded.  Find an elevated deck area, breeze if any, outside in the shade, and just sit and eat bits after bits, until darkness comes and all cools off.  Serious meals start at 8PM at the earliest.  Tapas any time, and is enough to satisfy.

Roses, Spain.  Good food, even at places with pictures out there.

For those of us without reservations, arriving at a fine resort late in the day means taking what you can get.  Go to the tourist office and they will call around.  We found two rooms, separate, at the local hostel, Rom Hostel.  Hot, but that is not their fault. Aim the fan and stay still. Dan got over-hot and was too polite to bang on my door -- now he knows to knock a little louder and announce reasonably that it is indeed he, and I would awaken mejitly.

Note on bad economic times and hostels:  entire families, and many, many older people, were at the Rom.  This was not just full of backpacking kids. A hostel may be the only way to afford some time at the beach.  Safe, clean, friendly.

Sleeping at hostel. The possibility of hostels means sleeping gear that doubles for street-wear, for going to the loo/shower down the hall.  I use a black T-shirt dress for sleeping, Dan sleeps in shorts.  That also saves on packing. If two of you accept a room for four, expect two more to join you. If you take a room for 1, you will get more privacy but it may be hotter.  Trade.

Roses, Spain. Nighttime sandcastles. Show appreciation with some change.

Roses, Citadel at Roses. Costa Brava, Spain

 Ciutadella de Roses

Citadel of Roses, Spain

The walled citadel at Roses, known as the Citadel of Roses, takes more than a mere walk-around to absorb. By surviving appearances looks Renaissance, 16th Century; and most of it is. Inside, however, are ruins of ancient Greek and Roman walls, structures; and commemorations for battles conducted here through ages. The site of Roses was important for its bay, trade, openings into the interior. Everybody added to the fortification, and finally it all got walled in and even parade grounds and barracks built. Within Roses or a few miles, are reminders and places to explore, ancient to modern times.

Citadel of Roses, Spain.  Walkway past old Greek and Roman ruins.

The fortification grew:  see successive walled areas.  And this site covers it all well:  http://www.aquabrava.com/en/useful-information/tourism/the-citadel-of-roses.html.  For history-military buffs, sites like this are a fine starting point for the panoramic view of human conflict.

Citadel at Roses, Ciutadella de Roses, walled structures within walled structures

The strategic location of the Citadel at Roses:  The foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains are within easy reach.  Defend against invaders from what is now France; or try to take refuge from invaders from south and west, the Moors.  The fort here also was a backstop for invasions from the sea, at Roses, if the smaller fort-castle there fell.

Citadel of Roses, Spain. Strategic location.

Citadel of Roses, Spain.  Ruins of old barracks.

The citadel also was a defense for King Pere II el Gran's forces in the thirteenth century.   A Peter the Great of Catalonia and Aragon was born in Valencia in 1240 and died in Vilafranca Barcelona in 1285.  He was mummified and now rests Sant Cugat, north of Barcelona. The body may be viewed there.  Click on the translate button at http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2010/03/22/actualidad/1269212408_850215.html.  He apparently dyed his hair blond with a broom substance, see http://www.ara.cat/societat/Pere-Gran-tenyia-cabell-ros_0_502750251.html/.  Pere II el Gran was also credited with the victories of his forces at Roses (but against whom?).

Plaque commemorating victory of  the Catalan-Aragonian king, Rei Pere II El Gran, King Peter II, the Great, at the Ciutadella de Roses, Citadel at Roses.

King Peter II The Great, Catalonia and Aragon, Rei Pere II El Gran, commemorative victory plaque, Citadel at Roses 1288 battle, Roses, Spain

Roses Citadel. Ciudadela.  Successive conquerors and settlers built here.

There are gateways opening to land, and to sea.

Citadel, Roses, Spain. Parade ground. Huge enclosed fortified pentagon, star shaped.

Parking in Spain:  find a spot, then note specifically the color of the curb or outer limit line parallel on the street side.

White?  Free parking.  Stop looking for the Pay-go.  Yellow or red?  Pay-go.  Find the machine, estimate your time, pay in, put the stub on the dash.  Towns and areas are inconsistent, so ask or do what others in that line are doing, see http://spain.angloinfo.com/transport/driving/parking/

Empuries. Ruins of Empuries. Greece, Rome on the Costa Brava

Empuries, Costa Brava, Spain

This area has been a center of trade since the 7th Century BCE.  Etruscans, Phoenicians, Greeks. The name Empuries comes from the Greek Emporion, that means, of course, Greek.  Then came the Romans.  By the end of 300ACE, however, the city had been eclipsed by Barcelona, Tarragona and Girona.

Empuries, Spain. Greeks and Romans by the sea.

Empuries, Costa Brava, Spain. Ancient town layout; archeology site.

Greek and Roman ruins here are still "legible" as a full town, complete with water and water purification systems.

Ruines d'Empuries, Costa Brava. Ancient heritage.

Empuries, Roman wall, Spain

Patterns of mosaics and tiling are complex.  Roman mosaics were made in panels, with drawings found underneath to direct the placement.  They were not made on the house floor itself, but in a workshop, section by section.  See Archeology Magazine, Nov-Dec 2012 at p.40, article: Mosaic Masters.

Empuries, Spain. Roman mosaics and tiling

Then Dan turned around.

Touch the exhibits in the museum.  You are supposed to.  Pass your hand over, and the mosaic picture appears, then fades back into the past.

Dan Widing high-fives at the Empuries interactive museum, Costa Brava, Spain

Then, stuck.

Empuries, Dan Widing with Good Samaritan who unlocked the steering wheel.  

Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain. Sant Pere Pescador. Costa Brava

Saint Felix of Gerona and his World

Saint Felix apparently came from Carthage in the 4th Century, with a Saint Cucuphas, and was martyred here.  Why?  Still looking.

As we look, pay attention to the snaky road up the coast at Costa Brava; leave time to admire, and expect many, many side car-parks, paths down to distant beaches.  Between Blanes and Tossa de Mar are some of the loveliest views of craggy cliffs and shoreline anywhere.

Costa Brava, Spain

Sant Feliu de Guixols is the town where the road finally veers back inland.  The "Guixols" part may mean "ropemaker" from the word "lecsalis."  That Wikipedia information makes sense with the coming town, L'Escala. Is there a connection.

History of Benedictine Rule.  At Sant Feliu is a Benedictine Monastery (Benedict 480-547) including older ruins from Roman times. It dates from 900-950 CE.  By that time, the Benedictine Rule, stemming from 529 CE based on an earlier Rule of St. Basil for the Benedictine Order, dominated Europe, including England. See Benedictine Monks at http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/benedictine-monks.htm

From a Founder in Christianity, who forced no-one to do anything, and accepted all to come near, and never put a Rule ahead of need, now Enter regimentation, strict Rule, punishment, abolition of independent thinking, obedience, exclusionism, no questioning, dominion.  The Institution overcame the healer, the preacher, the example. As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.

Sant Feliu, Benedictine Monastery, Costa Brava, Spain

Poverty and celibacy were not included in the vows of the time, but now are considered incorporated.  The Benedictine Rule predated the other major Orders by some 500 years -- Dominicans, Jesuits, Franciscans, all of which included the poverty and chastity.  The Benedictine monasteries were set up to be self-sufficient, no reason and no allowing exit from the Order's land without permission of the Abbott. Commitment after taking vows was for life, enforced by punishments for veering from the strict Rule. Worship, reading, work. First service of the day:  2AM.  Everybody up.

San Feliu, ruins of earliest Benedictine monastery, Costa Brava, Spain

A monastery in the area was helpful to the locals:  the feudal dominion and control over agricultural production exercised by the monastery, also offered good examples for farming methods, protection (this was a fortified monastery), charitable works, receiving Pilgrims, copying sacred books, keepers of their view of history.  See site. On the other hand, control of local practices also led to adding their farms to monastic lands (make Last Rites a "sacrament", be at the death bed, just leave it to the church?), and that in Sweden and Denmark led to resentment at the accumulating wealth. What happened here?

Up the road is an alternative, north of Sant Feliu:  Sant Pere Pescador.  It is a small town with that enchanting name, and a nondogmatic one.  This representation of Sant Pere Pescador in stone (need to check our logs) is the facade of Sant Pere Pescador, Saint Peter the Fisherman, at Figueres.  Ask as you vet:  Which is closer to the Founder:  Saint Peter the Fisherman, or Saint Peter ensconsed in rigidity, riches, and ritual, and then rejected so that Paul's ideas could root.

Sant Pere Pescador, Figueres, Spain

But Peter lost, and Benedict and his Rules ultimately won.  Who really won? Who lost.

Benedict's Arch, 18th century, Benedictine Monastery, Sant Feliu de Guixols, Costa Brava, Spain

Palamos, Begur, Montgri. Living like Kings of Aragon.

Palamos.  Once per trip:  A breakfast presentation.  This is our morning delight at a modest hotel, family-oriented, a little away from the beach so there is quiet.  The Saint Joan at Palamos - -

Palamos, Spain. Breakfast at the Saint Joan Part I

Tomatoes and peppers and other salad vegetables at breakfast balance the fats and grains we are so accustomed to clogging us in the morning. 

Palamos, Spain, Costa Brava, Breakfast at the Saint Joan, Part II

More balance:  a little pastry then some plainer stuff. Sour of yoghurt or creme fraiche.

Palamos, Spain. Breakfast at the Hotel Saint Joan, Part III

Saint Joan:  Of course, the hotel cat. With my cat allergy, I am pleased to report that everything was so spotless that I never wheezed, not once.

Palamos, Spain. Hotel Cat.

Aragon's history includes Charlemagne taking it back from the Moors in 801, the French fostering a dominion of Barcelona that then became so strong it defied France, and in 1035, Sancho III of Navarre establishing the Kingdom of Aragon and dividing it among his sons.  See tacitus.nu on Kings of Aragon.  Catherine of Aragon was the Spanish wife (the first wife, of Henry VIII), mother of Mary. See http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/catherinearagon.htm

Palamos, Spain. Marina.

Palamos, Spain, One family's house.

Leaving Palamos, near Begur, Spain. Another family's house.

Montgri.  Palamos was the port for the Kings of Aragon, after a move there from Montgri.   Montgri is known for its 13th Century Torroella de Montgri. 

We found a sign for this castle and veered back to find it.  With new road construction, it was still inaccessible by car, so we offer here the distant view: hike up, some 2-3 hours. We moved on. We have never had a theft problem, but leaving a car, obviously a tourist car, knowing it will be there for hours, is not wise.

Montgri Castle, Spain.

The fortress-castle was never finished. It is known more the commanding site than specifics of historical confrontations.

Aragon.  More on the history of Aragon. Hot, dusty, views, visions of the waftings of lives and fortunes.  Remember the wealth, the glory of kingdoms gone, and the misery of the poor beneath, is that so, as now.  Here, Catherine of Aragon, in Royal Doulton, trying to convince Cardinal Wolsey (not shown) not to annul her marriage to Henry VIII.  She lost.

Catherine of Aragon, Royal Doulton

Tossa de Mar. Costa Brava. Walled city.

Tossa de Mar, Spain.  Walled, medieval city. Costa Brava.

Tossa de Mar is the best-preserved medieval walled city on the Costa Brava, if not all of coastal Spain.  Beaches are perfect first-day stops, but pick yours carefully.  Sand is repetitions.  Choose a unique side-interest. This walled town is on the beach itself, where fishermen and area dwellers could take refuge quickly. See history at http://www.spanish-country-villa.com/tossa/

Tossa de Mar, Spain. Ready refuge on the beach, Costa Brava.

Tossa de Mar, Spain.  Street, medieval city.

Access is walking. 

 

Dan Widing meets Ava Gardner at Tossa de Mar, Spain.  Why is she there?

Ava Gardner:  Ava Gardner is at Tossa de Mar because she arrived there with actor James Mason in 1950 to film "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman."  See http://www.tossacostabrava.com/helpful_info.asp?page_name=pandora___the_flying_dutchman.html

Blanes. Trip II. Barcelona loop through Pyrenees. Here, Blanes

A new regional trip: Spain, Pyrenees and France.

1.  Route after the fact:

• Barcelona, drive up the 
• Costa Brava to
• Blanes
• Tossa de Mar
• Sant Feliu de Guixoles
• Palamos
• Montgri
• Escala / Ruines des Empuries
• Sant Pere Pescador
• Roses and Castillo de la Trinitat (Citadel), across to 
• Figueres and Castillo de San Pedro (Citadel)
• Purenees to
• Ripoll, up the 
• Seu D'Urgell and 
• Puigcerda, to 
• Andorra and France.  Reenter from France at 
• Roncesvalles, visit 
• San Juan de la Pena
• Jaca and Castillo de San Pedro (Citadel)
• Castillo de Loarre
• Huesca
• Graus
• Lleida
• Terrassa
• Barcelona 

Barcelona is an ideal landing place for a trip to the South of France, Languedoc and Provence mainly, bracketing with Spain.  Get a non-stop flight, rent the car, and travel for the half-day saved in making connections; enjoy the Costa Brava.

We had no fixed time for entering France. Avoid the motorways to get accustomed to the rental car, be sure to ask (if you use Hertz) for a Class C to get the small size needed for village roads and tight parking.  A Class B will result in big SUV's waiting for you. Turn them down.

1. Blanes.

Blanes, Costa Brava, Spain. Beach.

The beaches closest to Barcelona will be the most crowded.  Aim for Blanes to get more leisure.  The area has been settled since Roman times. Romans, Visigoths, then Moors.  See http://blanes.costasur.com/en/history.html.  Who was there before the Romans?  It was virtually destroyed in wars thereafter, but is a fine touristy stop.  Excellent for a first lunch.

2.  GPS tip:  In our Peugeot, the GPS I brought from home with a Europe map in it, only worked if put in the lighter one way and one way only.  Do not lose hope if yours loses its connection.  Keep putting it back in, rotating around, until it works.

Stay on secondary roads to get accustomed to the car and find restrooms easily. We also were grateful for a local Peugeot dealer to show us why the GPS was not working. Turn it with the light facing the driver.

Granada - Place of the Pomegranate

The seal of the city of Granada displays a pomegranate.  Scroll down and see it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Spain.  French for pomegranate is grenade.  The Romans had thought that the best pomegranates came from Carthage, and named it punicum, their name for Carthage.  The shape of the pomegranate perhaps inspired the grenade -- a hand-tossed explosive.  Apparently, when the pomegranate is tossed onto a hard surface, its seeds explode as the skin bursts. 

Its medicinal, wound-healing, indigestion and heart issue remedies, culinary and other health uses, are described at Natural Remedies of Arabia, Saudi Aramco World magazine September-October 2006, online at http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200605/natural.remedies.of.arabia.htm

Its stain is indelible. 

A Sound of al-Andalus. Muslim Spain; Echoes Today

The Sound of Al-Andalus 711-1492

Meet Ziryab, Paniagua.

Andalusian music then and now

One Ahmad al-Yamani became sick at Malaga, on the southern coast of then-Muslim Spain.  It was 1015 ACE.  He is not to be confused with a contemporary Ahmad al-Yamani, see http://sa.linkedin.com/in/alyamani. The individual of interest here is a traveler who felt ill-- in the 11th Century -- and could get no rest at any lodging.  There was too much music around him in Malaga --"strings of lutes, tunburs and other instruments vibrated from all directions, and different voices blended in singing." See http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201104/listening.for.al-andalus.htm.
.
The tunbur may be the tanbur, see http://www.tanbursociety.com/history.htm. Mulberry wood, stringed instrument, long neck, two gut strings. Kurdish, Persian, ancient Babylonian. Roots, roots. Ancient Egypt, Zoroaster.

The music of al-Andalus fostered poetry forms, song, inspired troubadours and was heard echoing in the Renaissance. Imagine the melodic lines: Old Spanish, Gypsy, flamenco, Medieval.  There is a term for the interaction:   convivencia, a cultural tolerance, a complicated getting-along in al-Andalus.

1. Eduardo Paniagua, musician today in Madrid, is pursuing a blend of imagination and "musical archeology" to find threads and blend them into something new. Where does he look? manuscripts, old palace walls, poems, drawings.  How does his work sound?  Hear it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8s0Qqd0sjg.

2.  Ziryab, from Baghdad, and of north African or mixed heritage, descriptions of olive skin, thick black hair. He set up a music school in 822 in Cordoba, see this fantastic life at http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Ziryab. Muslims brought slaves back from Africa, which could explain the tradition of his ethnicity. He had lived in Tunisia, Syria, many places. It is not clear how he came to Cordoba. 

Ziryab was a man of broad talents:  not only music, but fashion, astronomy, manners.  He introduced use of the tablecloth, deodorant, a toothpaste, and, in an era of middle-parted long hair, he cut his in long bangs in front, then longer hair pulled back with little spit curls at the sides.  He also made popular shaving among men. Women:  he opened a cosmetology and hair salon. He introduced asparagus as a popular dish, and started eating three course meals. Glass goblets, not metal. History!  Geography!  This man had it all, was it all. He also introduced the "banquet" form of dining.

Salute. http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=A0oG7kyaN01PHngALolXNyoA?p=Ziryab&fr=yfp-t-701&fr2=piv-web. More modern oud music, see http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=A0oG7jriXk1PxSQAzE1XNyoA?p=Ziryab%20oud&fr=yfp-t-701&fr2=piv-web.

Ziryab played the oud, think a form of lute, and added a fifth pair of strings. He was innovative, using an eagle's beak or quill instead of a wooden pick. See it at http://www.arabinstruments.com/112730/The-Oud-instrument:  11 strings, five pairs and a sole.  Here it accompanying Katy Perry in Firework at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGi5AOXBkwA.  This modern use of the oud adds another dimension to the melody, see the video's Hungarian roots of place, at http://hungaryroadways.blogspot.com/2011/02/shooting-flames-katy-perry-firecracker.html#!/2011/02/shooting-flames-katy-perry-firecracker.html.

Zaragoza - Zahar of the Red Hand. Ethnic History and Legend

 Tracing Zaragoza:

Who Were the Iberians Here

Before Rome

Looking at Legend

And Migrations from the Middle East - Languages of "isolates"

The easy part of history is found when people have records, organization.  The difficult part is figuring out what happened with earlier people who preceded the structured ones.

Zaragoza:

Rome.  

Usual tourist sites and history start with Romans, see ://uk.holidaysguide.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-124788-zaragoza_history-i/, with the legions invading Spain, and the town taking the name stemming from Latin Saragossa, and then Caesaraugusta.  See also http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Zaragoza,-Spain/, focusing on the Christian era: the Virgin Mary appearing to St. James the Great in the first century AD.  A work of word-name sources only refers to the Romans, and later the Arabs. See ://www.archive.org/stream/localetymologyde00char/localetymologyde00char_djvu.txt/

Before Rome.  Iberian. 

Keep going. Learn elsewhere that the site of Caesaraugusta is different from the Roman town. There was an Iberian village, with a newer town later nearby built by the Romans, Cesaraugusta, or Caesaraugusta. Not the same as the Iberian.  See ://fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/Zaragoza,_Spain/  Its name was Salduie or Salduba.

Linguistics.  And Iberian script resembles Phoenician.  See ://fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/Iberian_language/  There were Phoenicians all over the Mediterranean, including Phoenicians in Sicily, so this would not be unusual in itself. This language is not the same as other languages with Celtic roots. See ://fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/Celtiberians/  Egyptians attribute language with written characters is said to have originated with the Phoenician, Taautos, from Byblos, Phoenicia, see ://phoenicia.org/alphabet.html/ and the Semitic languages, as well as others, stem from the forms. More on linguistics, including comparative charts, at ://atheism.about.com/od/ancientmythologyreligion/ig/Lebanon-Phoenician-Photos/Phoenician-Alphabet.htm/ 

So were the original Iberians at Zaragoza Hebrew? Perhaps. This site thinks so, Hebrew Hispanic History, but are they authoritative, or moneymaking? see ://www.genealogyforum.com/messages/genbbs.cgi/  /New/37557/ This site agrees, showing "Iberia" coming from "Eber"-ia, the grandfather of Abraham (Hebrews, not Jews at that time) or Heberia, or Hebrewland. See ://jahtruth.net/britspan.htm/ The focus there is in exploring origins of Gibraltar, as "not Spain."

Does location help with possibilities. 

Look up Zaragoza, Aragon.  Find it at ://www.red2000.com/spain/region/index.html/  There are many references to its origins with the usual "Old Iberians, Romans, Goths, and Arabians."  See that list, for example, at ://www.red2000.com/spain/zaragoza/index.html/  A traverse from the Mediterranean at the northeast of Spain, crossing to Galicia, puts Zaragoza at a major point.

Derivation of Iberia. Eberia - Heberia - Hebrew
Remember:  Hebrew did not mean "Jewish" in earliest times.
It was one of many tribes

Something may or may not be missing. Where formal history is lacking, look at legend. This is an ext\p://jahtruth.net/britspan.htm

Legend of Zahar of the Red Hand 

There is legend here that is a far cry from staying satsified that all this area represents is a thriving Roman commercial and military center.  We have an unexplainable tribe and language, an "isolate" as they say, like the Basques, and other groups that seem to spring from parts unknown. 

This connection is suggested for the Iberian isolates:  Palestine, and even Egypt.  By legend, of course. Research old migrations of peoples from the Middle East to Iberia, and from there to Hibernia, even, there in antiquity,

Zahar of the Red Hand starts with a story in Genesis

It is said in legend that the Old Testament Zarah, twin son of Judah, who was himself son of Jacob / Joseph, went through these events, see The Red Hand of Ulster, at ://www.baronetage.org/redhand.htm:

• During Zarah's birth, he stuck out his fist first, causing the midwife to tie an identifying red cord around it to designate the first-born, for purposes of the inheritance; but

• Zarah then pulled it back, cord and all; and his brother Pharez was born, fully born, first, see Genesis 38:28-30; so 

• Zahar, with no inheritance, migrated from the Palestine area to (and here the stories vary) through Egypt first, or directly to Spain, Iberia, where 

• Zahar and the Zaharites of the Red Hand founded the city of Zaragoza.  Then,

• Zahar's descendants were pushed out to northern Spain and Galicia by the Romans and others; and from there went to Ireland, Hibernia.  Or "Hebernia" - for the Hebrew's new land. There,

• The Red Hand of the Zaharites remained the symbol of their settling.  

Of course, Ulster has an alternate legend, of the Red Hand of Ui Niall casting his self-severed hand to the beach to claim the territory ahead of others, but we are interested here in the Zahar idea.

Spain as the stopping off point for ancients from the Middle East:

This is of interest to us because we also found a tale of a Queen Scotia, buried in Ireland from antiquity, and said to be the daughter of a pharaoh, and that explains alleged Egyptian hieroglyphs on her grave.  Is any of this so?  Does it matter?  See Caledonia: Scotia and Scotland before Scotland. Queen Scotia, Ireland. See also ://www.irishidentity.com/extras/places/stories/martello.htm/

Those Old Testament roots are also in a highly partisan account of Irish origins, the story that recurs, at ://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/redhand.html/  Are we looking at descendants of Hebrews, migrating through other places, including Spain, to Ireland. Anything that gives enjoyment is not to be discounted, and we find this idea enjoyable. And as explicable as anything else.