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­­­Au revoir France, Hola Espana!

  A little flower shop on a tucked away street in Arles. 

We packed up the car, this time with five weeks’ worth of paintings, and set off on the next part of the journey.  Our destination was the little town of Perpignan on the Spanish border, but we left a few days early so that we could add two nights in Arles to our itinerary. Arles is  the city where Van Gogh spent the last two years of his short life.

Our first stop en- route was Nimes, an ancient city that was  a very  important outpost of the Roman empire. Larry had read so much about it and was eager to see the exceptionally well preserved double tiered amphitheater from 70 AD. This is still in use today and what we didn’t know was that the day we arrived, there was a bullfight scheduled. The old city was teeming with crowds, the roads were blocked for the street vendors and the traffic was so terrible that we eventually gave up without any sightseeing and headed for the Pont du Gard aqueduct nearby.

The Pont du Gard, a Unesco World Heritage site, is a must-see if one is in southern France.(buy tickets early online and get a guided tour)  It is a very well preserved three tier aqueduct bridge built by first century Romans to carry water over 30 miles to Nimes from the springs near Uzes.  The authorities have done a great job with landscaping the surrounding area to accommodate tourists and vehicles including phalanxes of tour buses. The facilities are spacious and well kept, and believe me, a WC in a public place in France is a great luxury.  We walked across the bridge, marveling at the scale and ingenuity. The engineering capability of the Romans at that time, with no computers or smart phones, is staggering and well worth reading about on the website for those who wish to understand how it all works. The views are so beautiful, it is as though those ancient builders knew just how to frame the landscape for ultimate viewing pleasure. With the graceful arches, rocky river shores and verdant vegetation, I could imagine Fragonard sitting at his easel, painting pretty young ladies in silks and satins on swings!

  Channeling my inner Rococo, imagining Fragonard painting here.

 Larry was thoroughly gratified to finally see the Pont du Gard. He explained it all to me:)

From there it was a short drive to Arles, the small city  where van Gogh lived from February 1888, until his death in 1890, although during that time he spent a year in an asylum in nearby St. Remy.  We were fortunate to have a room in a   modest hotel situated next to one of the gates of the ancient walled town, which made wandering around the ruins and down cobbled streets, easy and fun. Once a provincial capital of Ancient Rome, Arles is on the Rhone River.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum:)

The river front is undeveloped and quiet even though it serves many river cruise ships today.  The town has a laidback, cheerful feeling to it, with a small but well-preserved Roman amphitheater which hosts bullfights and events, but it has not been developed for tourism which seems to have happened without much fanfare. Restaurants are tiny, no big shops, just pretty sleepy squares, fountains, statues and a jumble of winding, cobbles stoned streets and alleyways.

  Photograph of Arles at dusk courtesy of Larry

The restaurant that van Gogh painted in The Café Terrace at Night (The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum) has not been preserved or rebuilt at all, and the spot is in fact shuttered and forlorn. There was an attempt by private developers to revive it for tourists but due to tax snafus the project folded. What an incredible opportunity for some savvy marketing entrepreneur! There is little in the city to celebrate its most famous painter, other than a van Gogh Foundation (also shuttered and closed with no explanation) and some plaques (couldn’t find them) where apparently, he would set up his easel. Van Gogh painted 200 paintings during his stay but the city does not own any of his major works to show the art lover who has traveled here to pay homage to the most popular post-Impressionist painter in the world! Despite its sleepiness, or perhaps because of it, Arles has been one of our favorites so far.

Many streets are lined with vines and flowers, but little gentrification yet. 

There is however, an extraordinary  and visionary project that has been developed just outside the city walls, in the area that was the old railyards. It is called the Luma and is a Foundation that directs and supports a creative campus “that  offers artists new perspectives for creation, collaboration and presentation of their work in public.” The  building, which is the centerpiece of a large park and lake,  was designed by Frank Gehry and is absolutely worth an hour or two of your time. The design of the exterior references the brush strokes of van Gogh in a very subtle way. We had never seen anything like it, it is quite breathtaking.  Read more at https://www.luma.org

The building facade is decorated with stainless steel bricks. It has 10 stories and  stands at 56 meteres, or 183.7227 feet. The drum or rotunda base references the ancient forum.

The entire project was conceived by and is directed and funded by private money. The founder, Maja Hoffman, comes from the Hoffman-La Roche  family, famous for founding  the company that became  Roche Pharmaceuticals. Similar to the Getty Museum, this project is an uplifting and inspiring example to me of how private enterprise in a free economy can contribute to the greater good.

Our good friends at the Residency had told us about the wonderful visit they had to the Camargue, a region near Arles on the coast, where big white horses and bulls roam free and migratory birds including huge flocks of flamingoes, can be seen. We set off from Arles but sadly, we both were very sick with food poisoning from our meal the night before. (The restaurant was the highest rated by Trip Advisor and written up in Rick Steves, and it was lovely except for some tiny organism that made us both sick) Neither of us was in the mood to wander about the beautiful swamps of the Camargue so we pressed on to Perpignan.

Perpignan was on our list because we both had read a lot about it in the context of the French Resistance in the Second World War, when heroes of the Resistance helped downed British RAF pilots, American airmen, Jews and others desperate to escape from Nazi occupied France, to neutral Spain, through the Pyrenees. Some of the stories from that time were retold in a wonderful historical novel by Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale, and while the heroine Isabelle is fictitous she is based on Ingrid de Jongh who devised the route known as the Comet line. Incredibly inspiring reading, highly recommend. There is also a wonderful movie about the American woman with a wooden leg (leg was named Cuthbert) who against all odds worked for the SOE (Special Operations Executive) as a spy conducting espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance, and also helped people escape through the Pyrennees. Her name was Virgina Hall, and a film based on her life was released  in 2020, named A Call to Spy. 

Who knew? One of my favorite sculptors, Maillol, was born and lived here. He donated many statues to the town. The red marble tile on the floor is quarried locally.

Perpignan turned out to be a strangely desolate town with no visible historical references to the escape routes through the Pyrenees in WW2. It’s a small town, with little apparent industry  or commerce, and almost no one on the streets in the Old City. It dates back to the Middle Ages and has a few interesting cathedrals and a beautiful “Hotel de Ville,” or Town Hall and I enjoyed a short tour of the sights to see with a lovely young college student guide named Chloe. There is a large North African community there and certain neighborhoods feel like one is in the Middle East, with groups of men sans women, drinking coffee in tiny sidewalk cafes.

One intriguing aspect of Perpignan is that it is home to a very large community of Roma, or Gypsies as they were called, estimated at 3,000 to 5,000. This community is so insular that no one really knows or seems to understand how it functions. Since current numbers put children attending school at no higher than 25 %  and unemployment at 90 %, little can be understood of their lifestyle. Ethnically Indo-Aryan, originally from Northern India, (although Christian) their communities in Europe date back to the 8^th and 10^th centuries.  Different branches of the culture in different European countries have distinct and different languages . Gypsies were regarded as “untermenchen”  (less than human, like Jews and Negroes, homosexuals and the disabled) by the Nazis and many were exterminated in the gas chambers. France has not had an unblemished relationship with the Roma, “le Gitan,” actually deporting 10,000 back to Romaina and Bulgaria as recently as 2009 and 8,300  in 2010! These actions caused a huge scandal in Europe as the deportations were technically on ethnic grounds, not legal grounds. The communities’ origins  and nationalities are so complicated and confused at this point in time, that government intervention on any grounds must be very difficult and fraught with accusations of racism. My guide told me about them being forced in recent times  into concentration camps.  They have their own code of behavior, rules and traditions regardless of the broader culture within which they live.

La Village de Pecheurs is a reconstructed village but still home to thirty fishermen, built on the banks of a beautiful lagoon.

On our way out of Perpignan, we drove along the coast and happened upon a very picturesque old fisherman village, where a few cottages built entirely of thatch, stood with fishing nets drying outside. Our attempt to explore and take photographs of this gorgeous area were derailed by clouds of the biggest  mosquitoes I have ever seen, so we scurried back to the car to continue to Barcelona. Despite our reluctance to brave the  mosquitoes we saw many hiking and biking groups and couples with babies. Apparently, the French are made of much sterner stuff than we!

Upon crossing the border into Spain, we found ourselves surrounded by vast shopping complexes notable for the bright colors of the facades: yellow and red juxtaposed was a theme, and if one watched the movies by Pedro Almodovar, the aesthetic really came to life.

Gaudi's architectural visions! What a surprise  to see this in real time!!

Barcelona is beautiful and charming and seems very livable, the little of it that we saw. We lucked out with our accommodation, a comfortable and nicely appointed but very  modest  apartment in an old building with views of the La Sagrada Familia ( Gaudi's fantastical magnificent cathedral ) from all three big windows with balconies!! Worth a million bucks for sure. Highly recommend the hotel company, Hostemplo, if this apartment is anything to go by.

Stay tuned for Barcelona and Antonin Gaudi, next episode!

2024 Beaumont de Pertuis,  le Trois

May 12, 2024

We are still in the idyllic picture book village of Beaumont de Pertuis,  in Provence, beginning week 5, the final week,  of  the art residency. We will both miss this place very much and already each day is tinged with sadness that we are unlikely to repeat this opportunity again. The glorious sunrises, velvety deep night skies alive with stars and satellites, ancient peaceful villages lanes, the chiming church bells next to us, the swifts swooping and the doves cooing…it is a place that seems to exist outside of time and trouble.

   Vew from our terrace; I cannot get enough of rooftops!

TRIP TO MARSEILLES AND ISRAEL

Last week we took an unexpected short trip to Israel to visit family. My brother had been ill and we were anxious to see him and our sister in law. We flew out of Marseilles, at 10. 30 pm on Monday 6^th, arriving at 3.30 am in Tel Aviv. Our nephew came to pick us up and drove us to our Air BnB in a  village close to their home. We were there just three days, but we were very glad to see improvement in his health in that brief time. Our flight back was at 5.30 am which meant getting up at 1.30 am for a 2 pm taxi! El Al airlines require check in three hours before the flight due to security protocols. It was tiring but we were grateful that we could make the trip.

Our brief sojourn in Marseilles en route  was uneventful; we reserved a “day room” at a hotel in the city near the Old Port, so we could relax and rest up before the flight. The room was in an ancient building up three flights of steep winding stairs but inside it was beautifully appointed. The views from our tiny balcony were classic “Matisse,” and I have a few nice photo references for paintings. Our impressions of Marseilles were limited to a stroll on the quayside of the Old Port, some people-watching at outdoor cafes, but it clearly is a gritty, tough city.   There was a strong police presence everywhere as the Olympic torch was due to arrive in the city on May 8^th , two days after our visit, drawing expected crowds of 230,000 people including famous athletes and other celebrities.  Groups of gendarmes with automatic weapons patrolled every street that we saw.    

Marseilles was founded in 600 BC by the Greeks and has been an important crossroads of trade and immigration throughout the centuries. The second largest city in France, with nearly 900,000 inhabitants in the city and a million and a half in the larger urban area, the immigrant population of Marseilles exploded in the second half of the 20^th century with the arrival of waves of immigrants from Algeria, Tunisia and other North African countries.  With so much history and modern architectural gems, we would love to return one day to see more of the city.

Marseilles, two vignettes from our balcony. Channeling my Inner Matisse on the left!

TRIP TO LUBERON HILL TOWNS

Here at the residency, we have taken a few afternoons off to explore the area. Yesterday we drove east and north to see some villages mentioned by Rick Steves in his Guide to Provence. The Luberon Valley, where we are staying, is a National Park, so it is rustic and unspoiled with startlingly dramatic  limestone ridges where gnarled cypresses cling to the rockface, and valleys of verdant,  rich farmlands, vineyards and lavender fields. Viewed from the roadside or from a hilltop, each view is more perfect than the next. Fields of wild poppies and other wildflowers cover the verges of the roads, growing out of nooks and crannies in the rockface and in the fields. Plane trees line many of the country roads,below.

We drove through many small, sleepy villages that look frozen in time, and  stopped at St-Saturnin-les-Apt, on the top of a mountain, where a very impressive, ruined castle dating from 1300, can be seen. The heavily striated and variegated limestone formations on the mountain top make it difficult to tell which stones are manmade and which are natural. Below the castle, clinging to the mountain side, is the village with a beautiful church set in a small piazza. It is a good example of Provincale Romanesque. The narrow, cobbled streets are very steep making navigating with a car  challenging to say the least! The ancient homes are well cared for and frequently draped with vines and creepers. Many lively cafes and bars line the village streets where street vendors displayed their wares in a makeshift market. I would recommend spending  a couple of hours exploring  this unexpectedly charming and picturesque spot.

See below

After driving down into the valley, we then made our way back up into the mountains where we visited a tiny town called Saignon. This was well worth the visit as it is probably the most charming, storybook town we have seen so far. We needed refreshments and a bathroom by this time (neither easy to come by in these small places) and we found a tiny café down a steep side alley, built into the mountainside, which looked like a home for a hobbit. Low beamed ceilings, three little tables set with vintage tableware, and a warm and welcoming hostess who served coffee and homemade chocolate fudge cake. Even the hand towels in the little bathroom were vintage hand embroidered linen  napkins!

The tiny village of Saignon, which is perched atop a moutain spur overlooking the Luberon Valley.

The drive upwards  winds around hairpin bends, frequently overhung with extraordinary formations of limestone jutting out of the mountain face. I wish we had more time to hang out and get to know these villages, but one cannot do it all. We have been so fortunate to stay in our own little town of Beaumont de Pertuis which we have come to love.

  View of the town of Saignon from the mountain road above the village

TRIP TO CASSIS

Cassis is famous for boat trips or hikes to see the “calanques” which are Mediterranean fjords with sparking clear water and tiny white beaches. None of these  can be reached by car or bus and we certainly were not up for either a boat trip (seasickness) or a hike, but we were able to enjoy spectacular views driving on the La Route des Cretes, which twists and turns all the way to the summit of the mountains overlooking Cassis on one side and the port and ship building town of  Le Ciotat on the other. In this town the Lumiere brothers, the fathers of cinema, took their first film of the arrival of a train at Le Ciotat station. The first screeing on this footage was in 1895 the Eden Theater which still exists today.

    Below: Larry near the summit of Route de Cretes 

    A view of the "calanques" seen from the La Route des Cretes

Below: the quayside at Cassis

En route to Marseilles we drove to Cassis for an overnight stay. Cassis dates back 2500 years to Phoenician and Roman times and despite its quaintness and proximity to the Cote D’Azure, it retains a simple, homey air. Close to  Aix en Provence and to Marseilles, the town nestles on a perfect little bay, under the towering cliff called Cap Canaielle. It is France’s highest maritime cliff, sculpted by receding glaciers and dropping 1200 ft straight down. On the summit is a picturesque fortress and castle dating from the 8^th century. Today it is an exclusive luxury hotel.  We had a room in the super simple and modest Le Golf hotel, on the quayside overlooking the port and the castle  across the bay. We had stayed at Le Golf the year before, when we “discovered” this little gem, and we really enjoyed our return visit.  The views from the balcony are pure “Matisse.”

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AND SO WE BID FAREWELL TO THE ART RESIDENCY....

   Last day in the studio at the Art Residency

2024 Spain

Barcelona, Alicante, Granada and on to the Costa del Sol

We visited the famous Casa Battlo designed by the one and only Antoni Gaudi, in Barcelona on our first day. It certainly exceeded expectations!

We stayed in Barcelona for three nights and needed at least a full week. Often one’s experience is colored by one’s lodgings and in this case we could not have been luckier.

I booked an apartment on VRBO, knowing that I wanted to be in the most walkable part of the city so that I could do my own sightseeing on foot. Our little home away from home turned out to be on the most perfect corner, not more than 10 to 20  minutes from many of the best sights, shopping and restaurants. The most amazing thing of course was that  Sagrada de Familia, the most extraordinary cathedral in the world,  was clearly visible from all three large windows so that we could actually lie in bed and see it!

The great architectural genius, Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, began working on the project in 1883. From 1914 he worked on this exclusively  until his death in 1928. It remains incomplete although work continues. There are many different elements in the entire concept and the last elements that have been completed since 2020 are the central towers. Currently, work on the final and central tower is scheduled for completion in 2026. We stood and watched as two workers moved on impossibly high scaffolding with ropes, lifting the letter M into place. They looked like ants from where we stood, and it is simply mindboggling to imagine the entire project completed in two years at this pace, but our guide assured us that it is expected to happen.

The Sagrida Familia: Perhaps you can see two workers on the third tower from the left, tiny specks in red. 

We were so fortunate on this visit to have a charming, highly educated young man as our guide. He kept the tour simple and accessible but also conveyed his passion for the project. Of course, the little personal details always make the big picture come to life, and we learned that Gaudi never married, having been rejected by his one true love who became a nun! His entire life was devoted to this building which reflects his faith, his passion, his genius and his sheer force of will. He was  accidently run over right outside the main entrance, and died in hospital within three days before his identity was discovered. His remains are buried in the crypt below the main floor, a small, very spartan space that is not open to the public except by invitation.  Since his death many architects have been hired  and we actually saw  the current architect, a small Japanese man in a big black hat, emerge from the workshops under the church.

There is so much to describe and discuss about the cathedral, but all the information is out there to read. I think that no matter what your religion may or may not be, one cannot help but be deeply moved by the  love and faith expressed in this holy place.  If you visit, be sure to take a guided tour of the interior, and do not opt for an audio guide.

      From the left: the view from our apartment; extraordinary, mystical, bizarre designs filled with symbolism, the interior which is like being in a rain forest with light coming through the jungle canopy.

There are several other must-see architectural masterpieces by Gaudi in Barcelona, but we only visited two, the Casa Battlo, the one with the colorful exterior and mask like structures on the balconies, and the La Pedrera- Casa Mila nearby, which has an undulating exterior embellished by extremely complex and fanciful wrought iron sculpture adorning the balconies . I went on a tour of the interior of Casa Battlo and would not recommend it. The audioguide is very poorly done, and I found the interior claustrophobic and a letdown after the magnificence of the exterior.

  A view of the side of the Casa Pedrera. The throngs of tourists were not as intense here as at Casa Batlo where it is pandemonium on the sidewalk outside the building.

While Larry worked on some research, I went on a “Picasso walking tour” on our last day, which was fun and informative. Picasso was born in Malaga (where we are staying today) into a middle-class family named Ruiz and he took  his mother’s maiden name, Picasso, which was Italian, possibly to give himself more flair!  His father was an art teacher, and the family encouraged the young prodigy. They moved to Northern Spain when he was nine, but as a young man he returned to Barcelona where he lived the bohemian life with other young experimental artists. We saw the “Four Cats” bar on a corner where they would hang out and where Picasso drew a menu  to pay  for his bar tab.  The design is still used today and reminded me strongly of the style of Toulouse Lautrec. It was in this time that Picasso entered his Blue Period, 1904-1906, possibly brought on by the suicide of his close friend. Of course, no tour would miss out on the story of the iconic painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, (1907) the title of which does not refer to the city of Avignon but to the narrow cobbled street, Carrer  de Avinyo, where he frequented the local ladies of the night. See below!

Here is a reproduction, much smaller than the original, outside a popular art gallery in the old city of Barcelona. Picasso was given his first professional exhibition at the Sala Pares gallery here, and the elegant gallery continues in business today, having opened in 1877.

This iconic painting by Picasso, Le demademoiselles d'Avignon, was painted in 1907 and first exhibited in 1916. It was extremely controversial at the time, although I think we are so familiar with it nowadays that we barely look at it  twice.  Certainly Picasso angered and confounded both his friends and critics alike with the work, which nevertheless led to the Cubist movement in art which continues to inform art today.  

The city of Barcelona has created an impressive museum devoted to his work, built on the remains of a Renaissance palace, and the architects have done a wonderful job of preserving some of the ruins, including elegant courtyards and archways,  which  give a lovely atmosphere. The museum comprises three buildings, very overwhelming and more than I could possibly manage. Since I was already tired from the tour of the old city and Picasso’s haunts, I just walked through and stopped to look at the several paintings of the French Riviera which are very similar in feeling to Matisse, and also looked at the several interpretations he made of his countryman Diego Velasquez’ s masterpiece,  “Las Meninas, ” 1656. “Las Meninas” has been a favorite of mine since  childhood. As a painter now, seeing his interpretations close up in real time was inspiring.  As we all know, Picasso was nothing if not prolific and the museum in Barcelona has more than 5,000 pieces in the permanent collection…. Phew! We are currently here in Malaga, his birthplace, for three days and the city of Malaga has also created a museum to honor their native son, filled with work donated by his granddaughter and grandson. I doubt if I will visit. Clearly his legacy is complex and controversial and at this point I confess that I realized that I personally do not want to see more of it!  

A small shop window that reflects the love of saturated colors and playful style of Barcelona.

We only saw and experienced the tiniest bit of Barcelona, but the city left a wonderful impression. Friendly, laid back people, exquisite 19^th and early 20^th century architecture wherever one looks in the city, trees, plazas and outdoor cafes. Surprisingly inexpensive food, ridiculously inexpensive wine, and clean streets. I saw many pretty young ladies in municipal fluorescent green uniforms sweeping and cleaning in the mornings. Almost no homeless or drug addled street people to be seen at all.

 I highly recommend visiting this ancient yet very stylish and vibrant city, but as always try to avoid the high season which is already in full swing even before June has commenced!

 I could take pictures all day of the colorful old buildings and lush bouganvillea, jacaranda and tumbling pot plants in the Old City of Alicante!

From Barcelona we drove to Alicante, a town on the coast, about five hours away and a little beyond Valencia which we decided to miss. I had imagined Alicante as a picturesque fishing village, I don’t know why, but of course it is a large modern city of  over 300, 000 people, a well -developed tourist industry, a university, and port and yacht basin. I picked yet another off the beaten track BnB in the old city and once again (will I ever learn?) there was no parking, steep cobbled streets, tangled lanes,  but loads of atmosphere ! The tiny boutique  hotel was very stylish, just a few rooms carved out of an ancient building, with incredible mosaic floors, ancient ceiling beams, and very modern colorful art and décor. We enjoyed a restorative  couple of glasses of local wine and a beautifully styled  dessert, at a tiny bistro in a quiet alley by  our hotel. We finally went to bed at about 11, but for the locals the evening was getting started! I woke in the early hours to the sounds of drunken students  carousing outside but I closed our window under the eaves, and returned to my comfortable bed.

                                                                       And one more!

As in any Spanish town, there are more ancient ruins, monuments and museums to see than anyone would ever have time for, but our itinerary called for moving on to Granada.

From top to bottom, the view of the Alhambra, the top image is of the view from the left, and the bottom image is the view continued to the right. 

“Granada, you have me under your spell….” Larry and I both remember listening to Frankie Lane singing that song. I must confess that we really did not give Granada a chance, as it turned out to be a stopover on our way to the condo that a friend offered us in the Malaga area. Yet again, I managed to book the most difficult apartment to get to in the entire city! In the old town, on a hill overlooking the sweep of the valley and the distant snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains, tiny cobbled streets lead to a famous lookout point where international tourists, hippies, backpackers and gypsies alike crowd all day and especially in the evening to see the view. Much guitar playing, soulful singing and little kids roaring around, and of course the ubiquitous North African migrants selling trinkets on the pavement. And in the distance, the  breathtaking Alhambra. Regulations forbid cars and parking in that area, so we had to drive down the most harrowing alleys and hairpin bends up and down mountains to reach a parking lot, a drive of at least a half hour! It truly was a nightmare, and certainly not explained by the hotel management!! From the parking lot we were able to get an Uber back to the apartment. I took only my toothbrush and Larry took his bags and so we only had to drag a couple of bags around a corner, up a flight of stairs, and then: THE VIEW! Unimpeded, perfectly framed and under a full moon. I don’t know if we will ever go back to experience a tour of this place which is the most famous monument of Islamic architecture as well as notable Spanish Renaissance architecture. One has to book months ahead for a tour we were told.

Adios Granada, and on to the coast of Andalucia, the Costa del Sol, where seaside towns are home to thousands of British expats who have fled the grey drizzle for the sundrenched, inexpensive life here in Southern Spain.

More next time!