Field Trip to Rota

The other reason I have been crazy busy this week is that I have been attending the ICR (Inter Cultural Relations) class every day from 8:30- 3PM. It is supposed to be taken the first week you arrive on base, and spouses are supposed to be able to attend together. Well, my husband's duties have been rather demanding since we arrived, and he has been standing duty almost every day, so they haven't given him a break to attend the class yet. But since part of the class involves taking the test for the Spanish drivers' license, I knew one of us had to go soon! So I have been attending alone. Basically, they have representatives from every single department of base, and each one talks to us for 15-30 minutes about what their department offers, rules we should be aware of, tips for finding our way around, etc. Some speakers are American military, others are Spanish nationals. A lot of it only applies to military personnel, but there are also portions that are only relevant to families, so it is a great way to find out how the base works, what is available to us, how to get involved and sign up for things, and where to turn when you need to get something done. It has been overwhelming and exhausting, but I earned my drivers' license and completed the whole course today! :-)

The most fun day was definitely Wednesday, when we focused on Spanish culture, history, and food... including a class field trip into Rota. I had walked around a little with my family when we first arrived, but we had our native tour guide with us, so he explained a lot and answered tons of questions! I'm going to skip over the ridiculously frustrating half hour where I drove to _5_ different places on base to try to get Euros or exchange dollars for Euros... finally ended up with Euros and only a few tears. So... once I got past THAT ordeal, it was a very fun day! We started out downtown by the beaches, and checked out the fish market by the lighthouse. This is right next to the dock, so the boats come in with their catch and it is sold immediately. They will "fry" almost any kind of seafood, and have quite a variety here, but their version of frying is not like the Southern U.S. (thank goodness!) There is no breading, and it is more light a light pan sear in olive oil and garlic. Yum!

After walking around the lighthouse and along the other beaches, we went through the old door/gate that I have pictured at the top of my blog. The stones are actually CORAL, mined from the reef just offshore. They have no local quarry, so they used coral blocks to build the castle, cathedral, and city walls. If you look closely, you can see tons of little shells and impressions in the stone.

 This is the castle courtyard, obviously built with Moorish influence. In fact, the Spanish invited the Moors into this region in the 8th century to help fight the Goths coming down from France... and the Moors stayed until the 15th century when they were finally forced out. So most castles in this area were built by the Moors, since the south was their last stronghold. You can also see our teacher and tour guide, Clemente. 

 Apparently, every Moorish palace and mosque has a fountain and/or pool in the center, for several reasons. 1) ritual washing is an important part of Moorish (Muslim) traditions. 2) a well or stream guaranteed fresh water in the event of a siege. This one is made with traditional "Spanish" tile, which was also brought over from Africa by the Moors.

 The castle is now used as City Hall, and this (the former chapel) is now the main courtroom. You can see how the altarpiece has been left mostly intact, and instead of a crucifix, there is a picture of the current Spanish king. The seal below is originally from Ferdinand and Isabel, who created the unified Catholic Spain in 1492. The green and white striped flag is for the county (Cadiz), and the dark green is for the town of Rota. The town's emblem in a castle surrounded by the rosary, because Our Lady of the Rosary is the city's patron saint (more about that this weekend!)

 There are beautiful examples of Moorish artwork everywhere, but on one side of the castle courtyard you could see the original painted tiles, that had not been refurbished. This tile is about 1000 years old!

Then we walked across the city plaza to the town cathedral. In Spain, unlike the rest of Europe, the country was not Catholic until the 1500's, so many of their cathedrals are in a Renaissance Baroque style. That's the case of this cathedral's side chapel, although the rest of the church is a little older and less ornate. The main rule of Baroque style is to leave no blank space. So they filled it with gilded carvings, paintings, and scrollwork.

The rest of the church was more difficult to photograph, because it is much darker. These are the "windows" behind the main altar, but the glass broke during an earthquake hundreds of years ago, so they just sealed them with stone. It takes away the 'lightness' of many other medieval cathedrals, but obviously the ceiling still directs your attention upwards, to God.

After we finished downtown, we made a stop at the Gypsy market. It is basically a flea market with stalls of clothing, shoes, olives, candy, and rugs. And yes, the vendors are mostly gypsies! They travel to a different town each day of the week, so they are here on Wednesdays. I got some delicious olives for Dan and candy for the kids, but didn't have time for any other bargain hunting.

The main event that we were all waiting for was lunch! We went to a fairly nice restaurant at the edge of town, which was all set up for our group. Good thing, because it was 1:30 PM and we were all starving! But that is early for a Spanish lunch, so we were the only ones there. We started with some tapas of fried peppers, potato salad (which is made without mayonnaise) and empanadas-- fried dough filled with cheese or chicken. Very tasty! And to drink, tinto de verano, which translates as 'tinted wine of summer.' It is like sangria, but without any fruit, which is how the locals prefer it. It's red wine with sparkling sweetener, like 7Up. Very refreshing! Not as potent as sangria, which has alcohol added, but still good. And of course, bread with olive oil drizzled on it. I know that sounds weird, but the olive oil here is very rich and tasty, so with a pinch of salt it is a great bread topping. The main course was meat (pork) or fried fish. The fish was definitely better! They have a lot of pigs in Spain, and eat almost every part of the animal, so fish is usually a safer bet. It was lightly fried with some olive oil and lots of garlic. Not sure what kind, but I would definitely order something similar again. And for dessert, some chocolate ice cream. :-) We finished around 3, and it was instantly clear why the Spanish need a siesta around that time! After a big meal with lots of oil, they like to "rest their eyes" for a bit, them have a coffee and snack at 5PM, and dinner after 7PM. It's true, I fed my family at 5:30, but I wasn't hungry until 8, and even then I just needed a little soup. It would certainly take some adjusting, but I think we could get on a Spanish schedule if we needed to. But on an average day, when we are around our house, we are still on an American schedule.

So there you have it-- ICR class and our field trip to Rota! Eventually, I would love to move beyond this town and explore something a little farther away, but we have to wait for Dan to get a little more flexibility and down time for that. No rush, we will just enjoy our adventures as they come.