Oct 24
by Chris Christensen
europe, photography, travel
This photo of my wife Joan with a serious case of the giggles at the Alhambra in Granada Spain is one of my favorite travel pictures and one of my favorite pictures of her.
You have to understand that our trip to Spain was one of our worst travel planning experiences. We traveled to Spain in the heat of the Summer with people who don’t handle heat well. We tried to do a new city every day (twice as much as we would do now) so when we should have been taking our siesta we were out sightseeing. Because we had not taken our siesta when we were ready to eat dinner it was hours before a good restaurant would open so we ate at a lot of bad tourist restaurants. So my memories of this trip are often how beautiful Spain was and how grumpy my companions were.
But then there was Granada. The Alhambra is a very beautiful spot. It was made famous by Washington Irving and the audio guide my wife is holding was mentioning all the terrible things that the poet would be willing to go through “ah to hear the bell of the villa”. We got pretty silly thinking of all the things he would be willing to do. And then I took this picture. I have photographic evidence that, even if only for a moment, my wife enjoyed this trip.
Oct 10
by Chris Christensen
europe, photography, travel
Reputedly even his most catholic majesty the king of Spain admired the beauty of this mosque in Cordoba and regretted building a cathedral in the middle of the forrest of columns of La Mezquita. The columns come from earlier pagan temples and Visigoth churches and have bases of different sizes to make the columns appear to be the same size.
Dec 24
by Chris Christensen
europe, travel, video
In the Spanish town of Bunol (in the Valencia region) they hold what amounts to the largest food fight every year. 30,000 people gather to throw 240,000 pounds of over-ripe tomatoes at each other. ‘The Tomatina‘ started in 1945 in a brawl that started near a vegetable stall.
At around 10 a.m., the first event of the Tomatina begins. Many trucks haul the bounty of tomatoes into the center of the town, Plaza del Pueblo. The tomatoes come from Extremadura, where they are less expensive. Technically the festival does not begin until one brave soul has climbed to the top of a two-storey high, greased-up wooden pole and reached the coveted ham at the top. In 2007 a number of people attempted this, including a man in a giant banana suit. In practice this process takes a long time and the festival starts despite no one reaching the meaty prize. The signal for the beginning of the fight is firing of water cannons, and the chaos begins. Once it begins, the battle is generally every man for himself. Those who partake in this event are strongly encouraged to wear protective safety goggles and gloves. In addition, they must squish the tomatoes before throwing for safety precautions. Another rule is that no one is allowed to bring into this fight anything that may provoke someone into a more serious brawl, such as a glass bottle. Although it is forbidden to tear someone else’s clothing, the crowd tends to ignore this and invariably will rip the shirt of any clothed person, man or woman. After exactly one hour, the fighting ends when the water cannons are fired once more to signal the end. At this point, no more tomatoes can be thrown. The cleaning process involves the use of fire trucks to spray down the streets, with water provided from a Roman aqueduct. The authorities seem more concerned with cleaning the town than cleaning the visitors, so some people find water at the Buņol River to wash themselves, although some kind residents will hose passers-by down. Once the tomato pulp is flushed, the ground is clean due to the acidic effect of the tomato.
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