Art and Revolution

Our first class visit was to the Cuban Museum of Revolution and it lived up to its striking name. There were tanks and planes used by Che and Castro in the revolutionary wars scattered around the building. The museum actually used to be the seat of the Cuban presidents. At one spot you can see bullet holes still in the walls from an uprising that took place years ago. It was really interesting to get a glimpse into the Cuban perspective on the revolution that made the country what it is today.

Sculpture of philosopher Jose Marti.

This phone means business.

Cuban identity can also shines through in the art, as we’ve seen from the few galleries we’ve had the chance to visit. The first was a space in downtown Havana that displayed some recent abstract Cuban art. As my more attentive readers will remember, I am not the biggest fan of abstract art, mainly because I don’t “get” it and the confusion frustrates me. This gallery did have one section that I enjoyed though, which was a collage of different newspapers from around the world, each covered in strands of string so that the words could barely be read. Even I could grasp that it was about censorship. It looked nice, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next was a surreal-looking studio in Las Terrazas. The studio overlooks a beautiful lake and is surrounded by greenery. If it was in a movie I would have said it was a little on the nose. The art was interesting, but did seem a little bit like it was intended for tourists to buy it. The John Lennon/Che combination photo in particular had that feel to it.

Today, we visited my favorite art studio by far, mainly because of the artist himself. Don’t get me wrong, the art was beautiful and thought-provoking. But the artist really stole the show with how intelligent and well-spoken he was. I’m actually going to be making a short video profile next week when I go back to have a sit-down interview with him. Stay tuned for that, but for now enjoy some of his art.

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Gallery: Acropolis Visit

A selection of photos from our visit to the Acropolis and Acropolis museum (here you go Mom and Dad):

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Selection of statues in the Acropolis Museum.

Recreation of the top section of the Parthenon.

Another recreation of the frieze of the Parthenon.

Golden coins found on the Acropolis.

View of Athens from the Acropolis.

Steps leading up to the Acropolis.

Panoramas are necessary.

Parthenon.

The Road to Athens

I’m in Athens. It’s been a busy past few days and we’ve been on the road for quite a while. The drive from Thessaloniki to Athens spans basically the entire country from north to south, so it was a long one. The stops along the way made it worth it and then some, though.

First up was Meteora, an area that used to be a giant lake but has since drained out and left gigantic stone pillars standing in the middle of a valley. Sprouting up from these pillars are monasteries, some built as early as the 14th century. The architecture is incredible, it looks like the buildings are growing straight out of the rocks. The inside of the monasteries are just as impressive, and standing in them and looking out at the view was nothing short of a humbling experience.

Selfie felt necessary

Our group at a monastery

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Next up was Delphi, the site of the ancient Oracle of Delphi. We were told by our enthusiastic tour guide that the Oracle was really just an elaborate con, used by the wisemen of the time to exert their influence over everyone from the average person wondering who they should marry to kings questioning whether they should enter a war with another city-state.

As disappointing as it was to learn that the Oracle couldn’t really tell the future, the fact that Delphi was considered the center of the universe by many ancient Greeks was not a myth. The history of the city was really interesting, as were many of the artifacts on display in the museum(in which I didn’t get yelled at or even scolded…progress). Delphi also boasted some nice views, although they weren’t quite Meteoric.

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So now I’m in Athens. I’ve been here once before with my family when I was in middle school, but I’m not recognizing much other than the Acropolis. Thessaloniki was a great city, but Athens is quickly coming for the top spot in my book. It’s bustling, covered in art and filled with shops and restaurants. The combination of modern life with ancient history makes this place truly unique. It’s tough to beat being able to look up and see the Parthenon illuminated on your casual walk to dinner. The view from our hotel rooftop isn’t bad either.

Parthenon lit up in the distance.

View of the Parthenon from our hotel.

I can’t stop getting yelled at during museum tours

I’m 24 years old and in the past week I have twice been scolded like a toddler. Right now I am two-for-two in being verbally eviscerated by museum staff here in Greece. The first tour was at the archaeological museum in downtown Thessaloniki. I’ll be frank here: I was bored. I don’t know why, but this museum just wasn’t keeping my interest. I’m not above museums and usually I really enjoy them…not this time.

So, I was entertaining myself by using Snapchat to put copies of Brandon’s face on a row of statues. Objectively, it was hilarious. I was laughing, we were all laughing, the security woman was not laughing. She came up and explained that this was not a joke, it was history. I apologized and I legitimately felt bad. It was disrespectful. I even went back about ten minutes later and talked with her for a while to smooth things over. Lesson learned, right?

I think deep down even she would admit that’s kinda funny.

Nope. Yesterday we traveled to Vergina to visit the museum that holds King Phillip’s (Alexander the Great’s dad) tomb. Unlike the other museum, it was really interesting to me. I was so interested that I decided to take a photo of one of the tombs…MISTAKE. Apparently I had missed other members of our group being chastised for taking a photo earlier in the tour.

The infamous photo.

I snapped the photo, with flash, in a very dark room. Sidenote: if I had known not to take photos, would I have used the flash? You be the judge. Out of nowhere, a museum staffer descended on me like a shrieking banshee. “I TOLD YOU NO PHOTOS THIS IS SECOND TIME!!!”

“Uh…um, well, not me personally,” is the best I could come up with, shocked that I was again being verbally bent over and spanked for misbehaving. I almost got our entire group kicked out of the museum. The kids call this “taking an L.” The L’s continued when we went over to Veroia, a small town nearby with great views.

Anxious to not miss any sights there, a group of us entered a restaurant with no one in it and had some of the worst food I’ve had not only on this trip but maybe this calendar year. If you see the below restaurant in your travels someday…run away. Here’s to less L’s and more W’s in the future.

BOOOO

Suma summing up our dining experience.

Arrival of the Man with the Man-Bun

I’d have to describe the first weekend of round two in Spain the same way I describe my daily dinners to my host madre: muy bien. Our first excursion was to the Dali Museum and then to Girona, a city about an hour north of Barcelona. Both of them were special in their own way–Girona with its floral displays and panoramic views and Dali’s museum with its surrealist paintings, sculptures and god-knows-whats.  And when I say Dali’s museum, I mean it really is all his own: he chose the site, designated the location of all the artwork, and is even buried in the lower levels. I’ve never been to a museum like it and I doubt I ever will. I could have done without the pollen in Girona, but other than that it was awesome. Pics to prove it happened:

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This weekend was also great because my man-bun sporting childhood friend Greeni came to visit me while on a four-day weekend off from his work in Switzerland(he works for a company that makes a machine that turns these special K-Cups into tortillas–yes its a real thing). We went out a couple nights, and finished off the weekend today with a solid beach day, something I didn’t get a chance to do last time around. We’re both lobsters now, but it was well worth it and I’ll be going back next chance I get.

Madrid Revisited…and Hola Barcelona

My mom landed in Madrid on Tuesday, and we stayed an extra night in the city before heading out on the train to Barcelona. This meant that I had to give her the world-renowned Danny Mortimer Madrid Tour on Wednesday. It was actually pretty cool being able to show someone else around the city, because it made me realize how well I got to know it through my journalistic travels over the course of three weeks. Plus, it was a nice day and Retiro Park was looking a lot better than it did during our rainy trip there a few weeks ago.

The Crystal Palace

Retiro Pond

View of Retiro Park

The tree we sheltered ourselves under during the first visit

 

Also, I got to check out some things I never got a chance to during our stay, including the Prado and Reina Sofia museums. We visited the Prado first, and it was incredible. There was room upon room of masterpieces in painting and sculpture from artists like Rubens, Velazquez, El Greco, Goya and Titian. There was also one Rembrandt. It really is amazing to be able to walk into a new room and be blown away by at least one painting or sculpture contained inside. It was easily the best art museum I’ve ever been to. I managed to sneak in some pictures of some of my favorite parts.

Tapestry by Rubens

Saturn or “Man eating another dead man” by Goya

Man copying a painting

The Prado’s Cloister

The Reina Sofia, on the other hand, was not one of my favorite museums. I will preface this paragraph by saying I know nothing about art, and its more than possible the museum’s exhibits went over my head. But, wow. The Reina Sofia held some of the creepiest, strangest and just straight up dumb pieces of art I’ve ever seen. The first floor was called the “New Playgrounds” and was filled with the sounds of little kids running and screaming, along with pictures and slideshows of playgrounds. One room literally had a pile of wood, a pile of chains, and a suspended two-by-four–that’s it. My mom and I found ourselves laughing out loud at some of the “exhibits,” including one that was just four pieces of metal in an open room. Some of the drawings on the upper floors looked like they could have been done by a four-year-old or someone in the midst of a narcoleptic episode. One room had an endless “film” playing that was one tree swaying on a loop with the word “tree” being repeated over and over again in the background. I can’t say enough how disturbing and frustrating this museum was. The one redeeming quality was Picasso’s section, especially the Guernica, which lived up to its hype and was an awe-inspiring painting. I couldn’t take a picture because it was guarded on both sides by grumpy-looking security, but here’s an image from the Internet.

Finally, we arrived in Barcelona. After being here for a day and half, I can already tell its a completely different city than Madrid. Whereas Madrid felt like a real city, sort of like the Spanish version of Boston–a few really cool sites, but not exactly a paradise–Barcelona seems tailored for tourists. There are huge open walking areas, and every street has something beautiful to look at. Its filled with monuments, and some of its more famous attractions are truly jaw-dropping. We visited La Sagrada Familia today, and it deserves its own blog post, coming tomorrow. Until then, enjoy some pictures from my first day walking around Barcelona.

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