Almeria

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View down to Almeria - VMcGarvey - cc-by-2022

 "Fiesta" The Pogues

I am Francisco Vasquez Garcia , I am welcome to Almeria, We have sin gas and con leche, We have fiesta and feria, We have the song of the chochona, We have brandy and half corona, And Leonardo and his accordione, And calamari and macaroni, Come all you rambling boys of pleasure, And ladies of easy leisure, We must say Adios! until we see, Almeria once again

It was my intention when I decided to finish/retire from work at 55, that I would take a break,  travel with my husband, and provide a bit more support for my parents, as well as focus on PhD research. I had worked solidly most of my adult life when I was not in education. I left home to live in a bedsit in my late teens, working full-time, before taking a degree in my early twenties, which I thought was mature at the time, I never took a gap year as I could not afford it. It's now just over a year since I finished work and the first half went almost to plan then sadly my mum who was suffering from dementia, became more ill, than we all expected and sadly died in April this year. I am saving that journey for another place. However, as a result of this, I have not captured some of the trips we did manage to take, when I finished work. This blog is as much for me rather than for other people. I think that was how blogs were initially meant to be, to capture events electronically, Wikipedia says that it is a truncation of weblog: 

The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Bargeron on December 17, 1997. The short form "blog" was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in May 1999. Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used "blog" as both a noun and verb ("to blog", meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog") and devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Initially, I set it up to support my PhD research, so there was quite a lot about pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, however, due to my personal circumstances, I have decided to withdraw from my PhD. But the blog is still here, and I said possibly less so for others and more so for me. So I aptly named it Popfarious as it allows me to move in whatever direction I choose. Images still remain a major part.


Almeria Spain

We visited Almeria last year, now a popular tapas stop-off point, also forwarding on place to the Spanish resorts close by. We had previously visited nearly 20 years previously, it was not as we had remembered. It was far busier and more people spoke English than before.  Wikipedia as always provides a really excellent overview of Almeria - it says that the City

The city grew wealthy during the Islamic era, becoming a world city throughout the 11th and 12th centuries. It enjoyed an active port that traded silk, oil and raisins.  Being adjacent to a small desert, Almería has an exceptionally dry climate by European standards...Almería endured a brutal siege by Aragonese forces in 1309 that, while eventually unsuccessful, left the city battered.The city submitted to the sovereignty of the Catholic Monarchs on December 22, 1489

As with many Spanish towns Christianity wrestles for tourist prominence with the Islam religion, reflecting its past, with the Cathedral sitting in the town square and the Alcazaba looking down from a hill outside with pomegranate tree-lined avenues, both equally worth visiting. A long sandy beach stretches along the front of the Almeria, and a more gusty day. The kite surfers take to flight. Again as with many Spanish towns and Cities, it has a busy market selling fresh local produce, all attractively laid out for the passing customers. It also has the excellent Spanish Guitar Museum of Antonio de Torres, Torres was considered the inventor the modern guitar, the museum gives an overview of the history of the guitar along with guitar exhibits, and has a hands-on guitar practice room.


Guitar Museum Almeria - V McGarvey-cc-by-2022