Musings

On the table as we sat down to breakfast: salt and olive oil. This is (drip-line irrigated) olive orchard country, and there are plenty of new terraces being built and planted. The development seems to be by multi-national agribusinesses, not small-holders.

It’s 10am, and the sun’s too high for a sunshine slow-down.

The map on the left shows the Ebro River, flowing north-to-south on the far left. The site, called Castellet de Banyoles (Tivissa), is triangular, with the only foot access from the right as there are cliffs elsewhere. The right map is an enlargement of the fortified entrance there (see next photo).

Those two points facing us are the rebuilt bases of two large pentagonal towers that totally controlled access to this ~4.4 ha city.

Here’s one residential compound, two rooms wide and three deep, with the doorway in the front. Often with such a layout, the innermost room was where people kept their valuables, food, etc., so that visitors could be permitted only in the front/reception room, and remain ignorant of the family’s wealth.

Here’s another compound, two very long rooms deep, and two wide.

This very wide open area functioned as a broad street between dwellings left and right. Despite all this construction (I haven’t mentioned the effective sewage system for the whole city), this settlement was built in the 4th C BC, and was wealthy, probably producing Iberian drachmae coins, imitating types from the Greek city of Emporion, far northeast of here on the Mediterranean. Excavations recovered luxury goods of gold and silver (including earrings, bowls, plates and bracelets), pieces of lead bearing Iberian script, and significant traces of metallurgical activity. The Romans burned/destroyed the settlement about 200 BC, probably in connection with indigenous revolts, although there is some evidence of reoccupation. Recent fieldwork has found Roman-period items east of the fortifications, which point to a Roman camp having been established there.

Over the wall to the west, a bend of the Ebro was below, and the arable land that this city controlled, too.

Here’s the southwest lookout tower base, visible in the map.

Our second site today was totally different. It’s on a tiny, narrow landform, and overlooks a small tributary of the Ebro, so it is not in the main valley. The settlement was far earlier than Castellet. It’s called Puig Roig (red hill in Catalan—from the rock substrate, not the sign!), and dates to the the ninth and eighth centuries BC.

These walls are not even 2m apart; these were much smaller rooms.

These are the largest rooms I saw….

Here’s the central street, not quite two meters wide. During occupation, I’m sure it was more level than at present.

Generic mountain drive view, 12:30 pm.

Look what JCB found! Don’t recognize this “Tasty Burger” place? It’s a Mickey’s! [Part of the Playland sign is visible, left.]

We checked into our hotel and made a paseo (walk). Here’s a perimeter entry, now only one-way for vehicles. [And rightly so!]

This town is called Capellades, and is famous for making paper of cotton/linen rags plus hemp, including for cigarettes and currency. Look at the detail on the bottom of the balcony floor! We stopped here because of Abric Romaní, a rockshelter in the Quaternary travertine cliff formation (called Cinglera del Capello) that forms the east edge of the town. Excavations from the multi-meter deep deposits recovered important information on Neanderthal lifeways in the area, with dates to the Late Middle Paleolithic, and the oldest layers dating to ~56,000 yrs ago. Only the top layer (Layer A) dates to the Upper Paleolithic and has Aurignacian artifacts indicating human use. Open hours are scanty, so we’ll look at the cliff setting and move on.

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First light from hotel room. The cloud cover soon dissipated.

We exited town by the back way—our first ford…in, amazingly, a Ford!

Infrastructure slope! From top to bottom…. Various electrical poles. Major regional irrigation water, in pipes, not open channels. Zigzag of roads on slope. Road bridge of at least three arches. Railroad bridge of two arches. Oh, and guardrail to keep us safe.

“I can see Madrid from “my” dead olive tree!” [Hint: tall buildings are visible just to the left of the tree, on the horizon.]

I can also see Madrid over this Medieval well with stabilized walls.

I can see my spouse atop a Medieval bridge!

The shady side of this gorge, where I stood to take the above photo, is so shady, the lichens were this prolific.

On the opposite side, the sunlight means happy mosses, with other types of lichen.

One of my favorite compositions of the day.

We drove up to a famous Late Paleolithic site (and museum) with Acheulean-style tools, with and many animal bone fossils and no hominid remains. We were welcomed first by this beast, two cats on the porch of the museum, and no one to allow us in. Oh, well. [Truth: we did know it would be closed by the time we arrived.]

There’s a day-moon from our last mile, and we’re at our hotel for the night. It’s only a little over an hour before the restaurant opens for dinner service. We worked up an appetite!

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First time a pilot came out to apologize for a late flight—he did it twice, over the mic to all, then walked around and took questions. [Really: last night, but first part of flight in essence.]

First high-elevation corporate witticism I had to “share.” [We left about three hours late; our destination: Madrid.]

Best airline food I’ve ever eaten. Yum. Truly.

We took off in the rental car, headed north, and the first time we hit a dirt road we saw our first caballero.

First Roman villa. This is a late one, and the central courtyard-garden still sports a tree.

First five-arch Medieval bridge. Last modified in 1973.

First Neanderthal cave cluster (mostly protected from the elements with a roof or with small openings—fenced, so we couldn’t get closer).

First fabulous sky of the trip.

First mystery. Sign says the water isn’t potable.

First dramatic bottleneck/pass we’ve driven through.

First night’s hotel room view.

We’re getting into the swing of the Spanish lifestyle: we will dine tonight at 8:30; only two more hours to wait. Over and out.

Posted at 12:28 PM | 2 Comments »

It’s not pretty, but it tells a story…gutter ice in sunshine, with leaves.

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I do enjoy a day-moon against a blue-sky.

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I’m guessing that’s a beech, the one with the tan leaves. They hold them very long, and bud out early.

The messy green shrub in front is, I think, some kind of honeysuckle nastiness. I say that because it offers little in the way of pretty.

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I find my mind keeps going back to the dinosaur track fossils found northwest of London in 2023 and reported this week, especially the drone shots that show the entire nearly 200 yards of prints. Amazing.

[Confession: I stole this photo from my 2022 archive, still 5 January, however.]

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Look at this slow-water river. I’m still working out where all the sand came from. Upstream, yeah, but where?

Totally different scale: look at this dried trunk, cut to clear a path of a fallen tree, probably dead or almost dead when the wind rushed in.

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I arose before the sun (I know it’s relative), and thought, this is the last dawn I’ll see of 2024.

When we were out doing our final errands, I chose some red food…that’s pickled beets and duh raspberries. I haven’t tried the former (yet), and the raspberries, uh, almost flavorless…but gorgeous (eat with your eyes doesn’t really cut it sometimes).

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I like the silver branches, side-lit and almost glowing. Lovely, sunny afternoon.

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