the oak tree of guernica, originally uploaded by suddenly
the S.O. has a penchant for picasso and WWII so of course we HAD to go to guernica. it’s about an hour from bilbao by train. (tip: when you take the train there from atxuri station in bilbao, get off at the stop marked “gernika” which is the euskera spelling.)
in 1937, hitler bombed the hell out of guernica because (a) franco wanted to teach the basques a lesson; and (b) the germans got target practice for future carpet bombing. as a result over 1600 civilian men, women and children were killed. the bombing inspired picasso to paint his anti-war masterpiece, guernica.
guernica looks unlike any other place i’ve seen in spain. after the bombs destroyed everything, they had to rebuild it quickly and functionally which meant no ornate plazas or elaborate details on buildings. the landscape of the town is a little depressing and ironically, the architecture in guernica seems almost german or swiss.
we visited the peace museum which was short on art but long on reasons why war is bad. (it’s pretty much skippable but if you must go, look for the signs for “bakearean museoa.”) we then located the oak tree stump that symbolizes the spirit of the basque people. guernica isn’t really a town geared for sightseeing; i think it’s more a place for reflecting on that tragic event in 1937.
10 responses so far ↓
Jae Young // May 15, 2008 at 6:30 pm |
You’re really digging Spain! It seems like you’ve been here for ages. Going to stick around for a while? Yessss if so <3
suddenly susan // May 15, 2008 at 8:19 pm |
i am totally digging spain! i will be here for a little while longer. spain rocks!
Jae Young // May 16, 2008 at 3:35 am |
Pero cuando vas a suramerica? (O otros partes de latinoamerica, no tengo problemas con Mexico o centroamerica XD) Es re divertido y mucho mas barato (que Espana y el resto de europa)~
Or mebbe it’s just my Spain jealousy talking ^_^
suddenly susan // May 16, 2008 at 11:40 am |
i almost understood all of your message but had to look up the last part on babelfish. i forgot that barato = cheap. i would love to go to south america but that’s kind of far from here. mebbe later…
Jae Young // May 16, 2008 at 5:51 pm |
O 핑계가 많아요~ Next thing you’re going to start saying is you stay in Spain cos you like it ^_^ Portugal looks fun too, but I always feel bad going to Portuguese speaking countries with just my Spanish skillz. I know you speak Portuguese in Portugal, honest!! It’s just I don’t. It is funny when they sometimes feign total ignorance of Spanish. Hello, Romance language, it’s not THAT different, I can sort of understand you so I know you sort of understand me too.
suddenly susan // May 16, 2008 at 7:13 pm |
um…yeah. i read that the portuguese don’t take too kindly to being addressed in spanish. they might have a complex about always playing second fiddle to their bigger iberian neighbor.
Jae Young // May 17, 2008 at 10:11 pm |
I’d be annoyed too, I just want to apologize in advance to Portugal and Brazil for not learning Portuguese and I assume there is a greater likelihood of them knowing Spanish than English. My friend and I fight about which is “better”, cos he minored in Portuguese in college. He thinks Spanish is the language of the jungle (and this an insult somehow) and I think Portuguese is, if only because of the Amazon ^_^ But his major was French and a bit of the French attitude rubbed off on him.
suddenly susan // May 18, 2008 at 8:48 am |
a lot of words in portuguese are similar to spanish; it seems like you just replace the “n” with “m” at the end of words and use “sh” instead of lisping the “s” and be more nasal in portuguese.
bellepoq // August 19, 2008 at 3:47 pm |
I was in Gernika last Friday and ran into a strange Basque festival (that was actually running throughout the Basque country that week). Trying to google what the festival was but not having much luck – was a bit confused as I wasn’t sure what it was really celebrating. I felt like it was celebrating Basque culture but had been hijacked by Eta supporters along the way!
suddenly susan // August 19, 2008 at 3:52 pm |
omg. that’s funny ^-^