Africa :)

Been here for a couple of days now. Open plan sort of. Walking around until money runs out, or I get a call to work elsewhere.

Love it so far, but the skies have just turned a bit mental purple!

Photos will come.

I will also be putting paintings on ebay to auction for charity. Winning bidder chooses the charity.

Lose plan. As ever!

Costa Brava.

Costa Brava.

Costa Brava.

Costa Brava.

This is still Costa Brava.

Back in Granada I'm wondering what to do? Stay and finish work. Go on to Madrid. Morocco???

Not easy finding a cheap room here this time of year if you're not a foreign, female student.

South coast?

Costa Brava.

Costa Brava

Costa Brava

I'll keep posting Costa Brava photographs and words as and when. Now, I'm heading to Barcelona to get a night train to Granada. I shall record the TrenHotel in images and post here also.

Meanwhile back in the mountains of Catalunya...

It was still cold. Not this cold actually. This was a couple of weeks ago. Spring is coming!

Just a very short drive from Costa Brava you can explore mountain pueblo after mountain pueblo amongst beautiful natural parks. 'Come to the sea - Come to the Country' say the tourism people. Very beautiful here, but cold in the mountains early February.

Costa Brava.

Costa Brava. The Conventionally Beautiful.

I wasn't expecting to find a real live, living real siren!

Many corners of this coast surprised me.

Costa Brava

Costa Brava - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Except the ugly isn’t really ugly. Is it?
The photographs I post here will hopefully explain the way I see The Costa Brava. Explain what I see as a very misunderstood cultural phenomenon of 20th Century Spain – the sand, sea and sun boom of the Costas.
I explored the coast from Portbou close to the French border as far south as Sant Feliu de Guixols passing along wide open beaches, urbanisations, modern holiday complexes, quaint fishing villages (boring! Leave them to the English. They need real ales in real pirates bars with real fish and chips to be any good) and the many ‘unseen’ small towns that service the seasonal holiday industry.
Some of the photographs will hopefully portray conventional beauty. Some will probably offend the tourism industry! Some may just look mad to most. The mad will be my favourites.

Costa Brava

Costa Brava.

Beach art.

Costa Brava.

I've decided to post these in single doses of a few a day.

The shot below is Nou Casino in Sant Feliu de Guixols.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sant_Feliu_de_Gu%C3%ADxols

A huge social space usually full of people playing card games, or dominoes. I spent much time here. The daily menu is excellent and very good value also.

Beyond what Wiki says about the place, I found Sant Feliu to be one of the most friendly, welcoming and happy towns I have ever visited!

The shot above is a bit out of season seedy seaside grunginess :)

Costa Brava.

This is a part of Spain I find fascinating for many reasons. I'm putting a photoessay type thing together now. About 50 photographs shot over a Two day hike along a 30KM stretch of coast yesterday and Friday.

One photograph for now. If free WiFi and batteries hold out, everything will be here this evening.

A Tunnel Thing.

A View from a Bus Window.

Crazy World we all share!

A pig farm.

Barcelona :(

I posted this shot on a web forum sometime ago now. A single guy, a bit drunk, but harmless. He really didn't need this much attention. And, neither did the Police! Fuck shit policing in every way.

Brrrrrrrrrrr...

Cold this morning!

What Happend to January?

Blimey! It's flying by.

I have finally found the time (and motivation) to read my entire blog. I've also edited much. There are no 'f' and 'c' words in the book proposal. There's also a fair bit that isn'y included here.

Right at the start I intended to blog everything, no matter how grim, bleak, or inconsequential it seemed at the time. However, some thing happend that I just didn't want to remember. Some of the people I met on the streets died. I watched one person overdose on heroin right in front of my eyes. Someone else was found suffocated in a clothes recycling bin. That is barely touching the surface of the darker side of street life. When you spend almost every passing hour of every passing day working on the streets you see it all. Everything. And, everything isn't all nice.

Then there was the physical abuse from some idiot Policia Local. Sitting on a bench one evening I was approached by 3 Policia Local who asked for my ID. I showed it to them - no problems. I wasn't doing anything which could be in anyway construed as suspicious. I was only polite. They then decided they wanted to search me. Took me into an alley and took it in turns to beat me around the head. That shook me up a great deal. What can you do other than just stand there and take it? Police with guns.

Despite the ugly experiences, there are many places I would like to revisit between hikes in Africa. There are also many places I have yet to see in Spain. One place is the coast of North Catalunya close to the French border. I will go this weekend. Then I will return to Laxe and Camelle in Galicia - possibly my favourite bit of coastal Spain. And, I will post photographs here!

I'm currently in a small village near a town called Vic about 100KM north of Barcelona. Wondering whether this is going to become my base, or whether elsewhere in Spain suits me more. I sort of fancy a base in Laxe/Camelle and a base in Granada, or Madrid, or Leon for city living. Photos of here...

Unusual to find a Saint James in a tiny village so far away from a recognised pilgrimage route, although Montserat is not too far away.