Letter 14

Signing the guest book at the Alhambra in Granada

April 2011

Time is flying.  Spring has arrived in Madrid, and it feels delightful.  We are enjoying Spain’s famously blue skies and temperatures around 20 C (70 F).  Trees are blossoming, including the beautiful cherry and almond trees.  It reminds me of Washington, DC.  And the sprinkler systems have been turned on.  When Stella and I walk, we need to be careful not to let her get wet!

As I look back on last month’s activities, I’m reminded of our daughter Stephanie. Stephanie (age 19) is very social and she loves people.  She constantly says to us: “I can’t wait for you to meet my new friend.  I love her so; she is one of my best friends”.  We laugh about it because everyone is Stephanie’s “best friend.”  That’s how I feel about traveling in Spain.   Every place we go becomes my favorite place.  I want to write and tell you, “Such and such is so great. You have to go.”  This month was no different.  We did a lot of traveling, and each and every place we visited was one of our favorites!

Three weeks ago, we returned to Seville, the capital of the southern region of Andalusia.  Last April we visited there to experience “Feria de abril”, one of Spain’s many local festivals.  This year was different.  Alan had a long day of official activities ranging from press interviews to visiting a Roma community and ending the day with an evening speech on entrepreneurism to a business club.  This is a subject he’s been speaking lot about:  entrepreneurism and why it flourishes in the US.  We keep hearing similar comments through Spain:  “The US is not afraid of failure and taking risks.  We admire the entrepreneurial spirit in America.”  Alan’s remarks about this have been getting great reviews.  While Alan was working, I spent some time touring.  In Seville, I revisited the beautiful Alcazar (castle), the cathedral where parts of Christopher Columbus are said to be buried, and I walked through the beautiful Jewish quarter where a once thriving Jewish population lived.  On our second day, we traveled together to a facility developed by Abengoa, a leading solar energy company.  Seeing the mirrors collecting the energy and reflecting the light onto tall, space-age columns was amazing.  Spain is a leader in renewable energy. Abengoa is developing one of the largest solar energy plants in the US in the state of Arizona, and it was exciting to see this technology up close and personal.

From Seville, we traveled to the fantastic city of Granada, home to the Alhambra.  I fell in love with this place.  We stayed at the Parador, right inside the grounds of Alhambra.  Paradors are state-run hotels in historic sites that have been converted into beautiful luxury hotels.  The Alhambra was constructed by the Moors in the 13th and 14th centuries. As the Christian re-conquest of Spain pushed southward, Granada became the last and final stronghold of the Moors.  Alhambra is an amazing fortress, consisting of a number of buildings and gardens which housed the sultans and guarded the surrounding territory.  The American writer Washington Irving, who wrote Tales from the Alhambra and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, traveled to Granada in 1829 and lived for several months in the Alhambra.  Later, in the 1840s, he served as US Ambassador to Spain.  As happens in many places we visit, Alan is often asked to sign an official guest book.  This time was no exception, except the first signature in the book he signed belonged to his predecessor, Washington Irving.  I found this to be incredibly meaningful, a link to both our history and Spanish history. It made me realize that our time in Spain will be immortalized as well.  We’ve become so enchanted by the history of Spain, and we realize that we are playing a part in its current history.

We didn’t spend a lot of time in Granada, but I got enough of a taste to know that I want to come back and get to know this city better.  The fragrance of orange blossoms was in the air, and the snow capped Sierra Nevada Mountains look out over the city.  There were small allies to wander through, great craftsmanship in ceramics and woodwork, and of course, flamenco.

We spent the weekend at a small hotel in the hills outside of Granada.  La Bobadilla, named for the last Moorish King Boabdil, is surrounded by olive groves and the distant Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Bobadilla is a beautiful hotel.  There were lots of hiking trails on the property, and the scenic vistas were fabulous.  So was the food!  It’s always important to take time to recharge our batteries, and La Bobadilla gave us the chance to do just that.

After only a day back in Madrid, we headed north to Bilbao.  Again, Alan spent a long day meeting with the political leaders, business people, and students.  We enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Zortziko, one the Basque Country’s great restaurants.  On our way, we stopped to see an outdoor sculpture of Las Meninas by Manolo Valdes.  (See my letter # 10: Valdes’ Las Meninas are also part of an outdoor exhibit on Broadway in Manhattan)  Bilbao is home to the Guggenheim Museum and the Museo de Bellas Artes.  Architect Frank Gehry designed the Guggenheim in Bilbao, and it attracts over one million visitors per year.  Bilbao is an industrial port city, but since the Guggenheim was built, it has become a center for the arts and a destination city in Spain.  Visitors should also go to the Museo de Bellas Artes and view its magnificent collection of Basque painting and sculpture.

From Bilbao we traveled to the La Rioja region.  La Rioja is home to some of the best grapes in Spain and some of the very best wines.  We stayed at the Marques de Riscal Hotel, which, like the Bilbao Guggenheim, was designed by Frank Gehry.  It was another favorite place.  The landscape is quintessential wine country, much like Napa Valley during the off-season.  Yet seeing the creative façade of the hotel, surrounded by vineyards reminded me of how Spain blends the traditional with the very contemporary.  We toured the world’s largest museum devoted to wine and viticulture, and we were shown the Marques de Riscal vineyard by a member of the family who owns it.  The vineyard prides itself in having kept bottles of wine from every year since the vineyard was founded in the mid 19th century.  Using a traditional method of severing the glass neck to “uncork” the bottle, our host selected a 1949 red (the year Alan was born) for us to taste.  Incredibly, it had retained its luscious flavor, and after 62 years, it had aged almost as well as my husband.

Traveling to the different regions of Spain is an important part of our work. We came to Spain represent our country in every corner of this nation, but the day-to-day work of the Ambassador in Madrid is also very demanding.  Alan is dealing with the uncertainties of the federal budget, the changing winds of Spanish politics, and a world in which crises erupt sometimes daily.  Spain is part of the coalition trying to protect the Libyan people from the Qaddafi regime, and Alan recently traveled to the Spanish military bases in Moron and Rota to witness firsthand the work of the US Air Force, which is using these bases to support NATO activities over Libya.  He thanked our servicemen and women for protecting American interests and American values, and once again, he was impressed by the excellence and dedication of the US military.  Alan is working closely with the Spanish government to coordinate our efforts, and following his visits to the bases, he hosted a press briefing to discuss the mission in Libya.  Journalists from the Spanish and US press attended, and they grilled him hard.  With ease, thoughtfulness, and humor, Alan answered questions for over an hour and a half.  Explaining US policy is such an important part of diplomacy, and I marvel at how good Alan is at this.

Each month, we try to take some time to become better acquainted with the over 300 employees who work very hard at US Embassy Madrid.  We host a monthly coffee for 15-20 American and Spanish colleagues for an informal conversation and get-together at our residence.  We just hosted a group from the Embassy’s Consular Section and from the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency).  I continue to learn more and more about what an Embassy does.  Among many other things, members of the Consular Section deal with US citizens living and traveling in Spain, especially those who run into difficulties when traveling.  It may be as simple as a lost passport or pocketbook, and it can be much more complicated for Americans who are hospitalized in Spain or even arrested and then incarcerated.  Some issues are very challenging, but it’s the kindness, compassion, and hard work of those working in this section that ensures that Americans abroad receive help and support from our government.

On a lighter note, the sister of King Juan Carlos, the Infanta Dona Pilar, invited me to a luncheon at her home in honor of André Leon Talley.  André is a fashion editor at Vogue and a host of America’s Next Top Model.  When I mentioned him to Becca, she recognized the name right away.  Lunch with Infanta Dona Pilar was delightful and interesting.  Like the King and Queen, she is warm, engaging, and very down to earth.  It takes a moment to move beyond saying “Hello, your Highness” and to realize that, although she is royalty, she is a human being just like the rest of us.  The Royal Family is revered in Spain because they helped guide the country from dictatorship to democracy and also for their human qualities.

Enter this in the “I can’t believe” category. In the spirit of trying all things Spanish, Alan and I traveled northwest to a small town near Salamanca to go partridge hunting.  “Caza” is the Spanish word for hunt, and it is steeped in tradition.  Men wear jackets and ties, women wear blazers, and most everyone wears a fedora-type hat.  All look very proper.  I was very resistant to this, but after agreeing to go, I also agreed to go to a day of practice at the shooting range.  After practicing on clay pigeons (I did hit 2), I decided this was not for me.  I joined the group at a magnificent hunting lodge, and I did get swept up in the ambience.  There were about 20 Spaniards in the hunting party, and Alan and I were warmly welcomed.  I stayed for a sumptuous dinner, and I rode out to admire the breathtaking scenery. 

On a sad note, it was the one-year anniversary of my father’s passing.  Not a day goes by when I don’t think of him.  Alan and I lit a candle in his memory and also in memory of Alan’s mother.  Today I went out to the Embassy garden that was named in my father’s memory and started planning for season # 2.  It was amazing how some things continued to grow despite the winter and lack of attention.  Now it’s the growing season in Spain, and I’m ready for the new crop.

All my best, Susan