Moors

The gang in front of the night show stage

Puy du Fou is a theme park on the hills near Toledo. The original is in France, but the Spanish one seems to be the better one. It is a huge place where they perform historical recreations, but accented with dance numbers (fortunately, no singing). A group of friends and I went recently. The high point is the “Sueño de Toledo” night show. They have recreated the city of Toledo with the Tajo river (a copy of it, anyway) serving as a proscenium.

The show begins with an old man walking along the vast, open-air stage with his donkey. He meets a shepherd girl on the other side and starts telling the story of Toledo, only he skips the early history of the Carpetanians, and more importantly, the Romans! So they start the history of Toledo with the Christians and the Goths, that is when you realize that you are seeing a show and not a factually historic recreation. From there, they move to the Moorish invasion, which is when a group of Moorish girls walk into the ankle-deep “river” and perform a suggestive belly dance. I must admit, I was impressed when they walked into the water to do their dance number! And so they move through the history of Toledo. At another time, representing the building of the cathedral, two massive (make-believe) organs rise from the “river,” and then, paradoxically, flames start spewing from the organ pipes! I’m sure Bach would have been jealous. At another time, Christopher Columbus’s Santa María rises from the “river,” which is impressive, I must admit. There were plenty of horses, geese, goats and sheep, even pigs! Anyway, enough spoilers.

The next day, we enjoyed a series of performances. The first one was Cetrería de Reyes, which is an awesome falconry show. Unfortunately, midday in the Toledo sun in July made it, how can I say, blistering hot. But the show was cool, they brought out owls, hawks, falcons, vultures, even a Secretarybird stomping on a (fake) snake! At the end of the show, they released all the birds, and it was a grand finale!

A pluma y espada is a swashbuckling dramatized show of Lope de Vega, our most famous playwright of the Siglo de Oro (1600s Spain). Again they did the water thing where they danced and splashed about, and again they brought in the horses, which, given the indoor space, was surprising.

Allende la mar oceana recreates one of Columbus’s ships. You walk in and it looks and feels like you are in one of the galleons! You come out to a recreation of Hispaniola island!

Then we stopped for lunch, which is the weak spot of the park, but it was to be expected. After all, one is not there for a culinary experience. You can bring in your picnic, but the idea of carrying around lunch all day is not the most appetizing.

We finished the day with El último cantar, a show about El Cid. In this one, you get the horses and the dancing in a huge indoor space where the seats rotate to different parts of the fixed circular stage, impressive indeed.

There are many other shows, and they add about a show a year, but we were knackered, so we called it a day.

My recommendation? If it is not too hot, go enjoy the day. If it is hot, go to the night show. If you have the time, do the night show and then the next day go for the day. You are welcome.

My family used to go on holidays to Galicia, the Northwest coast of Spain. Atlantic water temperature and Atlantic waves. When my little sister Rocky was born we decided to switch our holidays to Mallorca island on the Mediterranean, where we found a little “cala”, inlet on the south shore of the island. Warm, beautiful, tranquil, crystal clear water. We have been coming to the same place for the last forty odd years, Camp de Mar. First we stayed at the “Gran Hotel”, old world style and panache, real furniture, “sit down dinner”, even a springboard on the beautiful pool! Unfortunately, after falling into disrepair it was razed and turned into a gaudy monstrosity. So we rotated through a series of rental homes until in the early 00s we found the Dorint. A resort built on what used to be an old farm where we used to go on nice summer evening walks eating the carobs off the ground. Some of my fondest memories are of excursions around the island, walking the old streets of the capital, Palma de Mallorca, with it’s beautiful squares and Gothic cathedral. I loved coming to the island when I had my own business and customers to visit. For many years when I had the money I rented a rag top Jeep to drive around the island and to go to the village to pick up freshly made ensaimadas, the local pastries, enjoying the sun and wind in my face and hair (I had hair then).

For the last few years my parents have been bringing their grandkids on holidays here. The rest of us come and go as time and money allow! I have been able to come for the last three years and I love it.

There is something magical about these islands. The light, the sea, the warm, dry days and nights, the intoxicating sweet smell of night. Not surprisingly it is, and has been home to Phoenicians, Romans and Moors, Chopin and George Sand, Agatha Christie, Rubén Dario, Joan Miró, and more recently Michael Douglas, Claudia Schiffer, and of course Rafa Nadal.

Our life here is very quiet. Wonderful breakfasts with local pastries, quiet beach, pool, siestas, and nice meals. I enjoy the gym, swimming, running on the local forested hills, evening walks with the family after dinner and the bar at night. But most of all I am getting a ton of reading done for my Ph.D. exams next spring! On Sundays I go to the village to the 1248 church for mass (granted it was pretty much re-done in 1703, but still).