Sunday, February 9, 2020

SAN SEBASTIAN AND LA RIOJA SPAIN

The Basque Country

SAN SEBASTIAN - FILM FESTIVAL


SAN SEBASTIAN was the most fashionable summer resort in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century, and has an elegant traditional promenade all along its curving beach. Today it is delicately old-fashioned.


The city is renowned for its summer arts festivals, street life centered in the old town, and unrivaled pintxos (local version of tapas).
 SCENES FROM THE SAN SEBASTIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
 A STAR IS BORN WAS THE “HOT FILM”

The International Film Festival, founded in 1953, is one of five leading European annual film festivals. It is held in September and draws more that 100,000 spectators . The special Donostia Prize is awarded as a tribute to the career of an actor or director. This year the Donostia Prize the Golden Shell was awarded to Danny DeVito.



Danny DeVito receiving the big prize...GOLDEN SHELL
 This is our group from the BFI attending this festival.













RESTAURANTS IN SAN SEBASTIAN......BEST IN THE WORLD

The Neo Gothic Catedral del Buen Pastor
The Cathedral was designed by Manuel de Echave is 246 feet high. Its rich ornamentation includes stained glass windows gargoyles and pinnacles.


Leaving San Sebastián we spent a day hiking the Camino the road to one of Europe’s greatest pilgrimage sites, the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela.
This is the sign of the shell that the pilgrims would follow to stay on the trail.


We walked to this small town which was close to San Sebastián.
Beautiful scenery along the way












LA RIOJA 


Famous for its wines and wonderful restaurants.Many monasteries, churches and bridges that survive,.La Rioja grapes mature slowly on the sunny hillsides. It was important in the Middle Ages was an important stage on the road to Santiago de Compostela.
The monastery of San Milan de Yuso and Suso constructed between the 6th-11th century.The burial cave contains the tomb of he founder from the 2nd half of the 12th century. Exibition Hall - there are replicas of Romanesque ivor carvings of the 11th century.












Codices and songbooksThis permanent exhibition shows what the scriptorium was like: how books were copied. 



The original collection of the Gregorian Chant is also recorded here. SANTA MARIA DE SAN SALVADOR the  Cistercian Abbey is one of the first to have been founded in Spain. Church is luminous. Tomb of Dona Urraca

MONASTARY OF SANTA MARIA LA REAL 








Constructed in 1052. Garcia Sanchez when hunting chased