Sunday 29 September – Singapore – steamy but stimulating.

We arrived in Singapore yesterday morning and went straight to our hotel, where fortunately we were able to access our room for a much-needed sleep.  We wandered out about lunchtime, had a bite to eat then strolled through Little India and checked out the wares.  We then made our way back to our hotel in time for the drinks and light food that is on offer and that did us for the day.

This morning we set off on the long walk to Glam Park to check out the monthly pop-up market there; noisy, bustling, aromatic – the atmosphere we love so much.  John posed alongside an elephant while a local pussycat looked lazily on; we then visited the local Sultan Mosque, where John’s legs were just too much for the locals and had to be covered.  A beautiful, peaceful building and we were able to spend time reading some visual displays answering many questions about Islam.

We headed back into one of the busiest parts of town and had a quick lunch, then braved the Bugis market – heaving with humanity. We made it out the other side and back to our hotel for an afternoon rest.  After driving more than 5,000km over the past several weeks it was great to just get out and stretch our legs – despite the oppressive heat.

This is our last blog.  We will spend tomorrow out and about in Singapore then repack and prepare for an early flight home Tuesday morning.  This has been an amazing holiday.  Most importantly, Elizabeth has been able to visit the homes where her mother and father grew up, and catch up with her Scottish relatives.  We have seen a good bit of Ireland, North Wales and Scotland and have spent a dozen relaxing days in our favourite country, Spain.  And we are now enjoying a few days unwinding in our favourite stopover destination, Singapore. Now it’s time to head back to family – and the daily grind.

Thursday 26 September – Monks, mountains and muchas gracias España.

We reluctantly left our Corbin home this morning and headed into the Prades Mountains to the Poblet Monastery, founded in 1151 by a group of Cistercian monks from France.  It held a very important place in the kingdom of Aragon and was the royal pantheon for the kings of Catalonia and Aragon from 1196 until the end of the fifteenth century.  All of the kings who are buried there had interesting nicknames: Alfonso II the Chaste, James I the Conqueror, Peter IV the Ceremonious, John I the Abandoned (during his lifetime, but later referred to as the Hunter of the Lover of Elegance), Martin the Humane, Ferdinand the Just, Alfonso the Magnanimous and John II the Great (or the Faithless, depending on whom you asked). The royal pantheon also contains the tomb of six consort queens including Beatrice of Aragon, who was twice queen of Hungary.

Despite its importance during the reign of the Aragon kings, its standing gradually diminished and it was eventually closed down in 1835 following the enactment of the Act of Dissolution, which secularised the region.  Most of its valuable contents were dispersed.  It also suffered damage from fires in ensuing years and it fell into ruin, only to be rescued in 1940 by a group of Italian monks and restoration began.  It has now been fully restored and is a magnificent complex that faithfully illustrates monastic life in centuries past.  Also attached to the monastery is a 14^th century winery, and vineyards surround the complex; the monks still produce their own wine.

The main fortified gate leads into the large cloister, that follows the traditional form – wide corridors surrounding an open central courtyard that in this case includes a fountain.  Leading off the cloister are the various key areas; the huge dormitory that would probably sleep a couple of hundred monks; refectory; kitchen; library; large dining room where the monks had their meals while a designated monk read to them from the scriptures.  Above the monastery buildings is the fortified palace built in later years and now serving as a fascinating museum.  The 12^th century high church, which includes the royal pantheon and is directly accessible off the cloister, is a three-nave basilica with an intricate alabaster altarpiece.

A beautiful, peaceful place set within spacious grounds, it was a pleasure for us to spend a couple of hours there, however we eventually moved on and headed up a long winding road over the  mountains, stopping for lunch and eventually reached the Mediterranean Sea.  We followed a narrow, winding road that clung to the mountainside and arrived at our destination for our last night in Spain, Viladecans, just a short drive from Barcelona Airport, to where we will head in the morning for the overnight flight to Singapore.  So we end another delightful stay in perhaps our favourite country - muchas gracias España.

Wednesday 25 September – Getting high on a cathedral.

Again, perfect weather for our last day in the Lleida area.  We drove in towards the city and found yet another old castle closed and unattended, despite what looked like a fairly recent sign stating that it should be open.  So into the city, parked the car and walked across the bridge and past all the shops along the Calle Mayor to the Church of St Joan (closed), then into a lift, a short walk and another lift, to the top of Lleida Hill and the Cathedral of St Mary of La Seu Vella and what remains of the adjacent Castell de la Suda (Spanish/Arabic: Castle of Power).

Construction of the cathedral, probably over the remains of an old mosque, began in 1203 (not long after the Moors were defeated in Lleida) and took a few hundred years to complete entirely.  It was transformed into military barracks after the War of Spanish Succession early in the 18^th century and for the next couple of hundred years. Much of its valuable statuary and art works were removed one way or another (although much of it has turned up in museums and other places around the world).  It was effectively abandoned in the later 19^th and early 20^th centuries, although it was used as a concentration camp during the Spanish Civil War.  Restoration work began in 1948 and, although much of the structure had to be recreated, the bulk of the original church stands.

The cloister is spectacular, built in the traditional square shape with an open garden in the middle, but it is huge – certainly the largest we have ever seen, and considered one of Europe’s largest Gothic cloisters.  The capitals on the columns are intricately carved in differing patterns and each of the twelve arches on the internal walls has a different pattern.  The bell tower, accessed through one corner of the cloister, is 60 metres high.  We elected not to climb the 230-step spiral staircase to the top as the view would be no better than what we already had – just higher.

The cathedral itself is fairly austere however there are sufficient remains of frescoes and murals to appreciate how opulent it must have been before it was pillaged.  The stone plaque for the laying of the first stone on 22 July 1203 is extant as are some of the murals and frescoes in the small chapels around the walls, dedicated to the saints.  A 13^th century statue of Christ hangs on the wall of the apse and it is interesting to note the form; skinny, short hair, elongated facial features – perhaps how Christ was portrayed before Renaissance painters remade him in European form.

We had the place to ourselves and it was cool, so we took our time wandering through, before braving the sun again to go to the top of what remains of the castle, built in the 12^th to 14^th centuries.  The castle was converted into military barracks during the Catalan revolt of 1640-1652 and a large part was destroyed when explosives in the internal arsenal exploded. All that remains now is the Hall of Corts where, among many significant events, 6 year old James 1 the Conqueror was crowned (1214 – 1276).

After an interesting and worthwhile few hours spent here we made our way back down the hill, had lunch, then drove back to Corbins, stopping close to home at the small nature reserve at the confluence of the Segre and Noguera Ribagorçana Rivers to have a last stroll and observe a couple of ducklings splashing about under the watchful eye of mum, then home to pack.

Tuesday 24 September – Miffed about Monzon

We headed off this morning for a day trip to the town of Monzon, about 60km from Corbins. Our research showed that there was a 10^th century Moorish castle that at one time was occupied by the Knights Templar, plus a few other attractions worth seeing.  Our research failed to inform us that Monzon is basically closed on Tuesdays (and Mondays).  On our arrival we went looking for tourist information office, however nobody seemed to know where that is (and a call to the number listed on the ‘net went unanswered), so we stopped for elevenses and the only highlight of the day – Elizabeth had a hot chocolate so thick and rich that she could literally stand her teaspoon up on it.  We then drove up the hill towards the castle, which is visible from miles around, and trekked the last few hundred metres uphill, only to find that it doesn’t open Mondays or Tuesdays (our research was vindicated by a young English couple we spoke to who had also done their research and believed that it would be open).  So we had to view it from a distance.

We wandered down the hill to the 12^th century Cathedral Santa Maria del Romeral, originally a Moorish mosque.  Small, but interesting and at least it was open.  On the other hand, when we walked more than a kilometre to another of our objectives, the Assocacion Belerista de Monzon, allegedly containing a display of four hundred nativity scenes from around the world, we found it to be firmly locked up and unassailable.  So we continued on, pausing at what once was a monastery (and contained a thorn from the cross of Jesus), then became a hospital and is now the Conservatorium, with a plaque out the front dedicated to George Orwell, who spent a night in the hospital after suffering a neck wound in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.  We stopped at a Turkish café for lunch, then walked all the way back up the hill towards the castle and our car, and drove back to Corbins.

Later in the afternoon we took a long walk around our village.  It is very quiet, with just over one thousand residents.  We passed the local church (closed) and an old, small castle, or perhaps a former military outpost, with a Knights Templar crest over the door; we chatted with a couple of small groups of schoolkids sitting at the village lookout and on a doorstep; we looked over the fields from our elevated position and noted a large array of solar panels in a nearby field, and also noted that a stork had built a nest on an electricity tower – very innovative, and took us back to seeing similar evidence of storks using public towers to make their nests, in Morocco.  Last night we also witnessed a few dozen storks fly overhead just on dusk, no doubt heading to Africa for the winter.

Seafood barbecue over charcoal on our deck tonight, then a spot of reading before the sun went down.