travel – Page 127 – Postcards from Barton Springs

Postcard from Madrid, Spain: Kaleidoscopic colors cross cultural divides

July 24, 2015 postcardsfromsanantonio3 Comments

Artist Federico Guzman transforms the 1887 Palacio de Cristal in the middle of Retiro Park into a prism of patterns and colors imported from the Sahara. His installation, Tuiza, is framed by an enormous Bedouin tent, a khaima, designed to spark interactions among people of diverse backgrounds in an hospitable setting.

The sides of his tent are formed with melhfas, traditional costumes worn by women of the Sahara. Women from the refugee camp of Bokhador worked with the artist directly to design and dye the fabrics.

The geometric patterns of the khaima and the more freestyle patterns of the melhfas explode kaleidoscopically when reflected in the glass with park surroundings and patterns and shadows created by the iron framework of the Crystal Palace.

Tuiza continues through August 30.

Postcard from Madrid, Spain: Showstopping Toppers

July 22, 2015 postcardsfromsanantonio4 Comments

They are like architectural banana peels.

It’s as though the designers want to make you trip as they entice your eyes upward to the tops crowning their creations.

The streets of Madrid are lined with countless of these dangerous distractions demanding your attention.

You long to amble along her boulevards awkwardly gawking for hours day after day after day.

Postcard from Toledo, Spain: Catnapping after the fete

July 18, 2015July 18, 2015 postcardsfromsanantonio1 Comment

Streets away from the Cathedral were peaceful when we were there. Peaceful enough for a catnap.

But flags still flapped in the breeze. Toledo was gussied up, as it has been for about the past 600 years, for the Feast of Corpus Christi.

Sheeting for shade, banners, lanterns and cones of flowers remained hung over the city’s narrow streets following the musical celebrations and solemn religious processions associated with the annual June event.