That's a Big Dog!

Barcelona really is a terrific city. I write this from Madrid several days (and several paradors) later. Madrid has a totally different vibe, more people, more stuff, yet so far I don't have the same happy vibe. Perhaps it will come later when we have left. We had a day to bimble in Barcelona ahead of the tennis so went on the hop on hop off bus, both routes, one after the other. Absolutely fascinating. Very easy way to get a handle on a city. Also the history bits are interesting, if very abbreviated. The books may have it differently but it seems that up until the 1950s, Barcelona was still a bit of a run down, provincial town of no great importance. It was and remains a left wing city. In the Civil War, which is a huge event in the transformation of the country, Barcelona being Catalonia, was socialist, communist, anarchist, you name it, but 100% opposed to the Nationalists under Franco. Barcelona was the last place to fall, and Franco didn't forget. Madrid incidentally was a Nationalist city. Its football club, Real, was royalty, Barcelona was an upstart. The city was transformed in the 1950s with new buildings, new roads so other than in the old sections, the city has an organised grid structure with diagonal boulevards leading into and out of the city, all meeting in central piazzas. The club where we were staying was on one such diagonal very close to one of these central piazzas. Also consequently the buildings are relatively new. The city is not medieval at all. Another huge step up was the 1992 Olympic Games. This sparked huge new buildings and development of the remaining yuckier bits of the city, particularly the port area. The athletes' village is today a bringht new quarter of the city, the port and surrounding beaches jewels. Almost unbelievable, an Olympic games that actually worked for the host city. Usually they are massive financial drains, with today countries vying for not having to stage them. We figured out the bus system well enough to get to and from the tennis... again sited in the middle of a residential area, very up market one too. This is the home of the Royal Tennis Club of Barcelona. It reminded me of Coral Beach Club in Bermuda! Maybe not as swanky as Monte Carlo, for that really is the club of the royal family with only the uber wealthy able to breathe the same saintly air, except for that week when the public are allowed in. No royal family in left wing Barcelona of course, but tons of well to do families who are everywhere in that tennis week. It seemed that most of the tournament volunteers were members or children of members and that large numbers of the crowd too were members. People were wandering up to people all over kissing one another on the cheeks, changing seats and genrally behaving like the most important things were happening off the courts, rather than on them. The thing that finally summed it up for me was that someone brought their dog with them to tennis. Not one of those handbag dogs, but a very very big dog. One of those blue eyed, very hairy dogs that look like huskies. It was about my size. The owner brought it up the stairs into the stands and it flopped down in the middle of the public axis ways. This was very much a reminder that this tournament is MINE, not yours. Classic. The tournament itself was a 500 point, 64 draw, men only event. Not all the big guys would be playing. Djokovich for example skipped it. On the courts, Nadal was knocked out early and Alcaraz pulled out injured, so with a host of lesser ranked names present much depended on the two finalists from Monte Carlo: Tsitsipas and Ruud. Otherwise the final would have been between lesser players. Good for them, bad for the tournament organisers. But boy did those guys make a meal of things. Tsitsipas in particular should have been beaten in the two successive matches we watched, yet somehow his opponents managed to give it back to him in the most unlikely way. Ruud was a little more efficient, but not much. Somehow they managed to make it through to the finals. Ruud won this week, but we didnt stay to watch. We were on our way to our parador trail.

The Road to Barcelona

Packing up in Monte Carlo was tough but we had a car to collect and some roads to drive. I'd organised a rental/leasing contract through Renault similar to what I'd done with my son some years before, whereby you notionally 'buy' a car and appoint a dedicated time to 'sell it back', any time longer than two weeks. This tour would be five or so weeks on the road for Viv and I, so I returned to the well. Very slick operation and all of a sudden we had a brand new Renault Arkana with 19 kms on the clock. It all took less time to do the paperwork and take it away than it took to find the office in Nice Airport. Viv took the honour of christening the car by taking the wheel first and gassed up (they only provide 15 litres in the tank to start), we headed for Cannes which was to be our first stop. Why Cannes? It was only 30 minutes away for sure but I have had a hankering to stay at the very swanky hotel on the seafront that ejected me when I was a scruffy 18 year old, back in 1972. Back then, things were much different; no money, we were living fairly rough on camp sites, and were traveling in a 10+ year old mini that had had its passenger seat door slammed backwards on day 1 of the trip (which meant I couldn't get out of the car that side). This was a trip I took with my school friend Dave the Rave (his car, so he drove). We slept in many public car parks in the south of France, including Monte Carlo and Cannes as both had car parks on the beach and next to public toilets. Very important. Wandering about in Cannes, I figured I'd like to take a look at this very smart looking hotel, The Carlton, and ambled inside. Very opulent and pretty much immediately I was ever so politely escorted to the entrance again by the uniforms. Many years later, Viv and I stopped for a drink there with friends who had a holiday home nearby, and were not ejected. This time I wanted to go whole hog and stay there. Very nice it was too. But only for one night as we had other things to do and the Barcelona tennis was starting in only a couple of days, so we couldnt dawdle as much as we could later on in the trip. On that very long trip back in 1972 and again later, I had driven all over Provence but had never visited Pont du Gard, the iconic Roman Aqueduct outside of Nimes. This time we would put that right, so I found a boutique hotel in Uzes nearby. Uzes itself is a lovely little medieval town... actually there are tons of lovely little medieval towns in Europe. Europe does lovely little medieval towns really, really well. Maybe its me and being here in Spain (currently) but I do wonder why Britain doesn't do medieval towns as well. In Britain, the medieval bits are somehow just swamped by new ugly stuff and there's traffic everywhere, whereas the ones we have ended up staying in both in France and Spain haven't appeared to modernise at all. Just a coat of paint, new electrics and plumbing and (I write this in a parador in Spain) some smart refinishing and tidying up. The structure is now new, but they retain their undeniable medieval appearance. Perhaps its because most medieval towns in Europe are on top of hills (for better defensive reasons) that they have both survived and retained their charm. Being on top of a hill does rather limit the ability to sprawl and spread out, so the old bits remain on top of the hill and the newer bits are down below. Certainly the history of southern Europe is littered with wars, invasions, occupations, massacres and repression from time to time, and that has been the case pretty much since the end of Pax Romana in the 5th century, so being high on a hill however made complete sense. There have been a few such events in Britain since the Romans left of course, but not as many. There are far fewer high hills for one thing! The collision of the African tetonic plates with those of Europe did not happen in Britain. I hadn't realised when I booked the hotel that Uzes in addition to being a cute medieval town was also the place where the spring used by the Romans for their 50 km long aqueduct into Nimes sprang from the ground. If others are like me in thinking that the actual Pont itself (actually a bridge over the river Gard these days, hence the name) is the be all and end all of things is of course totally wrong. The 50 kms were all channelled with many, many more ponts along the way. The big one was the only one that survived in plain sight. All the others were covered up over the years or have been plundered for building materials for other structures, mainly churches as it turns out. The attached museum is a superb place for engineers and those keen to find out just how these huge projects could take place 2,000 years ago with what today we would consider primitive means. Well of course this is one of those 'what did the Romans ever do fo us?' factoids. Simple answer as it turns out: they had built dozens of aqueducts, so the expertise and technology was there. This one of 50 kms with a drop of less than 13 metres from start to end point in Nimes was actually very easy for them. No major drops to contend with, crossing the river being probably the biggest issue. They had slaves a-plenty to do the donkey work of course, but also hundreds if not thousands of skilled artisans (non-slaves) to do the quality work together with hundreds of engineers managing the project. Ancient Rome is portrayed pretty much as being all about the emperors and legionnaires in films and on TV, but there were also carpenters, masons, engineers (mathematicians), trash collecters, and all the other mundane occupations that are never depicted but which are essential to normal life. Moreover, the provincial governors and other big wigs didn't spend all their time in banquets, having orgies and plotting against the Emperor, again as suggested in the movies, they also had a job to do; fixing the roads, making sure the water supply was both enough and of a decent quality, and all the rest. So good were the Romans at aqueducts that the people of Nimes had access to more and better quality water than they do today. By the way, this is also the case in Rome itself. So yes aqueducts. The Romans did those very well indeed. We learned a lot about aqueducts that day, and it did give a greater appreciation for what human endeavour can do if it puts its collective mind to it. Today the Pont du Gard is a mecca for tourists. Lots of canoes on the river on the day we visited. School groups too. Next stop was a tiny village in the Pyrenees, Bezieres. You cannot find it on many maps but thankfully Mr. Google came through. I'd been looking for interesting places to stay and right now as I write I cannot for the life of me remember why I chose this village. Getting there is fine up to about Narbonne, but after this you drive on progressively smaller roads that wind ever higher up into the foothills of the Pyrenees. All around interestingly are vines growing in the steep fields. This is clearly wine country, something I hadn't known. The village itself appreared all of a sudden and the place we were staying in (another boutique hotel) turned out much to my surprise to actually be a winery. The hotel itself was inside the reconfigured winery, so had a sort of industrial layout, but very nicely done. I admitted none of this of course, simply took the praise for finding this real jewel in the middle of nowhere. The attached restaurant had a Michelin starred chef, again something I either hadn't known or didn't remember, but he was not working that day. In fact he wouldn't start up anything fancy until June. This is still April and probably I haven't mentioned before but think it best I should do so now, on this mountain the wind was howling and it was very, very cold indeed. The hotel pool below our window looked inviting, glistening in the sun's last rays of the day, but empty of people. We would not be visiting. The hotel described itself as an eco-lodge. Not sure how. We rather thought it was because they didn't turn the heaters on. The chef du jour however was a charming lady whose assistant asked us if we had any dietary concerns (we do not) and then if we'd like to sample some of their wares (yes please). He knew as much about these wines as us for he had only just been hired a few days before, but the wines turned out to be very nice as was the plat du jour. Heading out the following morning, our first action was disappointment for Rafa Nadal had already been knocked out of the Barcelona tournament we would be attending. The big draw for us at this tournment (and indeed on the entire tour) was Rafa, but he and Carlos Alcaraz were already out (Alcraz had pulled out through injury). Barcelona was 3 hours away so we took a side trip to the northern most seaside resort in Spain on the Mediterranean coast, Cataques. It is very popular for people from Barcelona due to proximity, but apparently also artists and Spanish celebs. It certainly is a cute looking little town set in a horseshoe shaped bay lined with bars, cafes and restaurants... but no parking anywhere near that we could find. However we did find a spot which led to a walkway out to the cliffs which was very pleasant for a short stroll. I had booked to stay at a private member's club in Barcelona, Circulo Ecuestre, affiliated with our club in Toronto. On previous visits to clubs such as this, we knew they would be in wonderful central downtown locations and so it proved again. The club was just off the Avenida Diagonal no more than 10 minutes walk away from the Plaza Catalonya, the centre of Barcdelona. Parking wasn't too bad either. Off to a good start.

Red Clay

It has been some little while since my last blog post due, I think, to some disillusionment with social media generally but more to my not wanting to make this a travelogue. Sort of been there, done that kind of thing. That's why the Greek Odyssey petered out early on. Sorry about that. It was a great trip. An abiding memory for us.

So, onto this one. And yes it is a tale of a trip but one that Viv and I have planned out in our minds for quite some time. Going to the European red clay tennis tournaments, but not the culminating French Open as we have been to that already and were a little disappointed overall with the event. Organisers and media may say look how well done this event was. So many more people attended this year. And so on. What they tend to forget is that they jack up prices to even more egregious levels each year and crowd people together even worse than before. The French Open for example is a great location of course, but probably maxed out in terms of the numbers of people it could properly hold 20 years ago. Today it is just a zoo. Endless crowds, lines everywhere. Ridiculous prices. It was not a great experience. Incidentally I feel the same about Wimbledon (and have done so for years). The US and Aussie Opens size wise can take the crowds as the venues are enormous, but there you have another issue. The enormous size of the venues. On balance I tend towards the Aussie Open as my favourite. Below the major level of tournament are the second tier, so-called 1,000 point events. In the red clay season, these are Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome. I have been going to Rome since it was a men only event in 2003, today it is a mixed event lasting 10 days like Madrid. This is a way I believe to make the women's events actually commercially viable as the big draws in the last 20 years certainly have been on the men's side with Federer, Nadal and Djokovic being the huge draws. Only Monte Carlo remains a men only event today. Below this level are the 500 point events, third tier events that the lesser ranked players compete in more readily but which attract some of the top names as well. In the red clay season, this includes Barcelona and maybe I think Estoril in Portugal (but that may be a 250 point event). As the red clay calendar goes Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and then finally Paris, Viv and I thought why the hell not? So here we are.

Monte Carlo has just finished for us. We watched the semi-finals yesterday and are moving on today. Finals have a tendency to not be great matches and for the extortionate prices are not really worth it. We have watched a few and that has been the case for most. The most notable exception being the Nadal/Federer final in Rome we skipped which turned out to 5 1/2 hours long and ended the tradition of 5-set finals in those 1000 point events as neither player was able to play the following week and pulled out of those events. Money won as usual with organisers cutting the length of matches down to 3 sets but of course keeping the ticket price the same.

Monte Carlo has been great though and could easily become my most favourite tennis tournament going forward. The location is small, venue is tiny really although on the side of the mountains so very hilly. Quality is outstanding and for us this year the weather has been brilliant. Expensive, of course but that is Monte Carlo. The tennis prices were no more expensive than at other places so if you like tennis, this really is a great place to come. For me though, this year is tempered with a little sadness. Federer has gone. This will be Nadal's last year (and a good part of why we wanted to do this trip this year). Djokovic is clinging on. His ego says he can still do it, but let me tell you that that from watching seems to be the only part of him that says he can. Viv pointed out that it is far easier to say you're keen to carry on and play (and do all the back breaking training, traveling, etc) than actually do it when you've won as much as Djokovic has. One game he played against a guy he'd never played before, probably didn't know his name. It was awful to watch. Clearly he wished he was anywhere than on the court and his play showed it. Had his opponent been less overawed at the chance of playing him, he would surely have lost. Yet somehow Djokovic prevailed in as ugly a manner as there could be. This did not do him much good for he lost the following day (last night as I write) again in agonising circumstances. Great as he was, he no longer is and I think these matches this year may be the final actions of a wonderful career. I do not think Djokovic's ego wants to give up yet, but I do not think that will be enough when he loses week after week to players he doesn't know. In addition, he is getting grumpier and grumpier too. Never a fan favourite, he's fast becoming a grumpy curmudgeon. Perhaps this will be the final year of the Big Three. I am not sure I will be as interested in the newest batch of very tall guys that hit the ball incredibly hard time after time after time after time after time. The older guys seemed to have a bit more nuance to them. Perhaps this is an extension of the old T-shirt logo: the older I get, the better I was. The venue itself is something out of a fairy tale... except for the new tennis club bits of course. Not sure if it started in 1897, 1927 or 1928 as there were signs up for all these dates. The VIP seats overlook the court below and have a fantastic view of the Med. Just gorgeous and it all rather left us wishing we were very, very wealthy indeed. I surely would drive my Lamborghini SUV here (I couldn't get into or out of the sports version any more!) and know I could park it anywhere I damn well chose.

Today we move on. Our tour next takes us to Barcelona. We will be driving and stopping off along the way at some interesting places. Very much looking forward to it.