Sightseeing International
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The Jabugo Cocido (Huelva, Spain)
by duncantorr Did I describe the Sierra de Aracena in my recent review* as quiet, peaceful, even sleepy? Well, as a rule it is, but perhaps Thurber was right when he said that there is no exception to the rule that every rule has its exception. After two days of wandering in the mountains and hearing little but the rustle of breeze in trees, the ... splashing of streams and the lowing of livestock, it was something of a rude awakening on the third day to do so accompanied by the thumping beat of 1980s disco music. Although the source of the sound could not be seen as my wife and I set out on the footpath from Galaroza, we had a fair idea where it was coming from. Having read about the Cocido ('Stew-up') at Jabugo - by luck, that very morning - we had rearranged the route for the day's walk with a view to dropping by, sampling the fare on offer and observing the festivities. But we hadn't quite expected it to be audible through the intervening hills from distance of two or three miles. At least the beacon of sound left us in little doubt as to the direction in which we should be headed. We were in even less doubt when we reached the outskirts of Jabugo. All the roads leading to the town's football ground, where the event was taking place, were closed to traffic for the occasion, but groups of pedestrians were making their way purposefully in the right direction - just as they might for a football match in fact, though I rather suspect that attendance at the Cocido was a lot higher than for any local football match. 6,000 portions of stew were being cooked, and all were expected to be eaten during the course of the day, although the total population of Jabugo numbers fewer than 2,500. Clearly, hungry participants were being attracted from neighbouring towns and outlying villages. Six thousand is a lot of portions, and cooking them requires a lot of ingredients. The stew was prepared to a traditional recipe, with the meat content being entirely pork of one kind or another. This was hardly a surprise, given that Jabugo is the centre of ham production in the area, with the characteristic Black Iberian pigs being reared on every other farm or small-holding you pass. Not that any of the best Jabugo ham was going into the stew, of course; it is far too precious for that, both financially and gastronomically. It is eaten, or rather savoured, in wafer-thin slices, with nothing but bread and reverence. By contrast, much of the meat content for the stew reads more like what might be left after all the prime cuts had already been taken: 125 kilos of salted backbone, 125 of matured pork fat, 125 kilos of salted pork ribs and 300 kilos of head and neck, plus 50 kilos of bacon, and 220 kilos of various kinds of sausage, including a chorizo and a morcilla each measuring 30 metres long - presumably they are sliced into segments before being added to the stew. This list is taken from an article in a magazine produced by the regional tourist office, mainly in Spanish, with only an English synopsis. In the Spanish version, an additional item reads: "1 cochino de 20 arrobas". The arroba is an ancient measure equating to eleven kilos, so this would mean "one pig of 220 kilos" - presumably on top of all the rest. As with the chorizo and morcilla, one rather hopes they don't put the pig in whole. This may sound like a huge amount of meat, but if you do the sums you'll find that, depending on the extra pig, it adds up to either 157 or 194 grams a portion, approximately five-and-a-half or seven ounces. A fair whack either way, but robust rural appetites are going to demand a little more sustenance than that, and the other ingredients of the recipe duly provide it, 500 kilos of chickpeas, 190 kilos of potatoes, and 125 kilos of pumpkin being, apparently, the main ones. Add some stock and seasoning and it's all set to go. In fact, it needs to be all set to go some time in advance, since it takes several days to prepare. The cooking takes place in an enormous stainless steel cauldron, heated by a wood fire from below, with steel step-ladders on either side to enable the chefs to stir, taste, adjust the seasoning and generally supervise the concoction's progress. By the time we arrived the fire had died down to ashes, but the scent of wood smoke still hung in the air, mingling with many others. We were unsure at what time the stew was scheduled to be ready - the advance publicity we had seen had omitted this rather pertinent detail - and turned up quite late even for a Spanish lunch-time, at about 3.00 in the afternoon. By then the event had clearly been in full swing for some hours, as I suppose we could have guessed from the raucous music that had helped guide us to the venue. Not that there was any shortage of the stew itself. The entry tickets (6 euros for adults; 3 euros for children) entitle attendees to a portion of stew, a hunk of bread and three drinks each, and the portions were ample. We had to queue for only a few moments before making our selection from a set of sizzling trays of the various meats and a big vat of the stewed vegetables. This mode of presentation we found slightly puzzling, since we had envisaged a stew as being cooked all mixed together, but maybe this in not quite how it is done in Andalucía; unfortunately my Spanish was not up to asking for clarification from the servers. In any case, we rather liked it being arranged this way, since it meant we could avoid the fattiest pieces. Even without them, we received plentiful helpings of meat and sausage in the base of the polystyrene bowls provided, which were then topped off with the chickpea and mixed veg mush. Despite the crowds, it wasn't difficult to find a place to sit at one of the long trestle tables under the marquee-like awnings. Rather more difficult was clearing space for our food among the debris of empty bowls, disposable cutlery, polythene bags, paper napkins and crumpled cardboard cups. It has to be admitted that the Cocido is not the most refined or elegant of eating occasions. Similarly, I cannot pretend that Jabugo football ground is a venue of any notable elegance either. Although at one end only a high chicken-wire barrier separates the pitch from the splendid scenery of the Sierra, it was at that same end that the disco stage had been installed, from which the deafening music blared incessantly. To conduct any kind of conversation one had to be at the opposite end, in the shadow of an ugly brick-and-breezeblock building, perhaps unfinished, or perhaps one of the industrial units in which hams are stored to cure and dry. The ground beneath our feet was gritty and almost bare of grass; I would hate to play football on such a surface. The stew proved to be both filling and tasty, and was pleasantly washed down with one of the three beers included in the price of the meal. The selection of drinks available under the terms of this deal was limited, however: beer, either regular or low alcohol, or Pepsi; no wine, rather surprisingly, nor even mosto, the semi-fermented grape juice much favoured in the region. A wider range of beverages could be bought, though, at stalls dotted around the field. A wider range of foods too, both to eat there or simply to buy, the latter including some superior produce: the famous hams, artisanal cheeses from the Sierra (the goat is particularly good), honeys and similar specialities. Most of these food stalls were offering free samples, which certainly enhanced the enjoyment to be had from circulating to inspect their wares. Other stalls were hosting prize draws or tombolas, and drumming up a fair amount of custom. Meanwhile, at one end of the ground dozens of the young (and some of the no-longer-quite-so-young), danced to the throbbing music, while at the other the younger-still bounced on inflated rubber 'castle' and slide. This is very much a family occasion, with every age-group represented and catered for. In all, the atmosphere combined those of fairground, playground, feast, fine food fair, open-air disco and village fete. I suppose the last of these would be the nearest equivalent to be found in Britain, but I have most certainly never been to a British village fete where people were enjoying themselves in such numbers, nor with such boisterous exuberance. The stew, in a sense, is merely an excuse for a knees-up and get-together, but, of course, it is an excuse that gives the event a focus and character that might otherwise be lacking. And it certainly helps with the publicity. The magazine from which I quoted the recipe above makes much of the Jabugo Cocido appearing in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest stew. At the risk of appearing sceptical, I checked the Guinness Book's website, and found that the largest meat stew now seems to be attributed to Badajoz, in nearby Extremadura, which cooks one using over 1000 kilos of lamb. Evidently, culinary rivalries are fiercely contested in this part of Spain, and Jabugo must look to its laurels, though it faces an uphill struggle since Badajoz is a provincial capital with over fifty times Jabugo's population. Appetites really would need to be gargantuan to compete. Maybe the village will have to content itself with claiming the largest stew based on pork products. One would like to imagine that the Cocido was an ancient tradition dating back to mediaeval, even prehistoric, times, but in point of fact it seems to be a modern innovation. A cynic might be tempted to suspect it of being devised as a gimmick to attract tourists, but the vast majority of the attendees we saw were unquestionably Spanish, mostly in groups of family or friends and seemingly local. The only foreign voices we heard were our own. Moreover, people were definitely having a good time. With so little entertainment to be found in this poor, remote region, probably any such occasion is to be welcomed, and many villages hereabouts hold similar festivities* celebrating their particular produce. I would recommend attendance to anyone visiting the area at the appropriate time; apart from any other consideration, where else are you likely to find a bowl of tasty stew, bread and a litre of beer for just 6 euros? As a stranger, it was fun to try to enter into the spirit of the thing, though I fear I shall never be an aficionado of 1980s disco music in any language, least of all as a reverberating accompaniment to a hike through otherwise tranquil mountain scenery. © Also published, with photos, under the name torr on Ciao UK, 2012 * For a general review of the Sierra de Aracena, including mention of several other local food festivals, see: www.dooyoo.co.uk/national-parks-international/ sierra-de-aracena-nature-park-andalucia-spain/1634699/ Read the complete review |
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Fernsehturm (Stuttgart, Germany)
by MALU In the world of architecture the only superlative worth its salt is *the first*. An edifice can remain the highest, longest, most expensive one only until a higher, longer, more expensive one has been built. But the first will always remain indisputably the first. Many reviews have been written on the 553-m-high giant in Toronto which ... was No 1 for a long time (but has now moved down to No 3). Today I'm going to tell you about the first TV tower ever which you can find in Stuttgart in the south of Germany. In the early 1950s the Süddeutscher Rundfunk (South German broadcast corporation) intended to install its antennae on a 200-m-high iron structure for better transmission of TV and FM radio broadcasts. It was to be secured with wire ropes as it was done then. Enter Dr. Fritz Leonhardt, an engineer from Stuttgart. He had the idea of combining the useful with the beautiful. He proposed to erect an elegant concrete needle in the forests high above the city instead of an ugly iron structure. It should have a basket like casing in the upper part for tourists to go up and look down on the city and also a restaurant in order to earn the money back which was spent building the tower. His idea was accepted enthusiastically by the people in charge and the tower was built between 1954 and 1956. Within five years hundreds of thousands of visitors helped to reach the sum of 4.1 million Deutsche Mark the tower had cost. There's a twin in Johannesburg, but I've read that the similarity is difficult to discern because a giant ad is fastened onto it. German engineers helped build the TV Tower in Moscow (over 500 m high). Over the years the Stuttgart TV Tower 'fathered' many more sons. Considering the shape you'll agree that the term is correct and that nobody could think of a mother here. It's easy to find the TV Tower, it's visible from all points in the city. Stuttgart lies in a bowl so-to-speak and is surrounded by a range of hills on one of which the TV Tower is located. The part of the city is called Degerloch. If a tourist comes by car, they'll find road signs with the emblem and the word 'Fernsehturm' directing them to the attraction. You can also take U-Bahn No 15 (an underground line which, interestingly, runs above ground most of the time). Get off at the final stop Ruhbank and then walk for about 10 minutes through the woods following the signs. In summer a beer garden is open at the foot of the TV Tower. Inside on the ground floor there are a restaurant, a gift shop, toilets and the ticket counter. At the time of writing the entrance fee is 5 Euro/concession 3 Euro. It's open from 9 am to 11 pm from Sunday to Wednesday and from 9 am to 2 pm from Thursday to Saturday. I've been there several times with visitors and with pupils on the annual day out. Excitement starts in the lift. I always had handouts ready with tricky questions to occupy their minds. Whatever they were, the answers were always wrong or rather completely off the point. How can anyone guess the weight of a tower? One should make people guess before entering the building because there's a lot of information on the walls and in the lift. Who'd guess that a hole was excavated to begin with, 30 m wide and 8 m deep which was filled with concrete? The tower stands in it like a pencil with its sharpened end at the bottom. It was assumed that a hurricane can reach a velocity of 170 km/h. That would mean 172 t pressing against the tower. The whole weight of the fundament (1500 t) and the tower (3000 t) is 4500 t, however, so a hurricane would have a lot of pressing to do to do any damage. Impressive figures, but how much is a ton? I once saw a bull whose owner proudly declared that the animal weighed one ton. I always remember that when the measurement is mentioned. Quite a lot of bulls necessary to counteract the TV Tower in Stuttgart! The tower is 217 m tall, but the lift goes up only to the platform at 150 m, so the ride doesn't take long. 36 seconds to be precise at a speed of 5 m per second. The German student Thomas Dold, however, prefers the stairs (which normally aren't open to the public). He's the world champion in running up staircases in skyscrapers. After winning the race up the Empire State Building, The Main Tower in Frankfurt and the Basel Fair Tower he also won it in Stuttgart in June 2006. He needed 4:44 minutes for the 850 steps. (Btw, he also holds several records in the 'running backward' discipline) I never enjoy riding in a lift. Being high up and looking down is another thing I don't like much. I can promise people with the same problem that doing this here is not so bad. After getting out of the lift one steps into the open air. A chest high wall runs around the platform with metal spikes on top which are bent inwards. I really don't know how anyone could climb over them and jump down. I feel safe there and can also look down. When it is windy at the bottom of the TV Tower, then it's stormy at the top. The shaft of the TV Tower becomes slimmer and slimmer the higher it gets. The concrete walls are 60 cm thick at the bottom but only 19 cm at the top. This makes the tower look elegant but, more importantly, also flexible meaning that the platform can move up to 30 cm sideways in a hurricane. A reason to stay away from it for some, a reason to go up for others and enjoy the sensation. The small restaurant offers nice views of Stuttgart, the Swabian Alb and, weather permitting, even of the Black Forest. Our visitors have always liked the trip to the TV Tower. Maybe you'd also like to visit it, maybe as a change after doing the Mercedes and Porsche museums. Read the complete review |
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Sala Xieng Khuan (Vientiane, Laos)
by catsholiday Sala Xieng Khuan The rather odd place is also known as the Spirit City Temple or Buddha Park and is like nothing I have ever seen before. It is about a forty minute drive out of Vientiane and 25km south the last part of the journey is along a bit of a dirt road which was made worse for us because it was pouring with ... rain. The park is open daily between 8am and 6pm so plenty of opportunity to get there and the entrance fee 2000 kip which is about 15p so really you do get great value. We arrived at the park and had the choice of going in and coping with the tropical downpour or huddling under a shop front looking at a few statues and then going off without seeing most of the park. We chose to take our umbrellas and walk. I was okay as I had crocs on and so I was able to paddle through the huge puddles, our guide took his shoes and socks off and rolled his trousers up, my husband can't walk in bare feet so his trainers were soaked. This is not a temple or Wat but more a rather unusual collection of Buddhist and Hindu sculptures. The park covers a huge ten acres beside the mighty Mekong River which seemed to be rising as we watched the rain pouring down. There were a few seats and a shop where you could buy souvenirs and snacks that had it been fine we could have done watching the Mekong River from one of the seats. The park was the brain child of a yogi/priest/shaman/monk called Luang Bu Bunleau Sulilat and was created in 1958. Bunleau Sulilat, helped by a number of unskilled artists used basic concrete to create all his sculptures and when you see them you cannot help but be impressed. Luang Pu (Venerable Grandfather) Bunleua Soulilat was a priest and devoted his life to both Buddhism and Hinduism which is interesting in itself although the religions do share a common philosophy. Having built this amazing park of statues this monk was forced to flee from Laos in the 1970s because of the Laotian Communist Revolution. He moved to Thailnad which is actually just across the Mekong River and there he built a similar park in 1978, in Nong Khai which is called Sala Keoku . Luang Pu Bunleua Soulilat died in Thailand near the Sala Keoku Park in 1996. The word "Sala" in Lao and Thai means the place where you can meditate or recover. So the creator of these parks wanted to have somewhere where people could go to meditate and relax. The park and its statues are to remind believers that they are here on earth to earn 'credit' for the next life. In order to attain happiness and peace of mind, they must stop being greedy and take time to reflect on the reality of life. The other words in the title of this park Xieng Khuan mean spirit city which I suppose is one way of describing all the spiritual statues in the park. Within the ten acres of park you will find well over 200 of these concrete statues so you get your money's when you visit. The most obvious statue that you cannot fail to notice is a huge pumpkin like building with a demon at the entrance with a huge open mouth. As you enter through the demon's mouth you find it has three stories and these are supposed to represent, Hell, Earth and Heaven. Once you reach the top there is a viewing platform from which you get a pretty good view over the whole park. The second most obvious statue is that of an enormous reclining Buddha, so big that it is almost impossible to fit it in a photograph. As you walk around the park or paddle in my case you come across statues of humans, gods, animals, demons, and all different. The concrete is now dark grey and I can't say that they are particularly beautiful but they are quite charming in any way and somehow you are drawn to their quirkiness and you can't help but be impressed by the sheer number and variety of statues within the park. Initially we were very fed up with all the rain but having spent about forty five minutes paddling around the park I actually found it quite atmospheric and once I had decided just to paddle through and go for it I enjoyed trying to get photos of all the various statues and somehow the rain added to the rather grey looking concrete in an odd sort of way. I recognized quite a few of the Hindu gods and the Ramayana story was clearly depicted in almost the centre of the park. Buddha statues showed Buddha in every position including the massive reclining one which ran along one side of the park. I was absolutely taken with the park and loved all the weird and wonderful statues. It is a sort of Buddist/Hindu Alice in Wonderland with all the imaginary and fantastically bizarre statues. Many do tell stories and have a serious role in their religions but somehow en masse the effect is very Lewis Carroll in an Asian sort of way. I would thoroughly recommend a visit if you are in Vientiane as it is not difficult to get there, if you are on a tour it will certainly include a visit but if you are travelling independently then there is a bus or you can take a taxi which are relatively cheap. You can't quibble at the entrance fee but don't rely on getting a picnic there as the shop looked pretty basic. We didn't really take much notice of the shop as so many people were sheltering under the awning. There are public toilets but there are not exactly luxurious if you get my meaning. Well worth a visit and I have never seen anything quite like this place. It reminded me a little of the Tiger Balm Gardens as they were in Singapore years ago but have fallen into disrepair since. Thanks for reading. This review may be posted on other sites under my same username. ©Catsholiday Read the complete review |
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1 review Sightseeing International / Historic 11th-century Eastern Orthodox monastery located in the Rila Mountains in south-west Bulgaria. |
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1 review Address: Potsdamer Platz Potsdamer Platz 1 10785 Berlin / Sightseeing International / Viewing platform high above Berlin |
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1 review Sightseeing International / |
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1 review Address: P.O Box 147, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0147 / Sightseeing International / Museum storing and restoring neon signs in Las Vegas |
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1 review Address: Munnar, KL, India / Sightseeing International / A privately owned tea plantation producing the world's highest grown organic tea. |
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1 review Sightseeing International / The castle of Vurberk is situated on the southern edge of the Slovenske Gorice hills and was first mentioned in 1238. It was badly damaged during a bombing in 1945. A smaller part of the ramparts was renovated, while the biggest part is still in ruins. Today, the castle is mainly used as a... |
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1 review Name: Oki-koki / Sightseeing International / Type: Speed boat trip experience in Malta |
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1 review Sightseeing International / Address: P.O. Box 861 Teec Nos Pos, AZ 86514 - The Four Corners. This is the only place in the United States where four states intersect at one point: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. |
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1 review Sightseeing International / Historic cemetery located in Warsaw, Poland. |
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1 review Address: The Nerja Caves Ctra de Maro / Sightseeing International / Famous caves near the town of Nerja. |
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