A Labor Day Vacation

In Los Urrutias, A modest replica of the Alhambras´s famous fountian in the Lion Courtyard

We are on vacation. Again! There seem to be so many of them in Spain. This one is what they call here a Puente, or Bridge. If a commemorative day falls in the middle of the week, rather than moving it to the weekend or a Monday like a highly efficient state with their eyes on the GDP, Spain will leave it hanging out there in the middle of the week and connect it to the weekend with more vacation days. Hence the bridge, or puente.

This Puente has been in celebration of May Day, or International Workers´ Day. I was surprised to find out that the US, one of the few industrialized countries that does not recognize International Worker´s Day, is its origin.  On May 4^th, 1886, in Chicago, during a rally in demand of the 8 hour workday, policemen and protesters alike were killed by a bomb, and then more by police gunfire.

May 1^st soon became a rallying cry for labor parties in the US and Europe. Not wanting to reinforce our labor party´s ties with Europe and Russia´s (and not create any pesky Bridge holidays!) Congress declared Labor Day to be the first Monday in September.  Meanwhile, International Labor Day has become a national holiday in 80 countries.
So, good bosses that we are, Matt and I made this a vacation of rest for the girls, and we did not take them on any laborious tours of museums, cathedrals or monasteries. They did gaze down at a ruins of a Roman amphitheater in Cartegena, but they did not seem overly fatigued by this.

We exchanged our apartment with a family that owns a beach house in southern Spain, on the Mediteranean shore, near the city of Cartegena. This is a watercolor I made for them of the view from the window.

And here is Iris walking down the beach on her way to the house.

Most of the beach front in Spain are well tamed and developed.

 But we were fortunate in being near this relatively untouched one.

Claire studying for the SATs, and Adele reading "The Secret Life of Bees"

Matt hiked to the top of the hill behind the beach and took these photos of the view from either side.

We were fascinated by the vast tracts of land that have plastic covering the rows of plants. We thought at first that the fields had been flooded.^

It looked like the water came right up to the road and was surrounding buildings. But they are actually just more plastic floods.

Among the best features of Cartegena are the Roman ruins (as seen above), as well as a great view of the Mediteranean (below).

And some awesome street art

The one below was so extensive, I thought it must have been commissioned by the city. But that was not clear. It is really beautiful and my photos do not do it justice. If you are interested, take a look at the following website:  http://krasergallery.blogspot.com.es/#!/p/web.html

We like to try out what few vegetarian restaurants we can find in Spain. This one in Cartegena was very nice. I was especially charmed with the menus that looked like sketch books, and had notes from previous patrons. I made a drawing on one.

If you are ever so fortunate to be in this area, and you are looking for a good seafood restaurant with wonderful paella and a fabulous view of the sea, go to the Miramar Restaurante in
Cabo los Palos.

That´s it for our nonlaborious beach vacation. Here is hoping that Spain finds away to improve their GDP and emerge from their recession, while maintaining their Puentes (Bridges)!