Inessential Stuff

Who knew that Salamanca boasts a fine museum on the history of the automobile?

I don’t know much about cars, though my son is teaching me some (and he’s 4). I do enjoy his Hot Wheels. But I digress. I enjoyed the car museum on two different levels: for the history of the development of the automobile, but beyond that, for the artistic lines of the vehicles.

Since I had spent time in Salamanca in the summer of 2006 (and took a ton of pictures), during my 2006 visit, I made an effort to see buildings that I hadn’t seen before. One such building, just off the plaza next to the cathedral, was the Hospederia de Anaya.

Built in 1715, the Hospederia was originally a dormitory for graduate students preparing to take finals in civil service or the church. Now it part of the University of Salamanca, housing the Faculty of Modern Languages, and featuring a quiet little courtyard.

There are also a few pictures from a courtyard from a faculty building right next door, which I visited at the same time.

The project to photograph train stations (see below) took place on a train that ended in Avila. And since we hadn’t spent a lot of time in Avila before, we spent a few hours looking around. Of particular interest (as always) was the cathedral.

Unfortunately, as made clear by many, many signs, photography was not allowed inside. This means that all the pictures you see here didn’t really happen. And if they seem a little sideways or crooked, that’s because the pictures were taken at waist-level without the benefit of a viewfinder. Sort of proves what I’ve always said about travel photography: even a blind monkey with a disposable camera can get some good pictures of a cathedral.

I had seen Spanish cemeteries from buses and trains, but never stepped inside one. So one afternoon, we hiked up the hill to the edge of town where Salamanca’s cemetery rests. The cemetery was huge. The tombs were tight together. There were some impressive, but decaying, mausolea. There was a section at the edge for infant burials. There were few other living people there–some workers, a single elderly widow. We had more questions than answers. I took some pictures.

Actually, this is about the train stations in Spain. It’s the first of a handful of posts of pictures from my time in Spain in August.

I went over with this idea: to travel on some regional trains (that make lots of stops) jump off at each stop, take a quick picture, jump back on and continue traveling.

The stations in Spain are small and often in sad states of decay. Forty years ago, trains were the primary method of transportation in Spain. After Franco, the roads vastly improved, the price of cars came down, and now people drive from town to town. So the train stations have fallen into neglect.

I had planned to do a big loop, but I discovered that the regional trains basically run only twice a day–once in one direction in the morning, and the return trip in the afternoon. I studied the train maps for quite some time, but determined that I would have to be content with just one line.

That line was the Salamanca to Avila, which would have at least 7 stops between the two stations, and potentially 9: there were two stations that were “by request” only. Ends up we stopped at the first optional station and skipped the second.
Going into the project, I had no idea how much time I would have to get a shot. I didn’t know if the train would stop for a minute at each station, or only 30 seconds.

At the first stop, I had a terrible angle and thought about running up the train platform for a better picture, but no sooner had the thought crossed my mind that the train hooted its departure. I jumped back on the train. Thirty seconds would have been a luxury. I had about four.

This increased the photographic challenges. I had time to jump off the train, shoot, and jump back on. Or else I would be stranded, with no other trains scheduled to go through. It added to the intensity of the shoot.

So then, here are the stations, with commentary.

Ten Days in Spain! Visiting my son and his mother, my best friend. Thousands of pictures.

Galleries here.

I spent most of the time in the historic university town of Salamanca (the image here is Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor). When I left for Spain, I had two goals: to take more photographs than I do at a typical wedding (easily achieved), and, as a photographic topic, to take lots of pictures of ceilings. It might sound like a strange theme, but the churches have marvelous, vaulted ceilings, each different, with crisscrossing arches. So I was always looking up.

Other themes emerged, sometimes conscious, such as deciding to shoot Salamanca at night. The stone from which most of Salamanca’s historic buildings are chiseled have a yellow hue, and the city officials have recently made the excellent decision of replacing the white lights used to illuminate the buildings at night, with amber ones. The buildings are beautifully lit, and the amber is gives the city a unity, and the buildings look as if they were built from gold. I love Salamanca at night.

Other themes emerged unconsciously. When I got home, I noticed pictures of staircases, over and over. I don’t know for sure what these staircases evoked in me–transition, possibility, timelessness; or maybe I just liked the lines. In any case, I ended up with lots of pictures of stairways.

Most of the pictures were taken in Salamanca, though some were from excursions to Valladolid and a few small towns. I’ve included the file names, which hopefully will help a little if you are interested in knowing what you are seeing.

I’ve divided the galleries into categories to make the images more accessible (click on the category name at the top left). The categories are not neat, sometimes overlapping. I put the pictures of the cathedral ceiling, for instance, in the cathedral folder, not the ceiling folder. I had lots of little choices like this. It disturbs my sense of tight organization, but seems appropriate for a city as vibrant and diverse and multifaceted as Salamanca.

I hope you enjoy.