The last stop on my trip to Spain this Christmas, after Singapore and Barcelona, \u200b\u200band the very purpose of the trip, is Gandía, my hometown. Gandia Area I have most of my family, and for too long they do not visit. And the trips of years past have always been too short. This time I'm over two weeks and see what can be done. This will not talk much about my family, that's private ... just mention that you have to see how they have grown nephews, and what will grow. I hope you remember me the next time you go, that the same will be some years until he returns. That is not so easy to travel to the antipodes. Australia has its advantages, but the main problem (and to some extent the advantage) is so far away Europe. Well, rather far from almost everything.
Gandía has changed a lot since I lived there, but the changes are quite the same as elsewhere. The road network has improved, many new buildings, to the point that you can walk to the beach of Gandia (about 4 km) without leaving the built up area, and shopping centers have appeared in the suburbs where everybody goes shopping drive. Sidney starts to look like but little, or rather, I think, Sidney, Gandía, and many others around the world have been converging.
Something that is very different is the humidity, which creates so sultry days in summer (thank goodness that is the beach) and days of winter where the cold reaches you in and what you can not remove
. This year I took over warm clothing, but as I feared, I did not help. The best way to combat the cold is getting used to it. Finally, with a raincoat to stop a little moisture and a wool jersey that does not cool with moisture, was so happy.
This time I went without a car, so that almost all the places I visited were on foot. Took the opportunity to take several paths between Gandia and the beach, and thus put the city on the map OpenStreetMap, which until now was just a circle and a name. If you see the map now see a lot of streets. Are the streets I've walked this journey, and a few more than I can remember, I plotted along the satellite image. Come on, I've spent most of his time traveling streets and then putting them on the map. That has brought me to remember places that meant something in my youth and discovering new places.
Another thing that is very different from Sydney is the sense of history. Bairén Castle, the ducal palace, the narrow streets of downtown, are evidence of something that happened centuries ago, long before the European foot, and with it the history, arrived on Australian shores. I can not say it's good to live in a place rich in history, but it really is so exciting to be able to investigate who was living in that place, or what and how to defend this castle was destroyed. Anywhere in Spain, and of course also Gandía, you can always find a local historian can you explain so many things that happened in past centuries, and although we are not aware, we continue to affect daily life. In Australia one can only find vague stories and legends passed from mouth to mouth. Legends can not be true, but they contain some truth and wisdom. The problem is not so easy to find what is really true of Australian legends, and some as I discovered on my recent trip Australia center are beautiful and mysterious, but certainly not true.
the end it comes time to leave, back to Australia. I tried to recharge the soul with the love of family, and I hope it stays alive until the next visit. At the end I could not see them all the time he wanted, but is that all the world's weather is always too little. Keep in touch via the internet, through this blog, or by letters. The phone is discarded, the time difference is so great that it is very difficult that we agree ... I return to Australia with the laughter of his nephews in my ears, with words of affection from family members. And that is when I realize the void in Sydney. It is not really the story, or lack of cultural activities. It is simply the lack of family and friends. Esther
