Miami Marlins manger Ozzie Guillen is set to return to his baseball team Tuesday for a matchup with the Chicago Cubs, following a five-game suspension for sort-of, kinda praising Cuba's maximum leader, Fidel Castro, in Time magazine.
Feelings about the Castros - Fidel and brother Raul - run high in Miami, as I was reminded recently on a trip to northern Spain with a group of journalists that included two Cuban exiles. Their families originally came from northern Spain, so it was a sentimental journey for these two ladies. They were not, however, one bit sentimental about the Castros, whom they blame for forcing their families to flee communist Cuba. Exiled as teenagers, they now live in Miami.
I have long had mixed feelings about the Cuban Revolution and the exiles that oppose it. The Castros are repressive and dictatorial.Their predecessor, Batista, was a dictator, too, however, and the fierce, fixed positions of the Cuban exile community of South Florida are not always attractive. On the other hand, I haven't had their experiences, and if I was forced to leave my homeland, I imagine I'd be angry, too, perhaps for a very long time.
The Marlins have built a brand-new baseball stadium in Miami's Little Havana, and Cuban American fan support is important to the team, so Guillen's comments were inflamatory and ill-considered, to say the least. A long-time manager of the Chicago White Sox and a fine shortstop as a player, the Venezuela-born Guillen has a long history of crude, off the-cuff remarks. This latest transgression, coming at the beginning of his first season with the Marlins, is no real surprise.
Many people who follow major league baseball more closely than I do think the guy is a jerk. Maybe, but jerk or not, he was suspended by the team solely for voicing an unpopular, tactless political opinion, not for anything he did in the clubhouse or the dugout. Political speech in the United States is supposed to be protected speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution. Freedom of speech means nothing if it does not apply to unpopular speech, too.
Guillen's suspension leaves a sour taste. Over the years, people have rallied to cries of "Cuba Libre!'' Fair enough. What about "Miami Libre''? It might be a good idea to opppose repression in Cuba by also supporting freedom outside it.
Oh, and it might be a good idea for Washington to lift its ineffective and unfair ban on leisure travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens, too.
In the meantime: Play ball!
Showing posts with label northern Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label northern Spain. Show all posts
Monday, April 16, 2012
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Rolling in Rioja Alavesa
The road rolls through arid, hilly landscapes in Spain's Rioja Alavesa on the way to the town of Laguardia. Passing fog-draped palisades framed by rugged mountains, I see tough, hardy green shrubs sprouting from the face of sheared hillsides and bunching in the crevices. Nearing Laguardia, the landscape turns gentler and carefully tended vineyards come into view.
Rioja is Spain's premier wine region, home to splendid red wine varietals such as Tempranillo and lesser-known but good whites such as Malvasia and Viura. I had been staying in the revitalized port city of Bilbao, and after Bilbao, this area is decidedly rustic, but that's fine. Laguardia is a medieval town, home to handsome stone buildings, historic fountains and plazas and cafes and restaurants that serve traditional fare like thin-sliced, toothsome Iberian ham and, of course, Rioja wines. Once home to rough wines meant to be consumed young, Rioja has in recent years produced increasingly sophisticated pours, and is now exporting much of its production. Between the landscapes, the towns and the vintages, it's a delightful place to visit.
Rioja is also home to striking, contemporary architecture, work commissioned by wineries, themselves. One spectacular example is light-washed Bodegas Yslos, with its wave-like roof, designed by Spanish 'starchitect' Santiago Calatrava. When I visited, the buildings and land were softened outside with bunches of purple grapes maturing in lovely vineyards.
In the town of Elciego, visitors can gawk at the Frank Gehry-designed Marques de Riscal Hotel, with its swooping titantium roof, parts of it stained red in reference to the wines of the host winery, Vinos de los Herederos del Marques de Riscal, which has been operating there since 1858. Opened in 2006, the hotel, part of Starwood's Luxury Collection, is not the masterpiece that Gehry's Bilbao Guggenheim Museum is, but it commands the eye and is an enjoyable place to visit. I had a good, leisurely lunch at Bistro 1860, one of the hotel's three restaurants, then had a walk-around tour of the hotel. From the terrace, I looked out at traditional stone winery buildings, the church steeple in the near-distance, the mountains in the middle-distance. Gehry, the Canadian American architect based in Los Angeles, also designed a lot of the furniture in the guest rooms and public spaces of the hotel, which has 43 guest rooms and suites tricked-out with televisions by Bang & Olufsen.
Rioja is an easy day-trip from Bilbao and the city of San Sebastian, the culinary and cinematic capital of northern Spain. It is a bit inland, linked to the Atlantic by winds and rains that blow into the interior down long valleys that crease the landscape. Cool nights and warm days nurture the grapes. If you go, and want to visit the region's wineries (here called bodegas), call ahead one or two days and make reservations. There is a designated Rioja Wine Route (the Ruta de Vino), best experienced with a designated driver. If you plan to have lunch, note that Spaniards eat lunch late; standard lunch hours run from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., though one of my lunches didn't wind up till 5 o'clock. In short, Rioja Alavesa says: Slow Down.
For more information, see http://www.luxurycollection.com/ or http://www.starwoodhotels.com/, plus www.winecountry/getaways.com/spain/rioja-wineries.html.
Rioja is Spain's premier wine region, home to splendid red wine varietals such as Tempranillo and lesser-known but good whites such as Malvasia and Viura. I had been staying in the revitalized port city of Bilbao, and after Bilbao, this area is decidedly rustic, but that's fine. Laguardia is a medieval town, home to handsome stone buildings, historic fountains and plazas and cafes and restaurants that serve traditional fare like thin-sliced, toothsome Iberian ham and, of course, Rioja wines. Once home to rough wines meant to be consumed young, Rioja has in recent years produced increasingly sophisticated pours, and is now exporting much of its production. Between the landscapes, the towns and the vintages, it's a delightful place to visit.
Rioja is also home to striking, contemporary architecture, work commissioned by wineries, themselves. One spectacular example is light-washed Bodegas Yslos, with its wave-like roof, designed by Spanish 'starchitect' Santiago Calatrava. When I visited, the buildings and land were softened outside with bunches of purple grapes maturing in lovely vineyards.
In the town of Elciego, visitors can gawk at the Frank Gehry-designed Marques de Riscal Hotel, with its swooping titantium roof, parts of it stained red in reference to the wines of the host winery, Vinos de los Herederos del Marques de Riscal, which has been operating there since 1858. Opened in 2006, the hotel, part of Starwood's Luxury Collection, is not the masterpiece that Gehry's Bilbao Guggenheim Museum is, but it commands the eye and is an enjoyable place to visit. I had a good, leisurely lunch at Bistro 1860, one of the hotel's three restaurants, then had a walk-around tour of the hotel. From the terrace, I looked out at traditional stone winery buildings, the church steeple in the near-distance, the mountains in the middle-distance. Gehry, the Canadian American architect based in Los Angeles, also designed a lot of the furniture in the guest rooms and public spaces of the hotel, which has 43 guest rooms and suites tricked-out with televisions by Bang & Olufsen.
Rioja is an easy day-trip from Bilbao and the city of San Sebastian, the culinary and cinematic capital of northern Spain. It is a bit inland, linked to the Atlantic by winds and rains that blow into the interior down long valleys that crease the landscape. Cool nights and warm days nurture the grapes. If you go, and want to visit the region's wineries (here called bodegas), call ahead one or two days and make reservations. There is a designated Rioja Wine Route (the Ruta de Vino), best experienced with a designated driver. If you plan to have lunch, note that Spaniards eat lunch late; standard lunch hours run from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., though one of my lunches didn't wind up till 5 o'clock. In short, Rioja Alavesa says: Slow Down.
For more information, see http://www.luxurycollection.com/ or http://www.starwoodhotels.com/, plus www.winecountry/getaways.com/spain/rioja-wineries.html.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Five Cool Things About Bilbao
BILBAO, Spain - There are, of course, more than five cool things about Bilbao, the largest city in Spain's Basque Country and one of the best places to travel in northern Spain. However, these are five things I found especially appealing on my first visit to the city and its rugged, green, mountainous surrounds:
1. The Guggenheim Bilbao. No surprise here. This riverside art museum, designed by Canadian- born, Los Angeles-based architect Frank Gehry, has been a sensation since it opened in 1997. It is still a wonderment. I find Gehry, with his computer-based designs and use of nontraditional materials like titantium, becoming a cartoon of himself. Simply put, his signature use of bent ribbons of metal atop his buildings is becoming mannered. But in this branch of New York's famed Guggenheim, all of Gehry's ideas come together to make a thing of beauty; it is his masterpiece. I caught a brilliant exhibition by the British Indian artist and, for want of a better word, sculptor Amish Kapoor inside; Kapoor's use of form and color is compelling and unique and worth seeing anywhere. But while it may have been said before that the art of the Guggenheim Bilbao is the museum itself, it having been said before doesn't make it any less true.
2. Riverside Bilbao. Up until 1984, shipyards and piers for the Port of Bilbao lined the polluted Rio Nervion on its sluggish way through the city center. No longer. A visionary city master plan that preceeded the Guggenheim by more than a decade cleared out the old industrial sector, cleaned up the Nervion's waters and installed interesting public art and a relaxed waterside promenade punctuated by a children's playground, plantings and the occasional cafe. The result is a brilliantly reinvented city center that puts most notions of "urban renewal'' to shame. Bilbao did it right. And the process isn't stopping. A glassy, curved highrise by Ceasar Pelli is rising just downriver from the Guggenheim, and the new building promises to become another jewel in Bilbao's crown. Truly, this is a city of architecture.
3. Public transport. It may sound prosaic, praising workaday public transport, but when you try to get around a new city as a foreign visitor, you appreciate the efficiency and even beauty of a first-class public transport system. Modern trams cross the city and thread through greenways beside the river promenade, there is a good system of city buses, and the Norman Foster-designed Metro (the subway) is fast, clean, safe and appealing to the eye. The only missing piece is a dedicated airport Metro line from downtown. The present airport bus is not esthetically pleasing but it costs only 1 euro 15 cents and runs every 20 minutes in peak daytime hours.
4. The Port of Bilbao's new passenger marine terminal. Located downriver from the city center near the mouth of the Nervion, the bright, glassy, airy terminal is scheduled to open right about now. Bilbao is pushing hard to grow its cruise ship business and is seeing success. The port city is on cruise ship routes rounding the Iberian Peninsula between the Mediterranean Sea, England and other key ports in continental Western Europe.
5. Strolling Old Town. The historic quarter, well-served by the Metro and other public transport, is a fine place for strolling, shopping, eating and gawking. Again, it is clean and safe and its compact size and narrow, pedestrian-friendly shopping lanes present a pleasing prospect for travelers. Streets are well-marked in Spanish and Basque, there are plenty of cafes and restaurants and the old town doesn't lack pretty churches and fine examples of traditional architecture. The ornate former main railroad station affords some good photo ops and the entire district achieves a rare balance between being busy and being laid-back.
Other than the Guggenheim, I knew nothing about Bilbao before this visit. I'm glad I came.
1. The Guggenheim Bilbao. No surprise here. This riverside art museum, designed by Canadian- born, Los Angeles-based architect Frank Gehry, has been a sensation since it opened in 1997. It is still a wonderment. I find Gehry, with his computer-based designs and use of nontraditional materials like titantium, becoming a cartoon of himself. Simply put, his signature use of bent ribbons of metal atop his buildings is becoming mannered. But in this branch of New York's famed Guggenheim, all of Gehry's ideas come together to make a thing of beauty; it is his masterpiece. I caught a brilliant exhibition by the British Indian artist and, for want of a better word, sculptor Amish Kapoor inside; Kapoor's use of form and color is compelling and unique and worth seeing anywhere. But while it may have been said before that the art of the Guggenheim Bilbao is the museum itself, it having been said before doesn't make it any less true.
2. Riverside Bilbao. Up until 1984, shipyards and piers for the Port of Bilbao lined the polluted Rio Nervion on its sluggish way through the city center. No longer. A visionary city master plan that preceeded the Guggenheim by more than a decade cleared out the old industrial sector, cleaned up the Nervion's waters and installed interesting public art and a relaxed waterside promenade punctuated by a children's playground, plantings and the occasional cafe. The result is a brilliantly reinvented city center that puts most notions of "urban renewal'' to shame. Bilbao did it right. And the process isn't stopping. A glassy, curved highrise by Ceasar Pelli is rising just downriver from the Guggenheim, and the new building promises to become another jewel in Bilbao's crown. Truly, this is a city of architecture.
3. Public transport. It may sound prosaic, praising workaday public transport, but when you try to get around a new city as a foreign visitor, you appreciate the efficiency and even beauty of a first-class public transport system. Modern trams cross the city and thread through greenways beside the river promenade, there is a good system of city buses, and the Norman Foster-designed Metro (the subway) is fast, clean, safe and appealing to the eye. The only missing piece is a dedicated airport Metro line from downtown. The present airport bus is not esthetically pleasing but it costs only 1 euro 15 cents and runs every 20 minutes in peak daytime hours.
4. The Port of Bilbao's new passenger marine terminal. Located downriver from the city center near the mouth of the Nervion, the bright, glassy, airy terminal is scheduled to open right about now. Bilbao is pushing hard to grow its cruise ship business and is seeing success. The port city is on cruise ship routes rounding the Iberian Peninsula between the Mediterranean Sea, England and other key ports in continental Western Europe.
5. Strolling Old Town. The historic quarter, well-served by the Metro and other public transport, is a fine place for strolling, shopping, eating and gawking. Again, it is clean and safe and its compact size and narrow, pedestrian-friendly shopping lanes present a pleasing prospect for travelers. Streets are well-marked in Spanish and Basque, there are plenty of cafes and restaurants and the old town doesn't lack pretty churches and fine examples of traditional architecture. The ornate former main railroad station affords some good photo ops and the entire district achieves a rare balance between being busy and being laid-back.
Other than the Guggenheim, I knew nothing about Bilbao before this visit. I'm glad I came.
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