Attention! This post contains a lot of pictures and personal information. Reflections and several “nonsense”. Please don’t expect photographic information of vital importance . To sum up, that this is the typical post of someone who tells his life to a bunch of strangers.
Let’s start.
A few years ago (in 2007 to be exact), I decided stard in digital photography and driving with a tour around the Iberian peninsula. Born near the port city of Barcelona, I’ve never been a lover of the coast, but rather of her distant cousin: the mountain. And after living for several years in the Aran Pyrenees without seeing the ocean for a long time, I decided that it was a good time for a visit.
A little late (if we take as reference what the rest of the world use to do), I got it with my driving license, and my soon famous horse, nicknamed “the bretocar” alias “the twinguillo”, would take me to a journey through the coast and around the peninsula, skirting through its beaches by the sound of “Los Manolos” cassette.
The Bretocar in Bolnuevo (Murcia)
Although I was not new in this, since I had already been in contact with what might be called “analog world”, a few months before leaving on my trip I realized thatphotography was really exciting (this is a story perhaps for another day), and after saving money for a while I bought my first digital camera. It was a digital compact, one of those which for a time were nicknamed as “semireflex” and although it wasn’t possible to exchange lenses, it had a manual mode where you could select the ISO, the aperture and the exposure time. Although I quickly started to save money again for a DSLR camera, this one keeps resting at home.
Back then I was accompanied by my car, my camera and Phoenix, my constant companion, with whom I have shared many adventures and with whom I joined strong ties, difficult to describe with words like love, friendship or family. He was two years old by then. Today he is 10, and although he is a grandfather he seems not to notice about it.
Phoenix taking a sunbath in Delta de l’Ebre (Catalonia)
Phoenix in the middle. Peñíscola (Catselló)
Phoenix barking to Osborne Bull, somewhere
8 years ago, we started this trip. We finally only got to Tarifa. I got an offer for a job in the mountains that brought me back prematurely, but I always thought that the twinguillo, Phoenix and would start again from there in the future. I even thought it was a good idea to continue it when I improved my photography skills and thus would see the change in image’s quality between the first and the second part of the trip.
Phoenix enjoying the views from a cliff.
Phoenix and me in Tabernas desert (Andalucía)
Phoenix and me in the Upper Rock of Gibraltar, Àfrica in the background
The bretocar left us a couple of years ago. Now its windows and mirrors have become crystal glasses, perhaps where the aristocrats drink good wine in a Michelin star restaurant. His plate will be recycled to make other cars and who knows what else. Still, I’ve decided it’s time to continue this journey, although it looks like it will be a third part, because I want to leave Galicia and Portugal as final section, perhaps in a few years, who knows.
Phoenix in Peñón de Ifach (Calp, Alacant)
This year I have put aside my trips “to see the world”. I forgot the planes and passports. Tomorrow I start my second part of the trip from Barcelona toward Asturias, and on the way I will stop in countless places where Phoenix will run and bark happily while I photograph the landscapes. The dog who was born in the mountains and ended fighting the noise of the city deserves some holidays. The hairy grandfather, my old co-piltot and the companion I probably will miss during the third part of the trip. I hope he’ll enjoy it.
Phoenix and I “eating” sticks on the beach
Note: the photos in this post are from 2007, the first part of the trip.
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