Baza - out and about

A last lot of random photos from Baza.


Baza has some interesting monuments at large intersections on the edge of the inner city. The first here is a copy of the Dame de Baza - an old statue that was excavated in the vicinity.

She sits at the end of a long, green avenue

Note the hills in the background

The large, square building is the library

Yep - hills and mountains in the background

This statue is near the Parque de la Alameda

It's less than 10 minutes from Casa Caelli

Fountain in the Parque de la Alameda

Caell's bookclub ladies walking home together. Note Caelli's reaction when she realised I had the camera out!

Iglesia de San Juan (Church of St John)

Iglesia de la Merced (Church of Mercy)

Plaza Mayor (Main Square). The church is off to the left

Plaza Mayor again. Now you can see the church! (Iglesia Mayor - Main Church)

Iglesia Mayor from above

Iglesia Mayor from below. Almost every roofing tile has a House Martin's nest underneath

Iglesia Mayor from the inside. It's quite dark and gloomy

This amused me one morning. The van (about 4 cars down) had parked in the middle of the road to unload (which is not unusual in Spain). It caused quite a traffic jam, not only in this single lane street, but on the main road where I'm standing - and in both directions, too. Avenida Jose de Mora is the main thoroughfare heading south out of Baza, but it's single lane in both directions. Cars were banked up behind other cars waiting to turn into the street blocked by the van.

These cars on the main road were stuck behind another vehicle which was waiting to turn left into the van-blocked street. Cars in nearby side streets were also stymied.

On the 21st of April, Caelli's school celebrated 400 years since the death of Miguel Cervantes, who wrote Don Quixote. Seeing that it's a bilingual school, they also combined it with Shakespeare's birthday. Starting at 8am and going through to 8pm, they had people (students, teachers, parents, and even the visiting mother of the Auxiliar de Conversacion!) continuously reading from Cervantes (in Spanish) or Shakespeare (in English). Caelli and I went along, and they jumped on the opportunity to have Shakespeare read by native English speakers. Both Caelli and I read some of Much Ado About Nothing for about 15 minutes combined.

Shots from the Parque de la Alameda. This first one is for Hadyn. The park changed with every visit I made as spring growth rapidly turned bare trees green.

New growth is a gorgeous red

Taken on my first visit - 10th of April

Taken on the 18th of April

Taken on my final visit - 28th of April

In Australia you'd expect to see a possum in a hole like this!

Two weather shots on the balcony at Casa Caelli. Hailstones and a sunset.

In my final week, Caelli and I went on an excursion with the year 9s, organised by one of the year 11 classes. Bikes to get there, then three activities - more biking, walking and horse riding.

There were some friendly dogs there

These two magnificent stallions were ridden by the owner and one of his employees. The horses are dressage trained, so they gave us a demonstration. Magic!

A fountain with four brass taps - quite an important monument

Old cinema projectors in the town's cinema

One of the many crosses in squares in Baza. Spain is still a very religious country

I loved this succulent hanging from the balcony of one of the apartments in Caelli's building