Tile of Spain asked me "Wanna go to Spain?"
And I responded with a resounding ¡Claro que sí!
Play this video after which study this post because the video performs.
Spain has to have the liveliest national anthem of any I've ever heard. That's the Marcha Reale if you're taking notes.
I've been asked to go on Tile of Spain's Reign in Spain Tour in 2011. I'm one of the journalists who'll be accompanying the lucky winners of Tile of Spain's Reign in Spain Contest. I wrote about the Reign in Spain Contest around two weeks ago and if you're a US-based architect or designer who hasn't entered yet, please do! You can find all the information you'll need and an entry application by following this link .
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| Madrid's shining Quatro Torres, Thru Flickr |
On February 4th, 2011, I'm getting on a aircraft sure for Madrid.
View spain ride in a bigger map
From Madrid, my travelling partners and I will board the Ave, Spain's high-speed educate gadget.
The Ave will take us to Zaragoza.
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Zaragoza is the fifth largest city in Spain. Caesar Augustus established it some time around 25 BC. It remained a population center and rose to power as the largest Moorish city in Northern Spain in the centuries that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire. It remained a Moorish city until the early 1100s. I am salivating at the chance to get up close and personal with Spain's surviving Moorish architecture and from what I can tell, Zaragoza will deliver more of it than I can imagine.
From Zaragoza, we're heading to Teruel. Teruel is the smallest of Spain's Provincial capitals. It traces its beginning to the latter days of Moorish rule in Spain in the 12th Century. It's a Unesco World heritage site for its many examples of Mudéjar architecture.
Mud?Jar become a style of Moorish-lite architecture and arose at across the identical time that Gothic structure changed into coming to be in France and Germany. Mud?Jar became an vital transitional style and its contributions to the great cathedrals of northern Europe has been in large part not noted.
Teruel promises to be an architectural wonderland. In addition to the great examples of Mudéjar, there are a variety of buildings in Gothic, Baroque and early 20th Century styles. Any time I can look out over a thousand years of development in one sight line I'm a happy man indeed.
From Teruel we're off to Valencia, Spain's 0.33-biggest city. Valencia additionally started out out as a Roman outpost and that they known as it Valentia then. Then being in 137 BC. It's due to the fact been occupied with the aid of the Visigoths, the Moors and in the end the Catalan and Aragonese. Every one of those cultures has left fingerprints all over the metropolis and I cannot wait to peer as a lot of them as time permits.
For all of Valencia's records, it does not seem in any respect shy about embracing no longer simply nowadays however day after today as well. The City of Science and Arts shown here's a quite loud assertion of the Valencian peoples' perception in their future.
While we're in Valencia we'll attend the actual reason for this trip, a trade show known the world over as Cevisama. Cevisama is a world showcase devoted the best and brightest in the worlds of tile, bath fixtures, kitchen fixtures and natural stone. Spanish industries are on the march and it's going to be a real thrill to see these products on their home turf.
All of this is being made possible by Tile of Spain, an umbrella brand for ASCER, the Spanish tile Manufacturer's Association. I'm honored and grateful to have been selected for this once in a lifetime opportunity to experience the culture, food, architecture and industry of Spain. ¡Viva la España!