Alcalá de Júcar, Spain – 2007
Some friends and I took a daytrip to this goofy city Alcalá de Júcar to explore and make good choices in general. We wandered through the city and I felt I was having a truly European experience; I felt an authentic sense of being smug and eloquent at the same time. We are strangely unable to experience this type of refinement in the New World. Anyway, here are some images of what we saw. I hope one day I’ll come back and write a better description here….
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- Alcalá de Júcar overlook as we arrived. Glancing down I felt an expansive feeling, this place reminded me of a Hesse book for some reason.
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- The garbage truck only comes once a century at this castle. Good thing everyone is dead, so there isn’t much trash.
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- Nearly 2008 and teléfono booths still exist…what the hell?!
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- I was stalking this girl about to ask her to marry me but then I saw she was walking toward Cuevas Del Diablo…Devil’s Cave…I quickly prayed for her and performed other useful rituals for her benefit (though I am ultimately unable to prove their efficacy).
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- Is there something poetic about hand towels drying in the open air, hanging by clothespins…or am I just being romantic??
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- A cave that cut through the mountain, just like in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, my favorite Super Nintendo game of all time. I wore a pointy olive green hat and pretended break clay pots open and find rupees as a tribute to my childhood.
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- The entrance fee for this hollowed out mountain included a drink coupon, which I redeemed for a Coca Cola. I wouldn’t make the same decision these days, as I no longer drink soda, nor visit caves as a recreational activity.
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- Amazing painting found in cave. The leaf is angled downward, indicating the sadness that this handsome man will never be your lover. Juxtaposition is everything.
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- Have you ever been in awe of beauty while simultaneously feeling a gloomy dread that makes you want to jump off the edge of the mountain you’re on? Hi, I’m Brian.
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- A thin set of stairs allows the passage of two hellians; they are on their way to pay full price to enter a hole in the side of a mountain.
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- Dorsal view of a city built on a hill with a castle as the cherry on top. Again, I feel like I’m in a mystery novel or that book I read in grade-school where the kid got stuck in the museum and lived there.
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- Andrew and César chat jovially about life while I hang back and document other peoples’ happiness.
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- Professing love on directional traffic signs…not sure about the romanticism in that…but I guess I can’t relate because unfortunately I’ve never been interested in someone with a harmless traffic fetish.
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- Quintessential European scene in my head. While I was standing here taking this photo I felt my normal-looking backpack turn into an awkward-ass messenger bag.
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- Adios castle town. I promise to look back on our time together with more gusto than I ever had in the moment…
