Delta del Ebro

This week and last were chapter two of four of my delta tourism adventures. Delta del Ebro is located in Catalonia, Spain, about 60 miles south of Barcelona. It has been predominantly converted to farmland for the purposes of growing rice, historically has supported a large fishing industry and now is a popular tourist destination for Catalans and other Spaniards.

Currently though it is the low season for tourism as much of the visitors come during the summer months to lie on the beautiful beaches and eat paella. Regardless though it is still beautiful here right now.  It was just rice harvest and the fields are now all flooded and there is birdlife everywhere. My favorite time of the day has been dusk as the sunset reflects off the flooded fields and creates a beautiful landscape. Personally, I think this place would be a landscape photographer´s dream come true.

This is the smallest of the Deltas I am visiting and have been able to do a fair amount of biking here. The hostel I am at has free bike rental. Not to mention free internet, laundry and breakfast! Visiting during the slow season certainly does have its benefits. Most of the tourism happens in the natural park which stretches along certain portions of the coast and is filled with birdlife. There are flamingos here as well, though I haven´t gotten any good photos of them like I had in Portugal. The beaches are beautiful, though virtually deserted right now.

There has also been some amount of cultural heritage tourism development. Historically the region was filled with these little houses with straw roofs, though the only ones that have been preserved are for tourism purposes such as museums.

My days here have been spent exploring the region, understanding the layout and design of the landscape and speaking with locals. Have been able to meet and interview similar types of people as I was in Botswana; planners, scientists, landowners, tour guides and more. Communication has been challenging but some folks speak English and I speak some Spanish so it hasn´t been impossible.

This being my second case study, I have definitely noticed similarities and differences of tourism planning efforts compared to the Okavango Delta and the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta.  On the outer level this may seem more similar to the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta than the Okavango Delta did. However, in regards to planning efforts the Okavango Delta and the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta have more commonalities. Folks that I have interviewed have mentioned that regional planning efforts could be improved in the Delta del Ebro. Lots of different entities are planning independently, but there is no real cohesive force bringing these efforts together into a shared vision. However, tourism has had many benefits in the region. In addition to economic ones, tourism has helped educate the public about Delta del Ebro and minimize water diversions which would otherwise degrade the landscape.

Tomorrow it is back up to Barcelona for a night and then a flight to Romania for my Danube Delta visit. After that a few days visiting an old friend in Translylvania before moving onto Egypt.

Weekend in Barcelona…

Badtz Maru in Barcelona

Last Friday I left Portugal and begin my Spain adventure. Just a short flight from Lisbon to Barcelona, and then a train ride from the airport to my hostel. The hostel I had booked was near Catalunya Square and Las Ramblas, which is the center of Barcelona. The hostel was huge, and packed with hundreds of backpackers. I was sharing a room of 12! The hostel experience itself was a reflection of my overall impression of Barcelona, that it is packed with tourists.

One of my friends from home, Nikki, had been working in Barcelona for several months now teaching English. It was nice to see a familiar face, especially someone with an inside scoop on the city. The first night there I met up with her andher friend from Italy for sangria and tapas. My favorite tapa was a tasty sheep´s cheese called manchego.

As I only had a weekend to spend in Barcelona, I needed to make the most of it. Seeing the Gaudi archiecture is a common tourist activity in Barcelona. One of his masterpieces is the Sagrada Família andthat is the first thing I went to see on Saturday. it was pretty fascinating both on the inside and outside. Unfortunately it was lightly raining when I was there so I didn´t get the best photos, but here are a few:

And after that I went to Park Güell for more impressive creations and views of the city.

Right near my hostel was another Gaudi piece, Casa Battlo. Didn´t go in as the admission was 14 euros andthere was a line down the block. But got nice photos from the outside:

After a full day of Gaudi tourism, I met up with my friends again for some more nighttime fun in the city.

Sunday, I headed to the port area and the Montjuic park. The park is pretty huge and I only saw a fraction of it. Walked through some botanic gardens and then to Castell de Monjuic, which had a military museum.

Castell de Monjuic

One of the most impressive things in the park was its cemetery, Cementiri del Sud-Oest. By the time I got there, the cemetery was about to close though and I didn´t get much time to explore. What I did see was impressive though, all these tombs stacked right on top of each other like dresser drawers. They did not allow photography in the part of the cemetary I was in, but I got some pretty good shots from the outside.

It wasn´t until I was outside the park though and viewed the cemetery from below that I realized how extensive it really was. Probably could have spent hours there alone walking around and viewing the interesting graves.

Was pretty exhausted after all the walking, but met up with Nikki once more for dinner and vino.

 

Overall, I had mixed feelings about being a tourist in Barcelona. Prior to my trip there, I had heard a lot of hype about it. Everyone said a weekend there wouldn´t be long enough. At the end of the weekend though, I was definitely ready to move on. In my eyes, Barcelona has the problem of to many tourists as the city has really taken off since the Olympics were held there in 1992. As a result the city has a sort of corporate feeling to it in order to accommodate the masses. The Gaudi buildings are really impressive, but there are thousands of others visiting them on a daily basis which make them harder to appreciate. I just didn´t get the same genuine and authentic feeling I had gotten in even the busiest parts of Portugal. In fact, I barely even saw any locals the whole time I was there. Perhaps I needed to spend more time there, who knows…

Anyways now am in Delta del Ebro, which is about 60 miles south of Barcelona. The 2nd of my delta tourism case studies. It is a pretty popular destination for Catalonians and other Spainards for beaches, gastronomy, birds and biking. Right now though it is the off season, so hardly any other tourists are here. Still an impressive place though and I will post more thoughts and photos later.

Ciao Portugal, Ciao!

Can´t believe it has been almost a full month since arriving in this country. And now it is time to go. In just 48 hours, I´ll be on a short plane ride to Spain. Having to say good-bye to this fine country is not an easy thing to do.

Prior to this experience, I new very little about Portugal. Never had really thought about it before. Just figured it was sort of a mini-Spain. I suppose compared to its neighbors like Spain, France, Italy, etc., there is less developed identity that most Americans know about. But in a way that is exciting as I had little idea what to expect. But it definitely has been a trip I will remember for quite some time; the people, the scenary, historic buildings, customs and of course the desserts. I´ve even become accustomed to Portuguese coffee, which is essentially espresso as they don´t drink brewed coffee here.

Anyways I can`t compare the country to any of its immediate neighbors, as I haven´t been to any of them, yet. But the take home message of this month is that if you can go to Portugal- then do it! It has been absolutely wonderful.

In and around Lisbon

So my days in Lisbon have gotten somewhat routine, but still thrilling nonetheless. I am staying in a room in Bairro Alto, which is sort of the trendy neighborhood in Lisbon with a lot of nice cafes, nightclubs and shops. But the neighborhoods best asset is its narrow, picturesque brick streets which are free from speeding traffic and fun to walk around.

Bairro Alto

Most weekdays I have been heading to the Instituto Superior Técnico which is just a short train ride away. I was connected with a number of the folks there through my professor Matt Kondolf who granted me the PSP fellowship. Some of them I had met when they were visiting Berkeley last spring. They have given me a desk there to work and have been pretty helpful in my research.

The purpose of my time in Portugal is to study the Tagus River Estuary in order to draw comparisons between it and the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta region as both are rapidly urbanizing estuaries. I am trying to apply ideas on heritage tourism development in the Tagus River, comparable to what I had been proposing in my thesis work on the Delta. I am focusing my project on the southern part of the estuary, which is undergoing massive urbanization.

This past Saturday I made a site visit to some of the areas. There are a number of opportunities for increased tourism development in the region, which would have numerous public benefits in addition to economic diversification. There is still a fair amount of pristine bird habitat in the region which can support beautiful species such as pink flamingoes in the photo below. There are also a number of historic fishing villages which tourists could visit via boats from Lisbon such as the town of Seixal. And there are agritourism opportunities such as Companhia das Lezirias, which has horses, wine tasting, and cattle ranching. There are also a number of historic bull fighting centers in this region.

Pink Flamingoes

Seixal
 

Companhia das Lezirias

Monday I took a trip with my friends Dri-me and Francisca whom I had met in Sintra. Dri-me drove us down to the Arrabida mountains which are a bit south of Lisbon and overlook the Sado estuary.

View from Arrabida Natural Park.

We went on a nice, strenous hike and had to turn around at one point due to this large sounding dog that we heard barking nearby. We didn’t actually see the dog, but it sounded pretty large and terrifying and could have had rabies. So we turned back to avoid crossing its path. Besides the scenic views of the estuary, one of the interesting things about the area were these little houses in the hills which had been used as meditation centers by Franciscans.

Franciscan meditation houses

Afterwards we went for a swim at a nice beach at the bottom.

Sado Estuary beach

We were pretty hungry after all this exercise and got some pizza. But the highlight of the trip were the Pasteis de Natas… The desserts in Portugal in general are amazing. Everyday I want to try a different cake or pastry, each one tastier than the next. The most famous desserts of this country though are these little custard filled pastries.

Pasteis de Natas

There is one place in Lisbon that is especially famous for them and they have some secret recipe. The ones served at this place are called Pasteis de Belem. And yes, they lived up to their reputation…

Pasteis de Belem