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After leaving Berlin we spent a few days in Madrid where I took a lousy photo of Guernica. This is a famous painting by Picasso with a long political history that delves into how the horrors of war are viewed by outsiders. Fascinating to see how people react to this painting today.

If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. –Picasso

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Why do hotel rooms push environmental messaging? Not only the consumables that supposedly save the planet, but also the requests to reuse towels, and the soaps/shampoos that claim to be organic and responsibly-sourced? I wonder if all this low-level eco-noise is a subtle finger wagging. Since the hotel is careful with resources, guests should also be careful with resources. They should not blast the AC, leave the water running, steal towels, throw the TV out the window, etc., etc.

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Don Quixote making his way through the Grand Via, the shopping district in Madrid. Sancho Panza looks like me, whenever I’m dragged to the mall.

When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be! –Cervantes

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A tour guide stopping to talk about the replica of the Nao Victoria, the boat that Magellan used to circumnavigate the globe. He talked about scurvy, colonial powers, mutiny, and coercing locals with weapons trade. Luckily we don’t have to worry about these problems today.

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There’s no better way to greenwash than black Helvetica on a white background, as if you’re using less resources by going generic. It taps into some eco-hipster vibe. These should be drank while tooling around on a scooter on Koh Phi Phi.

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I loved Seville. So many contrasts. Here’s a photo of Diana the Huntress, attempting to kill a zebra? Or was she aiming for the hippo? I probably could have cropped it better. . .

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We stopped at a vegan restaurant in Granada. What is it with vegan restaurants and these huge displays of plastic plants? Pretty awesome, don’t get me wrong.

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There is this palace in Granada, Spain called the Alhambra. It’s a bucket list place. Everybody is supposed to go there. It’s like the Taj Mahal or Angkor Wat or the Louvre. How could one possibly travel across Southern Spain and miss it?

We tried, I swear. But like those other mega-tourist attractions, the Alhambra has a complex process of entry with multiple websites and exclusive tickets and tour packages and language-specific guides and Disney-like fast passes, etc. Everything was sold out months in advance. We had just been biking in Portugal and had no idea that we’d reach Granada. So anyway, we ended up doing something far better (IMO), which I’ll post next.

The photo above is from the public area of the Alhambra where they send the scruffy ill-prepared foreigners like ourselves. I assume it’s a pine cone, but I didn’t have a guide to tell me.