Old Cathdral 

November 14-15  
A fun little trip to Vitoria 
We took a quick 75 minute bus ride from S.S. to Vitoria. Vitoria is the official "capital" of Pais Vasco (Basque Country).  Where the headquarters of the Basque parliament is located.  The "new Vitoria" was founded in the early middle ages...1100's on a site of a abandoned previous walled settlement, by Sancho the Wise "king of Navarra."  I can't help feeling like I'm on the set of "Game of Throne's" in a place like this.  We found the perfect budget hotel in the old part of town.
We visited the Museum of Archeology and Cards.  Why a museum of playing cards? you ask.  Well a Frenchman named Fournier, who came from a family of printers, left France in the late 1780's to escape the French revolution and moved to Spain.  His family continued in the printing trade.  His grandson, Heraclio used the latest printing techniques, and worked with artists to create playing cards.  The museum was very interesting and had Spanish decks, German decks and Asian decks that use different symbols as suits.  Card decks that we are accustomed to in the US, with the suits diamonds, clubs, spades, and hearts are actually French in origin.

One of the many town plazas that come alive at night.

We went to see 2 small museums-Belles Artes, and an Armory Museum.  The history of weaponry was pretty interesting.  It's a small collection, but it gives you a good idea of how weaponry changed over the centuries.  This is a rough summary of what I remember.  The cross bows of the middle ages were the most feared weapons of the time because they could actually pierce armor.  The 2 handed swords of the middle ages were used to smash rather than to pierce enemies.   Later in the 1600's came the single handed rapiers that I think of as fencing swords, with the fancy hilts made to protect the hand.  They were used to pierce.  The aim was usually to go for the joints, where armored knights were most vulnerable.  It became the fashion for "gentleman" in the late 1600's and 1700's to carry a sword.  Swords fell out of fashion, as firearms became the weapons of choice.  The fashion changed from carrying swords to carrying walking sticks.  Early firearms took 2 people to use so were really impractical; they weren't the weapon of choice. They required one person to hold and aim, and the other to light it.  The french, Spanish and Germans all contributed to improved firearm technology so by the 1800's firearms were for the most part the weapons of choice.  So...out with the swords in with the guns.

Little Smart car parked in front of some of the oldest
buildings in Vitoria

I think we must have visited 4 or 5 churches and cathedrals.  The new cathedral, was built in the early 1900's- the carvings look unfinished.  We wonder if this has anything to do with Franco coming into power in the 30's.  The old Cathedral of Santa Maria, dating back to the 1200's is being rehabilitated as the foundation couldn't support all the changes made over the centuries.  A huge number of bodies (skeletons) have been exhumed; much is being learned about the past in this rehabilitation process.
These quick overnight trips are really fun!

Many murals decorate the city

Armory Museum

This is one of several escalators and enclosed moving sidewalks
that serve as functional  "modern art" making climbing
the hills in town a breeze, and also look pretty cool transposed
against the old cobbled streets and buildings.

The new cathedral build in the early 1900's

The museum of Belle Artes is housed in this palace