HELLO i'm alive, I just barely survived 9 days in Girona doing costumes for Assumpta's short film reels.....and immediately after we came back I had to do some frantic sewing in time for the week of events planned for the Dos de Mayo. I met up with some new friends I had met at the Museo de Traje two weeks or so earlier, and my Spanish has improved SO MUCH during my time here. I am so happy and having SO much fun. I based this spencer off of one Assumpta wears in Rossini, Rossini!, and had two days to make it. I did my hair how Teresa's looks in a snood in Company, but made a madroñera instead- it's a little lower class than Teresa would've worn, I think, but it was appropriate. (I want to make all of the costumes Assumpta wears in her films and make a pre-war Teresa wardrobe, though I'll be remaking this red spencer!) Over the course of the week we walked through many parks, got to see the changing of the guard, we went to many palaces, and I got to participate in the Dos de Mayo parade and battle, which was insanely cool, and where the first two photos are taken! I also got to go to a wonderful ball and danced with all my friends, which I'll post photos of soon. Now that the events are over, I'm rereading Sharpe's Command bc I have my review in my drafts and want to revisit it.

I got to see Blind Guardian in concert for the first time in almost EXACTLY 8 years!!! It had also been 8 years since they last played in Madrid. I had a fantastic time and was hoarse and absolutely exhausted at the end of it but that’s always a sign of a great concert. And of course they played ALL my favorites, and even Sacred Worlds which shocked me but it was EXHILARATING!!! 😫

I totally forgot to post photos of the finished dolls BUT! Here they are!!!

I was up until like 2am trying to finish these. The Harry Price doll was a nightmare, let me tell you. But Scott and Assumpta adored them....they said it was the best gift they've ever gotten in their 30 years of marriage 🥺😭 and then they set it on their shelf in the living room next to a pair of wooden dolls they had as toppers on their wedding cake!

me n assumpta and scott! I really didn't get that many photos with them but these were from the last day of my trip 🥺🥺🥺 it was a very special day and i miss hanging with miss teresa moreno herself 😭😭😭

If you had told me six years ago when I started this blog that one day I would be sitting in Assumpta's house archiving her works, scanning film negatives of her Sharpe photos, and getting good morning and good night kisses from her, and just sitting at the table talking until 3am, I would never have believed you sdfgsdfgsdfg

        Okay so I’m gonna totally post these out of order so bear with me LOL. There are plenty more to follow!!!

         May 5th, we visited the Santuario de Nossa Senhora do Cabo Espichel, along the coastline of Portugal. This was one of the few locations actually located in the Iberian Peninsula that was used in Sharpe (and this one specifically in Rifles), so getting the chance to visit this gorgeous location was incredible. It was a beautiful day, and there were very few people visiting, so we got a wonderful tour of it overall- I only wish the giant ugly signs weren’t there :(. It’s really interesting to compare the buildings from then and now- a lot of damage from the harsh weather of the coastline and time has chipped away at it. All of the windows and doors of the long hostel houses were sealed with concrete, and much was in disrepair that we did see. The song that plays during this shot in Rifles was stuck in my head the whole time.

        We got a chance to visit the church as well, as when we first got there it was closed, so we felt very lucky to go inside! And the interior looks almost the same as it did in Rifles, except there has been extensive work done to preserve the paintings and statues inside. Sadly, there weren’t any photos allowed inside (though Sam snuck two of me in there, I won’t post them here for reasons I’ll explain in a bit). It was just me, Luca, and Sam inside, as well as a volunteer who looked after the building: we whispered very quietly among ourselves and looked at the beautiful artwork and sculptures, and went to the little souvenir table. We asked Luca how to say how much something was in Portuguese, when Filipa, the volunteer, told us in English that we didn’t have to whisper LOL. We all laughed at that.

       I ended up asking her out of curiosity as to why no photographs were allowed, as I had seen some online. Apparently because this location isn’t visited often and in very poor condition, people have stolen and continue to steal a lot from the sanctuary and surrounding area. About two weeks before we came, someone broke into the prophet’s house (not pictured) and shattered the glass and I believe were trying to steal tiles. So it was understandable, but disappointing, as the church hosts the most elaborate and expensive parts of the sanctuary. There are plenty of photos of the interior on the internet, and people sneak photos, but it was the principal of the matter and I don’t want Filipa to be disappointed in me for posting them and I want to respect that rule, (even if we broke it in private...oops) so I won’t.

       We spent a good half hour just chatting with her about the area and its history, and she showed us photos of the reconstruction, and she was incredibly kind and so knowledgeable. It was a long shot, but I had shown her photos of the praying scene that follows their arrival to this spot in the film, and Sam and I had done extensive research to figure out where it was, to no avail- it didn’t match this location, and Filipa confirmed that she had been inside every part of the sanctuary, and it wasn’t there, and we exchanged contact info because she wanted to try and figure it out. Later that night she apparently did research and confirmed where it actually was- in another sanctuary in Sintra, “more abandoned than this one!” she said. She used to actually live by it- I was blown away with her kindness and dedication to finding it after all that. So next time we visit Portugal, that will be on the list! It’s incredible that just on a whim I decided to ask; it couldn’t hurt, could it? And it turned out that she managed to locate exactly where it was. It’s so wild how that all worked out but it was SUCH an awesome experience and Filipa was the coolest person ever!!!

        It’s sad that rooms were all boarded up. Apparently the location is shared by government, the nearby town, and the monastery, and all three have been fighting over what to do with it. Many want the hostel to open again, which would allow money to flood in to be put towards restorations that are very badly needed, and bring more people to see the sanctuary. But on the other hand, people didn’t want this place to become a tourist attraction. Filipa herself said it she would prefer it to reopen and draw more people, than to let it suffer its current fate- it’ll only get worse with time and the harsh weather. I have more photos that I’ll post later surrounding the site- the ocean view was beautiful from here! It really is a gorgeous location, if not quite isolated.

I visited Alhambra today! I was there for almost 9 hours and walked about 7 miles, but it was absolutely worth it. I visited every inch of it and saw the Nazaries Palace, the court of King Charles V, and the Gardens of Generalife, climbed a ton of towers and got beautiful views of Granada!