Sunday 21 July 2013

Science in Southern Spain

This summer I went to the Spanish southern region of Andalusia. I visited the most popular tourist attractions which were as impressive as I had expected. However, I came back home with something else to share, two places that sadly are not listed as a MUST in the travel guides. In this post I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

Casa de la Ciencia” in the beautiful city of Seville had two great exhibitions. Aimed to increase awareness of biodiversity conservation, they focused on the invertebrates and cetaceans found in the region.


I saw incredible preserved specimens of corals, sponges, butterflies, beetles, spiders, etc. Some of them representative of the most threatened species in the area. There were also real cetacean skeletons of species like the common and bottlenose dolphin, and the pilot and humpback whale. Life-sized resin replicas hanging from the ceiling were a great complement for the display.


In the stunning city of Granada, “Parque de las Ciencias” was hosting a fantastic show: Puppets, 30 years of EtcĂ©tera. Different types of puppets were on display, from the classic hand puppets to the ones “inhabited” by the puppeteer.


The most impressive ones were the giant marionettes. They can be up to 8.5 metres high and their arms weigh about 40 kg each! On average, seven puppeteers are needed to move them when they are standing. You have to be really skilled to manipulate such heavy puppets. Physics to the rescue! Giant marionettes are moved by the use of pulleys where you have to take into account the weight of the thing you want to lift, for example an arm, a hand, or the entire body of the marionette.


I certainly recommend going to these places if you are on holiday in Spain. They are full of surprises; how would you like to strike up a conversation with Charles Darwin?