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
Etcétera. 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?