Guernica

Guernica has such a powerful story we wanted to experience it for ourselves.  We only had time for a quick visit but it was worth it.  Miranda did a research project about the Spanish civil war last year and learned about the atrocity of Guernica so she was excited to visit as well.

The bombing of Guernica was carried out under Franco's request by Nazi Germans and Italians.  They tested bombs that exploded with fire (fire bombs) on this small town in the middle of the mountains.  They had no military advantage except a communications post.  The attack was very controversial and was made infamous by the Picaso Painting entitled Guenrica.  The mural behind us in the top picture is a stone tile replica of the painting.

We waked through the town and talked about how scary it would be to live in this small mountain town during the bombings.  We also learned about what did survive the war and the traditions of their government.  They have a large tree that they hold official government events.  The council sits around this tree for that and has done for thousands of years.  The oldest tree in recorded history survived the bombings but died just a few years ago and a new tree was grown from a seed from the old tree.

It was a great but short visit to get a feel for the town of Guernica.