The Europe Trip: Glastonbury- April 17th to 19th

Ok, truthfully, Glastonbury seems like a world away right now, but I´ll recollect what I can. Check back with this post later because I have another memory card`s pics still to add. Glastonbury is England´s all-purpose spiritual mecca. If you want meditate, read esoteric books, work your groove thang to some hip world music (or in my case, sway timidly in the corner), practice paganism, buddhism, whateverism, or explore some mystic history, it´s the village for you.
Speaking of esoteric books, I scored a Jack London novel about a real guy who survived the tortures of Folsom prison by either exploring his past lives through self-hypnosis (or going nuts, up to you). Laugh if you will, but on this trip I´ve ditched a book of Italo Calvino short stories, a Jorges Luis Borges, and Martel´s Life of Pi (sorry EVERYONE in the world, it´s wonderful, I know, I know). Maybe the constant movement is making me too restless for serious books, or the feeling of independence is bringing out my not-impressed-with-pompous-rockstar-dude-writers, but I´m interested to hear if y´all have your own quirky book preferences when travelling.

Anyhoo, there was a lot of kitsch in Glastonbury but it was fun. And when you see the pictures of the Tor (a distant peak with an abbey tower at the top), you can imagine how it adds a certain genuine mystique to the haze of spirituality and psychedelia.

Here`s the Tor, towering over Glastonbury (¿Tor-ing over... ?). And guess what. Because Lins wasn´t with me for this leg, I had to learn something! Did you know that: Glastonbury and its surroundings are the supposed historical inspiration for the mythical Avalon, King Arthur´s final resting place?¿?

If you´ve seen and loved Excalibur-which, as my friends and loved ones I´m certain you have- you´re probably asking yourself, "¿hey, isn´t Avalon supposed to be an island?" Good question friends. As it turns out, Glastonbury USED to be surrounded by a watery wilderness. (Perhaps you`re really asking yourself why my apostrophes and question marks are all upside down and backwards. Really I´m in a Barcelona net cafe...it´s hot and there´s latin music pumping in the background, and the guy on the computer beside me`s wearing a hip leather jacket and smoking...I´m never going to wait this long to blog again, it´s all too incongruous from week to week.)

Genuine, card-carrying pagans. I´m serious- they had a convention and I wanted to go but couldn´t because it was members only.

The church where the remains of Arthur and Guinevere were said to have been found in the 12th century. Most historians believe the discovery was a hoax the church perpetrated to raise its funds after a fire, but most pseudo-historians dismiss their skepticism as "no fun".

The original site of the find.

The tomb where the lord and lady were reburied.

Some local kids informed me on my last full day that the REAL resting place of Arthur and Guinevere was up on Wearyall Hill, and I still had a morning, so I climbed up. There was a lone tree next to a cracked, overgrown grave on a trail that no one was visiting. In my imagination this is a much better place for a king´s grave.