Granada: The Alhambra

Finally we have made it to the bottom of Spain and The Alhambra it´s crowning glory....The hotel is a short walk up a steep hill to The Alhambra Palace and extensive gardens...so it´s very handy....
Once through the gates the temperature drops a few degrees as there is parkland and channels of water running in a torrent down to the river below.

The Islamic palace dating back 700 years has weathered well considering the changes that have occured in the history of Spain. It is very very beautiful, breathtaking in fact..even though much of the colour is gone from the interiors. The archways,fountain filled courtyards, delicate yet elaborate stucco covering the walls and the honeycombed ceilings are exquiste. Water fills the whole place in fountains and channels and pools and niches in each wall for water jugs each with it´s own poem or set of poems. Cool breezes fill the palace as it is open to the weather and was designed to have cross ventialtion so it a pleasure to be able to escape the hot summer heat. FANTASTIC!!!

The gardens are enormous and beautifully looked after..including the original 700 year old vege garden and orchard. Quite formal with lots of hedging encasing the flower beds and lots of water again flowing through fountains and ponds...just beautiful!!!
We were lucky enough to encounter an English speaking guide by chance in the Alhambra museum this morning whose knowledge was so extensive it really enabled you the visualise life in the palace under muslim rule....it made such a difference to have the meaning and context of the artifacts explained..(usually the commentary is in Spanish only and you don´t have a clue as to what is what.).

I hope spring is in full flight and the Labor Party can stop being poll driven and undemocratic and work with the greens and independants.

Sorry still no usb port to insert photos with... Kathie

Seville

We stayed in amongst the narrow laneways of Barrio de Santa Cruz for 2 nights and really got the feel of the place. We could walk to the Catedral and Alcazar Palace. The Islamic influence in the architecture is strong here and very appealing. As usual the Islamic rulers were usurped by the Spanish Catholic monarchy in the late 1400s but the moorish influence has not been totally obliterated and disregarded. The palace was very beautiful with intricate plaster work and Islamic archways everywhere, exquisite ceilings and fountain filled courtyards. It contains a room where Vespucci and Magellan organised their expeditions ...The catedral is massive and ponderous...the 3 largest in the world....and of course very Catholic.

We managed the next day to get a local bus very cheaply to visit Italica just outside Seville...it was the site of the first Roman settlement in Spain and the birthplace of both Emporers Hadrian and Trajan...so we have come full circle with Hadrian (he now seems like an old friend). It was VERY impressive...many mosaic floors and a beautiful Roman road, enormous bathhouse and one of the biggest Roman ampitheatres ever built. So in the arvo I went to the Museo de Arqueologico in Seville which had room upon room of Roman finds (not the piddly little stuff you get on Time Team either).....
We did manage to have a really good meal last night in an Italian place...naturally it was not Spanish!
The weather here is a lot more manageable ...about 32 degress so the siesta has been abandoned.

Glad to hear things have settled down at home and that the Greens will have some say in policy

Toledo and Cordoba

These are the places you imagine Spain to be like....miles of cobblestoned narrow laneways with 3 storied houses whitewashed or stone with wrought iron balconies enclosing the streets. Vey atmospheric and very Spanish....

and of course the obligiatory Catholic church on every corner keeping (well they did in the past) a tight control on the population.

The further south we go the hotter it gets. It is 6pm and now 37 degrees as it was yesterday so a siesta with a good book and air con is mandatory to keep ones cool so to speak...sightseeing really has to be done in the morning before 2pm if possible.
 A lot of the shops close for a few hours close in the middle of the day and restaurants don´t serve dinner until after 8pm ...a bit of a challenge for me who likes to eat and hit the decks early...

The Mezquita Mosque is the feature here in Cordoba with it´s world heritage listing...unfortunately the Catholic monarchy have ravaged it somewhat by placing a bloody great church in the middle a few hundred years ago..the mosque is about 1000 years old and the islamic mosaics thankfully left by the christian infidels still sparkle after all that time (it helps that they contain 1600 kg of gold).

In Toledo we went to the Alcazar made famous as a propaganda tool by Franco after he relieved the beseiged Nationalists early in the Civil War...he had it rebuilt as a military museum and it presents a very sanitised version of Spanish history ....after 40 years of tight control by the fascists I´m not sure that they are still getting the truth 30 years on...it is all very interesting and the History of the Spanish Civil War I brought with me has been invaluable...

Adios
Kath
PS Still no government after 2 weeks...what a debacle!