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!

Madrid

Madrid has some of the best art gallerys in the world and yesterday we went to 2 of them.

The Cetro de arte Sofia where Picasso´s Guernica is on display after it was returned to it´s rightful place after Franco died.The whole floor where it is displayed is dedicated to anti-fascist art of the Spanish Civil War...very moving....and then of course there were rooms of Dali, Miro,Gris,Leger etc
Then to The Museo del Prado ..certainly the best art gallery I have ever been in and all those pictures that you recognise from the art textbooks we had at school....to see them in the flesh is just wonderful.

Madrid is a very elegant city with lots of parks and plaza and apartment buldings with wrought iron balconies and large and very grand public buildings and palaces (built in large part with Inca gold I suspect)...
Still very expensive to eat and the food is not great either...we are so lucky at home to eat so well for about half the price.
Still no government at home I hear!

Barcelona

Gaudi's Casa Baillo

Very very hot and busy is Barcelona......but Gaudi is everywhere and truely amazing. Having been gazing at his work for decades in books it was no substitute for the real thing...he was a genius.

Barri Gotic laneway

Marion arrived safely by train from France and we stayed 3 nights in Barri Gotic..the oldest part of Barcelona but also the part with the most tourists and there was an awful lot of them...getting some summer heat I suspect because you sure don´t get it in the U.K. It was a maze of medieval alleyways and squares (placas) and of course a Catholic church every 100 metres it seemed. Fantastic
Note Tom that we saw the hotel that George Orwell stayed in for the duration of the Civil War.
Spain is not that easy as very little English is spoken and most signs are on in Spanish or Catalan..
.....no photos as yet as this computer in the hotel does not have that facility.
We arrived in Madrid about an hour ago on the very fast train ...at times we reached 300kms ....less than 3 hours to travel 600 or so kms from Barcelona. Very smooth and comfortable.

OXFORD

As Oxford is only an hour by train I thought it would be worth a look...and it certainly was...home to many greats of course; C S Lewis, Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, William Morris, John Ruskin and of course some of our own spent time there... memorable but not "great" would you say, Bob Hawke and Tony Abbott to name but a few.

Still no resolution to the impass...even Anthony Green has no answer!!!

SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE

Ben and I went to see "The Merry Wives of Windsor" at The Globe Theatre last night...the production was fantastic as was the calibre of the acting,direction and audience...it was like a big party...everyone felt very much a part of it all and thoroughly enjoyed themselves .(It is official that I have now used up my years ration of theatre tickets in 5 weeks)...

And just for good measure earlier in the day...a new exhibition commemorating 40 years since Jimi died...

Ireland

Spent 5 days in Kilkee County Clare on the west coast of Ireland visiting friends Shirley and Robbie and their kids Isobelle and Rory....I had not seen them for 15 years and had never met the kids so it was great to have the time with them.
Getting around by car made things a lot more accessible and easier..so we went up nd down the coast of Clare and admired it's wild and very Irish landscape of  stone walls and cottages, very green fields and dramatic coast of dark and brooding cliffs....the weather was of course cold and a bit damp...although they tell me it was good weather for summer and it certainly didn't stop them all getting out on the beach and swimming (mostly in wet suits) in what I would call winter weather. I never removed my shoes and socks and fleecy jacket!

DUN ANOGHASA, INIS MOR

The Aran Islands was a highlight...so beautiful and wild. We hired a pony and trap to take us up to the circular celtic stone fort Dun Anoghasa ....so spectacular ...the rock there is bloody hard as this thing has stood for 4000 years....no sandstone here. They all speak Gaelic on the island...as did our pony and trap owner/driver...one of the last places in Ireland to do so.

DOOLIN

Back in London

Have had a busy few days (what's new you all say)....so much to see and so little time  ...

Arrived back from the Lake District via Windemere (rather like the Blackpool of the Lake District so I was not sorry to leave).The trains (are very expensive thanks to Margaret) but so fast and comfortable and efficient..a pleasure to travel in.

On Sunday Ben and I spent about 7 hours on the hoof ..through all manner of parks (Hyde,Kensington and Green) ending up at the Tate Modern on the river opposite St Pauls....it's an old power station sensationally renovated and full of art as you would expect...fauves,cubists and on...miles of it and it was free! I wanted especilally to see the 'Red Star Over Russia' room exhibiting a fraction of David King's (a rather obsessive Pommy Trot) enormous Bolshevik poster collection and I was not disappointed..it was fantastic....and oh yes as a contrast we had called in at Harrods earlier in the day...capitalist excess at it's most opulent and extravagent!

Red Star Over Russia Room @Tate Modern

Harrods

Australia House

Monday I went to the V&A Museum (also free) and had a cuppa in the William Morris Room...wonderful collection in an amazing building...then on to Australia House to vote (had to run the gauntlet of the Libs,ALP ...but did take The Greens how to vote)....they were pretty busy there so let's hope it all turns out for the best ..then on to Somerset House (across the road from Australia House) and the Courtauld Collection of art...how nice to be viewing a Van Gogh or a Manet without having to dodge heads because those overseas art exhibitions are so crowded at home. Then met Ben and we went to see a play at the Comedy Theatre called La Bete starring Joanna Lumley and David Hyde Pearce (Frasier)...it was fantastic...

V&A

Today I went to see The Wallace Collection of 18th and 19th art and furniture...completely over the top and after a while everything started to look the same..but am glad I went even if to know what sort of art I am not that fond of.....Rubens,Rembrandt etc..in great numbers and a lot of flamboyant furniture and ornaments from the court of Louis XIV and inumerable others of that ilke.,   then on to the British Library and their room of treasures....my god it was AMAZING....the Magna Carta, Henry VIII personal prayer roll, Scott off  the Antarctic's notebook,Joseph Hooke's botanical noebook,Shakespeare's handwriting,Janes Austen's notebook,writing desk and glasses, Charlotte Bronte's manuscript for Jane Eyre, Hardy's manuscript for Tess....on and on and on..............then just when you thought I was too weary(in truth I was really) to do anything else I dragged myself to Gordon Square in Bloomsbury (well I was in the near vicinity) to pay homage to The Bloomsbury set themselves......plaques on all the buildings.....just wonderful to be there.....
Cooked a nice dinner tonight of Irish trout...with clotted cream and British strawberries.....what about that (I did buy all the ingredients at Tescos..it's not as romantic as it sounds)

Ireland tomorrow and a very early start....more later

Kathxo