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!

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