Now we return to mainland Spain. We decide to do this having left Impulsive safely tied up as we have to fly home via Madrid anyway, and we were never keen to leave her at Malaga. It is relaxing to visit the following places knowing she is safe.
SEVILLE
We arrive here in the evening of a day over 40 degrees. Fortunately the forecast for the following few days is cooler.
Seville is a lovely, compact city where we can walk everywhere. Everything is easily accessible with no cars allowed in the centre. It is filled with reminders of its history but is also a very attractive place to be today.
Highlights and places visited are:
1. Half day guided tour to: the palaces and the cathedral
The Palaces
Inside the Palace
The Palace the King uses when residing in Seville
The Cathedral
Examples of juxtaposition of arabic and christian architecture inside the cathedral3.Gardens:There are many lovely gardens and tree lined streets which all offer welcome shade in this extremely hot climate.
The gardens beyond the Palace
The Marie-Luisa gardens. These beautiful and large gardens have many water features.
A water feature in the gardens
A water feature in the gardens
The Plaza de Espagne and the Plaza de America were built here for the 1929 exhibition here, which was to improve relationships between Spain and America.
Plaza de Espagne
Ceramic tiles depicting each provenceThere is also a ceramic memorial dedicated to Migual de Cevantes Savedra, b.1547-1616, and writer of Don Quixote. They are depicting scenes inspired by Don Quixote.
4. The tower - part of the original fortifications and the old city wall.
The tower
5. The Bull Ring - I have no desire to see an event here but am interested in the history of the sport. Ross is keen to see an event.
The bullring
Painting in the bullring gallery6. Flamenco dancing , at Tablao el Arenal - the cultural passion in this dancing is wonderful and it originated here
Flamenco Dancing
7. The Alfonso X111 hotel where we are staying was built for royalty for the 1929 exhibition. It has marvellous examples of Moorish architecture.
Alfonso X111 Hotel
Restaurants: Rio Grande - views across the river
La Isla - excellent seafood paella
Pepe - in the Jewish quarter
Alcazar - in a very lively area, in Santa Cruz
General information:
Our guide explains with the limited rainfall here and not enough dams drinking water is a problem which has to be addressed. Most people use bottled water.
He also gives us an insight into the history of the city.
RONDA
Approaching Ronda the the country becomes more mountainous.
This is a fascinating city perched high up and split into two by a deep gorge. Houses are seen to be hanging over the gorge. The old town is made up of a maze of narrow, winding streets, which are often steep, and have many examples of moorish architecture. The city is steeped in history since the Celtic tribes settling there about C5 B.C.
The Gorge
There is a 3 day festival taking place while we are here which adds to the atmosphere with many young girls and women, and some men and boys dressed in their native dress. Some are dancing in the major squares. Some riding dressed horses, some passing through in horse drawn carts.
The city is very lively.
The city is very lively.
The Festival
Dancing in the square
Places visited:
1. 18th. century Puente Nuevo and the marvelous views from here.
The Puente Nueva3.Collegiate church of Santa Maria
4. Palacio de Mondragon - referred to as an "architectural gem"
Palacio de Mondragon
5. Walking through the old town noting the architecture with its moorish influence and the wrought iron work of the area
Houses clinging to the cliff facesCORDOBA
Driving to this city we first pass through some very dry areas, softened by the soft green of thousands of acres of olive trees.
Driving to Cordoba
The valleys become more fertile further north where many crops are grown and many acres of hay have been cut. We cross the steep and wooded Sierra Morena mountains leaving the Andulusian area and entering the Castilla province. The soil here has a red tinge and the country is flatter with many vines growing.Places visited:
1. A half day guided tour:
The Jewish quarter
The Jewish Quarter
The old city walls
The old city wallsThe Cordoba Palace
Cordoba Palace
3. The Roman tower
Cordoba is situated on the Guadalquivir River. It was founded in 169 B.C., and is the birthplace of the philosopher Seneca.
Our guide explains the Mosque/ Cathedral, a World heritage site, is "alive" and traces the long history here.
The history begins with its Visigoth origins, and the main church dates back to C6. It was during the period of the Islamic dominance that Cordoba reached it peak, becoming the most cultivated city in C10 Europe. After the Christian conquest the Mosque was consecrated as christian temple and later a cathedral was built in the centre of this great building. This building gives one of the best examples of architecture from the different times of arab and christian.
This city also gave the unique example of the arabs, jews and christians all living harmoniously for sometime. Ferdinand and Isabella choose christianity as the religion in Spain to make it uniform and decree others must join and convert or leave. This seems a mistake by the catholics as for example the jews chose to leave. The business men at this time were mainly Jewish, so the economy started to decline. It was the end of the Golden Age for Jews in Spain.
Ceiling of the library of an old mansion, now a hotel
TOLEDO
This is a wonderful old city sited high on a hill overlooking Rio Tajo river. There are enough museums and monuments here to keep us busy for a week.
Walking in through Puertode Alfonso V1 is an arab gate from the early C10 and is an interesting example of military architecture of that time.
Puertode Alfonso
Entrance to the old townMADRID
Madrid is in central Spain and has been occupied since prehistoric times. It is now the major financial centre of Southern Europe.
Spain has been invaded many times. The Muslims invaded from the south up to the Castillo region (mid-Spain), and the Christians moved north of here.
All Spain suffered from the civil war from 1936-9. This was followed by Franco´s dictatorship, and now it has a constitutional monarchy.
Guided tour:
1. the Prado museum.
Highlights for us are: Goya, El Greco, Fortunay and Velasques and the sculptures
The Turner exhibition
The Prado Gallery2. Tour of the city and the Palace
Surprisingly there are many trees in Madrid, second in number to Tokyo, because the rainfall is so low here. The subterranean supplies allow for this.
The transport system is well organized. We use the metro easily here and it is very efficient and cheap.
It is a good life for the elderly here. They pay €11 per month which covers all their transport .Public health cover is free, including ambulances.
Visited:
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sophia
Thyssen Bornemizza Museum
The Palace - built in 1738 on top of the hill, with beautiful gardens (again with subterranean waters), and Italian influences.
Walked through the narrow streets in the old town, seeing the houses with their wrought iron balconies famous to the area
Walking through the Salamanca area with its lovely houses and shops (a wealthy and upmarket area)
Retiro Park - with its monument to Alfonso X11
The Spanish Square - a memorial to Spanish writers and literatures, with a statue of Don Quixote and Sancho
Plaza Mayor
Bullring
The Bullring
Drove by:
Opera House
Gran Via - the boulevard
Little Broadway
Columbus´monument - passode Castilla
"the Gateway " to Europe
The Four Towers - claimed to be the highest buildings in Europe
Restaurants:
Marques de Piscal - the market
Botin 1725 - Calle de Cuchilleros, claimed to be the oldest restaurant in the world
Botin restaurantCasa Benigna - wonderful cuisine and wines
(salad, polpe, tortilla with tuna, seafood paella, strawberry based dessert)
Soy - Japanese - delicious and beautifully presented
La Venencia Bar at Calle Echegaray 7 - tasted the sherry famous in Spain and enjoyed the atmosphere here. This is largely the product of sugar cane from plantations on the Canary Islands.
Tasting the sherryThe famous Chocolate bar in Gines St - we just watched people enjoying their pastry delicacies and drinking their cups of warm, rich, pure chocolate.
This has been a very interesting part of the trip and has emphasized the influence of the past history of these cities with the many invasions of the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs and Christians over hundreds of years. The architectural changes also depict these influences.
