Granada Adventures

This morning the 4 of us set out to go to some of the miradors (scenic viewpoints) here in Granada. We chose to take the car as scenic viewpoints are usually high up (duh). Map in hand and route pre-planned we hit the road. Within 2 turns, we were in trouble. Route #1 turned to poison due to road construction that detoured is via one way streets into some type of circling narrowing nightmare that not even Escher could come up with. After that narrow escape we headed to backup route #1 (AKA our second choice. AKA failure #2). This wasn’t so bad as the closed off roads (and detours) were wider ….. but, sadly it too was doomed.



Onward to route #3. Backup #2. Failure #3: We stopped, consulted the map and reached a consensus. On paper, it looked good. Hell, we are not stupid. Between the 4 of us we have four master degrees and 2 doctorates. How hard can this be, for god’s sake? Hop on the freeway, detour around town and approach the whole thing from a different direction and away from all the road construction. (It looks like they may be putting in an underground system.)


The joy of route #3:
So we get to the other side of town and are zipping along and everything is (kind of) fine. We have to adjust our plans at about every intersection because many (most) roads are one way. We are making our way uphill to an older part of town. Note: this is a very old town. Most of the roads were made long before cars. They can get twisty and narrow. Sooooooooo …….. do you see it coming? Combine uphill, narrow, twisty, few choices because of one way streets (do not enter signs) and possibly a little disoriented. We are still hopeful, but becoming a little less cocky.


Anyway, at some point all choice was taken away from us. At every intersection of roads randomly designed (did I say designed?) for pedestrians long ago, there is only one way to proceed. Each block gets either narrower, more twisty or steeper. Some times two of the previous and occasionally all three. We are looking for an escape now, but none offers itself. Finally (no sh*t) we have no choice but to go up this one impossibly narrow, steep and twisty street …….. and we come to …….. “no way the car is getting through that.” I get out in front of the car so that we see if it can make it through. The car is about an inch too wide ….. even if we manage it perfectly. The only choice is to back up (actually down) hell road . We finally got it backed out of the narrow twisty road. The locals found it very entertaining and even gave us a round of applause. We only had to drive a couple blocks going the wrong way before we were on our way back to the hotel with our tails between our legs.

It was after we got beyond the arch that the 'real fun' began.

Brennie was going to take some pics of the driving adventure.
That might have seemed cruel.
So I have recreated it .... birds eye view

Adventure #2:
The Brennie and I decide we still want to go to the miradors. On foot sounded pretty good by then. So we hop out of the car once it is basically in downtown. We have ath hand drawn map from a guide book. So, off we go. Within 6 blocks of entering old steep twisty town, it is obvious that the hand drawn map was out of scale, missing streets, and leaving lots to the imagination. Anyway, we figure ……… “mirador”, gotta be high up. So every time we have a choice we go for the steeper road. These were all walking ‘roads’. A car could never even hope to get through.


We did ask directions a couple times and were just told to walk uphill. We finally made it to Mirador San Nicalos. Which amazingly, is where we were trying to go. Even got a picture to prove it.


We heard there ws a lot of good food in the old section of town we were in (Muslim and Gypsy).  Smelled like Marijuana is used in a lot of the old family recipes.

Proof the the Brennie and I made it to the mirador.



Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella.
Love the background.

Brennie is scared.

STRAIGHT street.

CLICK HERE

to see other Granada pics
Life is Sweet,
Clarke

The Alhambra

One of the reasons that I was so excited to come to southern Spain (Andalucia) was that, I really wanted to see the Alhambra. Tickets are difficult to get, So Chuck dropped me off at 6:45 (AM!) to stand in line to get us tickets. They are hard to get unless you get them in advance. We would have done that but our plans are fairly flexible (loosie – goosie).



Just a little info on the Alhambra. It was the final Moorish stronghold to fall in the reconquista. 1492. There is too much to tell, so I won’t even bother to try. I will just caption a few pics and put the others up to view via a link.

The 'W' with the bump on the left is the word Allah.

This phrase is soomething lke 'Allah is all powerful" or 'Allah is always victorious.'  It appears 9000 times in the decorative walls of the Sultan's palace.  9000!  It is in this pic either partially or completely 7 times.  Look closely.

This is the room where Isabelle and Ferdinand gave Columbus permission ot sail west to find a route to the far east.  As we all know ...... he failed.

The latice work is so that the women could remain hidden.

My honey is singing.

I usually try to hold in my stomach if my pic is being taken. 
End of the day. 
Too tired for heavy lifting.

CLICK HERE

For our fuzzy out-of-focus pics

For better pics .... see Chuck and Nancy's blog or look on the Internet


Life is Sweet,
Clarke


PS: There is also an Alhambra, California. Not really the same.

Reflections on Sevilla

Sevilla was at one time the largest Spanish city and the center of commerce and government. At one time or other, most of the cities we have gone to can make the same claim. Sevilla’s heyday (sp?) was for about the 100 years following the discovery of The New World until the harbor silted up about 100 years later. (This is according to Chuck. And I suspect he is right.) It is inland quite a ways up the Guala-dinkus (or something) river. Like Portland, Oregon ….. an inland seaport up a river. But, no longer a seaport due to the aforementioned silting. Chuck also says that Sevilla, had an exclusive rights ….. in that all commerce headed to or from the New World had to come through here ….. taxes(?). Chuck ….. did I get most of that correct?

Anyway …….. it is certainly worth visiting, but has not been my favorite city. Brennie read that it is the hottest city in Europe. This is easy to believe. It has two main sights worth seeing. The Alcazar and the Cathedral.


The Alcazar (palace or fortress) was actually built by and for the Christian kings using much labor from the Moors. It has 3 wings ….. the Admirals wing , the gothic wing and (for me the best) the Moorish style wing. Most of the pics we took were from the Moorish style. I think it was built by Pedro the Cruel (or Pedro the Wise ….. depending on your point of view). Was it Pedro?


The Cathedral is the third largest Cathedral in Europe and the largest Gothic Cathedral. Built in the 15th century after the existing mosque was destroyed. Apparently they said something like “let future generations think we were crazy when we built this.” The cathedral is the main attraction and is NOT to be missed. I missed it. Here is how that happened. The Brennie wasn’t interested but I was. So I left her with an iced coffee in a Wifi hotspot and trotted over to the cathedral. I wasn’t planning on staying long, just kind of a quick run through. Stood in the winding line about 20 minutes, reflecting on the (extreme) differences between the Moorish architecture and Gothic. A couple minutes into the line I am admitting that I certainly prefer the former to the latter. A couple minutes later it is how I really like the Moorish architecture and not so much the Gothic. A few minutes more ….. it is love one and kinda hate the other. Then I am thinking ‘how fast can I make the tour’? Then it is ‘maybe go in and find the exit.’ By now I am just a couple minutes from the ticket window. I flee. Went to look for cigars instead.


So, I have no pics of the cathedral. However, Nancy does!

I just LOVE the Moorish designs.  That is why you are seeing so much of it.

Check out the INDIVIDUAL tiles. 
It is like that everywhere!

CLICK HERE

To see pics of Sevilla

Between Sevilla and Granada is a town named Loja. Yep, Loja,Spain. We have now been in Loja, Ecuador and Loja, Spain. I have been in Loja California. The pics of Loja include some black iron profiles. The Marx Brothers. They shot the movie “Duck Soup” here. There is a Cuenca Ecuador. We missed it, but Chuck and Nancy say they will see it in March when they return.

CLICK HERE

To see pics of Loja

We arrived in Granada today. Chuck was driving, I was navigating. The GPS is worthless. Apparently the free maps downloaded to it, were overpriced. Not actually L-O-S-T, just a bit of trouble getting to our hotel. Anyway, looks like we are going to the Alhambra tomorrow. This is a HUGE deal! And no it is not gothic.

Life is Sweat (because it is hotter than f*ck –diddle here),

Clarke

Lunches

They have this thing here called 'tapas'. Tapas is basically a vey cool snacking concept ....... With ef course very cool snacks. They are sold at 'tapas bars'. The assortment of tapas ia huge and they can be really yummy. You can even get non-alcoholic beer. Many places have it on tap.

This entry is not about tapas. It is about Brennie's two most enjoyable lunches here,

She liked the lunch where I dropped a potato chip down my shirt and had trouble getting it out without breaking it. Only to drop another less than a minute later.

She also liked the one where I kept putting salt on my baked potato. I would put some salt on and it wouldn't taste salty. Tried again. Again. And yet again. By this time the potato tasted just weird ...... But not salty. FYI .....sugar does not improve a baked potato.

Bonus:
Cash machines are everywhere. This is nice because nothing is very cheap. Every time you turn around there is a cash machine. Except of course, when you are look looking for one. I walked for blocks today looking for one. Finally saw one and scampered over to it. Condom machine.

Life is sweet,
Clarke

Drive from Cordoba to Sevilla

Some road time, but a couple interesting unplanned side trips.

Side trip 1: Olive trees.
I mentioned before the endless olive trees. Well today we took a side trip into one of the …… are they called groves? Actually Chuck lost control of the car and it safely came to stop in an olive grove. (That is a complete fabrication ….. simply amusing myself there.) Anyway, the girlies took some pics of the olive trees. Cool. They also ate an olive or two off the trees, spit them out and pronounced them as vile. Clearly some type of processing is done between the tree and the table.



Olives. (Duh.)

 Side trip 2: Carmona
Inhabited for a long long time. Ruins from about 900 BC are found under the fortifications that were later take over by others and rebuilt and rebuilt and rebuilt. Carmona has a long history which has seen the passage of the widest variety of cultures. Thus, it was first of all inhabited by Tartessans, and later became a Phoenician colony. Later came the Carthaginians. Then taken from the Carthaginians by the Romans. Romans would be followed by Visigoths, Moors and re-conquered again by the Christian Spaniards in the reconquista. I guess that you could even throw in Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1930’s) if you like. Pretty amazing for a US citizen that remembers the 200 anniversary of the US in 1976.



Gate at Carmona.

Other point of interest on the road:I don’t know what it is. The light reflecting off it is real and not an optical illusion or trick photography. I guess we could have looked closer and figured it out, but we were afraid of being beamed up somewhere. Chuck got really scared and started crying. (Yeah, another terrible lie. I can’t stop.)

What is this?

For a complete set of pics

CLICK HERE

I think that the Brennie is getting pretty good with the old camera.

Life is Sweet,
Clarke

CORDOBA (yeah, that's in Spain)

The drive to Cordoba was kind of long and not real eventful. One observation …… OLIVE TREES. Millions and millions of them. Literally. I am not sure exactly when we started passing through them, because I didn’t ‘clock’ it. But once I realized that there were STILL olive trees as far as I could see in any direction (rolling hills), I became more aware of them. I would guess that we drove better than 100 km (60 miles) with a solid landscape of olive trees. Pretty cool. PS it is very dry here

A lesson in humility. In Cordoba I am looking at a Roman ruin that is just shy of being 2000 years old. It is very humbling. I will be nice and not elaborate on that.

Will finish this tomorrow.


- - - - - - - - - - - -


Why I really wanted to focus on the south of Spain: The Moors. Pure and simple, I wanted to see the Moorish influence of Spain. It took the Christians about 700 years to drive the Moors out after the Moors conquered Spain (in about 700 AD). The Moors were here keeping knowledge, science, art, medicine ‘alive’ while the rest of Europe wallowed in the dark ages. So, I wanted to see southern Spain where the Moors were for the longest period. By the way, the Moors were finally driven out of their last strongholds in southern Spain in 1492. I think that most of my little history lesson above is correct. If not, I suspect there will be some comments setting me straight. So anyway, the Moors were here in the south the longest ….. so I am expecting to see more Moorish influence here. Plus, the Romans were here 2000 years ago. And they left their mark. For instance, the temple ruins and the Roman bridge still in use (foot traffic).

Roman bridge.

Roman bridge.

Anyway…….. how cool it is!

Islamic Cordoba (756-1236): Medieval Europe’s Cultural Capital
So much here to love. I will give only one example. The Mezquita.


Original building here – a Visigoth Catholic Church built in the 6th century (500’s). The Visigoths took over after the Roman Empire fell.


The Catholic church was torn down by the Moors (when they conquered here). They built a huge mosque on the site (over the years). This mosque, The Mezquita, is fabulous. It has 850 columns in it. The columns (Many, most, all? I don’t know.) were recycled from Roman ruins and conquered Visigoth churches. The mosque would hold between 15,000 and 20,000 worshipers on prayer rugs (depending on which guide you read). 


Finally, after the reconquista (re-conquering of Spain by the Catholics) the Catholics come in to re-use the mosque. They don’t pull it down. Instead, right in the middle of it, they build a cathedral. I like it better than the cathedral in Toledo (not as gaudy), plus it is in the really beautiful mosque.



Part of the mosque.



Mosque

Mosque again.

Cathedral in the middle of the mosque.

Cathedral.

Cathedral dome over mosque arches!

So ……… whoever was ruling at the time, built their own house of worship on top of or in the middle of the former power’s place of worship. Sometimes even using the same columns and stones. Proves yet again to me that religion is politics. (Don’t get me started on this. Um …… really. Don’t get me started.)


Anyway, that is what I like about Cordoba.

For all the Cordoba pics

CLICK HERE



Notice how the Moors destroyed the faces from the Visigoth stones.  That is because the Muslims don't believe in using images ...... depictions of people.  Note that Muslim decorations are geometric designs.



I don't have the slightest idea.

Life is sweet,

Clarke

Links to the pics should work now.

Sorry about that.  They always worked when I checked them.  Apparently they did not work for others.

Life is sweet,
Clarke

El Rastro

El Rastro:

“Europe’s biggest flea market is a field day for shoppers, people-watchers and pickpockets.” Sundays, 9:00 AM until …….. not my problem.


OK, I am a guy. I hate (H-A-T-E) shopping. I mean really, really hate it. Beyond words hating.


Brenda is a woman …….. she’s all woman. She loves shopping (sport, hobby, avocation, whatever). She tells me that Cuenca shopping sucks. She is loving all the stores here as much as I hate them.


Today is Sunday and we set the alarm to go to El Rastro. (Repeat: On vacation. Set alarm. Shopping?) It was like a really bad acid trip. God knows how many square blocks it covers. We never did see the end of it in any direction we went. It was horrible.


I did feel sorry for the Brennie though. She burned out in under three hours. I didn’t think that was possible. Must send her to a doctor. Poor old thing just doesn’t have the stamina she used to. I almost feel sorry for her. Almost.


Another thing: Europes largest flea market. No street food? Really? That’s nuts. If there was a food place at least every block, it wouldn’t have been such agony. I didn’t see any food. Had to pick up some churros on the way back.


Confession: I bought 3 pairs of POS socks for 1 Euro. About a buck fifty (for all 3). The Brennie bought nothing. Poor thing.

 

CLICK HERE

for pics of El Rastro

and more Madrid pics.

Life is Sweet,
Clarke

Toledo (not Ohio)

Off to Toledo on the high speed train. The whole 'high speed' thing was rendered mute when it turned out the train we wanted was full and we had to wait an additional hour. But we wanted to do the high speed so we sat on a granite bench and killed time and butts. - - - - - -  - - -

Later. Back on the train from Toledo. Mixed reviews.


Bitchin' city. History culture and architecture are a mix of Christian and Moorish .... with Jewish influences. (Obviously before that whole lovely Spanish Inquisition thing). Very cool and really loved it. Except for ...... it kind of felt like a 'disneyland' thing. Almost everyone on the streets were tourists. Droves of tourists. Big groups and small. Some groupsspoke English, some French. Some Japanese, Indian, etc.  SO MANY TOURISTS. Couples and families. It seemed to me that every business in town (old historical part) catered to the tourists. So many trinkets and so much junk  for sale. Plus a little too clean .... like Disneyland. Does that make sense?


But wow! The cathedral. Holy mother of god! Unbelievable and indescribable!. Look it up on the Internet because I can't describe it. One of the 'things' used for ceremonies had a core of solid gold .... 35 pounds of it. That is in addition to 400 pounds of gold plated silver. We did take a couple pictures of it. It is the ten foot tall gold thing. The pics aren't so great. Our fault.

Below is a crummy pic of it.  Maybe my cheesy cmaera couldn't handle the glare from the gold.

The GOLD thing!

CLICK HERE

to see more pics of Toledao

One reason we are doing only the south of Spain is that we want to see the Moorish influence. A lot of that in Toledo ...... Even in the Sinagoga . That is the Jewish Synagog (spelling?) that was built by Moorish craftsman.


I think I can go a lifetime without seeing another Goya or El Greco.

Life is sweet,
Clarke

Last Couple of Days (Madrid)

1.  Chuck and Nancy arrived today afrter their unexpected detour through Seattle.  It is good to see them.  They spent some of the day resting.  So we.........


2.  Went to the Reine Sophia Museum (of modern art).  It is really famous, etc.  But, what I found the most interesting was............'bombproof bathrooms'?  I mean seriously, the bathrooms had HEAVY doors plated on both sides with heavy gauge steel.  Nothing sissy about the handles and locks either.  The doors to the stalls were the same.  Each stall was like those 'safe rooms' that the rich build into their McMansions.


WENT TO SEGOVIA YESTERDAY. 
VERY COOL. 
Day trip. 
Went with Mike and Cheri.

 

Having a little trouble with this little NetBook computer.

To see more pics of Segovia.

CLICK HERE

To see more pics of Madrid

CLICK HERE.

They have non-alcoholic beer here!!!!

Off to Toledo tomorrow for another day trip.

Life is Sweet,

Clarke

Good News From Madrid

Having a ball doing lots of stuff.

Planning (actually a 'lack of planning') for a day trip to Segovia tomorrow.

'Plans' go something like this:
- Find metro station
- Determine which train station we need to get to
- Get to correct train station by taking correct metro
- Find and board correct train.
- Arrive in Segovia
- Enjoy Segovia
- Repeat steps 1 - 4 in reverse order.

Re pictures:
Have taken way too many. Will try to post some more soon.

Life is sweet,
Clarke

Bad NewsFrom Madrid

So far I have only found the worlds worst cigars. Must be something i don't understand. Gee, you think?

Arrived in Madrid

WARNING:
I brought an old NetBook  on this little trip because I can upload pics with it (I can't with my Ipad.  However, I hate this d*mn thing for way too many reasons.  So the posts may be a little rough (not edited).

MOVING ON:
Arrived Madrid today. LOVE it.

Spent entire day (after arrival) on foot.

Did not enjoy the flight a whole bunch. Sitting for 11 hours getsreally old really fast. The little girl behind me clearly enjoyed it.She got a lot of exercise kicking the back of my seat.
We took the metro (subway) from the airport to the hotel. Pretty easy.
Love the location of the hotel .... A bit of a bohemian neighborhood in  the old part of town. They must have a magical camera that they use to take pics of the room. I wish that I had a camera like it.

However ..... Totally satisfied.

A few random pics:

My queen.

Randy ..... It's a Vespa.

They have non-alcoholic beer!!!!!!

Gotta be a million scooters in this town!

Rabbit (conejo).  Better than cuy.

Life is swwet (though this computer AND Internet connection ...... NOT so sweet)
Clarke

On your mark, Get Set ....... AND GO

Heading to the airport as soon we eat breakfast, etc.

6 weeks in Spain, Morocco and a cruise.

I'm skeert. I hope no one is mean to us.

We will meet up with Chuck and Nancy later this week in Madrid.

Next post form Madrid.

We have a house-sitter living here while we are gone.  Take care of the house and Bugger and Wanker.

Life is sweet,
Clarke