AncientWanderer

I was informed over breakfast that today is my 28th wedding anniversary. As a wise man said "a bloke has a lot to remember, put the seat down, don't scratch in public, etc. How can he be expected to remember anniversaries as well." Anyway, today is our last day in Granada so we caught the bus into the city centre and had a look at the Corral del Carbon, the only surviving caravanserai of the 14 that once existed in Granada. After the reconquista the space was used to store coal, hence 'del Carbon'. The next stop was the Royal chapel that houses the ornate marble tombs of Isabella and Ferdinand and Juana the mad and Phillip the handsome, who wasn't. There are also an awful lot of religious paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries ... read more

Got off to a slower start this morning to make up for all of the earlier ones we've had lately. Caught the bus into the city centre then did a recommended walk that takes in most of the major sites. We started at the Plaza Isabel La Catolica where Granada's two grand boulevards, the Gran Via and the Calle Reyes Catolica meet. The plaza has a large statue of Columbus unfurling a contract before Isabel prior to sailing off to discover the new world, even if he thought he'd hit India. From there we walked through the Alcaiceria, originally a Moorish silk market later closed down by Phillip II and destroyed by fire in 1850. In the late 1800's it was rebuilt as a tourist souk. Next on the list was the Plaza de Bib-Rambla, a ... read more

The train trip from Cordoba to Seville is only about an hour, passing small white villages set amongst vast orchards of Seville orange trees. The oranges are sadly too bitter to eat and are used mainly for oils and perfumes with tonnes being exported to the UK each year to be made into marmalade. Seville is another picturesque city with a massive gothic cathedral dominating the centre. The cathedral is apparently tne 3rd largest after St Peter's in Rome and St Paul's in London and is the largest gothic cathedral in the world. We struck gold this time with our hotel being a beautiful period building about 75m from the cathedral. We didn't spend time in the hotel but got out to visit the Cathedral which contains the tomb of Christopher Columbus. The climb up the ... read more

Off to an early start again to once more beat the crowds to Casa Batllo one of Gaudi's most famous moderniste houses. It is a wonder that he was permitted to build such a place in the early 1900's with everything else being so stayed. I won't deliver a treatise on Gaudi and the moderniste movement, suffice it so say that the craftmanship was excellent, a lot of the features very inventive with the whole thing feeling almost like it cocoons you. After a couple of hours at Casa Batllo we ventured out to Parc Guell where Gaudi lived for a time creating an otherwordly park that he envisioned as forming part of a housing estate. The park is well worth a visit for the views over Barcelona alone. The crazy architecture lifts it to another ... read more

After the looong flight from NZ we were very glad to get back to terra firma. By the time I'd grabbed a sim card for the phone Ani was waiting for us in the faithful Rover and whisked us off to Kew for champagne and orange and a stunning breakfast. Feeling replete we then wandered through Kew Gardens admiring the daffodils prior to lunch at the Coach and Horses on Kew Green. Good food and jet lag finally took their toll so we retreated to our hotel room and fell into a coma for about 12 hours. The next morning, following a full English breakfast, we made our way out to Buckingham to catch up with my uncle and aunt who promptly fed us then took us on a walk through Buckingham stopping on the way ... read more