Cordoba and Granada

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Day 466
Straight to Cordoba's one and only sight the Cordoba Cathedral or Antigua Mezquita was initally built as a mosque in 785 but reverted to a Church in 1236 and in the 16th century a cathedral was built in the centre. After many years of extensive expansions and remodelling it is now a huge and amazing building. We bought an audioguide to give us some direction as we made our way round the massive building, a strange mix of religion. A building (like many) best seen then described. We wandered about the thick columns under the two tired arches and contemplated how a game of hide-n-seek could go on for hours in here (but decided against it). We made our way back into the glaring sunlight, filled up our bottles from the pure water and found ourselves in the in a maze of narrow cobblestone streets. We retreated from the sun having lunch in the shade of the park. We walked along the river and back to our Hotel and jumped on the next bus to Granada.
After travelling through the arid and dry landscapes so different for the lush northern spain and we arrived Granada. Another bus we made it to Hotel Agur (another Last minute bargain) and greeted by the less than friendly reception. But it was a nice room and with a balcony overlooking the pool. We walked into town in search of the laundry mat (down to our last clothes) and stopped for a beer and free tapa at one of the many tapa bars. We had dinner at one of the outdoor restaurants on the plaza and were entertained by buskers fighting over spots and their music.

Day 467
A lazy day, we returned to town to pick up our laundry and some lunch supplies. Back at the hotel we lounged around the pool, and enjoyed lunch on the balcony. That afternoon we made the trek up the Mirador de san Nicholas for fantastic view of Alhambra as the sun set. We wandered back through the Albaysin 'old Moorish Quarter' to town stopping at Chicota Restaurant for some traditional Spanish Pil Pil Prawns and Chicota (chicken).


Day 468
Up early we set out on foot to the Alambhra. After some interesting directions we made it and to our surprise we at the front of the que for prebooked tickets. A couple croissonts and OJ's later we made for the Nasrid Palace. The Nasrid Palace was built in the 13th to 15th centurys for the Muslim rulers. It is a spectacular building with many patio's, stucco's, waterfeatures and gardens. From here we made our way up the tower of the fortress for a stunning view over the entire complex. Finally we made our way to the Generalife, a massive expanse of lush gardens and more waterfeatures.
Impressed with the attention to detail and preservation of the Spanish fortress we headed back down to the village along the cobblestone streets for lunch.
That afternoon we caught up on some study before catching the bus to Costa de Sol.
(No we havenìt gone crazy there is two lots of the same photo's on this blog but hey were too hard to delete!)

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