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Published: November 2nd 2006
La Alhambra
Looking back at the Alhambra from the tower at sunset.We traveled to Granada and Córdoba this past weekend. It turned into quite the adventure in many ways...
We were stuck outside of Granada for more than an hour in traffic. We missed our entrance time into the Alhambra, the fabulous and enormous Moorish palace at the edge of the city, but after some wrangling and fast Spanish, our indomitable coordinator, the fabulous Toni got us in and we had our tour. My favorite parts of the palace are the gardens and patios. Every patio has a fountain and some with large fountains, cyprus trees and flowers. We ran across half the palace and up a winding flight of stairs to watch the sun set over Granada from the top of one of the watch tours. The spectacular colors were well worth the running.
Outside of Córdoba we toured the Madinat al'Zahra, a Moorish city built to marble covered, shining perfection in the tenth century but reduced to nothing less than 100 years after completing by another Islamic sect who saw the city as a place of lujo, luxury, not in accordance with their interpretation of the Corán. In Córdoba, we visited the Mosque turned cathedral and had a
Kristin and me
Taken from the Albacín, in the old Jewish quarter of Granada. A plaza just ends in a steep drop and from the plaza, you get a great view of the Alhambra. bit of free time to explore. Of course, our free time was during siesta so all but the cafés and tourist shops were closed. But so it goes in Spain.
And to put an end to all myths, YES the time DOES change here in Spain for daylight savings time. We found this out the hard way. No one told us, so we all got up an extra hour early after what had already been a long day and a late night only to learn of the time change after there was no chance of having enough time to go back to the hotel room for a nap. But, the best gazpacho I´ve ever had later in the day put an end to my bad humor and life went on. It really was great gazpacho, served with fresh onions and tomatoes and buttery crutons to put on top.
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Jennie LeGates
non-member comment
Sounds Fabulous
Well, after reading your ongoing saga, Spain and Portugal are definately on Fritz's and my travel list in retirement. Thanks for wonderful newsletters. I really appreciate them. Jennie