travelswithalice
October 27, 2021
Back in Madrid
Sunset arrival.
Our train arrived early, a little after 7, but we didn’t get to our hotel until 8.
Arriving by train is not the best way to arrive in Madrid. Getting to the taxi stand is so confusing…no signs. Asking people is no help either as everyone has a different idea of how to get there.
October 24, 2021
We return to the Alhambra
We’re ending the Andalusia chapter of our Spanish holiday back in the Alhambra, at our favourite Parador de Granada.
Three weeks ago, we came to stay here, returning after fourteen years. We had a room in the new section which had been added when the hotel was last renovated.
Our room this time is in the original part, now fully renovated. The courtyard has remained exactly as I remember it all those years ago.
I took this photo in 2007.
In the 1920s, this abandoned monastery was a ruin, at various times inhabited by squatters and goats. It was due to be demolished but was saved by a comprehensive renovation during which it was decided not to replace the collapsed roof of the church; to keep it open to the sky. That brilliant decision ultimately gave us this serene, evocative space.
There’s a room just off the courtyard that has been preserved with the original walls, tiles, decor, and furnishings from the parador’s former life as a Nasrid palace.
Many of those features were used in the guest rooms before the latest renovation. Much as I love staying here now, I do miss the enchanting atmosphere of the old rooms, the very feeling of being in a place that belonged to a wondrous time long gone.
Labels: Parador de Granada
Antequera en route to Granada
We’re stopping in Antequera just to break the long drive back to Granada. Staying at a lovely mountaintop farm hotel called La Fuente del Sol. Too bad their spa is not open.
The views all around are stunning; you can see all the way to the coast.
Dinner in the in-house restaurant was nice. I had grilled duck breast with soupy rice. Stuart had veal sirloin.
The vegetables and the honey came from their orchard garden. I saw ducks and geese as we drove into the property so maybe my duck was in-house too. Don’t know about Stuart’s veal though; I saw goats but no cows. And the wine…in-house? I don’t think so; they have too few vines.
Tomorrow we drive to Granada where we’re to take the train back to Madrid.
Labels: Costa del Sol, Hotel Fuente del Sol, La Joya, Malaga
October 18, 2021
Seville
Monday, October 18.
We arrive at the lovely Casa 1800 just after 5.
I love the genteel air of this stately 19th century mansion situated in the centre of the old town, a short walk from the cathedral.
You’re made to feel like a guest at your rich great aunt’s house.
Tuesday, 19.
I took my breakfast out on the patio off our room and managed to spill my coffee all over it, and the table, and the floor! Bummer!
The day’s zoom mass for Max Edralin was sponsored by the XCiti Lunch group. The family played a video of Max’s beloved granddaughter Alexis, an operatic soprano who died at a very young age.
Afternoon tea in the hotel.
Somebody brought us croissants and palmiers. Once again, there goes my no sugar, no carb on-off diet!
Wednesday, 20.
The magic that is flamenco at the equally magical Plaza de España.
Two years ago, I promised myself I would come back to Plaza España.
I did come back but my promise of bringing books for the cubbyholes remains unfulfilled.
_____
I’m up on the roof waiting for the rising of the full moon.
October’s full moon, the Hunter’s Moon.
We don’t always have lunch but when we do, it’s usually anchovies, maybe salmorejo, sangria, always after 3, at La Sacristia next door.
Nightlife begins as soon as you step out the door of Casa 1800.
Thursday, 21.
The Church of the Divine Saviour was built on a site where in Roman times, a basilica stood. Then a mosque in the time of the Moors. The mosque was demolished in 1671 and the current church was built soon after. It then collapsed and was later reinforced with solid piles.
This baroque church is the second most important and largest in Seville after the Cathedral. It’s famous for its ornate gilded woodwork and frescoes. A museum in back contains relics and intricately worked religious ornaments.
_____
In the Plaza Mayor stands the Metropol Parasol, a.k.a. Las Setas de Seville or Mushrooms of Seville.
This monumental wooden structure is undisputedly unique, is visually striking, provides slatted shade in the square, and most importantly, is a talking point. For a global city like Seville, any publicity is good publicity.
It is of course the €100million reported cost that has made it controversial.
There are Roman and Al-Andalus ruins housed in the museum underground. I didn’t go there. I guess I’ve seen enough ruins to last me a long time.
The star attraction for me was the Mercado de la Encarnación on the ground floor. Markets are a town or city’s heart and soul.
Friday, 22.
There are two ancient sights we’re seeing for the first time on this our third visit to Seville.
A natural aversion to crowds has kept us away before but one result of the pandemic, i.e., smaller crowds, has made it less difficult this time around.
The Cathedral of Seville.
It started life as a mosque in the 12th century, was Christianised into a cathedral after the reconquest in 1248, then replaced by the current cathedral in the 15th century.
Although built chiefly to demonstrate Spain’s phenomenal wealth, this lavish church ultimately demonstrates the creative power of religious zeal.
There are two things about this structure that blow my mind: its mastery of height and the splendour of its ceilings.
The Royal Alcázar of Seville.
Again, the ceilings!
But here, there are also the vistas, the celebration of water, the birdsong, the blended scents of old gardens.
I’m a fan of Moorish art. I don’t claim to understand it and I guess part of the attraction for me is the mystery of it.
I see it as superior, on a higher level of sophistication compared to what is considered Western or European or Christian art. The abstraction, the going over and above the mere copying of what is obvious, as in painting or sculpture.
Moorish design derives from mathematics, their architecture, from geometry, whether studied or merely intuitive.
Labels: Casa 1800
October 16, 2021
October Skies
Friday, October 15.
We’re back in Fuengirola where the October sky is putting on quite a show. Three bright planets are all on display: Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn.
As autumn sets in, the sky gets darker earlier and Venus the evening star dominates the western sky where it’s now higher above the horizon. Later, it’s joined in the east by Jupiter and Saturn.
The three planets are easily spotted even as the nearly full moon lights up the night sky.
Saturn is there too but doesn’t quite manage to make it to this group photo despite my iPhone’s best efforts.
Labels: Fuengirola
October 14, 2021
Jaén
I slept through most of the drive to Jaén. It seemed to be taking too long to get there.
I can’t wait to finish my drink so I can go on and see the rest of this fabulous place.
Our room at the Parador was quite austere, reminding me of the Betania and Manresa Retreat Houses of my school days. The view from the balcony didn’t seem like much either. After all, we’ve been driving around Andalusia for several days now, the Sierra Nevada a constant presence around us.
I thought the place unremarkable and wondered what the point was of having a parador there at all. That is, until we went down to dinner.
_____
As we walk under the cross-vaulted ceilings of the long narrow corridors, the ancient bones of this 13th century Arab fortress start to reveal themselves.
We enter what would be the hotel bar. But what a magnificent bar this is! High above mighty stone walls, the vaulted timber ceiling is adorned with intricate woodwork so thickly patterned it looks like a woven mat.
I can’t wait to finish my drink so I can go on and see the rest of this fabulous place.
Through a great hall with enormous stone fireplaces at either end….
…and into the dining room.
This is not a dining room. It’s a banquet hall lit by a row of majestic lamps stretching from side to side nearly wall to wall. They’re hung from chains that look almost too fragile for the hefty pendants. Pointed stone arches hold up the heavy beamed timber ceiling.
I absolutely see the point of this parador now.
Labels: Parador de Jaén
October 11, 2021
Ronda
Monday, October 11.
Nestor at the front desk of the Parador de Granada assured us that our next stop, the Parador de Ronda, is one of the best.
Well, I don’t know what he based that recommendation on. This parador looks tired and neglected and it doesn’t compare at all well with the Alhambra’s. But if you’re talking location, you certainly can’t beat this.
The New Bridge is next door.
So is the bullring.
Whether Ronda’s Plaza de Toros is Spain’s oldest and biggest is a contentious issue but its place in bullfight history is unrivalled even by Seville or Madrid. It’s home to the Corrida Goyesca which we missed by a month.
For sunset chasers like me, a bonus: the sun sets directly in front of our bedroom.
They’ve given us the Honeymoon Suite! Now, isn’t that sweet? It’s a duplex with a balcony on the living room floor and a large terrace on the bedroom floor.
I struggled not to laugh- but I did anyway- every time cutlery drawers clattered open and banged shut, things crashed to the floor, and plates practically frisbee’d onto tables.
Dinner was, as Stuart loves to say, a laugh a minute.
So, how about the food then? For now, let’s just say it’s irrelevant.
Tuesday, 12.
We drove to the other side of the gorge for a panoramic view of the bridge.
Ronda’s New Bridge, certainly new and unparalleled in the 18th century, spans the Tajo, a gorge 100 meters deep.
The landscape here is majestic, sculpted by time and the forces of the earth. The massive gorge has been carved out through the ages by the Guadalevin River.
Our drive through tortuous canyon roads skirted sheer drops to the riverbed. We took a detour to a signposted restaurant hoping to pick up something for lunch.
The hostel/restaurant Albergue los Molinos looked interesting. There were tables along the path to the house, little kids having a merry old time taking turns leaping off mini cliffs, and something was cooking on a barbecue. But there was a 30-minute wait, so we passed.
The evening sky was pretty as a picture with two bright planets Jupiter and Saturn on either side of a brilliant first quarter moon.
And shortly after midnight on our last night in Ronda, the moon briefly lay on its back on a mountainside.
Labels: Parador de Ronda
October 09, 2021
On the Costa del Sol
Friday, October 8.
Higuerón Hotel Málaga is in Fuengirola, a hi-rise concrete jungle on the Costa del Sol. The hotel belongs to the Curio Collection of the Hilton so we mistakenly expected a small boutique hotel.
A car on a platform stands centre stage in the vast reception lobby. (Stuart later tells me it’s a classic Austin Healey.) A rocking pig sculpture is joined by a curious collection of art offerings.
Our room has a terrace looking out to the Mediterranean Sea. Fantastic. I’m not a fan of the open-plan bathroom though. The bath sits incongruously in front of a sofa in the lounge area.
Saturday, 9.
I’m taking a break from masks. Angry red spots have appeared on the bridge of my nose and behind my ears. A reaction to wearing masks almost continuously since we arrived two weeks ago.
This of course means not going out. I don’t mind at all. I believe I’m better off in our room than out there. This is the ideal place to recuperate from too much walking, eating, and drinking.
We couldn’t pass up popping open the
Cava that arrived moments after we settled in though. Just a glass…just to toast our fabulous holiday…
Labels: Fuengirola, Málaga
The Alhambra
Tuesday, October 5.
At Parador de Granada in tthe Alhambra.
Wednesday, 6.
Lunch.
Thursday, 7.
In the garden.
The perils of lunch in the garden.
Lunch as always is delicious and exciting but today I’m waging a losing battle with birds and bees, mostly bees. I desperately wave my white napkin in surrender but they just keep attacking.
Conchi only shrugs off my call for help as she loads up our table with warm olive bread, 3 kinds of Andalusian cold soup, acorn-fed ham from Extremadura, and Moroccan soup and briwat, a savoury stuffed crepe.
La naturaleza, she points out.
On the patio at 6:30 pm.
That’s Albacyn out there!
Finding it on Google maps.
Leaving soon for Fuengirola on the edge of Costa del Sol. Hmmm…hope the Curio Hilton is not too Costa del Con or Costa del English!
Can’t bear to tear ourselves away…
Labels: Granada
October 03, 2021
Cordoba
Saturday, October 2.
We’re at Hotel Conquistador directly across from the Mesquita.
We can’t get much closer than this. The room is small and austere but comfortable. And with lots of walking on the cards, the location is unbeatable.
The Alcázar can only be accessed by registering at least a day in advance but the nice lady guard let us in anyway. All it took was a “Please, can we see it today, please?”
We had a quick visit in a limited area that didn’t include the garden which was booked for a concert.
I love the way the building is designed to shelter from the intense Andalusian sun and let in cooling breezes.
The mosaics are beyond belief.
When we first came to Cordoba fourteen years ago, we discovered a pretty little restaurant called La Fragua. It made quite an impression on me; I wrote about it then. We eagerly sought it out again this time, had drinks at the alley bar, and booked for dinner later.
We returned after the requisite 4-hour siesta break and ordered the Cordobes menu for two. The salmorejo was wonderful, the fried berenjenas equally delicious, but the main dish of flamenquin was not good: it was very dry and the loin was tough. We sent it back and accepted the croquetas that the manager suggested as replacement.
The evening was ruined for us despite the free round of drinks he threw in for goodwill. There was a palpable air of horrified disbelief at this brazen insult to the exalted Flamenquin of Cordoba. I’m sure I didn’t just imagine the dagger looks that followed us as we left.
Sunday, 3.
Madinat al-Zahra was awe-inspiring. It was also also disheartening, seeing the complete and absolute devastation wrought not by the passage of time but by wanton destruction and looting. The overcast sky added to the air of mystery and melancholy as we trudged along the vast area of ruins, trying to visualise the grandeur of what has been called “the ornament of the world.”
La Mesquita.
Gorgeous. The only reason I was desperate to go back to Cordoba.
For me, nothing can compare to the sophistication, the majesty, the reverence, the religious experience that is this building. Not any church that I’ve seen anyway. Not St. Peter’s, not Notre Dame, not Chartres.
Our three days in Cordoba have been a resounding success. The hotel, the people, the food, the wine. Of course the food! Salmorejo, mazamorra, berenjenas, and flamenquin, the last having been restored to its rightful place as Cordoba’s prize tapas by our latest restaurant discovery, Moriles de Ribera. And now, berberechos too!
Labels: Andalusia, Madinat al-Zahra, Mesquita
Archives
July 2005 September 2005 October 2005 April 2006 July 2006 August 2006 January 2007 February 2007 September 2007 November 2007 February 2008 September 2008 September 2009 May 2010 May 2011 September 2011 July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 September 2013 October 2013 November 2013 December 2013 January 2014 February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 August 2014 September 2014 November 2014 December 2014 January 2015 March 2015 April 2015 May 2015 July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 March 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016 September 2016 October 2016 January 2017 February 2017 May 2017 June 2017 July 2017 August 2017 September 2017 February 2018 March 2018 April 2018 May 2018 June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 September 2018 October 2018 December 2018 January 2019 February 2019 March 2019 June 2019 July 2019 August 2019 October 2019 December 2019 January 2020 July 2021 August 2021 September 2021 October 2021 November 2021 December 2021 April 2022 May 2022 June 2022 July 2022 August 2022 April 2023 May 2023 June 2023 July 2023 August 2023 September 2023 October 2023 November 2023 December 2023
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]