We have been in this area for almost a week and have had every sort of weather except volcanic ash! We arrived in glorious sunshine which then deteoriated over a few days before a full blown thunderstorm on Sunday.
Thankfully we are now basking in glorious sunshine at 31 degrees C. We have visited Cordoba 3 times, which is perhaps and indication of its fascination. The whole area seems to be enveloped in the soothing aroma of orange blossom, with the constant sounds of birds. The old city contains a good deal of ancient history including building from the Roman times through the history of the Moors and latterly the Christian rulers. One place of particular interest is the fortress palace and gardens of Alcazar. The building contains an Arab bathhouse in full construction and an original roman pillar. The gardens were simply stunning by the use of water, plants and trees. There are 3 separate terraced pools, which can be seen on the photo above, which are fed by water from the nearby hills and all controlled by gravitational flow.
Today (20th April) we took a 4 hour guided tour with a guide who was clued up on all the local historical information that our little brains could take in and spoke farily good English. We were able to visit many of the special sites including the cathedral of the city which is contained within the original mosque. The building is absolutely immense and although we have taken many photographs showing the various pillars and arches, it is impossible to convey the scale of the building which covers an area of 4 acres and can partially be seen above in the photo.
Tomorrow we intend to visit Seville by train and then perhaps move to Granada in the next day or two.
We are glad that you have enjoyed Cordoba, we both did on separate visits. Also glad that your weather is nice and hot.Don't forget to try to visit Tarragona (old city), south of Barcelone if you are in that area. Andrew has been rather poorly with a very nasty virus for over a week, but hopefully is now on the mend. We had J,P and Ella here at the weekend. We looked after Ella overnight whilst J & P were away. She is a dream! Lots of laughter, chatter and sings all day long. No. 18 has now gone on the market and there is a little, very little interest in the bungalow at Longridge. I have finally got the Probate through so can now proceed! The father of Robinson's Mammoth onions has passed away aged 93 also your mum's former milkman, Alan Lambert at only 70! Not much else to report here, quiet weekend ahead.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy Segovia, Seville (Alcazar, Cathedral, Jewish quarter and Plaza de Espana well worth a visit)and Granada - you should go early if visiting the Alhambra as the queues get very long.
Lots of love, Anne and Andrew xx
We told you Spain was the most wonderful country and we are glad you are visiting it and are enjoying it so much. I hope you remembered J and I met in madrid and held hands for the first time at Escorial !! Ahh. You can see why we go back there as much as we can and why we are enjoying your blog . Love Heather and John.
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