time out in Andalusia

In any other year, the news that our annual conference was to be held in Madrid would have been very welcome, but only three months after my move from Africa to Latin America I would have appreciated the opportunity to hit some British shops.  Still, looking on the positive side it offered opportunities to practice my Spanish and to take some of the rest days due to me in Andalusia - to finally satisfy that long-held desire to visit Granada.

In fact I started my time off in Cordoba, as I wanted to see La Mezquita - the old mosque - which is often described as one of the jewels of Islamic architecture.  I have to say though that I was rather disappointed with it.  I could see that it would have been beautiful in its day, but after the re-capture of the south of Spain by the Catholics, the mosque was 'Christianised' (is that a word?), with a cathedral built in the centre of it and gaudy chapels all around the edge.  At some stage the 19 entrances were also closed off, blocking much of the natural light from entering.  Still worth a visit but not what I'd been expecting to see.

On the other hand, I had expected the small town of Ronda to be worth a visit, but not to be such a jaw-droppingly stunning place.

Set on the top of an escarpment, one part of it surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs and only joined to the rest of the town by an impressive bridge, it offers spectacular views over the surrounding countryside. My €20-a-night ensuite hotel room with air conditioning, cable TV and wifi was just a ten minute walk in one direction from bus and train station and ten minutes in the other from these stunning cliff-top views.  There were cheap places to eat (admittedly not-so-cheap if you wanted somewhere with a view), friendly locals and, well, I found myself wondering if it might be somewhere to retire to when the time comes.  The photo is only from my phone (as my camera packed up on day one of the trip) but they really were the kind of views that I don't think I would ever tire of looking at.

I was so impressed with the place that I seriously considered spending the rest of my week there and not bothering with Granada, but as Granada was the real purpose of the trip I tore myself away.

Granada did not disappoint.  Bigger than the other two places, a real city in fact, but dominated by the hilltop Alhambra fortress and palace complex.  I spent an entire day looking around the Alhambra, and then returned for a 10pm concert in the grounds, which gave me a sunset view looking over the adjacent Moslem Albayzin district.

The complex consists of a solid old fortress, several palaces, a church, a very good archaeological museum, an art gallery, a set of Arab baths, and extensive grounds and gardens.  My favourite was the Nasrid Palace, a 14th century set of courtyards and rooms with intricately carved and moulded ceilings and walls, hard to capture on a phone camera but hopefully this picture gives some idea of its beauty.