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Andalucia 2003 |
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Having experienced the mass-tourism phenomenon on Majorca and Ibiza earlier in my life, I never felt drawn back to Spain. But as you grow older you also grow wiser (hopefully) and my new-found interest in all historical and nautical things led me back to this lovely country in south-west Europe. I realized that Spain has so much more to offer than the disgusting Ballermann-boozefests on Majorca and the drugged-up party scene on Ibiza. Particularly Andalucia, the southern-most province of the Spanish mainland with its amazing cultural heritage attracted me and so we set off now to Jerez de la Frontera where a rental car was awaiting us for a one-week roundtrip. Here are simply some photos from the journey for those who cannot sit on the couch with me and look at my photo album :)
This rock is all that remains of the once glorious empire "on which the sun never set" - yes, it's Gibraltar, that little English colony at the southeastern tip of Spain to which the Brits are still clinging on. 21 June was "Harry Potter Day" and so I hoped that it would be easier to get the book on English soil - my mistake. Gibraltar wasn't the charming English town I had expected but had more of a second-class tourist resort full of pubs and duty-free shops. Horatio Hornblower would rotate in his grave!
PS: Note the cloud. Gibraltar comes complete with English weather. While it was sunny all over Spain, it began drizzling the moment we crossed the border.
Next stop was Ronda,a picturesque little town high up in the mountains. It's famous mainly for the bridge pictured below since the town is cut in half by a deep ravine. My Mom did the driving and I gave her directions - so when I said she'd have "to cross the bridge", she went "THAT bridge?" "Yes, Mom, THAT bridge" as if I had suggested parachuting. Luckily we made it across :)
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On our way to Granada we decided to stop at the Costa del Sol for a few hours to laze on the beach and check out the famous resort of Marbella. Once a hotbed for the international glitterati scene where the streets are paved with marble it has now become one of the numerous typically Spanish seaside resorts with thousands of German and English tourists flooding the beach every day (yes, there are plenty of other nations around, too, but the Germans and Brits are just most prominent among them and you cannot walk hundred metres without running into a German beergarden or English pub). While I enjoyed being on the beach, the trip to Marbella reminded me why I have never been a fan of "mass tourism" of this sort.
Granada is famous for two things: Its huge cathedral in the city centre and the Alhambra, the ancient Moorish palace on a hill outside of the city, one of the most-frequented tourist attractions in the world. On arrival in the evening we took a walk to visit the cathedral and strolled around the lovely small streets surrounding it (see left) - built in Moorish style they reminded me more of the souks of Marrakech than Spain and sure enough there were plenty of Moroccan shops to sell their goods.
>Next morning we went to the Alhambra - and here's a note of caution: You have to book tickets in advance to get into the Palacios Nazarenes (the main buildings) and you may only enter there in the half-hour slot given on your ticket. I had booked for 9.00 in the morning (when it was still cool) and we had to queue for about five minutes to fetch the tickets at the box office. Then we stumbled around the large compound for a while until we found the entrance and got there about five minutes before our time slot would have run out (once inside you can stay as long as you want, so it's not as if we had had only five minutes to see the entire palace). When we left the Alhambra at noon, the queue at the box office was ENDLESS. If you get there five minutes before your time slot opens, you probably won't get your ticket before the time slot has expired. So make sure to get there EARLY!
Some random photos from the Alhambra - and since I don't trust my camera with fine work I cheated and rather bought postcards that can display the fascinating intricate interiour works of the palaces much better :)
Next stop was Cordoba, which I would like to rename "living hell for car drivers" - a pretty town to be sure but with the weirdest traffic directions I have ever encountered. It's no fun if a detour will force you to drive through many narrow alleys to get back onto something ressembling a major thoroughfare. However, Cordoba's two offerings for tourists are the Mezquita and the Juderia, the latter being the old Jewish quarter. After driving through three times in an attempt to get to a car park, we took a walk there and found the prettiest restaurant I've seen during the entire trip. Set in an open patio with many plants and a little fountain the atmosphere was fabulous and so was the food.
The Mezquita-Catedral must be one of the most curious buildings in the world and in this time when everyone complains about Islamic fanatism and hatred for the west, serves as a reminder that once upon a time the Christians were hardly any better. Built more than 1000 years ago the mezquita was the central mosque of Spain which was then almost completely under Moorish rule. A huge building with fascinating architecture - the most famous aspect being the white-red columns. When Andalucia finally fell back to Christian rule, the churchmen of Cordoba must have decided that it was fun to wreck this incredible compound by planting a cathedral INSIDE it. So today you enter the mosque with its ancient Moorish designs and the old Islamic centre of worship and in the middle of it you find a typical catholic cathedral with the usual golden pomp and statues. But the atmosphere in the building amid a forest of marble pillars and those white-red columns is still breathtaking.
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Last stop was Sevilla, the capital of Andalucia and one of the prettiest towns I've ever visited. No photo can capture the lovely atmosphere of the city centre, the broad avenidas with its palm trees, fountains and monuments or the friendliness of the people. (And I finally got Harry Potter there, which endeared Sevilla even further to me!). Here's a view from the top of the Giralda (the tower of the cathedral - another case where the bell tower was planted atop an old minaret) over the Alcazar Palaces and the town.
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The cathedral of Sevilla was another of those oversized affairs and among its most famous sights is the tomb of Christopher Columbus, the man who couldn't ask for the way :) That is, no one knows for sure if it's really him or if his remains got mislaid in the Caribbean a few centuries ago. But it's nicer to believe. The Alcazar Palace, much like the Alhambra, was a royal residence and still remains so. Most recently the Infanta Elena (King Juan Carlos' daughter) threw her wedding party here after getting married in Sevilla's cathedral. But this one wasn't actually built by the Moorish rulers - it was built by a Christian king later who simply brought the Moorish architects of the Alhambra into town and asked them to build "something like that here" It's very pretty, too, and if you missed your time slot at the Alhambra the Alcazar Palace should offer sufficient consolation.
Leaving Sevilla we returned to Jerez de la Frontera where we spent another day chilling at the hotel pool and visiting one of Jerez's famous "bodegas" where Zorro's little sister led us around and explained how sherry gets into the bottle. Since I've never been fond of sherry, the tour couldn't really thrill me but it was a nice thing to do on the last day before flying home.
On the whole I had a great time in Spain and will certainly go back eventually to visit other towns like Barcelona and Madrid. This wonderful country has so much more to offer than Beach and Ballermann and it's a shame to think how many German tourists invade Spain every summer without once venturing out of the seaside resorts.
