Cordoba, Spain

The main focus of our visit to Cordoba was the very large mosque in the middle of the city.
Cordoba is an ancient city settled well before the birth of Christ but with an official "birth" around 152 BCE. The Romans conquered the city in 575 AD, followed by the Visigoths for period before the Moors took over in 711. During a period of 100 to 200 years the city, ruled by the Muslims, Muslims Christians and Jews lived peacefully while the city prospered and grew.

In 785 the Muslims began construction of a mosque on a site that is thought to have the location of a Roman temple then a Visigoth church. In any case, the mosque they created on this site, and apparently the only mosque that remains in Spain, is extremely large, the biggest in the world it is said. The size quoted is 175 meters by 128 meters (22,400 square meters) or about as big as two Canadian football fields.

It is considered by some to the "most important Muslim monument in the western world, though there are those who say the same about The Alhambra.

In 1236 the city was taken by the Christians and the mosque was declared a Christian monument called Cathedral do Santa Marie Madre de Dios. But the new Archbishop was apparently not happy with the Muslim style temple so ordered the construction of a more traditional Christian cathedral inside the mosque. This created a bit of a stir with some very opposed to such serious modification of this unparalleled structure. In spite of the opposition the Archbishop pressed on with the approval of the Christian King, who had not yet seen the mosque. After the Christian cathedral was well under construction, or possibly completed, the King finally decided to see for himself. When he saw the mosque and what had been done he was apparently not pleased and is quoted to have said, "You have destroyed what cannot be found anywhere else and built something that can be seen anywhere".

Inside, the mosque is overwhelming in size with red and white arches seemingly everywhere. It is so huge that the cathedral, while not unnoticed, occupies only a portion of the mosque. A great deal of effort seems to have been made to integrate/merge the two very different decorative characteristics, some of which I have attempted to show in some of the photos. A note about the photos - it is very dark and the lighting patterns vary so, without a tripod it is difficult to get clear and accurate photographs. Hence the variation in color and light.

The photos are the wall around the mosque including the Tower for calling the faithful to pray, the Christian cathedral inside the mosque, the arches inside the mosque and a couple showing the integration of Muslim and Christian architecture.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, if you have seen the documentary, "When the Moors Ruled Europe", you will have seen and heard much more about this mosque.

It is very impressive, but for my taste, does not match the Alhambra.

There is a bit more about the visit to Cordoba in a future post.

More Alhambra

A bit more about The Alhambra

The walls are not only beautiful tapestries of decorative motifs in stucco, they are also lined with arabic calligraphy of quotes, some short (like the Nasrid dynasty "motto" - "The only conquerer is God"), some longer as in "You conquered Algeciras with the might of your sword opening a secret doorway to our victory" and some much more extensive including a complete poem, as in the room shown in the first photo (though you can't see it).

The second photo shows one of the cupolas in which complex decorative patterns create an eight pointed star. Light enters through 16 windows near the top of the cupola. It is not easy to appreciate in this photo but there are beautiful subtle colors included throughout the decorative elements of the cupola and the sculpting includes elements that mimic stalactites. They appear in several areas of the Alhambra (see the second photo in the first posting on the Alhambra). The inclusion of these latter elements apparently has a religious connotation throughout the Islamic world. It is based in the belief that Mahoma (Mohammed) received his inspiration for the Koran directly from the Archangel Gabriel while in a cave in which he had sought refuge while fleeing from his enemies. The stalactite decor in places like the Alhambra are a celebration of this event and the cave has become an important place of pilgrimage for Muslims on their way to Mecca.

The third photo is taken from the Throne room looking through an entrance onto the reflecting pool. Not sure where the fourth photo is from but the fifth is from a room called the Mexuar Oratory which looks out over the Albaicin (the area of the old city of Granada). This room was severely damaged by a gun powder explosion in the valley below in 1590. Restoration was begun immediately but not completed until 1917! Much of the Alhambra has been altered or restored over the centuries such that is often unclear how the current structure resembles the Alhambra of the Nasrid period. What seems clear, to the untutored eye, is that the restorations appear to have been superb in terms of the quality of the decorative features.

In the first Alhambra post on March 6 - (note the order of the posts is newest at the top) in the fourth photo from the top the dome shaped inscription above the epigraph on one of the walls of the reflecting pool area is referred to as the "Tree of Life", an allusion to an inverted tree that sustains all life and buries its roots in paradise, which it seems is up.

It is said that the north south orientation of the buildings and rooms is such that they receive more sun in winter than in summer and the orientation is so precise (apparently within tenths of a degree) that the all columns serve as the hands of a sundial. The orientation and nature of the construction plus the exquisite control of the flow of water for pools and fountains are designed to control temperature for maximum comfort. The water, of which there was plenty from the Sierra Nevada mountains, was controlled by a sophisticated system of aqueducts and channels with varied dimensions and, in some cases, short areas of uphill flow to adjust flow rate according to specific needs, i.e. quiet pools, gardens or active fountains.

R

The Alhambra in Granada, Spain

As always. click on any photo for a larger image.

The main reason for visiting Granada is to see the Alhambra, said to be one of the most important architectural structures of the medieval period and the finest example of Islamic art left to us in the western world.

And it does not disappoint - it is truly mesmerizing in every way - from the overall appearance to the exquisite carved and molded art work in the walls and the colorful tiles and patterns on the walls and floors. The structure began with the building of the Fortress, the Alcazaba in the 9th century. The Alhambra itself was not planned from the start but "grew outward over the centuries from the Alcazaba, increasing in splendor over the years". In the 14th century during the reigns of Sultans Yusuf I and Mohammad V it was at its peak, when the Alhambra was not just a palace but a small city.

The outer walls of the buildings are relatively plain in contrast to the extreme beauty that lies on the inside. This pattern of an unadorned exterior with exquisite interior is apparently characteristic of the Moors' approach; the splendor of Islamic palaces was always on the inside. And there seemed no attempt to build for posterity as beauty was created using basic materials; pebbles, tiles, brick, plaster and stucco. When the Christians conquered Granada in 1492, very few could have anticipated the beauty that they would find within the walls of the Alhambra. Over the period following the Christian conquest the Alhambra gradually fell into ruin though it provided refuge for gypsies, homeless and others who chose to established residence there. In the mid to late 1800's Washington Irving visited and stayed for a period in the Alhambra and subsequently wrote a book, "Tales of the Alhmmbra" which apparently played a major role in bringing world pressure on the Spanish government to rescue and preserve this place of remarkable beauty and history.

I will put a few of my photos here but keep in mind that we were quite restricted in what we saw and what I could photograph. We were in the Alhambra for less than two hours, visited only a small part of it and it was pouring rain which kept us from seeing the gardens or taking pictures in the open courtyards. I recommend that you check the Wikipedia write up and photos at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra
The view of the Alhambra from a distance is not my photo but I thought it would give an overview of the entire place.

I have not indicated where in the Alhambra these photos are from but rather included some of those which attempt to give you some idea of the beauty we saw. I have several more that I will put up later but I am only allowed 5 photos per post.

In the evening of the second night in Granada we went to a Gypsy flamenco dance (no photos), and then on a short walk in the Albaicin and Sacromonte areas of the city through very narrow winding streets to a spectacular view of the city and the Alhambra at night. (See photo here and on Wikepedia)

On Wednesday we left to Granada for Cordoba.

Mijas Spain

Well we are back in Albufiera after 3 days in Spain where we visited the amazing Alhambra in Granada and, in Cordoba, likely the largest mosque in Europe if not in the world. The mosque is so large that when the Christians drove the Moors from Granada (the last Muslim territory to fall as the Christians drove the Moors out of the Iberian peninsula and back to north Africa in 1492) the King ordered a cathedral to be built inside the mosque, and it was done. In a later post there will be some photos of the inside of this huge Mosque. If you saw the documentary, "When the Moors Ruled Europe" you will have seen the inside of this enormous structure.

But I am ahead of myself as we went to Cordoba on the last of 3 days of rain and cold (last year when we went to Spain about this time it was 30 degrees C; this time it rarely reached 9 C).

On the first day we rode the bus for almost 10 hours in total, going from Albufiera, Portugal, to the small town of Mijas on the Costa del Sol in Spain, near the well know town of Torremolinos. Mijas (pronounced something like "mee kash") is a small picturesque town, once a fishing village, of narrow winding streets and low white buildings/houses. Unlike Torremolinos and other towns of the Costa del Sol which have outgrown their small town aura that made them so attractive, Mijas has retained the character of a small fishing village no doubt to attract tourists like us. It is a lovely little town situated quite high on a hillside above the Mediterranean Sea coast (it seems quite far from the coast to be a fishing village, but that's what is is said to have been - no longer, of course). Streets are narrow and winding and, though it is densely populated with knick knack shops for the tourists, there are also beautiful gardens and spectacular views of the Mediterranean coast line and the sprawling urbanization along it.

I have included a few photos of Mijas.

From Mijas we drove north to Granada where we stayed for two nights. More about Granada in the next post.

R

Carnavale - kids

As always, click on any photo to see a larger image.

These photos, except for one, are of kids in costume along the parade route.

Be sue to check out the Carnavale parade photos in the February postings.

Tomorrow early we leave for Spain where we will be for 3 days.

We will visit among other places, the Alhambra - no doubt lots of photos will emerge from this trip. I will post them as soon as I can after we get back on Wednesday

R

Loule Carnavale

Here is the next set of photos from the Carnavale in Loule. Click here for a map to locate Loule and Albufeira.

These are all from the parade including one child in costume watching the parade.

More to come on another day.

We are off to Spain on Monday March 2.

More after we return on Wednesday.

R

First post from Albufeira - 2009

This is Friday, day 5.
As this is my first writing the days already past blur a bit.

The plane was an hour or more late leaving Toronto so we arrived late to a sunny day about 16 C. After getting into our room and unpacking, we went immediately to the beach. Later we arranged our 3 day trip to Spain where we will visit Costa del Sol and the Alhambra in Grenada before going on to Cordoba. We leave on Monday, March 1 and return late on Wednesday. More about that after we return.

On Tuesday we went to the town of Loule (about 40 minutes from Albufiera) for the final day of the pre Lent Carnavale, a sort of mini Mardi Gras, an event for which Loule is apparently quite famous in Portugal. The afternoon parade lasts for about 3 hours with floats depicting all manner of things including politician bashing, beautiful costumes, music, general celebration and an opportunity for folks to act out a bit without fear of recrimination. Celebration no doubt goes on into the night, but we left when the parade was winding down. We had a wonderful time and took lots of photos, some of which I will post in this and one or two subsequent posts. As you will see, some of the costumes are scanty and not only those in the parade are in costume - many in the crowd, especially children, are as well.

We are told that all of the costumes are made by the participants and/or their families at their own expense which is impressive as many of them are very sophisticated and beautiful.

The photos are:
1. a view from our balcony, just to remind what we see each morning,
2. Some of the parade folks before it began,
3. Another before the parade,
4. The first float we saw,
5. One of the painted on costumes.

More photos of the parade in the next post.

Wednesday was quiet - John and I did our usual morning walk (4 kilometers), after which we walked along the beach to a restaurant for lunch. Then into "old town" for a bit of shopping and drinks at Sir Harry's pub then home.

Thursday I found an internet cafe about 10 minutes walk from home where I dealt with an "emergency" web site problem. I will be able to post to the blog from that location. In the afternoon Ruth did some sketching and painting and I took a few photos around town.

Friday we went with our friends, John and Margie Jackson, from Crow Lake, to the town of Tavira and the Ria Formosa park in the eastern part of the Algarve . More about that day trip later.