Andalucia
In 2001 Lil and I went on a road trip to Andalucia, in southern Spain. I attended an academic meeting in Salamanca on auditory physiology and she came after the meeting concluded. We rented a car and drove to visit the Moorish southern Spanish countryside with stops in Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Antequera, Ronda, Arcos de la Frontera and Seville. During the meeting we also had a day trip to Avila and Segovia.
Salamanca
Salamanca is home to the University of Salamanca, founded in 1218 and the third or fourth oldest university in the World in continuous operation and the first in Spain. It has a beautiful campus and the Plaza Mayor of the city is noteworthy.
The facade of the university with a statue of the famous poet Luis de Leon.
The Salamanca Cathedral with its ornate carved figurines
One of its figurines is rather modern, an astronaut.
In the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca
Segovia
An old Roman aqueduct in Segovia
Segovia is famous for roast baby pig which is so tender you can cut it with a dinner plate
Madrid
Plaza Major in Madrid
Plaza Major in Madrid
Toledo
On an early morning walk
Toledo Alcazar in early morning
Alcazar from Hotel Sol
Flea market near Puerto Bisagra
A typical butcher’s shop in Spain with an array of hams for purchase on the wall
Toledo is famous for its sword making
The Puerta de Bisagra Nueva (New Bisagra Gate), in Toledo
Toledo is very hilly with narrow winding streets
A challenging city to take a rental car
Toledo Cathedral
The historic Alcántara Bridges panning the Tagus River in Toledo
The Renaissance cloister of the Convento de San Pedro Mártir
An old Moorish doorway in Toledo
An attempt to replicate El Greco’s famous painting “View of Toledo”
View of Montoro
Cordoba
A city with a long and rich historical heritage of Roman and Islamic architecture, the jewel of which is the large Mesquita Mosque Cathedral. The city has four separate World Heritage sites.
Inside the famous Mezquita, or Great Mosque of Cordoba, which is large enough that there is a Christian church inside.
The mihrab of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba
Puerta de Almodóvar (Almodóvar Gate)
Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos (Castle of the Christian Monarchs)
Courtyard of our Hostal La Fuente
The Roman Bridge of Córdoba spanning the Guadalquivir River, with the historic Mezquita Mosque of Cordoba behind it.
The Calleja de las Flores (Flower Street) in Córdoba, a famous narrow alleyway in the historic Jewish quarter
Espejo
The countryside has olive trees stretching to the horizon
Man of LaMancha country
Granada
Granada is the largest city in Andalucia and is the site of the monumental palace of Islamic architecture, the Alhambra.
View of Alhambra from Albaicin neighborhood St Nicolas Church
Granada from Generalife Gardens of the Alhambra
Palace of Charles V in Alhambra
Alhambra
Alhambra night tour
Generalife Garden
Antequera
Alcazaba
Arch of Giants
Antequera from Alcabaza
From Alcabaza
Real Collegiata Santa Maria
Real Collegiata Santa Maria
Teba
Teba from the hilltop ruins
Ruins of Castillo de la Estrella in Teba
Ronda
Ronda is a small town built around the edge of a steep gorge. It has a famous bull ring and is well-known for a family of bullfighters who were instrumental in developing the Spanish style. It is also featured in an incident that is portrayed in Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls .
City Wall of Ronda
View of gorge from the balcony of our Hotel Don Miguel
View of the gorge from our Hotel Don Miguel balcony
Arcos de la Frontera
One of the famous “Pueblos Blanca”, white hill towns of Andalucia, Arcos de la Frontera sits on the edge of towering cliffs.
Basílica de Santa María de la Asunción in Arcos de la Frontera
Grazelema
Pottery shop in Grazelema
Town square of Grazelema
Seville
Our last major stop was in Seville, which has several historic buildings and is the flamenco center of Spain. It did not disappoint.
Seville Alcazar
Our hostal Sanchez Sabariego in Barrio Santa Cruz in Seville
Seville Cathedral
Bell tower of the Cathedral of Seville
Chinchon
We drove to this small town near Madrid on our last night in Spain as we had to catch an early morning flight out of Madrid.
Overlooking the Plaza Major of Chinchon which also doubles as a bullring in Chinchon
Highlight: Seville and flamenco
Seville is the flamenco center of Spain and we wanted to get a flavor of this lively city. We signed up to go to one of the many formal flamenco shows/dinners that are available. But we had been told that the way to get the true pulse of the music was to go to one of the bars that feature informal, i.e. amateur, flamenco music and dancing. We asked around and were told that we should go to the El Tamboril bar in the Santa Cruz district. So after the dinner and show, we went looking for the bar. There was a medium sized room with chairs all around the outside and filled to capacity with people even though it was already late. There were a couple of singers with guitars, some tambourines, castanets, and other informal instruments. As far as we could tell, the program was totally ad hoc. A guitarist would start strumming a song and a man, or a woman, would get up and ask someone to join him, or her, to dance. They would then dance while the rest of the room would sing and clap along energetically. After the song ended, the dancing couple would sit down and soon another song would begin. It seemed like everyone in the bar, except for us, knew all of the songs and would sing along. Since we arrived after the flamenco show, it was already quite late when we found El Tamboril. Unfortunately, we had a long drive back to Madrid the following day so we could not stay too late. It was probably 2 AM when we left and the crowd was still going strong.
El Tamboril bar flamenco dancing
The next morning we went for breakfast and ran across this informal group of flamenco singers.
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