Grand Granada

Granada

And here we are in the city of Granada. We have a cool two bedroom apartment. Our first night here we sat on our patio, drank wine with bread and ham and amazing tomatoes drizzled in olive oil, listened to the sound of splashing water from the large pool of gold fish in the courtyard  and gazed up to the amazing view of the Alhambra on the hill at the back of the apartment.

The train trip from Cordoba to Granada was fascinating as we travelled along the tail end of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, many of the peaks rise from the valley floor up to 3000 feet

There are many, many books about the12th century Alhambra and the Generalife, the recreational palace used by kings as a retreat and resting place built in 1314 and some have said it is the 8^th wonder of the world, and I think they have a point. The gardens are spectacular. There are orange groves, sweet smelling herbaceous borders, roses, geranium pelargonium and everywhere there are ponds, channels and fountains of still pools of water or rippling plashing water with convenient marble seats.

We marvel at the masonry and wonder if the masons that built the wall when they created the arrow slits in preparation for war could have imagined that 900 years later their workmanship would provide a refuge for pigeons where we see one sacrilegious pigeon shitting on the head of a long forgotten saint.

The Koran makes bodily cleanliness a prerequisite for spiritual cleanliness and all the mosques we visited had running water for these religious ablutions. The Alhumbra had some serious bathing areas including a steam room (tepidarium), plunge pool room, (caldarium) cold room (firigidarium) and rest room (apoditerium). The link from the furnaces which were fed with aromatic wood to heat these bathing areas was an underground channel through which hot air circulated warming the marble floors. In medieval times there were only two doors to this area for insulation purposes but unfortunately when the Christians came along they got rid of most of these bathing rooms and put in more doors which weakened the insulation properties of the original building.

So far our experience of Spain’s summer has been of a hot dry climate. Most days are in the mid 30’s and delightful with virtually no humidty. Cool mornings 22 degrees, hot sunny days and a cool change around midnight.

The tiny winding streets are all cobblestones, unsuitable for cars so walking is essential and with my new best friend Panadol Oesteo I manage a few kilometres each day.

Granada like other Spanish cities is a city of fountains. Wherever you are, you are rarely away from the sound of running water. It softens the heat and leaves a refreshing impression. No impression of Spain would be complete without a mention of the food.

The bread is delicious. Then there is the ham, many, many different types, Iberian ham made from pigs that feast of the forest acorns is a favourite, and the bread. The olives and the olive oil are delicious and the bread. Tomatoes tasting of my childhood drizzled with olive oil on delicious bread and beer and more bread. I am not losing weight on this holiday.

I’ve begun to think that we of European heritage may see our roots more strongly anchored by a skyline dominated by medieval castles and ancient places of worship. Our Australian landscape lacks those ancient monuments left by our foremothers and forefathers. Without the continual visibility of this history we seem destined to have to learn anew lessons from the past. Everywhere the landscape is steeped in a sense of the past, a pervasive awareness of the long, long history of occupation.

The concept of the quarter acre suburban block seems unknown in any of the cities we have visited. Even country towns the houses are two storeys and huddled against each other. High density, multiple families living in large multiple apartment blocks with cool interior courtyards and a life shared with neighbours in the surrounding cobble stone streets or drinking coffee at these amazing cafes.

Our days are spent up at 8am breakfast and a walk to take in whatever marvel we have selected for the day. Lunch is around two or three and then home for a siesta in the hottest part of the day, admiring the street art on our way home..

Up and shower around 7 ready to go out for dinner and some music till around midnight. Yesterday I was sitting under a sun umbrella at an outside café near a cool boulevard with the requisite fountain and I thought of how amazingly privileged I am. I’ve often seen people sitting drinking coffee mid morning when I’ve been hurtling from one urgent to the next urgent and Now here I am one of the lucky ones.

Consummate Coroba

The train trip from Barcelona to Cordoba was interesting. We caught the ‘fast’ train that travels at 300 kms an hour. It was a smooth and easy ride. 710 kms in under 5 hours through rapidly changing countryside. What we can see from the train tells the story of a long occupied country. Mile after mile of gnarly ancient olive trees standing patiently in still rows confined by mile after mile of long standing dry stone fences that have been gathered from the tilled earth over centuries.

Our journey took us from the lush green populated Barcelona hinterland, through the empty stony desert to the verdant green arising from generations of irrigated plains, past craggy mountain ranges and ruined castles to the ancient city of Cordoba.

Although our sole purpose for visiting Cordoba was the international guitar festival, for us, with no guitar and no English, it is a fizzer. Jim and Clare went to one concert which was a great experience but limited by our lack of language.  We all went to a flamenco concert which we loved. The rhythms and the colour and the dancing had us tap, tap, tapping into the tapas bar and we got home around 2am. This is a city built for my friend Margaret. People rise late; have a siesta in the hottest part of the afternoon and then party till the small hours.

Eating in the city is a great adventure. We have not yet mastered enough Spanish to place an order without some amazing results. The only exception is ham, there is lots of ham, although once we did get peach marmalade!

We are staying in the Hotel Maestre in Cordoba (www.hotelmaestre.com ). It is an hotel and a hostel with apartments and dormitories all built around a series of cool internal courtyards. Cordoba is a place I love. It is very ancient city built along the Guadalquivir River with narrow roads, prolific courtyards and water every where

 The Romans arrived here in 206BC and there is plenty to remind you of their power in the world at that time. There is a large Roman Bridge that spans the river and we walked across delighting in the sound of rapidly running water as it was a hot day. Even the pigeons were taking refuge in the

shade.

We later found out the temperature!

Along the river is a great meeting place and Jim and I enjoyed watching a long conversation take place between Clare with no Spanish and a lovely old man and his dog Pedro  neither of whom spoke English.

 Downstream there is a Roman water wheel that was used to pump water to the townspeople and gardens of the Castle of Alcazar until Queen Isabel irritated by the squeal of the wheel ordered it be dismantled.  

The archaeological museum has been designated as a world heritage site. In the basement is the excavated remains of a roman theatre built in the 1^st century. You can walk along a see through walkway over the excavation and every few metres are modern technological explanations and audiovisual reconstructions so that at the end of the experience you really get an understanding of the enormity of what you are seeing.

The city is dominated by the wonderful Mezquita (Arabic for a place to prostrate oneself) Mosque with its shifting history.  Begun in 785 and continually modified over the next 200 years and then revamped by the Christians in the 1200s to include within the mosque the Cordoba Cathedral with its amazing Gothic cupola soaring up into the roof of the cathedral/mosque. The architecture is awesome and we spent hours wandering about while Clare waited for us by the pool in the orange grove courtyard.

There were so many museums (art, craft, and torture) to visit and we didn’t get to any of them. Despite the heat I could spend a long time just being here. Apart from the pleasure of just walking and discovering amazing views around every corner, one of the other major attractions that Cordoba has is the castle Alcazar of the Christian monarchs. It was built at the beginning of the 14^th century on the site of a previous palace where Julius Caesar had once lived for a short while in 65BC after his defeat of Pompey. It was in this castle that Christopher Columbus showed his plans for his adventure to America to the king and queen. It was also the seat of the holy inquisition from 1482 till 1821. It is now a museum with amazing gardens and we spent many hours during the day, coming back at 10pm to see the wonderful light show.

Definitely a place to spend some time if you ever find yourself lucky enough to be in Cordoba. .

The train trip from Barcelona to Cordoba was interesting. We caught the ‘fast’ train that travels at 300 kms an hour. It was a smooth and easy ride. 710 kms in under 5 hours through rapidly changing countryside. What we can see from the train tells the story of a long occupied country. Mile after mile of gnarly ancient olive trees standing patiently in still rows confined by mile after mile of long standing dry stone fences that have been gathered from the tilled earth over centuries.

Our journey took us from the lush green populated Barcelona hinterland, through the empty stony desert to the verdant green arising from generations of irrigated plains, past craggy mountain ranges and ruined castles to the ancient city of Cordoba.

Although our sole purpose for visiting Cordoba was the international guitar festival, for us, with no guitar and no English, it is a fizzer. Jim and Clare went to one concert which was a great experience but limited by our lack of language.  We all went to a flamenco concert which we loved. The rhythms and the colour and the dancing had us tap, tap, tapping into the tapas bar and we got home around 2am. This is a city built for my friend Margaret. People rise late; have a siesta in the hottest part of the afternoon and then party till the small hours.

Eating in the city is a great adventure. We have not yet mastered enough Spanish to place an order without some amazing results. The only exception is ham, although once we did get peach marmalade!

We are staying in the Hotel Maestre in Cordoba (www.hotelmaestre.com ). It is an hotel and a hostel with apartments and dormitories all built around a series of cool internal courtyards. Cordoba is a place I love. It is very ancient city built along the Guadalquivir River with narrow roads, prolific courtyards and water every where

 The Romans arrived here in 206BC and there is plenty to remind you of their power in the world at that time. There is a large Roman Bridge that spans the river and we walked across delighting in the sound of rapidly running water as it was a hot day. Even the pigeons were taking refuge in the shade.

We later found out the temperature!

Along the river is a great meeting place and Jim and I enjoyed watching a long conversation take place between Clare with no Spanish and a lovely old man and his dog Pedro  neither of whom spoke English.

 Downstream there is a Roman water wheel that was used to pump water to the townspeople and gardens of the Castle of Alcazar until Queen Isabel irritated by the squeal of the wheel ordered it be dismantled.  

The archaeological museum has been designated as a world heritage site. In the basement is the excavated remains of a roman theatre built in the 1^st century. You can walk along a see through walkway over the excavation and every few metres are modern technological explanations and audiovisual reconstructions so that at the end of the experience you really get an understanding of the enormity of what you are seeing.

The city is dominated by the wonderful Mezquita (Arabic for a place to prostrate oneself) Mosque with its shifting history.  Begun in 785 and continually modified over the next 200 years and then revamped by the Christians in the 1200s to include within the mosque the Cordoba Cathedral with its amazing Gothic cupola soaring up into the roof of the cathedral/mosque. The architecture is awesome and we spent hours wandering about while Clare waited for us by the pool in the orange grove courtyard.

There were so many museums (art, craft, and torture) to visit and we didn’t get to any of them. Despite the heat I could spend a long time just being here. Apart from the pleasure of just walking and discovering amazing views around every corner, one of the other major attractions that Cordoba has is the castle Alcazar of the Christian monarchs. It was built at the beginning of the 14^th century on the site of a previous palace where Julius Caesar had once lived for a short while in 65BC after his defeat of Pompey. It was in this castle that Christopher Columbus showed his plans for his adventure to America to the king and queen. It was also the seat of the holy inquisition from 1482 till 1821. It is now a museum with amazing gardens and we spent many hours during the day, coming back at 10pm to see the wonderful light show.

Definitely a place to spend some time if you ever find yourself lucky enough to be in Cordoba. .

Beautful Barcelona

Barcelona is a raw, edgy city full of the energy of the young and beautiful, the beach and cocktail culture. With stunning architecture, constant street performance and fantastic food and wine. What is not to love?

We have been familiarising ourselves with the local underground (an adventure in itself) and have spent time soaking up the sun (28 degrees and a cool breeze) and just people watching. It is a great city for that.

One of the reasons that I was enthusiastic about coming to Barcelona (apart from Gaudi’s architecture) was that just one hour north of Barcelona is the little town of Capellades. Capellades is home to a 17^th century paper mill and museum. Since I have been making paper for years and am now using different papers for printmaking I was really keen to visit the museum which is opened from 10am till 2pm each day. http://www.mmp-capellades.net/ I planned the trip-walking-metro-overland train-mill with growing excitement.

On the morning of our proposed visit I was up and showered by 6.30am and then downstairs to check the museums opening hours on the internet. We left a little later than I had hoped but I was fizzy with anticipation. We caught the metro to the station that the overground trains leave from, only to find that there was another station that this particular train leaves from. After many false starts we eventually arrived at Capallades just after 12pm. Now Capallades is not a thriving town. A little bus met the train but the bus driver spoke no English and when shown the address shook his head and waved us off his bus. It was a very hot day and we walked and walked to where the stream runs by and we tried to follow it.  Eventually around 3pm we headed back to the station and back to  Barcelona. An abortive trip that cost 50 euros and lost us a precious day. Whenever you travel with someone else there are always compromises and disappointments. I was not at my best and most loveable that afternoon and it was a quiet and sober return in the train. Jim deserves a medal.

The next day was spent at the airport meeting Clare. Her flight was an hour or two late and we spent some edgy moments waiting to see if she had made it. She had and we were glad to see her.

That afternoon we rambled down Las Ramblas.

A wide boulevard with a central area that is teeming with people and vendors, flowers, fruit, jewellery, tapas bars and many of the good things of life. We walked down to the harbour and Jim and Clare found an amusement park while I had some reflective time watching the million dollar yachts bobbing at the marina and wondering about the world. Our last day in Barcelona we took a trip to a monastery on the hills at Montserrat.

 It went a long way to ameliorating the disappointment of the previous day. It was stunning experience. It is a Benedictine monastery at the top of a huge mountain and everything about it is breath taking including the ride up to it. There is a cable car ride to the top (the little yellow dot in the photo above)

There is also a funicular railway to the very top. You can see it above the building.

Clare went hairing around like a mountain goat. Jim examined the masonary and again I sat and reflected on the power of belief and how we construct our beliefs and how those beliefs can make people do amazingly awesome things like build this monastery or ambush and kill a group of teenagers. The culmination of my rumination resulted in me believing that we need to be very careful about what we believe in!

We only touched on the Gaudi architecture and influence in the city, there is so much to see and do and I feel I really need to come back here with more time. Next, off to Cordoba and the guitar festival.

Istanbul. I love you.

I’ve recently had a thank you letter from my liver. In a country that is 98% Muslim there is very little opportunity to drink wine with dinner. We have been avoiding the tourist restaurants where alcohol is sold, and eating in mostly Turkish only establishments. The language issue is a problem as virtually no one except the tourist hospitality trade and the carpet sellers speaks English. We are finding the point smile and tummy rub seems to get a decent sort of menu.

After a few days in our apartment by the sea, our hosts told us that the apartment we had booked was ready, so we packed up our bags (our belongings seem to be growing) and moved to our new apartment. It is quaint and old with some very curious plumbing and electrics, but all part of the great adventure.

We have had several breakfasts by the Manmara sea in a plush, council run restaurant with linen and cloth napkins and attentive (and quite attractive) Turkish waiters. Almost all the wait staff in Turkey appear to be men. The restaurant is on a finger of land with the sea wall and the sea on one side and a garden on the other. The menu is simple. Breakfast is 3 cheeses, salami, a boiled egg, tomatoes, cucumbers and a huge basket of fresh bread, butter, honey and Nutella spread. All this while the local cats sit piteously at your table and meow.

One afternoon we spent an hour or so sitting at the hippodrome with a young teacher from Anatolia. He was on school holidays and up from his country town and keen to practice his English. He was the first person in his family to have an academic job. He told us that the peasants where he lives do not value education at all, so there is no support for homework or even attendance. He said wages are very low, families are encouraged to have as many children as possible so that there will be someone to look after the elderly parents. His parents had an arranged marriage. His mother was 14 years old and his father was 32 years old when they married. I have his email address and will contact him. A lovely man.

We went to the huge of Santa Sophie. Originally a Christian church, made into a mosque with the addition of two minarets and now a museum. We wandered through looking at beautiful crypts with green coffins of the sultan’s daughters and wife. It was cool and quiet despite the huge crowds. We walked up sloping stone passageways to reach the upper story of the church and stood for a while looking down into the body of the church. It was an awesome experience.

Now all these mosques and palaces and churches needed a water supply and we went to visit the cisterns. This is a huge underground reservoir where water from the forest 16 miles away was brought by aqueducts into the city. Amazing, quiet and cool and large ghostly fish swimming quietly in the silent waters.

 Our last day in Turkey we went to the old bazaar. It was everything you have heard about or imagined and more. It is spread over 58 streets but all covered in and divided into sections like gold jewellery and lighting and leather. One could spend days in there just wandering. Not a place to go if if you don’t like crowds, heat and bargaining. Jim surprised me by doing a very good deal on a couple of leather coats. Outside were every type of street hawker including a man making coloured toffee sweets.

Off to Spain and  sad to be leaving Turkey. We would definitely come back

another city, another blister

Another city another blister.

Istanbul’s dry dusty dilapidated landscape stands in stark contrast to Singapore’s glittery, modern, new buildings. The equatorial heat haze of Singapore was replaced by the bright blue skies that reminded me of home.

It was 6am when we landed and coming into the city on the train I was acutely aware of the state of disrepair of the buildings giving the suburbs a sense of the slightly shabby. After Singapore’s slick MRT transport system the rickety red rattlers were a stark reminder of a very different reality.

In true back packer fashion we spent the first half day of our stay in Istanbul being lost. Standing in from of station rail maps with pieces of paper, trying to match what you think is the suburb with a name of the map full of ‘z’  and ‘k’ s and ‘j’s.  The telephone number of the apartment we were to stay in (booked and paid for via the internet) wasn’t answering and we were facing the prospect of having to find alternative accommodation. So as any good traveller does in situations like this we took ourselves off to a restaurant for lunch. And delicious it was. Falafel, tabbouli, eggplant, capsicum, eggplant, vine leaves, yogurt dip all swimming in a sea of olive oil. What is not to love!

We asked our waiter (who in any other context would have been described as sleazy) if he knew of the address, because we knew we were supposed to be within walking distance of where we were. It only added to our disquiet when he told us he hadn’t heard of it.

Back on the streets, 2 back packs, two suitcases, warm clothes and boots and ready for a postprandial snooze (it was 34 degrees) the quintessential used car sales man asked us if we needed help. (Of course he didn’t really sell cars, it was Turkey and he sold carpets). So he took us into his shop, looked at our piece of paper, plied us with apple tea and tried to sell us a carpet. After a while an elderly Turkish gentleman came into the shop. Our used car sales man gave him our suitcase and told us to follow him. Now good judgement absconds when you are a lost tourist in a country where no one speaks your language, so we meekly picked up our backpack and followed the man with our suitcase. When we arrived at the lodging it was not the one I had booked on the internet and my suspicions were growing.

Now it is a sad reflection on my imagination that the majority of Turkish men look swarthy and as though they are carry a concealed Ottoman dagger on their person, because with only one exception the Turkish men we have met have been more than incredibly helpful and as it turns out the elderly gentleman was the host of the house we were looking for. In broken English he and his wife apologised f for not being contact able and for having to put us in another apartment as our original booked apartment was having an air conditioner installed. To compensate us they took us out for dinner to a great restaurant right beside the Sea of Manmara. Delicious food and good company. A great start for out stay.

In a city that was designed for horses not cars, the cobble streets and narrow winding lanes cause traffic chaos and frustration for the drivers and entertainment for the onlookers. There is always someone with a vociferous commentary and I frequently regret not being able to speak the language. It is a wonderful place for people watching, a great melting pot of Arabs, Tunisians, People from Africa and Mesopotamia and the Balkans states. In fact we have heard very little English since we got here. A large percentage of them are here on pilgrimage to visit the Blue Mosque or Sultanahment Mosque.

The call to prayer “Allah is Most Great “ is heard from minarets like this one from the Blue Mosque all over the city

I had thought that the ‘Blue Mosque’ would be a blue mosque so I was a little disenchanted when I saw it was a steely grey. I hadn’t appreciated that the blue refers to the amazing blue tiles that line the interior of the mosque. The Mosque was built in the Ottoman period around 1609. It is an amazing building and I felt privileged to be there. Over the central chandelier if you look way, way up you can see a triangle with three Ostrich eggs as part of the design. I was told they are ‘proven’ to keep spider webs away from the chandeliers and they must be right because I didn’t see any spider webs while I was there.

Entering the mosque you are asked to remove your shoes and women who had not head covering or were wearing strapless tops or shorts were provided with blue wraps to put over their heads and shoulders. Now I currently have no strong religious affiliation but I was saddened by those who wore their blue wraps as a scarf and left their shoulders and head uncovered.  I think they were trying to make a point but the only point made was one of disrespect.

We went to the Turkish and Islamic cultural museum. In a country that does not welcome dissent; the art was ‘nice’ but showed little passion or revolt. I guess if your county’s borders are vulnerable to threats from warring neighbours and refugees fleeing from Syria there is little enthusiasm or energy for art to shock.

The Topaki palace was impressive in white marble and set amid many acres of garden. In their heyday the palace kitchens could serve 10,000 people. The palace had a separate kitchen for bread, and another for confectionary and another for meat. The palace is vast and bordered on three sides by the Sea of Manmara, The Golden Horn and the Bosporus. We saw a ceremonial military band, the mosque, the treasury, the circumcision room. It has it all.