Andalusia Day Four - Seville - Cathedral and More

Wednesday 20 October

A busy day today.  We started at the magnificent Seville Cathedral.  It is the fourth largest church in the world apparently and quite hard to take it all in!  The Gothic section alone spans 126 x 76 metres.  Like most cathedrals in this area, it's built on the site of a 12th Century mosque and it was taken over as a Christian building in the 13th Century.  From the 15th Century a new cathedral was built to the Gothic style of the day.  

It has a major bling factor.  Catholic gothic style is certainly not subtle, some would call it gaudy, and there is a lot of gold, highly decorative styling happening here.  The gold image on the left, below, is the main alter.  Around the edges of the cathedral are over 80 chapels (below, right) each dedicated to a particular Saint and styled in a unique, ornate decor.  

I much prefer the more muted tones of the Renaissance valt.

This was exciting - the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

 

We climbed up the Giralda, the 104 m bell tower and enjoyed the wonderful views on the way. 

Seville has a strong maritime heritage as it used to be a major port.  I'd spotted the Torro del Oro (Gold Tower) on the map and discovered this once-watch tower was now a maritime museum.  Yippee!  So of course we had to go and visit.  I won't get too geeky on this blog but it was a very Ruth-interesting place full of charts and other maritime artefacts. 

The Nao Victoria was the first ship to sail around the world and a replica has been moored at the port from where Elcano set off for this amazing feat.  It's tiny!

Not content with bagging the cathedral, maritime museum and sailing ship, we crossed the river to explore the Triana.  Our guide book had lots of short exploratory walks detailed for various areas of Seville and, I was determined to do as many of them as we could in our stay.  We wandered up and down small, quaint streets full of beautiful house fronts, tiles and paintings.

And I found a cow.

Once back at our flat JC wanted to capture sunset again.  Although his position looks quite precarious, the worst that would have happened was he would fallen onto the adjoining roof terrace of next door!

It was on days like today that I wished I had a fitbit/step counter.  Except when we were eating or drinking we never sat down.  Fantastic.

Andalusia Day Three - Granada to Seville

Tuesday 19 October

We drove to Seville via Osuna today.  We couldn't arrive at our accommodation until mid afternoon so chose this small town to stop in.  Osuna has lots of fine architecture, baroque palaces, mansions and churches dating back from the 16th to 18th Century.  

The only problem with Osuna was that it was pretty much closed for most of the time we were there.  We strolled the streets, me wrapping my hair up against the sun and the stiff breeze, but nothing was open.  We found a coffee shop, stopped for 2 cokes and a coffee and were amazed that the bill came to 4 Euros!  

After a couple of hours of wandering we found a lovely late lunch spot where we lingered for most of the afternoon.  Our only purchase after this was anti-histamine type cream for a mossie bite which was becoming quite enormous on my elbow.

Our trip into the centre of Seville, where our flat was, was a bit stressful.  Seville has numerous narrow one way streets, some of which are too narrow for even our small car, but our sat nav didn't respect that.  We got lost in a back street with no way to reverse, and a one way detour back to the beginning of the street which took 20 minutes.  Needless to say we are more than a bit relieved to meet our host, her garage, and to dump the car.  We'd chosen our apartment as it was super central and we didn't intend to use the car for the next few days.  To show how close it was we popped up onto our roof as the sunset.  Wow at the Cathedral view!

Andalusia Day Two - Alhambra, Granada

Monday 18 October

We spent the day at Alhambra.  It is a truly magnificent site containing centuries' worth of construction/destruction/reconstruction by various Moorish rulers, Spanish royalty and religious leaders all of whom made their mark on Alhambra.  At the west end is the Alcazaba, the fortification; the mid section contains the amazing Palacios of Comores and de los Leones, various salas (halls) and a Palacio de Carlos V (the last and most modern addition); and in the east is the Generalife, another whole set of buildings, halls, palaces etc.  This is surrounded by walls, look out towers, walkways and other fortifications.  Amongst the buildings, arches and towers are magnificently laid out gardens of various eras and styles.

No wonder we spent 8 hours in there.

The architecture and decoration is breathtaking - carved from wood and stone it must have been a person's life's work adding detail to some of these walls.

The Arabic script tells a story and, apparently, the Alhambra is a poem from end to end.

This the Lion's Courtyard.  A courtyard within a palace with rules as to who could be there, talk to whom and enter/leave.  Beautifully stunning as they are, I can't help but see them as prisons: rooms from which women, in particular, were not allowed to ever leave without permission. 

The Moorish fascination with water meant that many of their buildings use ponds and reflection as a key theme.  I can totally see why.

By now I was well and truly into my Uzbek look with scarf/sunhat look keeping the super heat off me.

Some hours later we wandered into the eastern end of the site, Generalife.  It's like a whole visit itself with beautifully laid out gardens, Moorish architecture and reflecting pools.  

Last time we visited the Alhambra complex we were dashed around by an incompetent guide (it was a last minute booking, the only way we could see it) in 2 hours.  This was me 6 hours in and still enthralled - I admit aided and abetted by a guide book that I read, pretty much, from page to page whilst JC photographed.

Andalusia Day One - Malaga to Granada

Sunday 17 October

We booked an early Autumn trip to Andalusia once the Covid-19 travel restrictions eased, hoping to get some sun, warmth and lots of R&R.  It certainly worked!

We flew to Malaga on the Saturday, stayed overnight in a cheapy hotel and I watched JC devour one of his many holiday croissants the next morning.  He's kind of back on home turf.  Our AirBnB that night was in Granada, but we had all day to get there so first off stopped at Jardín Botánico La Concepción on the outskirts of Malaga.  I do love a botanical garden, and this one ticked all the boxes: leafy avenues, bubbling streams and waterfalls, showy flowers and a coffee shop.  

Discovered a strange fruit/flower the size of a melon and furry.  I think the pomegranate-like seeds are carried on the wind when the time comes.

One of 3 beautifully lush ponds, complete with frogs! 

We stopped for coffee and I learnt my first holiday lesson - when you see something nice on the menu, order food!  We skipped the eating part and decided to find lunch on our drive to Granada.  Loja was on the way and looked an interesting place.  It was certainly a lovely, historic village on a hill side with narrow cobbled streets and white washed houses, but it wasn't the culinary capital of anywhere.  Everything was closed except for a couple of street bars which didn't look great, a greengrocers and a patisserie.   So my first lunch in Spain consisted of a mandarin, a banana and bottled water!  Onwards and upwards...

We drove on to Granada navigating exactly the same streets as we did on our last visit a few years ago (Google maps must love certain twisty options).  Our AirBnB was lovely: light, airy with views across the local streets.  We ate in a local Moroccan restuarant then went to the local view point for a spot of sight seeing.  Alhambra - our destination for tomorrow.

Mousel Wetlands and Vineyards (or we didn't mean to go to Schengen)

Friday 04 October

Today we found a charming walk on the south eastern corner of Luxembourg by the Mousel River ('Mosel' in German, 'Moselle' in French, 'Mousel' in Luxembourgish) - a 9.7 km circular walk around Remerschen.

We started in peaceful wetlands with plenty of board walks, fishing spots and a couple of bird hides. 

We then climbed on up towards the vineyards stopping to chat with a local on the way.  When I mean 'we' I mean, JC.  This chap was picking fruit off his tree and I think started the conversation with JC in German then it switched to Luxembourgish once they realised they were both on home turf (it's hard to know when you're down in that corner).  He gave us some of his damsons to eat as we left.  

The vineyard walking was easy and accompanied by superb views down to Remerschen and across to Germany.

Although we had lunch with us it was too tempting not to stop for a beer at a buzzing brasserie.  I sat in the sun and thought of my usual Fridays in the UK - tapping away at my keyboard, hanging the washing out in between meetings - this was definitely better!

The last part of our loop took us under a dual carriageway and there we were on the edge of Schengen, famous for the free movement treaty signed back in 1985.  It still makes me very sad all this Brexit fandango.  I'm very grateful that the rest of Europe is still allowing free movement as we'd be stop/start driving around Luxembourg in/out Belgium, France, Germany...  I carry a passport with me when we leave Luxembourg as I don't have an ID card (not quite sure why - it seems the right thing to do!).

Sunny Germany

Thursday 02 September 2021

Today was Germany day.  We drove Trier, Germany's oldest city and once the de facto capital of the Western European Roman Empire.  There are numerous Roman sites here including an amphitheatre, a huge stone gate Porta Nigra - known as the 'Black Gate' due to its stone colour -  and various Roman baths.  We came here a couple of years ago but it was lovely to re-visit in the sun and spend time enjoying the street cafes.  Some of the sites, such as the magnificent cathedral and beautiful German buildings in the city centre, I photographed on my last visit so the blog below is just a few extra snapshots of this trip.

We walked past the Electoral Palace, once home to Constantine the Great in 4th Century and home to various generations of archbishops.  It's obviously had quite a few refurbs/rebuilds during its life time.    

Pretty shiny and gold now.

Then on down to a less flashy part of Trier, the Kaiserthermen, Trier Imperial Baths.  Part is being refurbed, but most was open to exploration including the fascinating underground system of passages which were used to service the bath and channel the water.

After a lazy lunch in the town centre, we strolled by the Mosel coming across the Roman bridge, the oldest in the country apparently.  It dates from the 2nd Century although has had a few modifications since then.  On the way back to the car we came across another Roman bath complex which is being restored.  I'd love to bring a Roman enthusiast here - they'd have a ball.

Sunny Belgium

Wednesday 01 September 2021

Today was Belgium day.  And the second chateau of the trip, Chateau de Bouillon.  What an amazing place!  It is situated on a rocky spur of the Semois River and, although it was first mentioned in 998, had been occupied by some degree of fortification before that.  It is one of the largest fortified castles in Belgium and has layer upon layer of defence built on the outcrops with draw bridges between them.  You have to cross 2 to attack the inner sanctuary of this place.  

A magnificent stone staircase built without any nails - just held up with expert stone cutting slotted into place.

Looking down on the inner court from the safety of the highest block.

A view from the first entrance showing the steep, unscalable sides surrounding the fort.

After lunch we drove the scenic route back down the Semois - beautiful views.

And we bagged castle number 3, Chateau d'Herbeumont.  This didn't take quite so long to look around as Chateau Bouillon.

 

I'd spotted 'globe' mentioned in the guide book - who wouldn't want to stop by and look as this little beauty? 

The local monks do a fine brew apparently, so it was churlish not to try it whilst passing.