After rising at 4am that morning to fly home from Spain we dodged more fireworks and walked most of the way home and called it a year! Our final week of 2010 was spent in Southern Spain traipsing from Malaga to Tarifa to Seville to Granada and back to Malaga.
Christmas started with Claire and I stalking delta.com like little kids trying to count the days until Christmas Eve. We were waiting for Santa Margie to arrive with our Christmas goodies. Santa and Reindeer Liz finally arrived 29 hours late and without Santa's pack (which spent 2 weeks at
Tegel airport and then was flown home, "unopened"). So we, like the Whos in Whoville, we had to find the true meaning of Christmas and rejoice in the simple joy of celebrating with family. Off we flew all together to Malaga on the Mediterranean Sea in search of Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas Eve is apparently the big evening for Spaniards to dine with their families and the kind hotel clerk directed us to a supermarket where we could find snacks for a Christmas Day picnic. Eventually we found a cafe in central Malaga and enjoyed a festive dinner of tapas, sangria and tortilla de patatas. All the Spanish towns have these beautiful Christmas lights hanging over the streets which we toured before crashing in bed long before Midnight Mass had even begun.
The next day we set off in search of a glimpse of Africa as we headed along the coast of Spain to
Tarifa on the southernmost tip. We were rewarded! We drove past Gibralter, gazing at the massive rock and eventually arrived at the beach town of Tarifa. Definitely a place that must buzz in the summer. We were wowed nonetheless that our view was not just a dark blob in the distance but a clear view across the Straits of Gilbralter to Tanger, Morocco. Ferries run on the hour for the 35 minutes crossing. We strolled on the beach, amused ourselves with the reality of standing where the Atlantic and Mediterranean meet. We watched giant ships passing through the straits and sailing across the horizon as the sun set. For me this was a place in the world that I have always seen on maps, but had never imagined what it would look like or feel like to being standing along such an important waterway. From the West Coast of the US, Africa seems so far away and while we just saw the far northwest coast, for me this vantage brought the continent one step closer to something more than a photo.
Arriving somewhere where people celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day, I'm sure always brings interesting stories - why were we about and about while everyone else was celebrating with family and friends? I certainly had never been looking for restaurants on Christmas before. Our family run hotel provided many good laughs. The son of the owner with whom we had been communicating apparently hadn't told his dad who was at the desk when we arrived that we were coming. They are in the process of some winter renovations so eventually they did find two rooms with working bathrooms, although the heat wasn't in working order. Opa hovered, cutting cheese for me as we had our Christmas Day picnic at the table in their front room bar and the next morning cut Margie's bread and spread pate for her, chatting with us the whole time but really just telling his stories. He had spent part of his life in Germany so we had a mixed conversation in Spanish, German sprinkled with English. Eventually the family left for their midday holiday meal telling us mi casa es tu casa. Well Liz, Claire and I couldn't resist posing behind the bar and Claire found some cider to go with our Christmas sandwiches.
We were, not surprisingly, the only guests in the hotel so it was more like and unplanned homestay. We weren't quite sure why they just didn't say they were closed for the off season when we initially inquired about rooms. The stories we took away will more that make up for the oddity of the stay.
We woke up to a gorgeous day after Christmas - perfect for a drive along the Atlantic coastline north to Seville. Part way through our drive Santa Margie, now Chauffeur Margie, spotted this stunning white town covering the top of a hill above us and took us up, amazingly negotiating steep, narrow roads and a manual transmission. Vejer de la Frontera - a lovely fountain, a view out to the Atlantic, picture perfect tiled entrance halls, and a chance to bask in the sun!
In Seville, we quickly ditched the rental car after one spin through the city to try and find our
hotel and quickly started to revel in the streets lined with oranges trees bursting with fruit. I just learned yesterday that the trees in the city are ornamental explaining why when Claire finally got up the courage to pick one, it was inedible. We spent time pondering the orange trees during our two days in Seville wondering how the city goes about picking all the oranges and what they do with them. Now I understand why they weren't as concerned as we were. We spent the first afternoon and evening just exploring the city and enjoying all the well-dressed people of Seville. Finally after the Christmas holidays people were out and about again and we saw the Spanish late afternoon stroll in full action.
We visited two beautiful sites in Seville - the Real Alcazar and the Palais de España. Plus the cathedral , which we found impressive as a structure both inside and outside. The interior was almost a little too overwhelming, more like a museum than a cathedral. The Real Alcazar is the palace for the king and queen when they are in Seville, they still have rooms there that they use when in town. It was built in the 14th century by moorish architects, a lasting remnant showing the deep connections between moors and the catholics in southern Spain. I find it hard to describe the beauty of these rooms. The combination of the geometric patterns Islamic art and the Arabic text make for a soothing back drop the calms the mind. The rooms look out on gardens or inner patios with pools and fountains. Much of the art was done by building the rooms and then decorating them by adding plaster 3-4 inches thick. The most important room was cubic, in line with Islamic art and the ceilings show 7 levels representing the 7 heavens.
The palaces in Spain are designed to keep the royals cool in high heat of summer, so the windows are not necessarily designed to let in the bright midday sun. It was hard to capture the feeling on film. I would highly recommend adding the Real Alcazar to your list of things to see in Southern Spain.
Our second day was a beautifully sunny day. Claire Liz, and I set off for the Palais de España while Margie explored the arts market in the center of town. The Palais was built in 1929 for the world exposition in Seville. Its an open plaza shaped in a half circle with a moat, lovely bridges and little tile scenes from the provinces in Spain. I felt like I was in the real disneyland wandering around just enjoying the architecture and a space to simply enjoying the world with whomever else happened to be there as well. You could even rent a little rowboat and go for a quick spin in the moat. Here's some pictures.
Our last stop on our Southern Spain tour was Granada famed for being a beautiful town and the home of the Alhambra. Unlike Seville which sits on a flat plain at the base of hills, Granada is nestled among the hills with the Sierra Madre as a beautiful backdrop. The mountains are one of the two main skiing areas in Spain and if we'd had more time a hiking day would have certainly been next on the agenda. Despite being fully aware that we didn't want to drive through the streets in Seville, given their narrow nature and unmarked one way tendencies, along with pedestrian walkways looking no different than streets, we somehow forgot all our past experiences (from only 3-4 hours in the past????) and thought we could just look at the map and drive to our hotel, where our guide books said parking was plentiful. Chauffeur Margie once again did marvelous job, but by the end of what might have been 45 minutes driving around narrow streets that simply end and just send you back into the maze or look wide and turn into a stairway we had all just about completely decomposed and we found a place to ditch the car. I don't miss my car in Europe, it is so easy to get around on public transportation - not cheap, but easy. Not the best introduction to Granada, but the only negative aspect of our stay and we did get a sense of the city.
Our tickets to the Alhambra were for the second day of our visit and we woke up to a beautiful
clear day leaving us free to simply explore. We wandered through town on a destination to the section called El Albincion, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Granada with a mix of North Africans and Spaniards. After winding through the streets we arrived at this marvelous plaza with a host of other sun seekers to enjoy a view over the city and across to the Alhambra which is perched on the other ridge of Granada. Next we continued our amble and Gillian the mountain goat saw an opportunity to go to the top of the ridge behind us for even a wider view and a chance just to
climb up. Living in the flatland of Berlin makes me jump at every incline. Liz and I had also made a promise to actually try and go to tapas bar late in the evening and eat like Spaniards instead of Americans which meant indulging in our main meal in the middle of the day. The four us enjoyed paella and salad in a lovely sunny plaza before continuing our stroll through town. In the late afternoon we found all the local people also out shopping and strolling along with Dunkin' Coffee, somehow connected to Dunkin' Donuts for an excellent afternoon coffee. We did meet our stated goal and finished the evening with manchego cheese, Iberico jamon, and wine at the appropriate Spanish hour of 10:30pm.
We had to get up early for our Alhambra appointment and spent the day wandering the amazing palace and grounds of the moors and the Spanish royalty who booted them out. Fortunately the entrance was only a 10 minute walk up the hill from our hotel. We were once again drawn into the beauty of the architecture and design, especially the portals out from the palace over Granada. The crowds of people did distract from the visit, at the Real Alcazar in Seville we felt more free to simply wander at our own pace, here we were pushed along by the crowds so I was glad that it wasn't our first visit to such a display of art and architecture. Here are a few pictures to give you a sense of the palace, which I find to describe. It's a unique mix of brightly colored tiles and intricate design and poetry in plaster.
The last stop after the palace on the grounds was a walk out to the summer palace and gardens. These were been built up over time by different royalty living in the Alhambra, we were none the less calmed by the multiple venues in which to sit and enjoy the day and gaze out at the landscape around Granada.
At the end of our Alhambra day we drove back to Malaga to wake up very early the next morning and fly back to Berlin. I of course now need to read up more on my moorish history and general Spanish history to make sense of all the places we saw. That is what time abroad always does for me - opens up my curiosity to learn about people and lands that seemed previously so distant and gives me context in which to place people and events. Spain clearly has lots more to explore, so I'm sure we will find our way back someday!
