Lamplighter

Journey to the Alhambra and Andalucia 2008 30/3/08Journey to Spain to fulfil lifetime wish to see Alhambra palace. Nervous about going on my own but made a friend Jill in queue at airport. Flew over Pyrenees and flight over to Malaga had spectacular scenery. First hotel very nice but likely to be the best one.  31/03/08Missed family. Perfect weather. Coach to Granada. Don Juan hotel nice, very Spanish style. Lovely tour of Granada. Drove to old Arab quarter and walked round and had first fantastic view of the Alhambra. Went to amazing Carthusian monastry. Very decorated inside. Lovely cloister with orange trees. Went to cathedral to see tombs of Isabella and Ferdinand and Juana and Philip. Lovely dinner. Love Spanish olives. 1/4/08At last I get to see the Alhambra palace. Have wanted to see it for over 30 years. It is so beautiful. The amazing architecture, the sound of fountains, the scent of oranges and flowers truly make it what it was designed to be – a paradise on earth. I like the Comares tower and Patio de los Arrayanes best where Isabella and Ferdinand gave Columbus the money to seek a New World. Unfortunately the lions had gone to be restored from the Court of Lions and will not return for 3 years so I will have to come back!Generalife is beautiful with pansies in the gardens. Amazing views. I loved it and feel so happy to have seen it. Want to see it all over again. We went at 9am so it wasn’t too busy. Am adjusting to Spanish time which is work 9am to 2pm, then lunch at 2pm, then rest, then work/shop 5-8pm, eat dinner 8-10pm. Tours are late afternoon/early evening, shops open in the morning and evening but close in the afternoon. I think I would have liked to have been Spanish. People are happy and more laid back than in England.Had a leisurely lunch at hotel. Found it was easier to get service as they looked after me very well as I was part of the tour. Wrote 10 postcards. Had a great afternoon, went on walking tour of Granada on my own. Saw monastry of St Jerome which was a working nunnery and had a lovely atmosphere. Saw a hospital which is a tourist attraction because of the lovely tiles. The signs for X-ray etc are over some of the tiles. Walked around Arab-style market and around enormous cathedral. Liked the plain white nave with soaring arches best and beautiful organ in two parts so apparently it is hard to play. Chatting to other travellers is fun. Met a man from Iran and a nice French couple. It was a relief to speak in French! Am trying to use Spanish phrase book but is hard work as I don’t know any Spanish but can now say hello, please, thank you and how much is this and can I have the bill please. Talking to other people on the tour has been nice. They are often well travelled and educated and lots are teachers as its Easter holidays for a lot of schools. Its nice to be able to say “I want to see the 5 Breugel paintings of the seasons and people know what I mean and often they have seen them. A good tour to do sounds to be of Prague, Budapest and Vienna. As this can be done by train I think Mike would like it. Easter holiday is the best temperature for travelling so I want to stop travelling during August. 2/4/08Cordoba is wonderful. The mezquita is even more amazing than the Alhambra. You can see all of history AD, Roman columns support Arabic mosques with a Gothic/Renaissance and Baroque cathedral in the middle.  It is wonderful to see Arabic architecture in Europe where I feel safe to travel to see it as a woman. It’s also amazing to see Christian and Muslim architecture side by side in a place of continual worship for 2,000 years. Sad though that very little Jewish culture is left in Spain, but it was good to see the 14^th century synagogue. Very tired, it is a lot to see and take in but wonderful to be here. Spain is lovely. Temperature is up to 31 degrees C in the sun today. Our tour guide Samuel is excellent. Today the one set meal was pork so I didn’t eat it. Instantly he was up to the table to sort out an omelette for me. Very funny though because he looks very like a friend of ours from Romford, Phil Carter. 3/4/08In Seville, very small room but lovely roof garden on the hotel, with pool and view of cathedral. Happy 3 hours there reading my book and reflecting on journey. Off to flamenco show tonight. Great Railway Journeys is the tour company that does the train journey to Vienna. It goes from St Pancras so Mike would love it. Stopped at huge market on the journey to Seville and got nice presents for the girls. Went to great flamenco show.  4/4/08Tour to Italica. Had never heard of this, a whole Roman town. Lots of beautiful mosaic floors. A lot has not yet been excavated. Amazing amphitheatre with raised stage surrounded by a moat so the big cats could not jump out. Then to Seville to walk through the old Jewish quarter and to see cathedral, wonderful. The largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and the 3^rd largest cathedral. Went back inside after the tour to spend more time there. Then spent 2 and a half hours in the royal palace (Real Alcazar), very like the Alhambra with lovely gardens to sit in the shade. Met lots of people on the tour including Joyce and Jim who kindly lent me their audio guide and map. Roses were already out in April. Spent 9 hours out walking with only a bar of chocolate for lunch. Wanted to eat dinner on the way back to hotel as very tired and hungry but Spanish don’t eat until 9 so had coffee in a little square with orange trees in blossom. Had a picnic in my room when I finally limped back and then spent an hour on the roof garden of the hotel watching the swallows. I have never seen so many. Watched the sun go down with the cathedral tower in the distance. A lovely day. The smell of orange blossom is lovely. 5/4/08Gibraltar taxi tour is best and costs £14 each for when we come back in the summer. Because it is university holiday have very interesting people including nuclear physicist and cell biologist from Oxford who knew a mathematician at Bletchley Park whose hobby was railway timetables and could issue a personal, handwritten ticket for any railway journey in the world The cell biologist was the first full time female teacher at Winchester college and writes the A level genetics paper still nearly taught Yeltsin’s grandson but he went to the US instead. Also met Jim a creative writing lecturer in Edinburgh who loves poetry, and his wife Joyce and they have friends in Carlingnose Way where I stayed with my friend Pauline. Also met a retired man studying Byzantine history who kindly offered (and did!) to send me his photos when my camera wouldn’t work. Turned out I was not pressing the shutter hard enough. Met a senior retired civil servant from the DES, a financial consultant with a flat on Sandbanks, a Welsh couple Ron and Sylvia, he knew a lot about wine and my friend Jill who is like a travelling version of my mom, she also taught English as a second language and writes poetry. I enjoyed talking to them all. The only evening I struggled with talking was when the people on the table were talking about football. 5/4/08Delayed on flight home due to snow in Bristol, temperature fell 30 degrees when I got home.Had a wonderful, wonderful time and so glad I was able to go to Spain.