Spain

We rounded off our visit to Spain with a great day at the beach in Toremolinos on the Costa del Sol, just South of Malaga.


Tomorrow we travel to Israel via Milan - long day (and a half)

From Seville we traveled to Granada to visit the famous Alhambra. The Alhambra is the site of a fortress and castle of the sultans that dominated the area for over 700 years until the Christian Kings took the areas back in the late 1400's.

The Alhambra includes the Nazrid castle, the fort, the gardens and Charles the Fifth's palace.

Following the visit, we saw the Granada Cathedral which took 180 years to build.

At night, we went to see a traditional flamenco show in a nearby club. Sveta, Jordan and I really enjoyed it. The dancing was outstanding and very spirited. The dancers were true professionals, incredibly skilled and you could tell they were totally involved into their dancing.

On Saturday, We visited the main landmarks in Seville, the Cathedral and the Alcazar. The Cathedral used to be a Mosque when Spain was under Islamic control until the 1200's.


Seville was the major point of departure (and return for the Spanish explorers and conquistadors to went over to the Americas. The Cathedral is an amazing amalgam of Gothic architecture and renaissance treasures, including the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

The Alcazar is also an amazing palace with a mixture of Arab and Western styles.

In between our visits, we enjoyed traditional Spannish food, including tapas (small portions) at the "Belmonte" pub. Above our heads was a reminder of what happens to the bulls at the corrida...

On...heck, we have no idea what day of the week it is, even less what date it is. Well, that day, we woke up and knew it was time to drive to Seville, about 120 miles away.

First we came across these eerie windmill farms that populate the very Southern tip of Spain, near the Straights of Gibraltar, where I suppose Don Quixote use to work a while back

Between Algeciras and Cadiz, we stopped at Vejer de la Frontera, one of the beautiful "white villages" of Andalusia.

Our next stop was the city of Jerez de la Frontera, famous for its many many distilleries, including Harveys Bristol Cream, Sandeman Sherry, and many many others. Below is the statue of local hero TIO PEPE adoring a city square: !!

No sampling for us though... we are either driving or under age. Maybe next time.