Spain

(Barcelona | Piedra | Madrid | Granada)

Barcelona
The Parc de Montjuic, overlooking all of Barcelona. To get to the park, we first rode a funicular railway and then transferred to a cable car (reawakening some old Disneyland memories), which took us to an old castle with a commanding view of the city (although obscured somewhat by afternoon haze).
Mercury Fountain, an Alexander Calder sculpture at the Fundació Joan Miró, created as a statement against Franco's siege of the Almaden mercury-mining region during Spain's Civil War. (And yes, that is mercury flowing in the fountain; my "aha!" moment for the day came when I realized just why it was behind glass.)		Shelby and Liane outside the Museo Picasso.
Sagrada Familia Cathedral, designed by Antonin Gaudi and begun in 1882. Gaudi personally oversaw much of the construction (becoming obsessive enough to eventually live on site) until his death in 1926 after being hit by a streetcar. He lived long enough to see the first tower (out of eighteen total) completed; it's expected that it'll take another fifty years or so before the entire building is finished.
Too many glum faces in your city? Turn those frowns upside down with cheery public art, like this piece (further down the street were solitary sculptures of perky-looking fawns, blissfully unaware of dad's problems, or of their future role as hound chow).

Monasterio da Piedra
	Thanks to a guide to "off the beaten path" Spain from Shelby's mom, travel agent extraordinaire, we spent our next night after Barcelona at the Monasterio da Piedra near Catalyud (between Barcelona and Madrid). The hotel building was originally part of a monastery, founded in the 1100s and abandoned in 1835.
This is half of our room's patio.		Part of the monastery ruins.
As if the monastery didn't have enough gee-I-can't-believe-we're-staying-here ambiance on its own, right next door was a "natural park" with all manner of waterfalls, ponds, grottoes and scenic overlooks. (And a fish farm.)
In the grotto. (Note to new readers unfamiliar with my general affect: I usually end up making faces like that in pictures, which is usually why I'm behind a camera. You can betcha I'm happy to be there, though.)

Madrid
We were in Madrid, but for not nearly as long as I would have liked. Doubly unfortunate, we spent most of our time in places that were dark and/or didn't allow photography. But we were in Madrid.
	The entrance to the Prado.
We saw this building late at night and decided that it must be fantastically important to be lit so spectacularly; we found out the next morning that it was a post office (which is important enough, I guess).

Granada

In Madrid, Liane left our happy group for the Spanish coast; Shelby and I chose to continue south to Granada. Granada was the last Moorish stronghold in Spain; the Moorish king Boabdil lost out here in 1492 to Ferdinand and Isabella (yes, the Columbus Ferdinand-and-Isabella) , marking the Christian reconquest of Spain.

We followed the street at left, taking a side alley to the Palacio de Santa Ines — on the outside, it was nondescript enough to make me skeptical, but once inside, we found perhaps the nicest place that either of us had ever stayed at. (Supposedly, it's the combination of two former Moorish mansions.) Our room. The lobby.

The next day, we went all over. One of our first stops was at the San Nicolas Mirador, which offered stunning views of Granada and the Alhambra.

After the Mirador, we went back down into the city and visited Granada's cathedral, the second largest in Spain. Adjacent to the cathedral is a chapel that contains the tomb of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

The Alhambra

The Alhambra was the Moorish kings' palace and stronghold; after the reconquest, the Spanish monarchs chose to make it their palace, too, moving in and renovating to suit taste. The Alhambra comes in four parts: the Alcazaba, a fort that's the oldest part of the complex; the Palacio Nazaries, the intricate and beautiful Moorish palace; the Palacio de Carlos V; and the Generalife, the palace gardens. We visited everything but the Generalife.

The Palace of Charles V, built by King Charles V two generations after Ferdinand and Isabella and (according to all guidebooks at hand) considered by many to be the most beautiful Renaissance building in Spain.

The 13th-century Alcazaba, offering yet another remarkable view.

(Under Shelby's left hand, you can make out the invaluable Rick Steves Spain and Portugal guidebook. I was skeptical of Rick's value at first, but I'm a fully converted "Rick traveller" now — even if it does sound kind of cultish.)

The Palacio Nazaries
The Patio de los Arrayanes (Court of Myrtles).	The Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions). Speculation about the significance of the lions abounds; perhaps a gift from Jews friendly to the Arabs (12 lions for the 12 tribes of Israel), or some kind of now-broken timekeeping device.
Intricate detail in every corner.

If you enjoyed this, you might like to look at pictures from my other European travels.

Kevin Hogan <khogan@Adobe.COM>
Last revised on April 9, 2000