PLAYING CATCH UP

Left Madrid on a bus for Cordoba, and saw an entirely different side of spain on the way. The climate was hot and arrid, and I am sure cold and desolate in the winter. Rolling hills spread out in all directions, breaking up the monontany of the flat plains. The unfriendly climate did not support much vegation, except for the olive trees. Rows upon rows of olive trees spread out over the plains, up and down and arround the hills. The tree itself was as rugged as the land it thrived in, staying low to the ground, and often appearing to have a few trunks. The barren earth beneath it was better for supporting the rocks than grass or weeds. Anyway, it was nice, but certainly after a few hours a change of scenery was appreciated.

Cordoba, once a thriving city of 1.5 million back in the 14/15/16th centuries, when the Muslims controlled the sourthern half of spain. Now, a mere relic of its old self, with 250,000 or so. Despite it all, the signs of centuries of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish influence are plain to see. The centerpiece of Cordoba is La Mezquita (Mosque), built by the Nasrid Muslims, the opposing Muslim power to the Baath´s in Baghdad. (yes, the same ones). The temple is the most important Muslim mosque in the Western World, and has even been cited by OBL himself. Anyway, inside this amazing building, other than the 850 columns and arches between them all, is none other than entirely Christian symbolism, imagery, and basically, a full church with all the trimmings. This thanks to the reconquest of Spain in the late 15th century. Interesting enough to have a Catholic church inside an important Muslim mosque. Around this in the town are Arab baths dating to way back when, a Jewish quarter, a Roman mill on the river, and Roman bridge over the river, walls still standing around a good part of the old city, etc. Impressive, and had I wrote this a few weeks back, I might remember more. But I do remember it was hot. Real hot. About 43C or so. Good thing I had AC in my room there.

Moved on from there into Granada. Granada is home to The Alhambra. This is one of the grandest and most flamboyent buildings (complexes) I have seen. Built on a plateau with a 270 view of the plains below and a hill behind it, it was a key fortress for the Nasrid kingdom when they occupied Spain. An entire city more or less, with public homes, gardens, military quarters, etc all contained. And the Nasrid Palace, home to the Big Guy. This area was off limits to the general public, and from the outside looks unimpressive enough.

PAUSE - TIME IS UP

One last thing. Spain owes a good bit of its tourism industry, and believe me, it has quite a few of them, to American authors. Back in 1830s, Washington Irving lived in the Alhambra and wrote Tales of the Alhambra. When he lived there, it was more or less neglected, unused, and unvisited. Now 8 million per year go there. In the 1920s Ernest Hemingway went to a little party called San Fermin in Pamplona and wrote a book about it. And of course now everyone knows about the Running of the bulls, and there are a few more people there than the Spanish locals. And many other towns have similiar festivals, with bulls running and matadors fighting, but of course, you probably haven´t heard about them.