Some of my favourite places here… The gardens of the Carmen de los Martires: I am often found sitting here, feeling tranquil and serene amid the greenery and the water flowing from the fountain, and the absence of noisy crowds of tourists (they are over at the Alhambra).
The day before I had discovered the Carmen Victoria – again I had sat and read and felt well and connected and grounded – all from a well designed and planted and built garden space, connected to history and with a view over the valley to the Alhambra on the other side.
Carmen de los Mártires, donated to the city and now free to enter, has plenty of flowing water. Here the lambent orbs or oranges are reflected amongst the water lilly. Carmens are traditional houses in Granada with orchard gardens. Here I stand in Carmen de la Victoria and look to the Alhambra.Respecta el silencio – quiet and peace in the University of Granada’s library in the 16th century Hospital Real building. I feel relief seeing some ageing beauty in Spain – in richer places like Australia anything old is instantly repaired.Old doors, portals to something or other, surely significant.Outside my window people eat, drink and socialise. Its not a visually beautiful part of the city, but there is so much social interaction in this Spanish barrio compared to Australian suburbs. In the background you can see the way ugly high rises ring old European cities – on the plus side over seventy percent of Spanish people own their own home.Looking upstream along the Rio Genil, which runs through Granada.Shadows of the elaborate stone work of the Royal Chapel, shadows that have been falling for over 500 years old.
Cordoba is one of those places that was full of Moorish culture and learning back in the 800s when my English ancestors were living in societies with less access to knowledge and cultural sophistication. These days of course its full of tourists. When you enter the Mezquita, built in the 800s and after, you are moved by the forest of granite and marble and the beautiful double arches with their alternating white and red brick patterns. All seen in the dimness of a softly lit undercroft ambiance. Endless beauty and magnificence is suggested by the sheer number of these precious columns of stone. As I moved through them I was bewitched. You must move, the experience of this cultural achievement can’t be captured by photographic reproduction. One of the high points of human architecture.
Outside the Mezquita I saw women dressed up for feria… Feria in Cordoba (its like the royal shows of Anglo tradition, but with more fun and flare).The Mezquita of CordobaThe double arches of this former mosque are one of highlights of the history of global architecture.Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, was born in Cordoba, and this statue graces the city.
First impressions of an old city in southern Spain…. getting cervezas and tapas in Castenedas, an old Spanish bodega with barrels and legs of ham hanging from the ceiling and old wooden bar and lively atmosphere. That was after walking out of my first Spanish class on a Monday afternoon. Walking up to the Alhambra through the cool atmosphere of the chestnut trees and running water beneath them, to a fountain on top of the Alhambra amongst a symmetrical garden in the late evening light. A cat lapping from the fountain before me, with one eye on intruders. On a sunny day splashing water from the fountain in the Plaza Nueva onto my hot arms and neck, and then sitting feeling refreshed and cool, and watching the bustle of people and faces and lives loiter and pass. Walking down the pass between the Alhambra by myself one evening at 830pm towards the Rio Darro, and looking at the crumbling red rammed earth fortifications from centuries past, and hearing the water tumble downhill, in chorus with my downhill footfalls.
Alhambra, a treat for the eyes as you sit in a bar opposite with a cold drink.Walking up a gorge of the Sierra Nevada, out of Monachil, 8kms from Granada (a short bus ride).The belvedere of the Generalife, a Moorish architectural coup, where the windows were designed to be sat on the floor in front of.The same location… This was actually my favourite location in the entire Alhambra…The cathedral of Granada rears up when you turn down a narrow street…After running up the mountains behind Granada I and a friend returned late one evening to see this.Sitting by myself outside the Parador next to the Alhambra I pondered on why Western Australians don’t learn lessons in designing public spaces from southern Spain… The water is taken from the Darro river several kms upstream and moved on channels to the Alhambra, where it flows through these and many other water features (you can drink it, its delicious water, as this cat knows).
