Esslingen, for a complete change

And for a complete change, I spent three days in Esslingen, near Stuttgart, with Debbie and her family. It was a very peaceful  and quiet few days, with a lot of walks in autumnal woods, squirrels to watch, food and the odd glass of champagne. 

I do miss the colours of autumn, and I was lucky to have a few beautiful, crisp, sunny days. They were unseasonably warm for th Germans, but for me, 16 C during the day was a cool change. This will have been the only winter I have this year. 

Esslingen is a really pretty place, well worth a wander around and the odd ice-cream. It wasn't too cool for all of us to enjoy that. 

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Now, I'm in Frankfurt airport, waiting for my flight back to Perth. I managed to bring it a day earlier, as Debbie and the children flew to England this morning, getting home a day early seems like a really good option. 

I'm sad to be leaving Europe, particularly Spain, and the crazy, fun, exciting, challenging adventures of Spanish school and the Camino; and having a few days with Debbie and family was fantastic - the kids still remember me ! Well, Anthony I'm not sure if he remembers me, but he's friends with anyone who owns an iPad. 

However, getting home, unpacked, and settling back into normal life while absorbing the last few months, will be very welcome. 

One day in Barcelona

Just one day in Barcelona, between flying up from Granada and heading off to Stuttgart tomorrow middle of the day. I will be sad, leaving Spain, it's been an amazing few months here and I have been very lucky. Lucky to be here, lucky with the weather, the people I've met, and the places I've been able to visit. 

So I only visited a couple of places today, the castle on one of the hills on the edge of Barcelona, built in the early 1800's, and a couple of Gaudi houses. Again, I got a beautiful sunny day, I'm sure late October isn't normally this good. 

The moat ( never actually used as a water-filled moat) between the outer road, and the castle. Beautiful though this place looks now, and it has been softened by the vegetation and flowers here,this castle was used for much of it's short history to hold political prisoners, and the executions held in the moat. It has some particularly nasty Franco era stories. 

The view of Barcelona from the castle. Just reminded me how huge Barcelona actually is, after I've been in much smaller places for a while. 

Nice statue just outside the castle 

Viva Espagna ! I shall be sad to leave, although happy to be going home. 

The art gallery, just down through some parks from the castle. I didn't go in, but it looked fantastic. Damn, just means we will have to get back to Barcelona some day. 

The art gallery has a great entry, including this very stylish fountain and stairs on either side. 

And now for something completely different .... the hotel I'm in was chosen as it's very close to some of the Gaudi houses. I didn't fancy revisiting La Sagrada Familia or Parc Guell, fantastic though they both are, but these beauties satisfied my need for some Modernist whimsy. 

La Pedrera, and Castlo Bastlo, who needs straight lines anyway ?

The Alhambra part 2; Nazrid Palace

The next series of photographs are all in the Nazrid Palace, a delicate and gracious place with shade, patios, fountains, I can see why the Spanish monarchy used it as a palace. It's beautifully peaceful, when you can get away from the hundreds of tourists. 

The next one is just outside the Nazrid palace, the scaffolding demonstrating the ongoing nature of restoration in a place like this. The gardens are huge and beautiful, there must be an army of gardeners around. 

The walls of the Alhambra and one of the watch towers

The Carlos the somethingth Palace. In any other setting it would be really cool, a square three story building with a circular courtyard in the middle, and rooms off the courtyard. After what I'd already see, well a bit mundane really. Which is a shame, as it under-rates this lovely, simple and gracious building. 

So, after spending five hours or thereabouts this morning exploring the Alhambra, I was pretty much brain dead, and headed back down into town for a Coke and something to eat. The Moorish influence is really strong here, so felafel  and salad was a nice change from the never-ending Spanish food. 

For something completely different, I visited the cathedral, which is an amazing mix of styles. It's been interesting going for the beautiful, more austere, gothic cathedrals of the north to this crazy, glowing, vibrant place. 

Rich in light, colour and glowing gold warmth

The Alhambra part 1: Generalife & Alcazaba

A few photographs of the Alhambra. It's a collection of four main areas; the Generalife, which is a series of gardens and the Generalife Palace, used by the kings of Granada to relax and escape official routines; the Alcazaba, the oldest part of the Alhambra and the military area; the Nazrid Palace, three joined palaces all built in the 1300's by the Muslem rulers of that part of Spain; and the Palacio de Carlos V, a much later building. 

The path to the Generalife, and some of the beautiful patios with fountains;

There is water in the various channels around. The place, it would have been for irrigation for the gardens nd the fountains. This little squirrel uses it as a drinking fountain ! There were a few of these around, and Alhambra cats. 

The Granada cathedral, from the Alhambra

Ruins of an old part of the place, an old Muslem Palace

The Alcazaba, a great fortress, and the gate into it. 

Granda, and first view of the Alhambra

Tonight I only saw it from the outside, from a great viewpoint. It's not often I am speechless at a view, but this is one of them. 

It is incredible, I wound my way up tiny streets more reminiscent of the Middle East, and pretty packed with outbursts and locals. I climbed up the final steps, expecting a good view, and got a spect alar sight. The sun was setting through clouds, so the light was good. Again, I really wished for a better camera, as mine doesn't do low light justice. 

I went to see a flamenco show yesterday, which was great, I really enjoyed it. Then today, I just happened on a flamenco group, with a Japanese dancer (!), doing a performance in a square by the cathedral, just busking ... it really is part of life here. 

This group, from what I could judge,weren't as rehearsed as the professionals but my God, it was great to watch and they got a donation from me. 

Mmm I was looking for a light lunch, and mistook a menu item - it was for 6 tapas and I hadn't realised how large they were. Oh and in Granada you get a free tapas with every alcoholic drink, so there's a little bowl of paella to add to that feast. Beautiful, and I did considerable damage to the plate but I'll be careful not to make that mistake again ! 

The end of Spanish school

Well, that was the end of my brief few days at Spanish school in Seville. While I thoroughly enjoyed it, one week really isn't enough. You're shell-shocked the first day, and getting into the swing of it by the end of the first week. I don't know if I learned anything amazingly new, but a lot of details were clarified,  and it was an excellent reminder. Now, I know that my challenge will be to keep up to something approaching the same level, while in Australia. 

Now it's a change of pace, as I'm off to Granada tomorrow, to be a tourist. Tomorrow is a travel day, and Sunday the Alhambra. 

A couple of photos of yesterday's visit to a monastery, now converted to a contemporary art centre

The small blue bits of plastic in the water, well yes, well, modern art ....

What the ... .?! I don't really do modern art very well. 

Today's visit to the cathedral, which is the third biggest in the world, was amazing. For sheer scale, it's incredible. 

Amazing carving everywhere

It's light and bright and fantastic inside, spot the tiny people at the back of the aisle. 

The details in one of the side chambers

The courtyard of 100 orange trees, a reminder of the original mosque on this site. The original Muslem fountains are still operating, along with the Roman fountain !

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Am I sad to be leaving Seville ? Yes, it's a fabulous city, and I'm really sad to be leaving it, and a great Spanish school, quite so quickly. The food with fresh, tasty ingredients and the appearance of spices in everything, the sounds of classical guitar drifting down the street at midnight, the horse-drawn carriages pulling the gullible tourist around the city, turning a corner to find an old Moorish building with amazing mosaics or a cascade of bright flowers down a white washed building, a good glass of wine, yes it's hard to leave. 

However, for the first time, I've started thinking about Perth, home, the fat fur ball, and really looking forward to getting home to Andy. It's time ... another 10 great days then home. 

Seville; weird mushrooms & great food

Well not mushrooms, but I can see why the Metropol Parasol could be called mushrooms ! It's a really strange, interesting modern sculpture, over a major square in the centre of Seville. I'm still not sure if I actually like it, but it's quirky and individual. What I do love is the bravery of the Spanish people who commissioned this construction, to convert an old square and deserted market, into a vibrant hub of shops, cafés, a functioning market and open community space. 

Being Spain, of course there is a bar at the top of the mushroom

The city looked amazing as the light faded, and the building illuminations came up

Last night was a boat trip along the river, again at dusk, only one picture as my camera really doesn't do low light very well. The iPhone is actually better in low light, much better, but I didn't have it with me. 

Spot the horde of kayakers coming under the bridge 

The food here is great, I have to say that I'm really enjoying the change in style. The cuisine is much less bread based, there's more spices used, and the tapas are very different. Here, they cost a bit more ( say 3 euro each) but are a lovely small helping of some thing simple, and tasty.

Yesterday I dropped into a cafe for lunch, a 9.5 euro meal i.e. about $15. Previously, that would have been a fairly boring salad, a chunk of fried meat with bad chips, a shop-bought dessert, as much bread as you can eat, and a surprisingly decent glass of wine. Filling, does the job. 

However in this little place, that was a lovely glass of wine, a salad of different lettuce leaves with prawns and avocado and a good dressing, two perfect lamb skewers on a bed of couscous and capsicum, followed by fresh pineapple with caramelised suger and chopped almonds on top ! All the servings were small, but together it was a light, healthy and beautiful meal.