Cartagena, Spain

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Trudy

Wednesday, November 24, 2015

Cartagena was founded in 223 B.C. and was conquered by the Romans in 209 B.C. It is just a half hour south of where we are staying.

The Ayuntamiento, or Town Hall of Cartagena is a beautiful marble building on the main street.

The Naval Museum nearby was free and an interesting place to visit. Both of us were impressed with the scale model ships, especially this huge one of an 18th century ship from the Royal Armada.

This huge anchor was just begging to have its picture taken.

The Zulo Sculpture by Victor Ochao is a very powerful memorial to victims of terrorism. It is over 16 feet tall and weighs over two tons. Very impressive.We sat and had lunch on this bench overlooking the harbour before we continued exploring the city…

but not before I took a moment for this photo.

Part of the afternoon was spent exploring the Museum of the Roman Theatre of Cartagena. The museum’s entrance is in a building near the Town Hall and is connected by a tunnel to this Roman theatre built in the 1st Century by Emperor Augustus.

Click here to see a video and virtual reality tour of the Theatre and Museum, as well as more information about the archaeological excavation of the theatre.An aerial view shows where the theatre is located in relation to the theatre and gives a good indication of just how large it is. The tunnel went from the building at the bottom of the picture, under the ruins of the Old Cathedral of Santa María la Vieja into the theatre.This photo showed what the theatre looked like before excavations were started in 1988. The arched doorway of the Old Cathedral is visible in the before and after excavation photos. A lot of buildings were built over the seating area of the theatre and all of these were removed as excavations continued.

There are a lot of buildings near the theatre that are under re-construction. It seems that the old façades are being kept but we aren’t sure what will be built behind them.

Conception Castle is a 12th Century fortress on top of the highest of the five hills in Cartagena. This fortress has been a Roman Temple, a Muslim Citadel , a medieval castle and during the Civil War it held the sirens that warned the city’s population of bombings. We climbed the hill to the Castle and were rewarded with amazing panoramic views of Cartagena, the port…

and the old bull fighting arena. We had parked our car way down there!A young man from the Philippines asked us to take his photo and then he took this one for us, as well as several more of us for himself as a ‘souvenir’. I thought I took lots of pictures but he sure had me beat!

One of the exhibits inside the fortress were several dioramas with these little animated computer generated figures that walked and interacted with each other. I found them quite fascinating.

On our way back to the car we pass this building which incorporated a very old building and a very new building. We saw some interesting graffiti, this statue of of Cristóbal Colón, which is Spanish for Christopher Columbus,and a rather clever sign for a coffee shop.

Granada Cathedral and Alcaiceria Market

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Trudy

We are back home and although we had a good flight home it was still 24 hours from the time we got up until we arrived home. It is going to take a while to get back on Alberta time. I have fallen behind on my blogging but I am going to continue posting until I have it completed. Thank you for following along with us so far and I hope you will enjoy the rest of our trip.

Saturday, November 21

We spend another day in Granada, as we want to visit the Cathedral and the Alcaiceria, which is a reconstruction of the Moorish Market that burned down in 1843. This market is a maze of narrow streets and colourful shops that are absolutely crammed full of merchandise. We purchase a few souvenirs and Bob has a few laughs at my rather pathetic attempts at bargaining.

The Cathedral is right beside the market so that is our next stop. Upon entering the front door this is the what we see. Here is a closer view of the magnificent dome over the altar. This cathedral has a very ornate very large organ. I spotted this stand with several huge medieval books but it was in a roped off area so I couldn’t get any closer to get a good look.A bit further on down one of the side aisles I was thrilled to find a display of these ancient books. They were behind glass but I was able to get a much better look at them.The lighting wasn’t the best, but there were several cabinets with books inside. While I was absorbed in studying the calligraphy and painted images, the lights in the cabinets shut off and it was too dark to see them anymore. I had no idea why the lights shut off and although we returned a couple of times to check if the lights had been turned back on I was out of luck. I am glad that I at least had the opportunity to see what I had.

We have seen similar skull and crossbones in almost every cathedral we have visited. They are on tombstones embedded in the cathedral floors.The pillars and ceiling are quite ornate and the space they enclose is immense. Notice how small the people are.
This is a view of the back side of the Cathedral, seems I didn’t take one of the front. If you want to know a bit more about the Cathedral check out this link. http://www.thousandwonders.net/Granada+Cathedral It also has some nice pictures.There is a suggested walk through the Albaicin, on the hillside opposite the Alhambra so we head out to explore it. The beginning of the walk was quite nice.I quite liked this ‘Granada’, or pomegranate, on the front of one of the buildings we passed on our walk.We do find this lovely little garden and one other garden attached to a little museum along the way. In the museum garden there are several orange trees loaded with ripe oranges, and we ‘borrow’ one to eat later.

We spent a fair amount of time checking our map and trying to figure out which way to go. The route was not well-marked and we had to backtrack more than once. It was a long walk up lots of steep roads and really for what we saw we weren’t sure it was worth the effort and time, but at least we got some exercise.

This is a view of the Alhambra from a viewpoint on a terrace by some restaurants near the end of our walk.

On the way back to the bus we pass this building with its ‘street art’ and bricked up windows. We saw so many apartments and buildings like this, empty and/or abandoned, right beside occupied buildings and shops. I sure wouldn’t want to be living in an apartment next to an abandoned empty building.

The Alhambra, Granada

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Trudy

Friday, November 20

We caught the local bus into Granada and walked down this wide pedestrian street on our way to the tourist information office. This pedestrian walkway is made with marble paving stones, certainly something we don’t see back home. Outside the tourist office is a unique Christmas tree made with begonias.

There is also a shrine for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris. The buildings in Granada are very beautiful, imagine living in an apartment in this magnificent building.

Soon we are on the way to the Alhambra. This was a palace, fortress and medina all rolled into one. We decide to take a bus rather than walk up the hill to its location. This turned out to be a very good decision, as it is a long winding road up to the entrance.

We have a timed entrance ticket into the Nazaries Palaces so we make our way there first. We pass through the modern day medina (shops) and peek into a few on our way. This fellow is making the inlaid wood boxes, table tops and other items that are for sale in his shop. It is very exacting work.

We just have time to visit one of the towers before our visit. This area below the tower has the remains of houses and shops.

The view is spectacular from the top of the tower, but we are surprised at all the smog. We are once more reminded of Paris as the flags here are at half mast.The Alhambra has a lengthy history and it was first built as a fortress in 889. There is more information here if you are interested. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra

The entrance to the palace begins in this room with beautiful coloured tile walls.

And then we walk through this little keyhole shaped door, and we are in the incredible courtyard. From here we see one amazing sight after another. I have seen lots of people taking selfies, but this one is definitely the cutest.

The Court of the Lions has the magnificent Fountain of Lions in its center. This is an alabaster basin supported by twelve lions in white marble, which symbolize power, strength and sovereignty.All the buildings are decorated with intricate carvings that were once painted. In some places the paint is still visible.

Water fountains and pools abound in the Alhambra. We also visit the Generalife which is a villa with beautiful gardens that was a retreat away from the rest of the palace.

Next stop is the Palace of Charles V. The palace was built around this round center court and there is an art gallery in part of the building. There is a small charge fee to go in and we are impressed by the quality of the exhibits and how well organized the gallery is.

These sculptures were from the 14th century I think. They were larger than life sized and stunningly beautiful.

There were also some very old books on display.Not sure why they were on the walls on the outside of the Palace of Charles V, but I sure liked these.

We spent the whole day at Alhambra and catch the bus back down into town, walking along the ‘river’ as the sun starts to set. Bob is happy we will be taking another bus back to our apartment so he doesn’t have to drive and I don’t have to navigate!

Mijas and Granada

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Trudy

Tuesday, November 17

We leave for Granada today which is a good thing as our balcony is positively swarming with workmen this morning. Too bad all this painting is going on as it made it difficult to fully enjoy our apartment, which was really quite nice otherwise. We met some people in Seville who told us about a pretty white village named Mijas so we stop for a visit on our way to Granada.One of the first things we see as we set out to explore Mijas are a lot of donkeys tied up along the main street. These are the donkey taxis that were first started in the 1960s by a local resident who used the donkeys to transport goods. Early tourists wanted to take pictures with the donkeys and asked to have rides and the tips they offered were more than his day’s wages…and so began the donkey taxis. I thought that they didn’t look very well cared for and that they were not very healthy and wasn’t interested in making them give me a ride. So, here is the donkey ride I chose.We found a lovely stone bench overlooking the valley and had our picnic lunch here. There is a very old tiny church which we visit and we want to buy a few things at their little shop but the store didn’t have change for 20€ so we said we would come back later, but when we return they are closed, so we are out of luck.

mijas-villas.com has this description of the church:”Hidden away in a corner of the village, overlooking the wonderful valley leading to the coast, is the hermitage of the ‘Virgen de la Peña’. Built into a rocky outcrop by Mercedarian monks in 1520. Inside is the image of the ‘Virgen de la Peña’, the patron Saint of the village. According to the legend, she appeared on this spot on the 2nd of June 1586 to two young shepherds that had been led there by a pigeon. Subsequently an image of the Virgin was found concealed in a recess in the tower where it had been hidden for 500 years. In 1656 work started on the sanctuary cave, which is nowadays always decorated with flowers and pictures as offerings.”We then walked around the edge of the town along some of the old original stone walls which offered more great views of the valley below.We enjoyed the gardens along the way which were very well maintained and had more flowering plants than we have seen elsewhere as well as many water features. It was very pleasant and relaxing.We stopped to watch these rock climbers but they take a long time getting ready to climb so we have to move on. We climbed a little tower on our walk through the town and it gave a nice opportunity to see the roof tops and how tightly packed together the houses are.I often see older people sitting on doorsteps or walking along the streets and wish I could take their pictures but I don’t want to be rude or intrusive. I was able to take this fellow’s photo after we walked by.

What is not to love about a street as pretty as this?Cars manage to drive along the narrowest streets and we find them parked in some of the strangest places. This car had travelled up the street in the second picture. You may be able to see that the street became much narrower further on. We have no idea how it managed to navigate past the flower pots on this very narrow road or how it is going to turn around to get out of there. We climbed steps to get to this road!All to soon it is time for us to hit the road. We need to be in Granada by 6:00 to meet our host for our next apartment. The scenery changes soon after we leave Mijas, it is drier and we start to see olive trees.We have seen graffiti everywhere we have been in Spain and Portugal. These tags are all along the highway walls.Soon we are driving through mile after mile of olive groves. We can’t believe how many fields of olive trees there are, stretching as far as the eye can see in all directions. I snap these photos as we drive by so they aren’t wonderful but they do give at leat some idea of all the trees we see on the way to Granada.

I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to write a comment or ‘like’ a post on this blog. WordPress just sent me a notice that my blog has more than 100 likes and that “my stats are booming and I am getting lots of traffic” I’m not sure exactly how important that is but I think when people like a post or comment it makes it easier for others to find the blog on search engines. I am still relatively new to blogging and need to do a bit more research into all this.

I started the blog so friends and family could follow my travels and as a place to show some of my art and I have been rather astounded to find that my blog has had 7,223 views by people in 50 countries since I started it for my trip to Paris in 2014. So, if you do enjoy a post please feel free to offer a comment or press that like button. I am behind on responding to comments but I do read them all and I am always thrilled that someone takes the time to comment on what they have read.

Tangier, Morocco, Africa

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Trudy

Sunday, November 15

I am behind on my blog, as you already know. I really wanted to keep it current but it hasn’t been possible. I will just continue to post when I can and I will finish blogging about our holiday after we get home if need be.

We are still in shock over the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday. I spent a month in Paris last fall and it holds a special place in my heart. ‘My’ neighbourhood was just north of where the Bataclan Theatre is located. Having a connection, even one as remote as this, makes these attacks seem a little bit closer than they may have been otherwise. It is scary and I can’t help but wonder where it will all end. We check the internet for updates and try to figure out the Spanish news on TV.

Today we have a day trip booked for Morocco so we catch a 10:00 bus to take us to the ferry at Tarifa on the southern corner of Spain. This is Tarifa looking out from the ferry.

Before long we are in Morocco! This is the third time we have been to Africa. We have traveled from the East to the West coast of South Africa on a train called the Shongololo Express and we have spent a couple weeks in Egypt. Bob really wanted to go to Morocco, I wasn’t so sure. Egypt was quite challenging and we had lots of difficulties and I wonder if Morocco will be a similar situation. This is our first glimpse of the city of Tangier, Morocco from the ferry.The tour we booked is excellent. There are only five of us in our group and we have a guide and a driver. We first drive through the city to get an idea of what Tangier is like and we are surprised by how beautiful the city is. It is clean and it has lots of trees and flowers planted along the roads. We are shown an area with palaces for Kings from Morocco and royalty from several other countries. Then we drive along the ocean to Cap Spartel, which is Africa’s most north westerly promontory, and see the place where the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Oceans meet. There are street vendors here but they are no where near as aggresive as the ones we had encountered in Egypt.

Our next stop was an unexpected surprise. For just 2€ we have a camel ride! When we were in Egypt I wanted to ride a camel but it never worked out. Today I get my camel ride!

Next stop, the Caves of Hercules. These were several really big caverns and if you look closely you can make out where round disks were cut from the rock to be used as mill stones. There is also an opening in one of the caves that is the shape of the continent of Africa in reverse.On the way back into town we were almost in a car accident. A car came within inches of crashing into the side of our van right where I was sitting. I think that the driver’s wife was in labour, she looked very pregnant and very scared and her husband was driving like a crazy man! We were very lucky that he managed to stop before hitting us. Once back in the town, we spend a couple hours on a walking tour through the medina in the old town of Tangier. The streets are narrow and twist and turn in all directions. Our guide also shows us a couple places that were used as sets in the Bourne Ultimatum movie and the new James Bond movie.

Without a guide we would have been hopelessly lost. One area’s buildings were all painted a bright blue colour.

We stop in a Spice shop where a young man, who tells us he is a trained massage therapist, convinces us to buy a special oil that is good for aches and pains. Bob gets a hand massage to try it out.

While we have our lunch at a local restaurant these musicians provide the background music.After our meal we check out the local veggie and fruit markets. The ladies in the interesting costumes and hats are from the hill towns outside Tangier. They dress in their traditional costumes to come to market twice a week. We buy the biggest pomegranate we have ever seen for 1€. I think it must be hard to make a living selling produce. Some farmers just have a small table, or a cloth on the ground with a few items for sale.

The shops are very tiny, sometimes just a few feet square and we see a couple shops that bake bread for the locals in wood fired ovens for a few cents a loaf.

We also visit a fabric shop and I buy a shawl. I am sure I paid too much for it as I am not a very good bargainer!

Finally, we visit the once grand Continental Hotel. Many famous people and movie stars have stayed here but it does not appear to be doing all that well now. We sit on the balcony just to the right of the red flag in the picture below, overlooking the Mediterranean sea and have mint tea and chat with our guide and one of the other fellows on the tour. He doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Italian but we both managed to communicate in French and our guide speaks to us in English and to our new Italian friend in Spanish! We talk about life in Morocco and the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. Flags in Tangier are flying at half mast because of this.

It is a long day by the time we get back to Tafira and then we still have a bus ride back to our car in Algacires. We don’t get home until almost ten, but we were both quite impressed by Tangier and I think I would be willing to spend more time in Morocco some day.

Seville to Algeciras

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Trudy

Wednesday, November 11

On our way to Algeciras in Southern Spain we stop for a visit to Cadiz. Our faithful iPad GPS has bit of a panic attack as it thinks we are trying to drive into the ocean! Seems it doesn’t know about this big new bridge yet!Cadiz juts out into the Bay of Cadiz and is almost entirely surrounded by water. It also claims to be Europes’s oldest city. Legend says Hercules was its founder but historians credit the Phoenicians with establishing the town in 1100 BC! Cadiz is also where Christopher Columbus first sailed from to discover America. We once more find a parking lot almost by accident. Parking near the old town part of Spanish cities is always difficult because the streets are so narrow that there just isn’t much room for cars. This abandoned building in the center of town right next to well kept occupied buildings is something we have seen everywhere in Spain.
Here is an interesting link to abandoned villages in Spain that are for sale.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2576711/Buy-ghost-village-50-000-Thousands-abandoned-Spanish-hamlets-sale-price-London-garage.html

The 2008 economic crash was a major factor in so many buildings being empty and/or abandoned in Spain.

We visit an old fortress that now houses several art studios and exhibit spaces.I quite liked this fellow.It was a lovely day and we wanted to enjoy the sunshine so we wandered the streets instead of visiting another cathedral or museum. This gull kindly posed for me with the Cadiz Cathedral in the background.The fish market is always an interesting place to visit. Being born and raised in Alberta far from the ocean, I have no idea how one cooks, or eats most of the fish we see, but I think more fish is eaten here than beef, chicken or pork.

We stop for tea at a little Pastelaria and sit with a view of this lovely pink building with this balcony and its pink flowers. I love just watching people as we sit and relax for a bit.

The streets in the old town are very narrow, and we manage to get a bit lost looking for the Torre Tavira which was the city’s watchtower in the 18th century. It has been converted into a camera obscura and I wanted to see that. By the time we found it we realized we as didn’t have time to see it as the next tour was in an hour, and lasted forty five minutes. We need to be on the road again before then, so reluctantly I leave without getting to see the camera obscura I was so curious about. If you are curious too, check out the information here. http://bhamobscura.com/2014/12/inspirational-obscura-torre-de-tavira-torre-tavira/

We walk out towards the fortress on this long causeway but don’t have time to visit it either. It is time to head back to the car and continue on to Algeciras and our next apartment.

Thursday, November 12 Algeciras

We have a quiet day today, do some laundry and relax in our new apartment. We have a penthouse on the seventh floor, with views of the mountains from the balcony on the west side and we can see Gibraltar from the balcony on the East side of the apartment! It is pretty spectacular.

The Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Trudy

Tuesday, November 10

Jerez de la Frontera is the capital of Sherry production and it is also famous for its Andalusian Equestrian School. It is just a bit farther south than Doñana Park, which we visited yesterday. We purchased our tickets online and we leave early so we will arrive in lots of time for the 12:00 show.

We arrived early, and found parking which is always a challenge in Spanish cities, thanks to the wonderful GPS capabilities of our iPad. It has paid for itself many times over this trip. I have no idea how we managed to travel in Australia and New Zealand without it, only relying on maps. Never again!

We watch a very good short movie about the history of the Andalusian horse and then we have time to watch some of the training in the outside riding ring while we have our lunch.

We have great seats, right in the first row. I can almost reach out and touch the horses as they pass. The show is “How the Andalusian Horses Dance”, and it is an equestrian ballet based on traditional and cowboy methods of taming wild horses, accompanied by Spanish music and full eighteenth century costumes. I decide to behave and not sneak any photos, but I almost wish I hadn’t. These photos are from the internet . If you would like to see more check out http://andalusian horse show Jerez

We were sitting in the front row on the right side, almost in line with the dark grey horse in the photo below. Fantastic seats! Well worth the extra 6€ For preferential seating.

I found this short video which shows parts of the same show we saw and it is on location at the school arena in Jerez. The show was wonderful and it had enough variety for Bob, who doesn’t love all things horses quite as much as I do.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bd_nYE4c790

I did try to draw a bit during the show, but it was hard to concentrate on drawing and what was going on, and of course the horses never stood still! Here is my page of horse life drawings.

The young lady sitting next to me was from Germany. She owned a three year old Andalusian mare and she was hoping to be able to come to this school for riding lessons. A ten day course is 2500€ and room and board is not included. Expensive, but how fantastic would that be, to ride these beautiful well trained Andalusian horses, the same ones that take part in the shows! The lessons run for six hours a day, so you would certainly have to be fit.

After the show we walked over to one of the many wineries in Jerez, the Sandeman Bodega, for a tour and tasting. They have several resident storks, and we were lucky enough to see this fine fellow.

Our guide in costume walking past some of the barrels full of Sherry. After three ‘very generous’ samples of sherry we played Sandeman!

Finding washrooms is always a bit of a challenge when travelling, so we stopped at a nearby Ikea to use theirs before the trip back to Seville. It was rather strange to find that it laid out exactly like the one back home. We felt like we were back in Edmonton!

Doñana National Park

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Trudy

Monday, November 9th

We tried to book a guided tour to visit Parque Nacional de Doñana, along the coast south of Seville, which is one of Europe’s greatest wetlands. It includes 50,000 hectares of marshes and sand dunes, which are home to thousands of migratory birds in the winter months. The tour company does not operate without a minimum of four passengers, and we are the only two, so we decided to visit the park on our own. This turned out very well and we had a relaxing day, even though we didn’t see many birds.

Along the road to the park we pass acre after acre of these domed greenhouses. We aren’t sure what they are growing but they cover field after field sometimes as far as we can see in all directions!

We also see lots of these coniferous trees. They have been planted in rows and the bottom branches have been pruned as they grow, yet they don’t seem to be a tree that would provide lots of lumber. I was not sure about these either, but I love the rounded shape of the top of them. After a little research I now know these are Stone Pines, they are grown for their pine nuts and in some areas they have become naturalized. For more information see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_pine

First stop is the Palacio Del Acebrón which was built in the 1960’s. The land around the Palacio was cleared, planted with Eucalyptus trees, gardens, paths and trails were built and a huge pond was dredged and lined so that plants would not fill it in.The building is now an interpretation centre, and we get there in time for a visit before it closes at two. These long Spanish lunch hours make it difficult to plan our day. Seems things are always closed when we are out and about and then opening again when we are ready to head home! Bob is checking out one of the displays.

We go for a hike through along a little river and through some of the grounds. What would a holiday be without at least one tree hugging picture?We hiked along another trail to some bird blinds but only saw a few ducks in the distance. We decide that the migratory birds either have not arrived yet, or it is too early in the day for viewing so we head for the ocean and the sand dunes. We walk a long ways down this beach, and I gather a few sea shells as souvenirs.

We also see this victim of a discarded fishing line. If you look closely you may make it out wrapped around this bird’s neck. We saw quite a lot of plastic debris washed up this beach.These are sand dune cliffs that line the length of the beach, as far as we can see, and our version of a ‘selfie’.

All too soon the sun begins to set so we head back to the car along this boardwalk through yet more sand dunes. We get to our car just as the sun sets. We didn’t see many of the birds that this park is famous for, but it was still a very enjoyable day.

Parque Maria Louisa, Seville

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Trudy

Sunday, November 8

There are several parks in Seville and one of the biggest is the Parque María Louisa, which is where we spend the afternoon today. We saw a lot of people dressed in T shirts, coloured tutus and tights covered in what looked like powdered paint. These two young ladies posed for me. Everyone looked like they were having a great time but we had no idea what it was all about.

I did some internet searching later and find out what the Colour Run is all about. Check out this link. https://ca.thecolorrun.com/about/ Basically it is a 5 km fun race whose objective is to have fun and get doused with coloured powder and party with a lot of other people! Eleven thousand people took part in Seville’s Color Run this year. I have included a link to a short youtube video that gives a pretty good idea of what it is all about. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y8bboQxGp9E

We had lots of fun just watching all the brightly coloured people walking by us after they finished the race and the after race party. Wish we had known about it in time to go watch the fun. It is an interesting day. We watch a bit of a dog show in Plaza de Espána. The very big and very small dog in the photo below were very interested in getting to know one another.The Plaza de Espána was built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition. It is a huge curved building complete with a semi circular canal. We caught a glimpse of Cinderella and the Prince who is running after her!The railings all along this building are blue and white ceramic with colourful ceramic posts.There are towers at each end of the building, which I read was used as a set in one of the Star Wars movies. We walked along the exact same route as Luke Skywalker in this short clip from the movie! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mVQyW1n5ECY

This sculpture, The Glorieta de Bécquer, depicts the three phases of love and someone had placed a fresh bouquet of white flowers in the arms of the woman depicting love passing. I thought it was very lovely and poignant.One of the many water features in the park. This one had very well fed ducks, who refused to eat yet another piece of bread, much to the disappointment of some cute little girls with their bags of food for the ducks.We watched people rowing on the canal, who had waited in a very long line up for the opportunity to circumnavigate the canal. Can you spot Bob?

One of the many wide paths through the park, which has a wide variety of very large trees. It was a lovely place to while away an afternoon.

The Real Alcázar, aka The Water Gardens of Dorne

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Trudy

Saturday, November 7

We had a great day visiting Seville’s Real Alcázar. It is a magical place in its own right but it was also the setting for the Water Gardens of Dorne for part of Season Five of The Game of Thrones. I am going to post my pictures without too many explanatory comments as I have included two links that have more information about the Game of Thrones settings and they also explain very nicely about the Alcázar.

Game of Thrones set for Alcazar in Seville, Spain

Game of Thrones Season 5: the Water Gardens of Dorne, aka the Alcazar of Seville

We climbed to the walkway you can just see in this photo. It is behind the arches in the wall past the pool. We had great views of some of the gardens from here.We spent four and a half hours wandering through the palace and gardens, and we still didn’t see all of the gardens.In the background you can see one of the many bridal couples we saw today who are here taking pictures. Interestingly, there was always just the bride and groom and one or two photographers, there were no bridesmaids or groomsmen. Can you figure out how the goldfish are flying through the sky? I love the intricacy of the carvings and details on the walls and ceilings.

This was a popular spot for a bride and groom to stand and get their photo taken with their reflection in the pool. Bob tried to take a photo of my reflection but there were too many people around.We did find a quiet spot in the garden to sit for a few minutes. Remember, we walked in the Alcázar for 4 1/2 hours!

We asked a bride and groom if we could just take one picture before they started taking their own photos in the Queen’s Baths.

The sun was low in the sky when we left near five o’clock and I liked the way this fountain was silhouetted against the wall.After we left the Alcázar we followed a walking tour map that Bob had picked up at the tourist office, through many of the old narrow streets of Seville.

I peeked inside one doorway and spotted this beautiful garden courtyard.

I couldn’t resist having my picture taken with this beauty! One more photo of the bell tower we climbed yesterday. Can you spot another bride and groom? We probably saw a dozen brides today!

We stopped for yummy ice cream and sorbet, walked the streets, watched some crazy amazing break dancers, and finally caught our bus home around eight.

trudymason.com

Travel, Art, Drawing, PaperArts

Category Archives: Historic Buildings

Cartagena, Spain

Granada Cathedral and Alcaiceria Market

The Alhambra, Granada

Mijas and Granada

Tangier, Morocco, Africa

Seville to Algeciras

The Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art

Doñana National Park

Parque Maria Louisa, Seville

The Real Alcázar, aka The Water Gardens of Dorne

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