The PENguin Blog

We decided to follow up yesterday’s adventure at the Alhambra by taking a walking tour through the old city. At the end of the tour, I thanked our guide Eloisa and commented to the tour director how good Eloisa was. The director replied that she is a treasure (tesoro). Exactamente! The walk was a fascinating stroll through the old city, including the Moorish sections. And as we strolled I snapped as many images as possible. Eloisa is a young woman who has studied English for twelve years and is quite proficient. She was also wearing a Star of David so I asked if she was Jewish. It turned out not, she just identifies. She was thrilled, however, to find out that I am Jewish. The whole tour far exceeded our expectations and if you read this, Eloisa, otra vez muchimas gracias para todos. After the tour we had lunch and decided to go back to see the interior of the Cathedral and stroll through the old Medina. When we were preparing for this trip, Sharon, having ...

We spent Thanksgiving day at the Alhambra. It’s hard to know what to say about one of the great architectural, historical and cultural sites of the world, except Wow! According to information, in summer the place hosts 6,000 people a day, hard to imagine, as it was plenty crowded as is. I’m not going to say much about the site and its history. That information is easily accessible on the web. But what is notable is the site, on a hill overlooking the modern city , and the background, for the place was established by the Moors as a palace, supported by a virtual town and acitadel in the mid 14 th century. It would go back and forth between Christians and Muslims for another 150 years before the Aragonians seized it. Everyone seemed to recognize the structure’s significance and the Europeans overlayed the Moorish elements, added to them, abandoned some, but did not efface the Islamic aspects of the place. Most notably Carlos V added a palace and a citad...

We decided to break up the 850 km drive from Barcelona to Granada with a night in Spain’s third largest city, Valencia. Sharon booked a hotel in the center of the old city so we got to wander a bit and I got some images. That’s about it. Wednesday was a long driving day from Valencia to Granada pretty much without break, arriving here in early afternoon. We went out in the evening for a stroll and dinner. I decided to leave my camera, but got a few snaps off my iPhone. --> Thursday, while all our American friends and family are gorging on food and (American) football, we will be touring the Alhambra.

 We began Monday with a walk along Barcelona’s famous Rambla after breakfasting just off the Plaza Catalunya. The flags you see on these buildings and throughout the city are in support of Catalonian independence. A recent advisory referendum passed by 70% and raises interesting questions in Spain and throughout Europe about the nature of nationalism and the future of the nation-state. --> As we went along we came across the Market St. Josep, which combined genuine food and produce stalls with those more attuned to the tourists who began flooding it at mid-day when we returned to, what else? Eat. Our lunch consisted of meat and veggie pies, olives and some lovely confections for dessert. Yum!    At mid-morning coffee, I had to take an image of this old fellow, a real "type." --> And that fortified us for our next experience, the iconic Casa Milá, or La Pedrera. You cannot say you know Gaudí until you experi...