Granada and Cordoba

From Ronda we caught the train to Granada and spent the best part of three lovely days wandering through its old and new towns. Although a bit shabbier and more gritty than both Seville and Ronda, it grew on us after a while with its lively shopping areas and its great funky little bars which didn´t open until 10pm and went on until the wee hours. Found a brilliant tiny middle eastern tapas place serving a bottle of wine or jug of cold cerveza with a load of tapas for about 12 euros. You can tell it is a student town! We thought a similar concept would work really well in Fitzroy or Carlton. Spent about 7 hours wandering all over the Alhambra and were suitably impressed, awed and exhausted by it by the end! Stunning intricate decoration and simple elegance which we loved about Seville´s Alcazar. Caught a ridiculously early train to Cordoba and watched the sun rise from behind the Sierra Nevada.

Cordoba was hot 38 degrees both days. We had to retreat to the cool of the Mezquita almost as soon as we arrived. It is possibly the highlight of Moorish Spain for us - its age and the simply beauty of its hundreds of arches stretching off into infinity were spellbinding. Pity about the ridiculously over the top baroque Cathedral plonked right in the middle of this gracious building. The continuing attitude of the Catholic Church to it has to be read in their propoganda brochure to be believed. Cordoba itself was amazing with its winding narrow lanes and cool tiled patios filled with flowers and greenery around which old houses (and our hostal) were built. You could feel the cool air coming out from them as you wandered around during the heat of the day.

Caught the new high speed train to Madrid which took an hour and a half. The new high speed trains here are great. More from Madrid...