Spain 2015 - Granada & Valencia

It was a nice drive from Seville to Granada.  There were a lot of the white-washed villages with their cathedral steeple standing out against the blue sky.

On the road  

Town of Estapa

GRANADA

The streets of Granada were narrow and winding.  It was difficult for our little car to navigate the streets, let alone the big tour buses.  Our hotel was on the bus route and not too far from the Alhambra.  We got to the Alhambra in time to get admission tickets for that day.  There are four parts of the Alhambra: the gardens/grounds, the fort, Charles V Palace, & the Palacios Nazaries (the Moorish Royal Palace).  Our admission time to the Palacios Nazaries was 4pm.  We were able to visit the other areas before we went into the Palacios Nazaries.

Town of Granada from the Alhambra

Hallway with a view of a garden.

The Generalife Garden.  Lots of fountains & flowers.

Tourists

The Alcazaba/fort

In the Grand Hall, the word Allah is repeated 9000 times (the cursive W with the noes on its left side).

At the Courtyard of the Lions, there is a fountain with twelve lions.  During Moorish times the fountain functioned as a clock, with a different lion spouting water each hour.  The conquering Christians disassembled the fountain to see how it worked.  It has never worked right since.

Courtyard of the Lions.  

The honeycomb ceiling

Generalife Garden

The following morning, our departure from Granada was delayed almost an hour due to parking problems.  The parking spot we had was so narrow with cars parked on either side, I could not back my car far enough to get out of the parking space.  The hotel owner was able to back my car out and around cars on either side and avoided a pole.  We were then on our way to Valencia.

VALENCIA

It was almost a five hour drive from Granada to Valencia.  Along the way, we stopped for lunch at an IKEA, an unexpected surprise.  We had our usual meatball plate.  It tasted the same in Spain as it did in the US.

Ikea in Murcia, Spain

We arrived after dark in Valencia and decided not to go out for dinner. The Ikea lunch turned out to be our only decent meal for the day. We walked to a grocery market nearby the hotel to buy a soft drink and fruit (tangerines). Along with our left over crackers, pastries and microwave popcorn, we dined in style in our little hotel's kitchenette.

Tien's main goal for going to Valencia was to go to the Central Market.

Valencia Central Market

Produce & Fruit

Central Market with beautiful stain glass windows.

Jumbo Shrimp

Fernando's Fish Stall

Near the Central Market was the Valencia Cathedral and the old commodity exchange building known as La Lonja de la Seda.

Valencia Cathedral

Old Commodity Exchange - La Lonja

Gargoyle on La Lonja 

Narrow street with La Lonja

 When we were getting ready to leave Valencia, a car was parked behind us so we could not back out.  After a few minutes, the car's owner arrived and moved his car so we could leave.  Double parking is not uncommon in Valencia.

Parking in Valencia.

Spain 2015 - Seville

We made it to Seville by mid afternoon. Our hotel was far from the center of town, but we could use its shuttle to and from the historic old town of Seville.

Torre del Oro, a military watch tower on the river Guadalquivar.  The same river that goes through Cordoba. 

Evening strolls along the Guadalquivar River are popular.  

Fountain near the center of Historic Seville.

For the second time that day, we attended a church service.  The cathedral in Seville is the worlds largest Gothic church which also holds Columbus tomb.

Seville Cathedral

Seville Cathedral

Exterior of Seville Cathedral and Giralda Bell Tower.

Bell Tower and the narrow streets of Seville.

 We did not see any Flamenco dancers, but we saw a couple practicing the tango early in the morning in Maria Luisa Park.  Unfortunately, the Plaza de Espana was closed due to weather concerns.

Practicing tango in Maria Luisa Park 

Pavilion in Maria Luisa Park

While walking around the exterior of the park, we came across an antique car rally.  The cars were the cutest, and smallest Fiats ever made.  There were so many. It seemed like they took over the town.  

Fiat car rally.

Fiats everywhere

The Alcazar was the main attraction in Seville.  This was originally a 10th century palace built for the governor of the local Moorish state.  Rebuilt in the 14th century for the Christian king, Pedro I.   

Patio in the Alcazar.

Alcazar garden

Many water features

Beautiful Gardens

Beautiful Tile.

Colorful tile

Some of the best (?) bull fighting in Spain is done in Seville.  The bull fighting season was over.  We made a stop at the bull fighting museum.

Bull fighting museum at Plaza de Toros.

We hope to go back to Seville to visit the Plaza de Espana and more of the Maria Luisa Park!.