During these 3 days, we tasted with lyricism the climate peculiar to Andalucia and the historical heritages left by Islamic culture.

We left the hotel in Madrid at 8:00 am, dropped in on the way at a village in La Mancha District to see the windmills written in the previous chapter, and headed for Cordoba to get there at 1:00 pm. Our bus drove more than 300 km so far.

After late lunch of seasonal-vegetable soup in the center of Cordoba, we saw the sights in its historic area for one hour and a half.

We entered Mezquita, Islamic Temple. The Spanish official name is: "Catedral de Santa María de Córdoba".

Mezquita is a symbol of the Islam-Dynasty prosperous from 8th to 11th century and one of the largest mosques in the world.
Repetitious all right, but Catholic culture after Reconquista well retained the Islamic culture of this building as its original form. I felt benefitted seeing the arabesque design of mosaic and the hollow of the wall decorated with Arabic letters.
The local guide seemed to skip the explanation a little bit, perhaps wondering about the short time, but it was also regrettable for a good understanding.

It was also a shame only to pass by the rugged paths in the old Jewish town around Mezquita. Everybody wanted to walk slowly looking over the patios decorated with flower beds.

We are now in Cordoba. Our hotel tonight is planned more than 150 km south away in Granada, and it is 4:00 pm now.
If our schedule were slower, we would stay here one night. But we signed up for this tour knowing this tightness perfectly.

Looking over the outside views through the window, I decided to listen to Falla's "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" with headphone. As I mentioned before, the pianist is Larrocha with Suisse Romande conducted by Comissiona.
Set to repeat the same music, now it is the 3rd time. The rhythm of the piano assimilated itself to the scenery of the plains glowing in the evening sun, which led me romantic and sentimental.

Just as his ballet music of "El Amor Brujo" and "The Three Cornered Hat"shows it well, Falla must have had a special fondness for the flamenco, a folk dance in Andalucia.
This piano concerto, too, has a peculiar taste of quiet emotion and oppressed passion.

I had deeper impression on this ancient city listening to the music, and wanted to stay one night here and to be indulged in the night of Spanish gardens.

-----
Our bus ran smooth and fast along the plains under the sunset with dim crimson cloud.
Not knowing, I was humming to myself "Small Sky" written and composed by Toru Takemitsu. Emiko looked perplexed at first, but followed me without notice.
The passing views over the window looked melancholy and bitter sweet, which matched with both the melody and words of Takemitsu.
Under the self-satisfaction "Better accompanied by the guitar", I considered the words of the 2nd verse suited well with the afterglow of Cordoba and the scenery from the window.

As mentioned above, on may 12, our large bus ran a long long way from Madrid via Cordoba to Granada for 600 km, and finally arrived at the hotel Alixares del Generalife just before 20:00 pm.

This laid-back hotel was near Alhambra, and its name was because it faced Generalife.
We had smorgasbord dinner in the hotel. At the table the Espana T shirt was gifted to me by the travel agency since it was my 65th birthday.

The couple in the front of the photo are Mr. and Mrs. O. They took care of us very much during the trip.
Mr. O presented his two books to me when he finally left us at Narita Airport.

My Nobunaga Oda		Silk Road in October

Granada flourished as the dynasty capital from the year of 1238 when the kingdom started until the completion of Reconquista in 1492.
Needless to say, Alhambra here is the symbol of the Islamic civilization. We are going to enjoy the atmosphere with rich taste of the ancient capital for a whole day tomorrow on May 13.

Palacio de la Alhambra
(Alhambra Palace)

Now it is May13.
The size of Alhambra is too large to look around in one day. We visited only Palacios of Nazaries called as the key in there and Generalife Garden out of the Palace.

Palacios Nazaries brought us to the world of fantasy at the moment to see the exterior.
We were amazed by the pond widened within Patio de los Arrayanes and the Palace reflected on its surface.

The next was Patio de los Leones. The fountain had the shape of a lion. The landscape of many pillars on the balcony was splendid from this side. It was really the Islamic art.

In each of the hall Sala del Rey and Sala de las Dos Hermanas, various kinds of pictures on the ceiling were gorgeous, which pained my neck.

Alhambra had a good landscape.
The following picture is the view of Albaicín, which is the area with the trace of the streets and houses in the Islamic days.

Now the garden of Generalife.

It is located north of Alhambra and in the Hill of the Sun.
"Patio de la Acequia" is said to be well preserved among the Islamic buildings around Andalucia. I was fascinated by the narrow pond and the flower beds alongside.
Falla must have come up with the first movement of that piano concerto here.

"Recuerdos de la Alhambra" by Francisco Tarrega is a short piece of a couple of minutes, but this music is associated with my memory of this Palace. It must be a repertoire of every guitarist. I prefer the playing of Narciso Yepes after all.

The coast of 300 km along the Mediterranean Sea from Gibraltar Straits where Spain borders on Morocco of Africa is called Costa del Sol. There are excellent sightseeing places alongside and Mijas is one of them.

We drove 160 km west after touring in Granada and arrived at Mijas at noon.
The view of the sea from the heights of 420 meters above the sea level was superb, and more than that, a row of white houses were chic, to say nothing about it.
Blessed by a fine weather, we walked around peacefully along the artistic paths.

We missed to ride a popular donkey taxi, but had a comfortable rest, seeing such sights well gathered together as Plaza Virgen de la Pena, a bullring, an observatory, etc.
At a souvenir shop, Emiko seemed to like a necklace of shells, and I bought a straw hat of Costa del Sol.

Sevilla, May 13-14

The name of the city is definately with the overture of "The Barber of Seville" in my mind. It is a light and humorous tune.
I did not have any other preliminary knowledge about the city Sevilla.

In the afternoon, May 13, our bus drove west from Mijas, the city of white walls, and got to the hotel "Silken al Andalus Palace"in Sevilla in the evening, which had been selected for the convenience to tour the historic area. The hotel, however, was so gorgeous itself and high-ranked that it was too good for one-night stay only.

We enjoyed the flamenco show with dinner from 7:00 to 8:30 pm at the tablao "El Arenal" (a club of flamenco) of 200-people capacity.
Flamenco is not merely a gypsy dance. A rose hair ornament, a flamenco guitar, a dress, and especially a shawl.
"It is really a Spanish culture", Ms. Y, our attendant, explained, a little shrill with excitement.

------
The next morning, on May 14, we left the hotel as early as 8:00, and toured the two historic areas.

Sevilla is the state capital of Andalucia local government, populated by about 710 thousand people.
It is an ancient city of Islamic culture for nearly 600 years since 8th century until Christian culture took back the power in the middle of 15th century by Reconquista.
If we had stayed here for a couple of days, we would have experienced personally the conflict of the both cultures and how they were followed to the present city with a lifelike view.
Nevertheless, I was a little satisfied even though we just dropped in at only the following two areas this time.

Seville Cathedral and the Giralda Bell Tower

This Seville Cathedral was built under such expectation as large enough to be insane. It was completed in 1519 for over 100 years. 116 meters deep and 76 meters wide, it is the largest in Spain, and the third largest after St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican and St. Paul's Cathedral in London all over Europe.

We passed through the Door of Forgiveness and the Orange Patio, and then entered the Cathedral.
Regrettably "No Camera". I can only say I was amazed at the dazzling luxury inside. Sorry I give up listing the key names we looked around, because I don't have them in English or Spanish.

The bell tower "Giralda", one of the symbols of Sevilla, is 97.5 meters high. It was built at the end of 12th century by Muslims as Minaret of the Mosque. The present Giralda is the one which was recovered from the destruction by the earthquake in 16th century.
The tip is 4 meters high and 1.3 tons heavy, and this tower was named so (a weathercock) because the tip spins against the wind, according to the lady guide.

Real Alcázar de Sevilla
(Royal Palace in Seville)

We passed under this Lion's Gate. The arch is a relic of Islamic culture.

It is the palace of the Spanish Royal Family. According to the guide, it began to be built at the former site of Islamic Palace, conscious of Alhambra in Granada, but was gradually mixed with Gothique and Renaissance style by the additional constructions.
We could not enter it.

We gathered back together to Plaza de España at 11:00, and that was all for the sightseeing around Sevilla.
Now we are leaving Spain for Evora, Portugal.

On the way we encountered the cheerful parade of the spring festival. Young and adult, all showy. They excited us for a while too.
We were lucky. It was one of the three greatest festivals in Spain.

Paco de Lucía

The reason why I am concerned about Andalucía is because its name reminds me of Paco de Lucía, a famous flamenco guitarist.
When and where was it I saw his live performance? It must have been some 30 years ago in Tokyo because it was around when I was transferred to Tokyo Office during working for Daido Steel. I can never have forgotten about his name with his tremendous play.

During this trip I bought several CDs played by the guitar and the flamenco guitar at some service area around Granada. Among them is "Paco de Lucía", in which are 10 musics. "Entre dos aguas", "Zorongo gitano", "Malaguena", "Gitanos trianeros", .....
Besides the acrobatic playing, everything hits me saying "This is Spain."

His real name "Francisco Sánchez Gomes" is now irrelevant.
Since he was born in the vicinity of Cádiz of Andalucia in 1947, his name "Paco de Lucía" may mean Paco of Andalucia. I believe so.
I am self-satisfied listening to his playing, feeling that Paco is bringing to me the early summer breeze of Andalucia with different taste from Yepes and Segovia.