Wise After The Event

Ever since we arrived here, we have been promising ourselves that we would schedule time to visit other cities and other parts of Spain. Having to sort out the house and other things meant that we never quite got around to it. However, a friend came over to stay this month and we took the opportunity to head off with him to Cordoba and Granada. This way we got to visit two of the iconic Islamic sites in Andalucia.

The Mezquita was even larger than I had imagined, and more impressive, too. I was sad, though, that all but one of the arches leading from the Patio de los Naranjos into the mosque itself were closed off with doors and windows many years ago. So the interior is not flooded with light as it would have been originally. Of course, it´s not a mosque anymore. At the Reconquista it was turned into a Christian cathedral. For almost three hundred years this simply involved ´change of use´, but eventually the cathedral chapter managed to persuade the king - Carlos V - to allow them to build a coro in the centre of the building. I found myself in agreement with what Carlos said after they had finished; "You have constructed what you could have constructed anywhere. And you have destroyed something that exists nowehere else in the world".
Shame he didn´t think of that before he gave the go-ahead!

The Eco-friendly Carwash

About 15 minutes along the coast is the town of La Herradurra. It has a drive through carwash, common in the UK, but rare over here. For three euros it shampoos and washes the car then waxes it and blows it dry.
Unfortunately, at this time of the year our weather comes from North Africa, and with it a lot of windborne dust and sand which gets all over the car. So a new trip to La Herradurra was called for (It´s just too hot to go out with a bucket and sponge.). Right now though we´re busy getting the house ready to move into, so it got left and then it got left a bit longer. Bad enough for someone to write "Limpiarme" (clean me) in the dust.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning I was awakened by a terrific clap of thunder, followed by the patter of rain, which just got heavier and heavier. It rained for about five hours. And when I went out at 9 o´clock, there was my shiny clean car sitting at the kerb waiting for me!
Now I have a newfound respect for procrastination.

The Festival Is Over

But what a festival! This is a new blog and so far has very few readers. Well then, I can share this with you. But please, this is strictly between ourselves, OK? I don´t want the village swamped next year. For four days (Thursday to Sunday) over the last weekend in August, the place to be is Frigiliana. That means actually staying in the village, because the best bits happen in the evening and at night. We had a tapas route with 12 bars each serving up a separate tapa. We had gastronomic days with a christian, a muslim and a jewish lunch. We had around 50 market stalls with food and crafts from all over Spain as well as local stalls. We had open-air concerts every night at 11pm, followed on two nights by open-air disco. Plus art exhibitions, workshops, seminars. Plus activities for the children. We went to three of the concerts by Klezmatica, by a Rajahstan gypsy group and by a leading collector of traditional folk music and dance, Eliseo Parra.
Soon I should have my own broadband connection up and running. Then I´ll post some photos.